1 Corinthians Study - Division in the Church

A Church Divided Over Leaders (1:10-17)

• Why were they divided?
  • One possibility - teachers and philosophers wanted to share their “wisdom”.
  • Another - we naturally follow other people
    • Gravitate to those we better identity with; whose ministry we understand
    • Begin following the messenger instead of the message
    • Leads to competition among the “leaders”
• The people of Chloe’s house were courageous
  • They openly called out the issue of division in the church to Paul and weren’t afraid of the attribution to them.
  • Paul founded the church and Apollos followed him.  Peter may have never been to Corinth.
  • Each had a different approach to their ministry of the Word.  However, they are “co-workers in God’s service” (1 Cor 3:9a)
• Baptism in that day was costly.
   
  • The sinner who became a believer and was baptized cut themselves off from their old life; often rejected by their family and friends.
  • It was a BIG life event that changed the trajectory of their lives.
  • Paul isn’t diminishing this fact but putting it into perspective.
  • It is wrong to use any man’s name with your baptism other than Jesus Christ.
  • To do so creates divisions.
  • Jesus did not baptize (John 4:1-2).  Could creating divisions be why?

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom (1:18-25)

• This sections contrasts God’s Word with man’s wisdom
   
  • Jews
    • Emphasized miraculous signs
    • They were looking for a conqueror to come in power and might to save them 
    • Saw the cross as weak.
    • Couldn’t reconcile the old testament passages that describe the Messiah must suffer and die.
    • The cross is a sign of power, “and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:25b)
  • Greeks
    • Emphasized wisdom
    • Saw no wisdom in the cross; saw the cross as foolish from a human point of view.
    • Not seeing it from God’s point of view as His great plan of salvation.
    • Paul asks the experts, teachers, and philosophers if in their studies have come to have a relationship with God.
      • The answer is no.
    • Yet God was pleased to save through the foolishness of what was being preached.  “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,” (1 Cor 1:25a)
  • Those who believe experience the power and wisdom of the cross
    • Those whom God has called, and who responded to the calling by faith, see that Christ of the cross is God’s power and wisdom.
    • “We are called into fellowship because of our union with Jesus Christ; He died for us; we were baptized in His name; we are identified with His cross.” (Wiersbe Bible Commentary)
    • This is the lens through which we should determine how we are to live and worship on earth.