In 1 Corinthians 1:1-17, the Apostle Paul greets the Corinthian church, expressing his gratitude for the grace of God on them, and addresses the problems in the church.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is the first episode in our 1 Corinthians Bible study podcast. This episode is entitled Greeting, Thanksgiving, and Appeal for Unity, where we’ll discuss 1 Corinthians 1:1-17. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, Paul left us a rich treasure trove in his epistles, and his epistles are generally circumstantial epistles, letters, that he writes to specific churches that are going through specific issues, and he addresses them. In the timeless, eternal wisdom of God through the Holy Spirit, he gives us just what we need for our Christian lives and for local church ministry as well. Wes, you and I are pastors in a local church, and so we really rely on Paul’s epistles. Now this two set of epistles, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, written to a dysfunctional church in Corinth, teaches us so many things about pastoral ministry, and Paul’s going to give us a lot of insight in dealing with them.
So in today’s podcast, we’re going to see the beginning of the epistle and the standard way he greets the people to whom he’s writing, the church at Corinth, and he gives thanks for them. We’re going to be instructed today in that discipline of thankfulness. So even though they’re very messed up, and they have significant problems which he deals with right away, he’s still very, very thankful for the grace of God in their lives, and that teaches us something. Then he starts dealing with the problem of divisions and factions in the church. So, we’re going to walk through that today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read for us the first 17 verses of 1 Corinthians 1:
“Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge- even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you – so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
Andy, how does Paul use the word “called” to refer both to himself and to the Corinthian church at the beginning of this letter?
Andy
Well, a very significant aspect of Christian theology is that God speaks words before the reality happens. He says, “Let there be light,” and there’s light. So, the word comes first. So it is with this sense of calling, God speaks sovereignly and then things happen, and he calls things, as he says in Romans, that are not as though they were, and then they become. So, Paul was called to be an apostle before he was an apostle. And in a powerful way, God’s word shaped him and prepared him and molded him even before the foundation of the world, but even before he was born, to be an apostle to the Gentiles, though he didn’t know much of that at all while he was a Pharisee and serving the enemies of Christ. But he was called sovereignly by the will of God to be an apostle.
So, the way the word “called” is used there, is not just of a human calling – by that the hearing of the message of the gospel. Paul did hear the message of the gospel long before he believed it. He knew the facts that the Christians were claiming about Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died in atoning death, rose from the dead on the third day. He knew all those facts before he believed them, but his eardrums vibrated with the sound of that gospel call, but he didn’t really believe it yet. Then on the road to Damascus, he was called by the sovereign grace of God, and that is God calling things that are not as though they were and giving life to the dead as he says in Romans 4. So God called Paul out of darkness, out of serving Satan, out of sin and death into the marvelous light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that’s how he uses the word “called” for himself, called to be an apostle, not just to be a Christian, but to be an apostle, having a unique role in the building of the church. And the Corinthians themselves are similarly called by the sovereign grace of God. And we’re going to walk through that in 16 chapters of 1 Corinthians, how God sovereignly saved them out of darkness, out of serving Satan, out of serving sin and evil into the marvelous light of the kingdom of God. They’re called to be a church, they’re called to be holy. So that is the calling of the Christian life as well. So, there’s a richness to this word call.
Wes
What does the word sanctified mean when it refers to Christians and what does Paul’s use of this word in reference to the Corinthian church teach us about the nature of Christ’s work of redemption?
Andy
Yeah. So, what does your verse say in chapter one verse two?
Wes
It says, “To the church of God, that is in Corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
Andy
All right. So, the use of the word sanctified here is more of a once for all setting apart unto God as his sacred possession. Jesus uses the word sanctify in his high priest prayer in John 17. He said, “For their sake, I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified.” So, the idea there is not as we sometimes use in theology and in doctrine of Christian salvation, a progressive growth in holiness where little by little they become more conformed to Christ, that is a good use of the word sanctification. But that’s not what’s going on here. They are once for all set apart unto God as his sacred possession, as the sacred vessels of the Old Testament sacrificial system were sanctified or set apart. There were vessels that were set apart for sacred use. The anointing oil or the incense was of a special recipe that could only be used for service to God. It was sacred, it was sanctified, set apart. So, I think that’s the use of the word here, that the Corinthian people themselves are set apart unto God. They’re called to be saints, holy ones set apart for him.
Wes
What vision does Paul have of the universal church in verse 2? Why do you think Paul mentions their place together with the universal church in this greeting?
Andy
Yeah. So ,we’ve got two aspects of the church, a local church which has an address like the church at Corinth, et cetera, or the church at Ephesus or et cetera. And then you’ve got that universal church, which is the body of Christ, the mystical union of all people who have ever been born again. So, from the moment that you are born again, forever you are a member of the body of Christ, spiritual body of Christ. Elect people who have not yet been converted, are not yet members of the body of Christ, though they will be someday. So, you have to have been decisively born again by the power of the Spirit, and once you do, you become a part of the body of Christ.
So, it’s important for us as Christians to be aware of that doctrine and to be members of both, that we are members of a local church, and that we are also as Christians, members of the body of Christ. It’s good for us as members of a local church to know that ours is not the only church in the world. There are churches all over the world that are following Jesus. We’re part of a worldwide movement of the kingdom of God, of the gospel of God, a worldwide body of Christ. And frankly, every local church is temporary. It’s like scaffolding on a building that’s under construction. It’s needed for a time for a purpose, but in heaven there’ll be no local churches, just the universal church.
“Every local church is temporary. It’s like scaffolding on a building that’s under construction. It’s needed for a time for a purpose, but in heaven there’ll be no local churches, just the universal church.”
So, he says, “I’m writing to you, to the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified called to be saints together with all those everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus, their Lord and ours.” (1Corinthians 1:2, paraphrase) So that’s that mystical union. Everyone who everywhere is calling on Jesus, they’re also sanctified and called to be saints, et cetera.
Wes
Andy, it’s so helpful for us to meditate on these greetings and actually pay attention to what’s happening because even just in the few minutes we’ve spent discussing this one, we recognize there’s much more here than simply a hello, how are you? There’s an identity that he’s trying to remind them of as the foundation for what he’ll write in the coming chapters. Paul begins this letter with this phrase, grace to you, and he ends with grace be with you. How are Paul’s letters a means of grace, both for their original audience but also for Christians today?
Andy
That’s very important, and you noted, and all the epistles have that same pattern, grace to you at the beginning and grace be with you at the end. So, it’s like you walk into the world of the epistle and receive grace from God, ongoing grace from God. Then may that grace that you have now received and have received in the past through the preaching of the gospel, now be with you as you emerge from the reading of the epistle out into your public lives. So, the idea of grace, we’re standing in grace, Romans 5 tells us. We are needing ongoing grace. So, there is a once for all grace that comes to us that results in our justification. We don’t need that grace ever again. But then there’s an ongoing river of grace that flows to us through the intercessory ministry of Jesus who ever lives to intercede for us and through the ongoing working of the Holy Spirit. There’s an energy, a power, a river of blessings that we need. We need to be continually graced by God. So, the words of all of the epistles, indeed of all scripture is grace to us. So, Paul is writing to give us generously the kindness and the gifting of God needed for our life and our godliness and for our fruitfulness. So that’s how I read grace to you, which is in all the epistles. And then grace be with you is don’t forget the things you’ve read. Don’t be like in James says, a forgetful hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. So, we need that by grace as well.
Wes
What does Paul thank God for in verses 4 through 9? And why is it so vital for church leaders to express thankfulness to God for the churches they lead, especially if their church has problems?
Andy
Well fundamentally, when Paul thanks God for the salvation of the Corinthians or the Ephesians of the Philippians or the Romans, he’s giving God ultimate credit for it. God deserves credit for their salvation. So, I thank God for the grace that was given you, Corinthians. I thank God that by his grace he saved you. So that is very, very important to realize. And one of the key statements on this ever is in Roman 6:17 where Paul says, “Thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of doctrine to which you were entrusted,” which is the gospel, keeping it simple. Romans 6:17, thank God you obeyed. So, he’s giving credit to God for the Romans obedience to the gospel there because that’s the sovereign grace of God. That’s why we believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation.
So back here in 1 Corinthians 1:1, he said, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. You wouldn’t be my brothers and sisters if it weren’t for God’s grace in Christ Jesus. So, I always thank God for that.” And the second part of your question, which is why is it very important for him to thank God for the Corinthians despite their incredible dysfunctionality, the fact that some were pushing back against him, questioning him, insulting him even. It just really shows a large spirit on Paul’s part to see the big picture. Yeah, we’ve got problems now temporarily, but sin is temporary in the life of a Christian. In heaven we’ll be perfectly united. I’m looking forward to that. So, I thank God for you, and we’ll work through these things. So, there’s a sense of confident leadership here. He says, “I’m very thankful for you despite the fact that you’re causing me immense grief.”
Wes
So much so that I’m going to write this letter about some specific challenges that you face. Paul expressed his thankfulness for the amazing ways the Corinthian church had been gifted with every spiritual gift. Yet as we’ll see in due time the church had so many shortcomings, problems with division, sin, false doctrine, immorality and other issues. What should this teach us about spiritual gifts?
Andy
Yeah. There’s a big distinction between being gifted by God, which is special abilities given by the Spirit of God that equip us for service to the church of God. A difference between that gifting and our own personal character, our own personal characteristics and our traits, our holiness, those are two different things. So, we’ve seen this, we have people that are gifted preachers, gifted speakers, gifted leaders, and they rise to fame and fortune even. And then they fall into immorality and being disqualified. So, there’s clearly a distinction between the giftedness and the character or the holiness of the individuals.
So yeah, the Corinthian church was gifted in every way. There was no lack. They had every gift they needed to be fully mature and fully fruitful in the pattern that God wanted them to be. They don’t lack any spiritual gift and thank God for that. So those gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, teaching, service, giving, the list goes on and on. And in 1 Corinthians 12, he lists them, all of the gifts needed are there. And I thank God for you, you don’t lack any spiritual gift, being enriched in every way by that. And those gifts are an avenue of grace. So, I thank God, but still there’s a difference between that and your character traits.
Wes
What does Paul promise to the Corinthians and really to all Christians about our eternal security? How does the faithfulness of God, not our own faithfulness, guarantee our final salvation?
Andy
Yeah. It’s vital for us to understand that. I remember years ago I was ministering to a dying woman who showed very little, if any, genuine understanding of the gospel, even the simplest milk presentation of the gospel seemed to go over head and didn’t really resonate. And then soon after I came to her hospital room to share with her, she basically went into a coma from what she never recovered, and then she died. But I remember I was told that in her high level of agitation, she was in some anguish and great distress, had terrible thrashings around and she was under so much sedation that they said, “There is no way she’s feeling physical pain. This is all mental, emotional anguish.” I thought that was very, very startling.
And it occurred to me to think, imagine if I went to visit somebody who was in their final hours, their final days on earth. And I asked that person, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?” They said, no, I need to be honest with you, pastor, I do not believe those things are true. I’ve been basically playing a charade, and now I just want to come clean and tell you that I don’t believe any of it. So, what about now? Can you believe it? No, I just, I’m being honest with you. I do not believe it and there’s nothing you can do to make me. I absolutely reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He is not my Lord and Savior.” And in the middle of that sentence, a person grabbed their chest and died of a heart attack. Would you believe that that person was a Christian? I’m not their judge, but as far as I could tell I would not believe that they died in Christ. I would think that they died outside of the gospel.
Well, the second question came to me, “How do you know you won’t be that person 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now?” Your answer to that question shows on whom you’re relying for your ultimate salvation. My answer to that question is I know that I will not be that person because of verses just like this one, “He will keep you strong to the end so that you’ll be blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s judgment day. Blameless on judgment day, that’s what I want, to be blameless on that final day. He will keep me strong to the end of my life so that I will be blameless. Jude says the same thing, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before as presence blameless with great joy.”
I’m trusting in God’s sovereign grace, or again in Philippians 1, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” That’s what I’m trusting in, not because I’m such a great guy or such a great believer or so strong-minded to determine, none of that. I do believe that Satan could concoct a series of temptations that if left to work on my mind and my heart would be effective in stripping me from Christ. But Christ will not let that happen. So that’s what I’m trusting in.
Wes
What a foundation for Paul to lay for them as he’s beginning this address as he’s about to dive into dealing with one of the first issues that they’re facing in division. He’s reminding them of God’s power and their need to look to him for their salvation and their hope.
Andy
He says in verse 9, “God who has called you into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ is faithful,” meaning he’s not going to leave you. He will protect you to the end, and that’s what I’m counting on.
Wes
The rest of the verses that we’re looking at today is really Paul’s appeal for unity in Christ to the Corinthian church. How can Christians come to one mind if they’ve been earnestly disagreeing? Is it okay to agree to disagree? What’s Paul’s ultimate aim here?
Andy
All right. Paul’s ultimate aim is the same as Jesus’s ultimate aim in John 17. And in John 17, Jesus prays that all of his followers who will believe in him through that message may be one. He says to his heavenly Father, “As we are one, you and me and I in them, may they be brought to perfect unity.” So I thought, “Wow. That’s incredible.” Trinitarian unity, the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What is that? Mystically and mysteriously, may be the central mystery of Christian theology, the doctrine of the Trinity is three persons, one God. So, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, but they’re perfectly one. There is one God and only one God, that is a mystery we’ll never fully understand.
But some of it has to do with agreeing. They are of one mind. They always think alike about everything. They’ve never disagreed. The Father, the Son and the Spirit have never disagreed about anything, even down to the tiniest detail. As they were planning all of redemptive history, they agreed about everything they came up with. So, the Father and the Son completely agree. And here’s the beautiful thing. Everything Jesus prays for he gets because he never prays outside the will of God. So, we will someday be as one, as the Father and the Son are one. And being like-minded is part of that. So therefore, any disagreements that are ever had between Christian people, even within marriage, between a Christian husband and wife, all of that is evidence of sin and will be remedied by salvation through faith in Christ, by glorification. At glorification, we will be instantaneously transformed to have the mind of Christ and use it at every moment. We will think like Christ does, just as Christ thinks like his father does.
So, we will someday be as one with each other as the Father and the Son are one and that will include completely agreeing about everything. So, what does that mean for local churches? We should strive for that. We should strive to be like-minded. He says the same in Philippians that we would be like-minded. Euodia and Syntyche were disagreeing with each other. Paul pleads with them that they be of one mind or be like-minded. Please, dear sisters agree with each other. He does the same thing here. I appeal to you, I beg you to be of one mind, to be like-minded. He’s making an appeal here that you agree with each other, that you be like-minded and there be no divisions.
So, I think this is very important in how we as plural elders of First Baptist Church do our business. On every topic we seek Trinitarian unity, and we know we don’t start there, but we think that through prayer and through making sound, biblical arguments and listening to each other and trying to understand each other’s minds and understanding the mind of God, we can through a process, get to like-mindedness, and we always seek that. So, this appeal here is important for how we do business as elders of our church. We always seek like-mindedness to agree with each other.
Wes
In verses 11 and 12, Paul talks about the factions in the Corinthian church. What are factions and why are they so damaging to a local church? Where do we see that in modern churches as well, by way of example?
Andy
All right. So, the factions go along the lines of following charismatic or powerful leaders. I follow Paul, I follow Paul, so I follow Cephas, and then some are saying I follow Christ. So you look at that and it’s like that kind of thing was well known in the Greek culture back then. There would be traveling philosophers, rhetoricians people skilled at speaking who would gain followers after them. Schools, schools of Plato, schools of Aristotle, schools of Socrates. They would have followers, an entourage, and they’d get paid. They were paid by their disciples for their philosophical schooling. So, this was a pattern that was well known long before Paul came to Corinth. So, Paul comes, and he is like, “All right. I’m going to follow him. He’s going to be my mentor, my philosophical instructor, my religious instructor.” But then long after Paul left, others came like Apollos, there’s no record as far as I know of Cephas ever being there, but maybe he was in Corinth, I don’t know, but maybe they’re aware of his writings or his influence of the church of Jews in Jerusalem. But they’re saying Cephas is Peter, I follow Peter.
So that’s very dangerous because they were hostile to one another as though I follow… He’s saying, “I follow Paul and not Apollos. I follow Apollos and not Paul. I follow Apollos and not Cephas. Well, I follow Cephas and not Paul.” And then to some degree, worst of all, “I follow Jesus, and none of you do. We are the true followers of Jesus.” That’s very divisive. Or I follow Jesus and not Paul. That’s very dangerous because he doesn’t have to listen to what Jesus’s own apostle teaches. So that is very divisive. And later in this epistle, he’s going to say all things are yours, you get us all. Every true teacher of the word, no false teachers. Now the super apostles were false teachers, but all true teachers, you get us all. You get everything Paul said, and you get everything Apollo said and you get everything Peter said. And best of all, you get everything Jesus said or did, you get us all. There’s no division in the body of Christ.
So, factions and divisions are devastating. Let me say more about this. This is the number one way that local churches break apart. It’s the number one way that mission agencies and mission teams fall apart. Sadly, even Paul and Barnabas broke apart. And as we saw in the book of Acts, factions come up and people just don’t get along with each other anymore, and it’s pretty sad. So, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is working on these factions and divisions problem in the church of Corinth.
Wes
How does Paul use the unity of Christ and his body as a strong argument against factions, against following specific leaders against other leaders?
Andy
Yeah. There must be and there is perfect unity in the body of Christ. As I said just a moment ago, that it’s in the pattern of the Trinity. There is one and only one body of Christ. So, we need to understand that. He makes that plain In Ephesians 4, “There’s one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all and one body of Christ.” All right. Now there are different members, he’s going to argue that, different spiritual gift roles, but just one body. So, Christ cannot be divided, Christ’s body cannot be divided. Imagine if your right hand fought against your left hand or your liver fought against your lungs, you would die. So, Christ cannot be divided. Christ is perfectly united, and so also his body.
Wes
What point does Paul make about his role in their baptism? And why does Paul seem to make very little about whether he baptized them or not?
Andy
All right. So, first of all, he says, was Paul crucified for you? None of us are even close to who Jesus is. Jesus is your God, your Savior, your Lord. We’re just servants. He’s going to say this very plainly. Who are we? I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants, nor he waters are anything, we’re nothing. We’re just servants of Christ. Christ is your Savior, your God. So no, I was not crucified for you, and you were not baptized into the name of Paul or into the name of Apollos or Cephas or any human agent. You are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s the significant aspect here, the infinite supremacy of Christ in the body of Christ.
“You were not baptized into the name of Paul or into the name of Apollos or Cephas or any human agent. You are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s the significant aspect here, the infinite supremacy of Christ in the body of Christ.”
But then concerning baptism, he says, “Look, fundamentally water baptism is just an outwardly visible symbol, and it doesn’t save you.” So, this is a very important section here against a doctrine known as baptismal regeneration – the idea that you have to be water baptized in order to be saved. That is refuted by this seeming to some degree disparagement of baptism. Paul was like, “I can’t really remember who I baptized.” First of all, you weren’t baptized into my name, and I didn’t baptize many of you. I’m thankful that I didn’t baptize any of you so you wouldn’t be confused. Others came along and did the actual water baptism. So, water baptism is important. Jesus said it in the Great Commission, “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit.” So, it is important, but it doesn’t save you. So, Paul’s saying, it doesn’t really matter who I baptize or who did the baptism because we are not the point. The point is Christ and faith in Christ.
Wes
Now, Andy parenthetical statements are always interesting in scripture. This one particularly. Paul’s writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here, and he says he doesn’t remember whether or not he baptized anyone else. What does this teach us about the inspiration of a writer of scripture?
Andy
Yeah. I mean, Paul’s very human here and it’s not important under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for him to remember who he baptized. As a matter of fact, it seems like when he began this paragraph, he had forgotten that he had baptized the household of Stephanas, and while he’s writing it, the Holy Spirit reminded him, but no one else. He says, “I don’t remember if there’s anybody.” There probably were some other people, but the Holy Spirit is not bringing it to mind. Why? Because he’s made the point. The point is, God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not in words of human wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its power. This is a very important, this is the silver bullet along with the thief on the cross. Those two are silver bullets on the issue of baptismal regeneration.
If water baptism were essential to our salvation as the Church of Christ teaches some of them, like some of them are extreme cults, some of them are basically baptistic denomination, but some aspects of the Church of Christ, the Campbell movement, teaches baptismal regeneration. You have to be water baptized in order to be saved. Well, if that’s true, then why would Paul make such a foolish and misleading statement saying, “For God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” So, if water baptism is essential, he would never have made such a statement. So clearly water baptism is not essential, along with a thief in the cross who was never water baptized and yet he’s with Christ in paradise.
Wes
What does Paul mean with these final words of the verses that we’re looking at today when he says that using words of eloquent wisdom would empty the cross of its power?
Andy
Right. So, I think this goes back to the Greek culture and their love for philosophy and their love for rhetoric. And there were schools of rhetoric whereby you would learn how to begin an address, how to make certain points. There were certain tricks of the trade. Paul didn’t have them. So, when he was at Mars Hill at the Areopagus, he clearly wasn’t a polished philosopher or a polished rhetorician, speaker. But Paul says, I’m glad because if that were necessary for me to make the case of Christ crucified and resurrected, then your faith would rest on polished presentations of rhetoric and philosophy. But it doesn’t. It rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the Spirit’s testimony to that in a simple way, in a milk sort of way, so that all you need to do is believe the simple message of Christ crucified and you will be saved. If on the other hand, we needed polished rhetoric and skillful human philosophizing, your faith would rest on those human capabilities. But God has destroyed that, and we’ll get to the rest of that in the rest of this chapter, 1 Corinthians 1.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us today on these verses that we’ve been looking at?
Andy
Now it’s been exciting to begin this study. We are halfway through the first chapter. It’s exciting, and we’ve already seen some of the dysfunctionality of the Corinthian church with the factions and divisions is going to deal with it for three chapters. So, we are warned in local churches to be forgiving, to be gracious, to be like-minded, to try to understand what a brother or sister is saying and what elements of truth there might be in it. And realize there are elements of truth in what we have to say, so we should share that too. But there’s also elements of error all around, and so we’re humbled, and we’re brought together. So, to be very, very careful against factions and divisions and all that, but bigger picture to see the beautiful grace of God in our salvation, that it’s only by God’s grace that we’re Christians at all.
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our 1 Corinthians Bible study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 2, entitled Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God, where we’ll discuss 1Corinthians 1:18-31. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible study podcast. This podcast is just one of the many resources available to you for free from Two Journeys Ministry. If you’re interested in learning more, just head over to twojourneys.org. Now on to today’s episode. This is the first episode in our 1 Corinthians Bible study podcast. This episode is entitled Greeting, Thanksgiving, and Appeal for Unity, where we’ll discuss 1 Corinthians 1:1-17. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, Paul left us a rich treasure trove in his epistles, and his epistles are generally circumstantial epistles, letters, that he writes to specific churches that are going through specific issues, and he addresses them. In the timeless, eternal wisdom of God through the Holy Spirit, he gives us just what we need for our Christian lives and for local church ministry as well. Wes, you and I are pastors in a local church, and so we really rely on Paul’s epistles. Now this two set of epistles, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, written to a dysfunctional church in Corinth, teaches us so many things about pastoral ministry, and Paul’s going to give us a lot of insight in dealing with them.
So in today’s podcast, we’re going to see the beginning of the epistle and the standard way he greets the people to whom he’s writing, the church at Corinth, and he gives thanks for them. We’re going to be instructed today in that discipline of thankfulness. So even though they’re very messed up, and they have significant problems which he deals with right away, he’s still very, very thankful for the grace of God in their lives, and that teaches us something. Then he starts dealing with the problem of divisions and factions in the church. So, we’re going to walk through that today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read for us the first 17 verses of 1 Corinthians 1:
“Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge- even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you – so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
Andy, how does Paul use the word “called” to refer both to himself and to the Corinthian church at the beginning of this letter?
Andy
Well, a very significant aspect of Christian theology is that God speaks words before the reality happens. He says, “Let there be light,” and there’s light. So, the word comes first. So it is with this sense of calling, God speaks sovereignly and then things happen, and he calls things, as he says in Romans, that are not as though they were, and then they become. So, Paul was called to be an apostle before he was an apostle. And in a powerful way, God’s word shaped him and prepared him and molded him even before the foundation of the world, but even before he was born, to be an apostle to the Gentiles, though he didn’t know much of that at all while he was a Pharisee and serving the enemies of Christ. But he was called sovereignly by the will of God to be an apostle.
So, the way the word “called” is used there, is not just of a human calling – by that the hearing of the message of the gospel. Paul did hear the message of the gospel long before he believed it. He knew the facts that the Christians were claiming about Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died in atoning death, rose from the dead on the third day. He knew all those facts before he believed them, but his eardrums vibrated with the sound of that gospel call, but he didn’t really believe it yet. Then on the road to Damascus, he was called by the sovereign grace of God, and that is God calling things that are not as though they were and giving life to the dead as he says in Romans 4. So God called Paul out of darkness, out of serving Satan, out of sin and death into the marvelous light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that’s how he uses the word “called” for himself, called to be an apostle, not just to be a Christian, but to be an apostle, having a unique role in the building of the church. And the Corinthians themselves are similarly called by the sovereign grace of God. And we’re going to walk through that in 16 chapters of 1 Corinthians, how God sovereignly saved them out of darkness, out of serving Satan, out of serving sin and evil into the marvelous light of the kingdom of God. They’re called to be a church, they’re called to be holy. So that is the calling of the Christian life as well. So, there’s a richness to this word call.
Wes
What does the word sanctified mean when it refers to Christians and what does Paul’s use of this word in reference to the Corinthian church teach us about the nature of Christ’s work of redemption?
Andy
Yeah. So, what does your verse say in chapter one verse two?
Wes
It says, “To the church of God, that is in Corinth to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
Andy
All right. So, the use of the word sanctified here is more of a once for all setting apart unto God as his sacred possession. Jesus uses the word sanctify in his high priest prayer in John 17. He said, “For their sake, I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified.” So, the idea there is not as we sometimes use in theology and in doctrine of Christian salvation, a progressive growth in holiness where little by little they become more conformed to Christ, that is a good use of the word sanctification. But that’s not what’s going on here. They are once for all set apart unto God as his sacred possession, as the sacred vessels of the Old Testament sacrificial system were sanctified or set apart. There were vessels that were set apart for sacred use. The anointing oil or the incense was of a special recipe that could only be used for service to God. It was sacred, it was sanctified, set apart. So, I think that’s the use of the word here, that the Corinthian people themselves are set apart unto God. They’re called to be saints, holy ones set apart for him.
Wes
What vision does Paul have of the universal church in verse 2? Why do you think Paul mentions their place together with the universal church in this greeting?
Andy
Yeah. So ,we’ve got two aspects of the church, a local church which has an address like the church at Corinth, et cetera, or the church at Ephesus or et cetera. And then you’ve got that universal church, which is the body of Christ, the mystical union of all people who have ever been born again. So, from the moment that you are born again, forever you are a member of the body of Christ, spiritual body of Christ. Elect people who have not yet been converted, are not yet members of the body of Christ, though they will be someday. So, you have to have been decisively born again by the power of the Spirit, and once you do, you become a part of the body of Christ.
So, it’s important for us as Christians to be aware of that doctrine and to be members of both, that we are members of a local church, and that we are also as Christians, members of the body of Christ. It’s good for us as members of a local church to know that ours is not the only church in the world. There are churches all over the world that are following Jesus. We’re part of a worldwide movement of the kingdom of God, of the gospel of God, a worldwide body of Christ. And frankly, every local church is temporary. It’s like scaffolding on a building that’s under construction. It’s needed for a time for a purpose, but in heaven there’ll be no local churches, just the universal church.
“Every local church is temporary. It’s like scaffolding on a building that’s under construction. It’s needed for a time for a purpose, but in heaven there’ll be no local churches, just the universal church.”
So, he says, “I’m writing to you, to the church of God at Corinth, to those sanctified called to be saints together with all those everywhere who call on the name of the Lord Jesus, their Lord and ours.” (1Corinthians 1:2, paraphrase) So that’s that mystical union. Everyone who everywhere is calling on Jesus, they’re also sanctified and called to be saints, et cetera.
Wes
Andy, it’s so helpful for us to meditate on these greetings and actually pay attention to what’s happening because even just in the few minutes we’ve spent discussing this one, we recognize there’s much more here than simply a hello, how are you? There’s an identity that he’s trying to remind them of as the foundation for what he’ll write in the coming chapters. Paul begins this letter with this phrase, grace to you, and he ends with grace be with you. How are Paul’s letters a means of grace, both for their original audience but also for Christians today?
Andy
That’s very important, and you noted, and all the epistles have that same pattern, grace to you at the beginning and grace be with you at the end. So, it’s like you walk into the world of the epistle and receive grace from God, ongoing grace from God. Then may that grace that you have now received and have received in the past through the preaching of the gospel, now be with you as you emerge from the reading of the epistle out into your public lives. So, the idea of grace, we’re standing in grace, Romans 5 tells us. We are needing ongoing grace. So, there is a once for all grace that comes to us that results in our justification. We don’t need that grace ever again. But then there’s an ongoing river of grace that flows to us through the intercessory ministry of Jesus who ever lives to intercede for us and through the ongoing working of the Holy Spirit. There’s an energy, a power, a river of blessings that we need. We need to be continually graced by God. So, the words of all of the epistles, indeed of all scripture is grace to us. So, Paul is writing to give us generously the kindness and the gifting of God needed for our life and our godliness and for our fruitfulness. So that’s how I read grace to you, which is in all the epistles. And then grace be with you is don’t forget the things you’ve read. Don’t be like in James says, a forgetful hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. So, we need that by grace as well.
Wes
What does Paul thank God for in verses 4 through 9? And why is it so vital for church leaders to express thankfulness to God for the churches they lead, especially if their church has problems?
Andy
Well fundamentally, when Paul thanks God for the salvation of the Corinthians or the Ephesians of the Philippians or the Romans, he’s giving God ultimate credit for it. God deserves credit for their salvation. So, I thank God for the grace that was given you, Corinthians. I thank God that by his grace he saved you. So that is very, very important to realize. And one of the key statements on this ever is in Roman 6:17 where Paul says, “Thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of doctrine to which you were entrusted,” which is the gospel, keeping it simple. Romans 6:17, thank God you obeyed. So, he’s giving credit to God for the Romans obedience to the gospel there because that’s the sovereign grace of God. That’s why we believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation.
So back here in 1 Corinthians 1:1, he said, “I always thank God for you because of the grace given you in Christ Jesus. You wouldn’t be my brothers and sisters if it weren’t for God’s grace in Christ Jesus. So, I always thank God for that.” And the second part of your question, which is why is it very important for him to thank God for the Corinthians despite their incredible dysfunctionality, the fact that some were pushing back against him, questioning him, insulting him even. It just really shows a large spirit on Paul’s part to see the big picture. Yeah, we’ve got problems now temporarily, but sin is temporary in the life of a Christian. In heaven we’ll be perfectly united. I’m looking forward to that. So, I thank God for you, and we’ll work through these things. So, there’s a sense of confident leadership here. He says, “I’m very thankful for you despite the fact that you’re causing me immense grief.”
Wes
So much so that I’m going to write this letter about some specific challenges that you face. Paul expressed his thankfulness for the amazing ways the Corinthian church had been gifted with every spiritual gift. Yet as we’ll see in due time the church had so many shortcomings, problems with division, sin, false doctrine, immorality and other issues. What should this teach us about spiritual gifts?
Andy
Yeah. There’s a big distinction between being gifted by God, which is special abilities given by the Spirit of God that equip us for service to the church of God. A difference between that gifting and our own personal character, our own personal characteristics and our traits, our holiness, those are two different things. So, we’ve seen this, we have people that are gifted preachers, gifted speakers, gifted leaders, and they rise to fame and fortune even. And then they fall into immorality and being disqualified. So, there’s clearly a distinction between the giftedness and the character or the holiness of the individuals.
So yeah, the Corinthian church was gifted in every way. There was no lack. They had every gift they needed to be fully mature and fully fruitful in the pattern that God wanted them to be. They don’t lack any spiritual gift and thank God for that. So those gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, teaching, service, giving, the list goes on and on. And in 1 Corinthians 12, he lists them, all of the gifts needed are there. And I thank God for you, you don’t lack any spiritual gift, being enriched in every way by that. And those gifts are an avenue of grace. So, I thank God, but still there’s a difference between that and your character traits.
Wes
What does Paul promise to the Corinthians and really to all Christians about our eternal security? How does the faithfulness of God, not our own faithfulness, guarantee our final salvation?
Andy
Yeah. It’s vital for us to understand that. I remember years ago I was ministering to a dying woman who showed very little, if any, genuine understanding of the gospel, even the simplest milk presentation of the gospel seemed to go over head and didn’t really resonate. And then soon after I came to her hospital room to share with her, she basically went into a coma from what she never recovered, and then she died. But I remember I was told that in her high level of agitation, she was in some anguish and great distress, had terrible thrashings around and she was under so much sedation that they said, “There is no way she’s feeling physical pain. This is all mental, emotional anguish.” I thought that was very, very startling.
And it occurred to me to think, imagine if I went to visit somebody who was in their final hours, their final days on earth. And I asked that person, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?” They said, no, I need to be honest with you, pastor, I do not believe those things are true. I’ve been basically playing a charade, and now I just want to come clean and tell you that I don’t believe any of it. So, what about now? Can you believe it? No, I just, I’m being honest with you. I do not believe it and there’s nothing you can do to make me. I absolutely reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He is not my Lord and Savior.” And in the middle of that sentence, a person grabbed their chest and died of a heart attack. Would you believe that that person was a Christian? I’m not their judge, but as far as I could tell I would not believe that they died in Christ. I would think that they died outside of the gospel.
Well, the second question came to me, “How do you know you won’t be that person 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now?” Your answer to that question shows on whom you’re relying for your ultimate salvation. My answer to that question is I know that I will not be that person because of verses just like this one, “He will keep you strong to the end so that you’ll be blameless on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s judgment day. Blameless on judgment day, that’s what I want, to be blameless on that final day. He will keep me strong to the end of my life so that I will be blameless. Jude says the same thing, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before as presence blameless with great joy.”
I’m trusting in God’s sovereign grace, or again in Philippians 1, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” That’s what I’m trusting in, not because I’m such a great guy or such a great believer or so strong-minded to determine, none of that. I do believe that Satan could concoct a series of temptations that if left to work on my mind and my heart would be effective in stripping me from Christ. But Christ will not let that happen. So that’s what I’m trusting in.
Wes
What a foundation for Paul to lay for them as he’s beginning this address as he’s about to dive into dealing with one of the first issues that they’re facing in division. He’s reminding them of God’s power and their need to look to him for their salvation and their hope.
Andy
He says in verse 9, “God who has called you into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ is faithful,” meaning he’s not going to leave you. He will protect you to the end, and that’s what I’m counting on.
Wes
The rest of the verses that we’re looking at today is really Paul’s appeal for unity in Christ to the Corinthian church. How can Christians come to one mind if they’ve been earnestly disagreeing? Is it okay to agree to disagree? What’s Paul’s ultimate aim here?
Andy
All right. Paul’s ultimate aim is the same as Jesus’s ultimate aim in John 17. And in John 17, Jesus prays that all of his followers who will believe in him through that message may be one. He says to his heavenly Father, “As we are one, you and me and I in them, may they be brought to perfect unity.” So I thought, “Wow. That’s incredible.” Trinitarian unity, the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What is that? Mystically and mysteriously, may be the central mystery of Christian theology, the doctrine of the Trinity is three persons, one God. So, the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, but they’re perfectly one. There is one God and only one God, that is a mystery we’ll never fully understand.
But some of it has to do with agreeing. They are of one mind. They always think alike about everything. They’ve never disagreed. The Father, the Son and the Spirit have never disagreed about anything, even down to the tiniest detail. As they were planning all of redemptive history, they agreed about everything they came up with. So, the Father and the Son completely agree. And here’s the beautiful thing. Everything Jesus prays for he gets because he never prays outside the will of God. So, we will someday be as one, as the Father and the Son are one. And being like-minded is part of that. So therefore, any disagreements that are ever had between Christian people, even within marriage, between a Christian husband and wife, all of that is evidence of sin and will be remedied by salvation through faith in Christ, by glorification. At glorification, we will be instantaneously transformed to have the mind of Christ and use it at every moment. We will think like Christ does, just as Christ thinks like his father does.
So, we will someday be as one with each other as the Father and the Son are one and that will include completely agreeing about everything. So, what does that mean for local churches? We should strive for that. We should strive to be like-minded. He says the same in Philippians that we would be like-minded. Euodia and Syntyche were disagreeing with each other. Paul pleads with them that they be of one mind or be like-minded. Please, dear sisters agree with each other. He does the same thing here. I appeal to you, I beg you to be of one mind, to be like-minded. He’s making an appeal here that you agree with each other, that you be like-minded and there be no divisions.
So, I think this is very important in how we as plural elders of First Baptist Church do our business. On every topic we seek Trinitarian unity, and we know we don’t start there, but we think that through prayer and through making sound, biblical arguments and listening to each other and trying to understand each other’s minds and understanding the mind of God, we can through a process, get to like-mindedness, and we always seek that. So, this appeal here is important for how we do business as elders of our church. We always seek like-mindedness to agree with each other.
Wes
In verses 11 and 12, Paul talks about the factions in the Corinthian church. What are factions and why are they so damaging to a local church? Where do we see that in modern churches as well, by way of example?
Andy
All right. So, the factions go along the lines of following charismatic or powerful leaders. I follow Paul, I follow Paul, so I follow Cephas, and then some are saying I follow Christ. So you look at that and it’s like that kind of thing was well known in the Greek culture back then. There would be traveling philosophers, rhetoricians people skilled at speaking who would gain followers after them. Schools, schools of Plato, schools of Aristotle, schools of Socrates. They would have followers, an entourage, and they’d get paid. They were paid by their disciples for their philosophical schooling. So, this was a pattern that was well known long before Paul came to Corinth. So, Paul comes, and he is like, “All right. I’m going to follow him. He’s going to be my mentor, my philosophical instructor, my religious instructor.” But then long after Paul left, others came like Apollos, there’s no record as far as I know of Cephas ever being there, but maybe he was in Corinth, I don’t know, but maybe they’re aware of his writings or his influence of the church of Jews in Jerusalem. But they’re saying Cephas is Peter, I follow Peter.
So that’s very dangerous because they were hostile to one another as though I follow… He’s saying, “I follow Paul and not Apollos. I follow Apollos and not Paul. I follow Apollos and not Cephas. Well, I follow Cephas and not Paul.” And then to some degree, worst of all, “I follow Jesus, and none of you do. We are the true followers of Jesus.” That’s very divisive. Or I follow Jesus and not Paul. That’s very dangerous because he doesn’t have to listen to what Jesus’s own apostle teaches. So that is very divisive. And later in this epistle, he’s going to say all things are yours, you get us all. Every true teacher of the word, no false teachers. Now the super apostles were false teachers, but all true teachers, you get us all. You get everything Paul said, and you get everything Apollo said and you get everything Peter said. And best of all, you get everything Jesus said or did, you get us all. There’s no division in the body of Christ.
So, factions and divisions are devastating. Let me say more about this. This is the number one way that local churches break apart. It’s the number one way that mission agencies and mission teams fall apart. Sadly, even Paul and Barnabas broke apart. And as we saw in the book of Acts, factions come up and people just don’t get along with each other anymore, and it’s pretty sad. So, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is working on these factions and divisions problem in the church of Corinth.
Wes
How does Paul use the unity of Christ and his body as a strong argument against factions, against following specific leaders against other leaders?
Andy
Yeah. There must be and there is perfect unity in the body of Christ. As I said just a moment ago, that it’s in the pattern of the Trinity. There is one and only one body of Christ. So, we need to understand that. He makes that plain In Ephesians 4, “There’s one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all and one body of Christ.” All right. Now there are different members, he’s going to argue that, different spiritual gift roles, but just one body. So, Christ cannot be divided, Christ’s body cannot be divided. Imagine if your right hand fought against your left hand or your liver fought against your lungs, you would die. So, Christ cannot be divided. Christ is perfectly united, and so also his body.
Wes
What point does Paul make about his role in their baptism? And why does Paul seem to make very little about whether he baptized them or not?
Andy
All right. So, first of all, he says, was Paul crucified for you? None of us are even close to who Jesus is. Jesus is your God, your Savior, your Lord. We’re just servants. He’s going to say this very plainly. Who are we? I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. So, neither he who plants, nor he waters are anything, we’re nothing. We’re just servants of Christ. Christ is your Savior, your God. So no, I was not crucified for you, and you were not baptized into the name of Paul or into the name of Apollos or Cephas or any human agent. You are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s the significant aspect here, the infinite supremacy of Christ in the body of Christ.
“You were not baptized into the name of Paul or into the name of Apollos or Cephas or any human agent. You are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that’s the significant aspect here, the infinite supremacy of Christ in the body of Christ.”
But then concerning baptism, he says, “Look, fundamentally water baptism is just an outwardly visible symbol, and it doesn’t save you.” So, this is a very important section here against a doctrine known as baptismal regeneration – the idea that you have to be water baptized in order to be saved. That is refuted by this seeming to some degree disparagement of baptism. Paul was like, “I can’t really remember who I baptized.” First of all, you weren’t baptized into my name, and I didn’t baptize many of you. I’m thankful that I didn’t baptize any of you so you wouldn’t be confused. Others came along and did the actual water baptism. So, water baptism is important. Jesus said it in the Great Commission, “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit.” So, it is important, but it doesn’t save you. So, Paul’s saying, it doesn’t really matter who I baptize or who did the baptism because we are not the point. The point is Christ and faith in Christ.
Wes
Now, Andy parenthetical statements are always interesting in scripture. This one particularly. Paul’s writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here, and he says he doesn’t remember whether or not he baptized anyone else. What does this teach us about the inspiration of a writer of scripture?
Andy
Yeah. I mean, Paul’s very human here and it’s not important under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for him to remember who he baptized. As a matter of fact, it seems like when he began this paragraph, he had forgotten that he had baptized the household of Stephanas, and while he’s writing it, the Holy Spirit reminded him, but no one else. He says, “I don’t remember if there’s anybody.” There probably were some other people, but the Holy Spirit is not bringing it to mind. Why? Because he’s made the point. The point is, God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not in words of human wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its power. This is a very important, this is the silver bullet along with the thief on the cross. Those two are silver bullets on the issue of baptismal regeneration.
If water baptism were essential to our salvation as the Church of Christ teaches some of them, like some of them are extreme cults, some of them are basically baptistic denomination, but some aspects of the Church of Christ, the Campbell movement, teaches baptismal regeneration. You have to be water baptized in order to be saved. Well, if that’s true, then why would Paul make such a foolish and misleading statement saying, “For God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” So, if water baptism is essential, he would never have made such a statement. So clearly water baptism is not essential, along with a thief in the cross who was never water baptized and yet he’s with Christ in paradise.
Wes
What does Paul mean with these final words of the verses that we’re looking at today when he says that using words of eloquent wisdom would empty the cross of its power?
Andy
Right. So, I think this goes back to the Greek culture and their love for philosophy and their love for rhetoric. And there were schools of rhetoric whereby you would learn how to begin an address, how to make certain points. There were certain tricks of the trade. Paul didn’t have them. So, when he was at Mars Hill at the Areopagus, he clearly wasn’t a polished philosopher or a polished rhetorician, speaker. But Paul says, I’m glad because if that were necessary for me to make the case of Christ crucified and resurrected, then your faith would rest on polished presentations of rhetoric and philosophy. But it doesn’t. It rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the Spirit’s testimony to that in a simple way, in a milk sort of way, so that all you need to do is believe the simple message of Christ crucified and you will be saved. If on the other hand, we needed polished rhetoric and skillful human philosophizing, your faith would rest on those human capabilities. But God has destroyed that, and we’ll get to the rest of that in the rest of this chapter, 1 Corinthians 1.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us today on these verses that we’ve been looking at?
Andy
Now it’s been exciting to begin this study. We are halfway through the first chapter. It’s exciting, and we’ve already seen some of the dysfunctionality of the Corinthian church with the factions and divisions is going to deal with it for three chapters. So, we are warned in local churches to be forgiving, to be gracious, to be like-minded, to try to understand what a brother or sister is saying and what elements of truth there might be in it. And realize there are elements of truth in what we have to say, so we should share that too. But there’s also elements of error all around, and so we’re humbled, and we’re brought together. So, to be very, very careful against factions and divisions and all that, but bigger picture to see the beautiful grace of God in our salvation, that it’s only by God’s grace that we’re Christians at all.
Wes
Well, this has been episode one in our 1 Corinthians Bible study podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 2, entitled Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God, where we’ll discuss 1Corinthians 1:18-31. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys Podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
