1st Corinthians 1:4-31
When my son was a baby, he hated eating green peas. He became an expert at recognizing the baby food jar and the peas on the spoon. He would clamp his mouth shut and turn his head well before any peas got anywhere near him. One way I could get him to finally open his mouth for the peas was to front load the spoon with fruit. He would taste the fruit at the tip of the spoon and then open wide and get a mouthful of healthy green peas. The apostle Paul seems to be using a similar tactic to help the Corinthians receive a healthy dose of instruction and correction.
In verses 4-9 of the 1st chapter (aka, the tip of the spoon) Paul sings the praises of the Corinthian church’s progress since they became believers. He thanks God for His grace toward them as God enriched them spiritually as they teach the Gospel through their elegant words and knowledge, verse 5. He rejoices that they have every spiritual gift they need, verse 7. Also, Paul points out that God will keep them to the end when Christ returns and has invited them into partnership with Jesus Christ, verse 9.
The Corinthians began to get the rest of the spoon (the green peas) in verse 10 when he begins to address the conflicts that are occurring among believers there. The Corinthians have been divided by preference into conflicting factions in the church. Paul points out no doctrinal point of disagreement. Nor does he correct any wrong teaching from any of these factions. The ministerial disagreements the Corinthians have seem to be rooted more in style of delivery, emphasis or personality, but not content.
After establishing that he was not gathering disciples to himself by pointing out that he did not baptize many of the believers, Paul immediately launches into an attack on worldly wisdom, verses 18 through 25. Being a cosmopolitan hub of Greek culture, the people of Corinth would have naturally been attracted to sophisticated speakers in the style of the great Greek philosophical orators. Paul’s blistering attack on worldly wisdom, philosophy and those who are skilled at it implies that the main cause of the Corinthians division was measuring spiritual teaching by the standards of Greek philosophy and academic culture.
Paul points out four conflicting factions in Corinth. Some followed Apollos, some followed Paul, some followed Peter and some claimed to follow only Christ. Apollos, who was likely with him when Paul wrote 1st Corinthians, was well versed in the scriptures and eloquent, Acts 18:24. Paul was powerful in the spirit and in preaching but not known as an eloquent orator, Acts 17:18. Peter would have represented the traditional approach through the ancient Jewish conventions. Jesus would represent for some uncompromising authentic faith not completely submitting to any other human authority.
These four factions are the fractures that occurred along the fault lines of Greek influence in the Corinthian church. Although neither Paul, Apollos, Peter or Jesus represented divisions in ministry the believers at Corinth created these divisions according to their own preferences as a reaction to Greek rationalism. These four factions either embraced or rejected rationalism according to their personal philosophical preferences.
Paul addresses the root problem that led to the divisions by explaining that God’s wisdom is separate from and superior to any worldly wisdom. He explains that the uniting message for the Church is Christ crucified and Christ crucified is foolishness to those who adhere to worldly wisdom. The wisdom of this world is of no consequence compared to the power of God displayed through the simple message of the crucified savior. Therefore, those who would attempt to make the Christian faith only a philosophical exercise as represented by these four factions have missed the point. The gospel is an event not a philosophy. The Crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Christ Jesus is the event on which all Christian faith depends. Any acceptance or rejection of a cultural philosophical or religious preference is secondary and unimportant.
We still see this type of division in the church today. Some of us, like the followers of Apollos, prefer ministry that is closely aligned with the academic western tradition. Some of us, like the followers of Paul, prefer ministry that emphasizes the spiritual over and above all other consideration. Some of us, like the followers of Peter, are rooted in a religious tradition. Some of us, like those who claim to follow Christ exclusively, live on the outskirts of Christian community and authority. All of these approaches deemphasize the life changing event of the crucifixion that exist above our personal perceptions and philosophy, and seeks instead to express Christian ministry as a function of our personal response to our culture.
As was the case in Corinth our modern divisions grow out of our personal preferences as we interact with the wisdom of our culture and have no root in biblical truth or authentic Christian tradition. As Paul urges the Corinthians to be of one mind so should we not allow ourselves to be divided along culturally fueled preferences.