This week I am going to change things up, and going to temporarily move out of basic theology and into a Biblical message out of 1 Corinthians.
As you may have already figured it out I love studying the Bible. I like to present what truths the Bible has and hopefully present it in a way that is understood in today’s day and age. I especially love studying the writings of the apostle Paul. Even though his words were written two thousand years ago, they have a practical application for us today. It is just way too easy to get caught up with whatever is going on around us no matter what cultural background you are from, or which country you are reading this from as these blog messages goes beyond any one country borders. We are all living in a drama filled environment and we all tend to feel out drama is the most dramatic and we get sucked into the drama and end up just not a viewer of it but an actual participant and feeding into that environment.
But then again, the words that Paul wrote so long ago just could never apply to us today, right? The world is so much more complicated and more sophisticated then it was back then. What is happening today in the life of a Christian could not be in any way the same as to what was happening in the life of a Christian back then when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. But then again, with some background information you may not feel that way anymore.
Paul received information causing his need to write to this church, a church that he planted a few years earlier. Paul learned that the church polarized by serious divisions among its members as they attempted to locate wisdom and leadership that would enable them to develop appropriate standards for Christian conduct and spiritual maturity. The situation was complicated by their high regards to eloquent speech. Differences in eloquence between teachers were taken as different degrees of inspiration, and this had led to painful and divisive comparisons. This was a church that should have been more mature in its spiritual development but was actually immature. The members of this church had begun to place improper value on worldly wisdom.
10Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lodi Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made completing the same mind and in the same judgement. 11For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” one “I am of Apollo,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I am of Christ.” 13Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 13
Starting here in verse 10 Paul is being both respectful and forceful. He calls his readers brethren to remind them they are a family. Paul also revealed the intensity of his concern by appealing to his readers “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul reminded them that the authority of Christ himself stood behind these words.
The appeal here divides into three parts. He asked the Corinthians to agree with one another, to eliminate divisions and to be perfectly united in mind and thought. Paul did not desire unity at the expense of truth. Paul himself stood against others in the church when the central truths of the gospel were at stake. Paul also did not mean that unity implied uniformity on all matters. As he pointed out in several places, there is much room for disagreement and diverse opinions of secondary issue in the Christian church (Romans 14:1-14, 2 Corinthians 8:10).
Now in verse 11, Paul revealed the source of his concern for the unity of the Corinthian believers, whom he again called “brethren” Paul learned that there were quarrels within the church.
Here in verse 12, Paul goes right to the heart of those quarrels: the church had divided into personality factions. Paul identified four factious loyalties in the church at Corinth. First, some declared themselves as followers of Paul. As much as this may have fed into his ego, he rejected it as inappropriate. Second some followed Appollo, a teacher who came to Corinth after Paul (Acts 18:24 – 19:1). Third, others followed Cephas (the apostle Peter) believing he had the greatest insight of all.
Finally, one group claimed to follow Christ. Although this claim sounds positive on the surface, it is likely that Paul included this group in his list because even they thought themselves superior to others because they refused to identify with a human leader. Boasting in Christ would have been fine, but boasting in oneself for following Christ was sin (1 Corinthians 1:29 -30, 4:7). All of these groups or individuals took pride in the fact that they followed one leader or another.
In verse 13 the apostle responded to the strife within the church by asking three questions to which a negative response was expected. First, he asked, “Is Christ divided?” The kind of divisions in the Corinthian church could be justified only if Christ’s own resurrected body had been dismembered. Paul described the church as the body of Christ, the community of those joined to him and to one another by faith (Romans 12:3 – 5, Ephesians 3:6). If Jesus had been dismembered after his resurrection, the divisions within the church might have been theoretically acceptable. Since Jesus remained whole, the church needed to do so as well.
Second, because some members identified themselves as followers of Paul, Paul asks if he himself had been crucified for the believers in Corinth. By asking this question, he made it clear that to identify oneself as a follower of Paul was to insult the saving work of Jesus.
Third, Paul asked if the Corinthians had been baptized into the name of Paul. The New Testament makes it plain that Christian baptism was performed in the name of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19). Nowhere in the New Testament were believers baptized in the name of an apostle or church leader.
22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:22 – 25
In this section, Paul is pointing out particular ways in which the world’s wisdom has been failed by the preaching of Christ. First, he describes the standards of humans wisdom which the Jews and Gentiles endorsed: Jews demanded miraculous signs. The gospels record that the Jews repeatedly requested signs from Jesus to prove he was from God (Matthew 12:38 – 39, John 2:18, 6:30). Yet even the miracles he performed did not satisfy them because he would not perform at their bidding.
Paul also pointed out that Greeks look for wisdom. Many Corinthians were Greek, and they did not demand miracles to corroborate the gospel. Instead they exalted the standards of their pagan philosophies and poets.
Verse 23 is a contrast to the standards of judgement used by the Jews and Greeks, the apostle said he simply preached Christ crucified. Paul constantly used the word cross to represent the redemptive work of Jesus. The gospel of the cross was a stumbling block to the Jewish listeners and foolishness to Gentiles.
The Jews understood the cross of Jesus as a demonstration that Jesus was cursed, not blessed as they expected the Messiah to be. Many Gentiles could hardly have imagined of a more ridiculous religion than one that proclaimed salvation through the death of one man on a Roman cross. A God who could not overcome his human enemies and who died at their hands like a common thief was not a God one should reasonably trust for salvation.
Continuing in verse 24 was that although most Jews and Gentiles rejected the gospel because it did not meet their standards of judgement, one group of people joyfully accepted the gospel of the cross: Those whom God had called to himself by the power of his spirit. When God’s grace touched their lives, their old standards of judgement fell away. They saw with new eyes and understood that the gospel of the crucified Christ was the power of God that could rescue them from the dominion of sin and from divine judgement.
Paul closed this paragraph by explaining how a person could accept the way of salvation in Christ as wise when most people consider it foolish. Believers have come to recognize something about the gospel of the crucified Christ: It is wiser than man’s wisdom. In other words, the message of Jesus peers into reality in ways that far exceed any human wisdom.
Moreover, the gospel is stronger than man’s strength. People cannot rescue themselves from bondage to sin or its punishment by their own power. Human wisdom is unable to conquer “The wages of sin” (Romans 6:23), that is death. The good news of Christ rescues and delivers. It overcomes even death (2 Timothy 1:10). Those who believe the gospel know the reality of its wisdom and power. For this reason, they exalt nothing above Christ and his saving work.
9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of this world. 11But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one. 12For what I have to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES. 1 Corinthians 5:9 – 13
In this section, Paul clarified and reaffirmed a point made in an earlier letter: Christians should not associate with grossly sinful people in the church, but believers should not disassociate from all sinful people. This is a point of instruction that may have been easily misunderstood. He referred to a previous letter in which he had writer that believers were not to be associated with sexually immoral people. This instruction could easily be misunderstood (or purposefully twisted) to mean that believers should withdraw entirely from all immoral people. Paul ridiculed this misunderstanding of his earlier words by noting that avoiding all immoral people can only happen if Christians leave this world.
Since Christians must minister to the world, they must not separate themselves from all who are greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. These people are the church’s mission field.
Possibly, those in Corinth who opposed Paul used this misunderstanding to undermine Paul’s ministry and authority. They may have suggested that Paul called Christians to stay away from all sinners and on that basis discounted all of his teachings. Paul treated the Corinthians harshly for this misunderstanding for three reasons: It stemmed from a wrong reading of his prior letter; it had led to wrongful pride and corruption in the church; and it allowed the church’s toleration of the immoral person within the church.
In verse 11, Paul explained that he did not have in mind the sexually immoral people of this world (i.e. unbelievers), but anyone who calls himself a brother (people in the church). Such people may not be truly believers, even though they claim to be. If they fail to give evidence of new life in Christ, there may be sufficient reason to doubt their salvation. To protect the church from the corrupting influence of these so-called brothers, followers of Christ must not even eat with anyone in the church who is immoral or greedy, an idolater…slanderer…drunkard or a swindler.
Paul concluded in verses 12 and 13 that he and the Corinthians had no right to judge those outside the church. Such people make no pretense of being Christians, and God alone will judge those. Even so, the church must judge those inside the church. Those in the church submit themselves to the authority of the body of Christ. Church discipline is a difficult and troubling process, and many churches try to avoid it. Yet, the church must take action when its members flagrantly violate the ways of Christ. Consequently, as much as the Corinthian church did not want to take action, they had to expel the wicked man.
The phrase expel the wicked man from among you alludes to the legal language of Deuteronomy (Deut 17:7, 19:19, 24:7). In all these occurrences of the phrase, the wicked are “expelled” or “purged” by being executed (Deuteronomy 21:21). In the Old Testament Israel, God ordained execution as the means by which the nation was to purge itself of severe wickedness.
Paul applied these standards of holiness to the church, God’s New testament people, but he applied the law differently by recommending excommunication rather than execution. Nevertheless, the fact that he used language typical of death sentences from the Old Testament reflects that he considered excommunication in the New Testament age to be quite serious. This form of church discipline should be reserved for the worst of circumstances.
So how are we, as Christians, supposed to respond when we are told that the Bible tells us that we are not to be judging others. This is a half-truth. Jesus command not to judge others just might be the most widely quoted of his sayings, even though it is almost always quoted in complete disregard of its context. For example, when Jesus said “Do not judge, or you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Many people use this verse to silence their critics, interpreting Jesus’ meaning as “You do not have the right to tell me I am wrong”. Taken in isolation, Jesus’ command “Do not judge” does seem to include all negative assessments, however, there is more to this passage than those three words.
Immediately after Jesus says “Do not judge,” He says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw pearls to pigs (Matthew 7:6). A little later in this sermon (Sermon on the Mount), He says, “Watch out for the false prophets…by their fruits you will recognize them (Matthew 7:15 – 16). How are we to discern who are the “dogs” and “pigs” and “false prophets” unless you have the ability to make a judgement call on doctrine and deeds?
Anything that contradicts the truth is a lie. To call anything a lie is to pass judgement. To call adultery and murder a sin is also to pass judgement, but it is also to agree with God. When Jesus said not to judge others, He did not mean that no one can identify sin for what it is, based on God’s definition of sin.
Elsewhere, Jesus gives a direct command to judge: “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24). Here we have a clue to the right type of judgement verses the wrong type. Taking this verse and some others, we can put together a description of the sinful type of judgement.
Superficial judgement is wrong. Passing judgement on someone based solely on appearances is sinful (John 7:24).
Hypocritical judgment is wrong. Jesus’ command not to judge others in Matthew 7:1 is preceded by comparisons to hypocrites (Matthew 6:2, 6:5, 6:16) and followed by a warning against hypocrisy (Matthew 7:3 – 5). When we point out the sin of others while we ourselves commit the same sin, we condemn ourselves (Romans 2:1).
Harsh, unforgiving judgement is wrong. We are “always to be gentle toward everyone” (Titus 3:2). It is the merciful who will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7), and as Jesus warned, “In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2).
Self-righteous judgement is wrong. We are called to humility, and “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6).
Untrue judgement is wrong. The Bible clearly forbids bearing false witness (Proverbs 19:5). “Slander no one” (Titus 3:2).
Christians are often accused of “judging” or intolerance when they speak out against sin. Opposing sin is not wrong! John the Baptist incurred the ire of Herodias when he spoke out against her adultery with Herod (Mark 6:18 – 19). She eventually silences John, but she could not silence the truth (Isaiah 40:8).
Believers are warned against judging others unfairly or unrighteous, but Jesus commends “right judgement” (John 7:24). We are to be discerning (Colossians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:21). We are to preach the whole counsel of God, including the Bible’s teaching on sin (Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 4:2). We are to gently confront erring brothers and sisters in Christ (Galatians 6:1). We are to practice church discipline (Matthew 18:15 – 17). We are to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
Together we can do our part in building the kingdom of God when we follow these words on proper judgement. We are to be attracting the unbelievers towards God, not away.