Beloved, I am glad to share today the above theme from 1 Co1. 1, 2 and following. Indeed, the First Epistle to the Corinthians contains the most detailed indications concerning the inner order and collective walking of the assembly of God under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. This is why the responsibility of believers is so often called upon (for example, by the “Don’t you know…?”) In the first part of this epistle (1 Co 1-9), the church is considered a building, a temple of God, holy (1 Co 3:9-17). The divine order must characterize this house of God. For this reason, man’s responsibility in construction (1 Co 3), as well as order and discipline in the assembly (1 Co 5) are also dealt with.
In the second part, from 1 Co 10, it is more about the assembly of God seen as the body of Christ (1 Co 10:17; 12:12 to 13:27). The main thought is then that of unity. The diversity of members and their functions does not form an obstacle to this unity, but rather constitutes a kind of living and lasting polarity. Thus, a large congregation had been formed in Corinth by Paul’s ministry (Act. 18:10 ac 18:7-10). And this one, as faithful pastor as zealous evangelist, continues to watch over her with solicitude (comp. 2 Co 11:23-28). He writes from Ephesus this first letter which is also addressed to “all those who in every place invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. If we are part of it, it is therefore well written for us.
Paul received unfortunate news from Corinth. Various disorders had appeared in this assembly. But before addressing these painful subjects, he reminds these believers of their spiritual riches, attributing them to the grace of God. To measure our responsibility and take our Christian life more seriously, let us sometimes try to count our priceless privileges. And let us know how to thank the Lord for this as the apostle does here.
The first reproach addressed to the assembly of Corinth concerns their discord, a tendency that sometimes also awaits us! It followed man (Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ as a doctor more excellent than others: John 3:1-3), instead of being united in the communion of “Jesus Christ, our Lord,” the Son of God. May this always be our part (1 John 1:1-4)!
For “we who obtain salvation,” the word of the cross is the power of God. But for those who do not have the divine life, it is only madness. All that the cross means: the death of a righteous man demanded by the righteousness of God, the gratuitous forgiveness for sinners, the setting aside of the natural man, so many truths that offend human reason. On the contrary, miracles and spectacular works are presented, a noble ideal accompanied by a morality that requires effort… at the right time, this is the kind of religion that does not shock anyone! Well, all the sages, scribes, reasoners, in short the strong minds of this century… and of all the centuries, verse 18 places them under a common and frightening designation: “those who perish.”
It is a fact that among the Redeemed of the Lord there are few wise, powerful, noble. For it is more difficult for them to become “like little children” (Mat 18:1-6; Mt 11:25-30). To glorify Himself, God chooses what is weak, vile, despised, and such are Christians according to the esteem of the world. But never mind their own value since they are in Christ and He is on their behalf: power… wisdom… and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption (vs. 24:30).
If it had been invoked only at the local assembly in Corinth, this fact could be invoked to evade the rules and commandments it gives us, or to not strictly abide by them. Now we see that this epistle is sent not only to the Christians of Corinth, but to “all those who in every place invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and their Lord and ours.” There is no limitation of place, person or time. All Christians who recognize the authority of Jesus Christ are included. We can therefore say that this epistle is, in a very special way, addressed to each of us and to all of us. You will not find any other whose address is so general. Well! Is it not surprising that the prescriptions of this epistle are more violated than all the others in professing Christendom; and, let us note, it is here that the most positive commandments of the entire New Testament are given to the Church.
Let us first point out the traps into which the Corinthian Saints had fallen. In one form or another, we only meet them too often among us. And yet, more educated than the Corinthians, who did not yet possess all of God’s thought in the written Word, we are more guilty than they are of getting caught up in it. In painting what was missing from the Corinthian assembly, we are therefore painting ourselves in many ways.
But if we consider the use that the Corinthians made of such multiple gifts, we discover, alas! that they used it to satisfy their spiritual pride, exalting themselves. How many times the apostle repeats to them, “You are swollen with pride!” Will we throw the stone at them? No, of course not. We Christians today are more inexcusable than they are; as soon as we have received from the Lord some gift of grace, we have nothing more urgent than to assert it, when our extreme poverty, compared to the “wealth” of the Corinthians, should keep us in deep humiliation.
The Corinthians were guilty of a second very serious fault. Among them there were dissensions and divisions. Gathered around the name of Christ, that is, as representing the unity of his body, they were separated by divergent opinions (vs. 10-12). But don’t we see them among Christians today? Is Christ divided? In fact, an enlightened Christian must not have an opinion of his own. God does not allow His children to have different opinions. That they exist among Christians is indisputable, for it corresponds to sinful human nature, but not to the new nature and Spirit of God.
The Corinthians had not grasped this crucial truth. They were redeemed Christians, saved, but carnal Christians. They had not realized this side of the cross of Christ; they had not understood that all the wisdom of the world, all the gifts of natural man had no value whatsoever in the things of God. The one who has achieved this is freed, does not swell, no longer has confidence in himself. It is made of the self; one no longer trusts oneself in one’s power and one has placed one’s trust in God’s weakness and folly: this is true power and true wisdom.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Divine call to repentance
Jer 35:15 I sent you all my servants, the prophets, I sent them in the morning, to tell you: Come back each of your evil ways, amend your actions, do not go after other gods to serve them, and you will remain in the land I have given to you and your fathers. But you didn’t listen, you didn’t listen to me. Ez 33:11 Tell them: I am alive!” said the Lord, the Lord, what I desire is not for the wicked to die, but for him to change his conduct and live. Come back, come back from your wrong way; and why would you die, house of Israel? Os 6:1 Come, let us return to the Lord! For he has torn apart, but he will heal us; He has struck, but he will bandage our wounds. Mt 22:32 Am I the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not God of the dead, but of the living. 2 Co 5:20 We therefore act as ambassadors for Christ, as if God were exhorting through us; we beseech you in the name of Christ: Be reconciled to God! Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house, have dinner with him, and he with me.
- Life of prayer, continual prayer
Ps 5:4 Eternal! in the morning you hear my voice; In the morning I turn to you, and I look. Ps 119:147 I preempt the dawn and cry out; I hope in your promises. Za 8:21 The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, Let us implore the Lord and seek the Lord of hosts! We’ll go too! Lk 2:37 Remaining a widow, and aged eighty-four, she did not leave the temple, and she served God night and day in fasting and prayer. Acts 10:2 This man was pious and feared God, with his whole house; he gave many alms to the people, and prayed to God continuously. Acts 16:25 In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas prayed and sang god’s praises, and the prisoners heard them. 1 Thess 3:10 Night and day, we pray with extreme zeal to allow us to see you, and to complete what is missing from your faith. 1 Tim 5:5 The one who is truly widowed, and who has remained in isolation, puts her hope in God and perseveres night and day in supplications and prayers.
- Grace of Christ
-Manifested in his childhood Lk 2:40 Now, the child grew and strengthened. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was upon him.
-Manifested in his renunciation of himself 2 Co 8:9 Now, the child grew and strengthened. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s grace was upon him.
-Sufficient for all the needs of man 2 Co 12:9 and he said to me: My grace is enough for you, for my power is fulfilled in weakness. I will therefore boast much more willingly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
-Granted to sinners 1 Tim 1:12-13 I give thanks to him who strengthened me, to Jesus Christ our Lord, for what he deemed me faithful, 13 by establishing me in the ministry, I who was previously a blasphemer, a persecutor, a violent man. But I obtained mercy, because I acted out of ignorance, in unbelief;
-Source of all power 2 Tim 2:1 You, my child, strengthen yourselves in the grace that is in Jesus Christ. Rev 22:21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all!
- Lowering of oneself, of the just
Gen 18:27 Abraham resumed, and said, Behold, I dared to speak to the Lord, I who am but powder and ash. Ex 3:11 Moses said to God: Who am I, to go to Pharaoh, and to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Ex 4:10 Moses said to the Lord: Ah! Lord, I am not a man who has an easy word, and it is neither yesterday nor the day before yesterday, nor even since you speak to your servant; for my mouth and tongue are embarrassed. 1 S 9:21 Saul answered: Am I not Benjamite, of one of the smallest tribes of Israel? and is not my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why, then, do you talk to me like this? Pr 30.2 Certainly, I am more stupid than anyone, and I do not have the intelligence of a man; Mk 1:7 He preached, saying: He comes after me the one who is more powerful than me, and I am not worthy to untie, by bending down, the strap of his shoes. 1 Co 15:9 for I am the least of the apostles, I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I have persecuted the Church of God.
From all of the above, we note that the Apostle first presented God’s cross, weakness, and folly, which happens to be His wisdom and power to salvation. Second, it presents the objects that God had in mind in this work. Did he take sages, intelligent, nobles? Ah, how it belittled the claims of the Corinthians! He says, “Consider your call brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many nobles… But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame wise men; and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong things; and God has chosen the vile things of the world, and those that are despised, and those that are not, to cancel out those that are; so that no flesh shall glorify himself before God.” All the things the Corinthians claimed were of no value to God. They tended to occupy an honorable place among the intelligent of this century, and thus to glorify themselves, while in the work done for them, God gave them no role and claimed all the glory for “the Lord.” From degree to degree, he lowers them, in their esteem, to the rank of “things that are not.” Our prayers support you all in your efforts to walk according to God’s wisdom.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on “the character and purpose of Paul’s preaching, the mystery of God, and God’s wisdom.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.