1:18

Paul divides humanity into two camps: those who are being saved and those who are perishing. The message of the cross, that is, that God reconciled us to Him by the actual, physical crucifixion of Jesus, is a welcome truth to those whom God has called. When God works on someone's heart by His Spirit, convincing them, calling them to Himself, the gospel of Jesus rings true to them. It is revealed to that person that the cross of Christ was necessary and the way to salvation.

But to those who are perishing in their sins, on their way to being sealed in that death forever, the cross of Christ is foolishness. It doesn't make sense to them. How could the brutal execution of someone 2,000 years ago be relevant for today, they argue. If Jesus was a prophet and, more than that, God's Son, then why would God allow His Son to be killed? Millions of Muslims can't believe that Jesus is God's Son for this very reason. (The religion of Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross, but Judas or someone else was substituted for him).

There must be a work of God in someone's heart before that person can believe in the central message of Christianity: that Jesus the Messiah died on the cross as a sin offering for you and me, and He rose again from the dead to conquer death and prove His Messiahship. That's why prayer for others is so important. It takes God to reveal the truth about the cross to others. Logical arguments won't do it. Good reasoning won't do it. (Although both of these can be aids to faith). God must do it.

We must never forget that the cross of Christ, to the believer, is power. Power to be forgiven of our sins. Power to set us free from those sins ("Anyone who has died [with Christ] has been set free from sin - Romans 6:7). The power of being reconciled and having a real relationship with God. The power of having turned aside God's wrath toward us for our sins.

The cross shows power by revealing that we must "die" to our old, selfish, sinful nature on a daily basis and do what God wants us to do instead. That is the means by which we become more like Christ.

The cross is power by enabling us to release our sins and our messed-up feelings to God. It is a place we can go, in prayer, to let those things go up to Christ and out of us. Leanne Payne's works taught me about this, and I would say that most Christians don't know anything about it. But it is a way that our horrible pains and feelings can be lifted up to God and not destructively turned inward or taken out on others.

Never forget that the cross is a source of power from God.

1:17

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel"

Is baptism important? Of course it is (Romans 6 talks about baptism), and Paul certainly did baptize people. But it seems that the Corinthians were making a big deal about the person who baptized them, whether it was Paul or someone else. The real point is that they were baptized into Christ, not who baptized them. Their focus was getting off of Jesus. They were giving too much importance to their human teachers. (We who are teachers in the church are not special Christians, but we're servants given a responsibility to build up the church.)

Paul was an apostle (meaning "one who is sent") and here he reminds the Corinthians that he was sent by Christ. This should tell them that God has given him authority and responsibility, and they should listen to him as a leader who's been appointed by Jesus.

Paul was a very wise man. He knew exactly what God had appointed him to do, and what he was not appointed to do. Even though baptism is important, Paul's primary mission was to preach the gospel. He did not get carried away with this good project and that good project, and therefore lose his focus. He was totally focused on his goal of preaching.

It's hard, in this world of options, many of them good, to be focused on what God has called us to do, letting the rest fall into second (or third or fourth) place.

The second part of this verse ("not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power") also starts a new section of Paul's letter. He is going to discuss how the gospel of Jesus, focused on the cross, goes against human wisdom and what the world thinks is good. He is also going to reiterate that he was not dependent on perfect public speaking or techniques, but on the Holy Spirit. This is a very important part of 1 Corinthians, and we'll be spending some time talking about it.

1:13-16

Paul, who definitely knows sarcasm, asks "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Then he is thankful that he didn't baptize many people, so no one could claim that they were "baptized into Paul".

So Paul, in order to address this issue of prideful differences in opinion, brings the Corinthians' focus back to Christ. We are not to be proud about denominations or churches or our leaders, but to remember that we are one body in Christ.

Today we might be proud of where we go to church. Or we might be proud of being part of a certain denomination.

But the great truth is that we are a part of Jesus' Body, that we all belong to Him. The more we know Him, the more we see that that truth is all that matters. Denominations are a temporary thing, individual churches are temporary groups. But the Body of Christ is forever.

Let's not be proud of our particular doctrine or denomination or the leader we like to listen to on the radio, as if those things make us "extra special Christians." No, being a Christian - someone who belongs to Christ - is definitely good enough.

1:10-12

What? Christians fight?

Sadly, yes.

Paul appealed to the Corinthians in verse 10 to agree with one another, literally to "say the same thing" as one another, so that there would be no divisions in the church. That word, divisions, is the Greek word "skisma" from which we obviously get the word schism, although Gordon Fee says that this does not mean schism "in the sense of a 'party' or a 'faction'" (p. 54). The word speaks of a rupture or a tear (not a "tear" from your eye but a "tear" as in a rip of fabric).

What kind of divisions were there in the church at Corinth?

Fee argues that there were not totally different parties or groups in the church. But, he says, it seems that there were major differences in opinion among the Corinthians. He says "Thus Paul does not refer to distinctly formed groups or "parties" here, but to divided opinions over their various leaders, which...have developed into jealousy and quarrels" (p. 54).

Why were the Corinthians divided over opinions about their leaders? Probably it was pride. The Corinthians were taking pride in their wisdom and knowledge. Remember that the Greek culture, where Corinth was, was all about having wisdom and knowledge. Greeks were very proud of their intelligence, their wisdom, their philosophy (which, after all, means "love of wisdom").

In verse 11 we find out that it was people from "Chloe's household" (we don't know who she was) who informed Paul that the Corinthian church was having these quarrels.

In verse 12 we learn the nature of these quarrels: the Christians were arguing over which teacher to follow. There was definitely pride involved in this. Some were saying "I follow Paul," others were saying "I follow Apollos," still others "followed Cephas" (Cephas is Peter). The Corinthians were trying to distinguish themselves by associating with a famous teacher. "Well, I am wise because I follow Peter, who understands Christ the best," one Corinthian might say. Another might retort, "No, actually I'm smarter than you because I follow Apollos, the greatest speaker and preacher." See how ugly this is?

Next time we'll talk about the relevance of this passage for today. Now that the holidays are over, I hope to make sure to post 2-3 new ones per week.

1:9 - Fellowship with God

Paul says that God is faithful. He has called us into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

This word, translated fellowship, is "koinonia". It's a great word that means "association, communion, fellowship, close relationship" and, as the Bauer Lexicon points out, it is often used as an expression for the closest human relationship, marriage.

We are called into this type of relationship with God through Jesus. What a privilege! It is almost unthinkable that God loves us so much that He wants a relationship with us, and not just some relationship like "Hi, how you doing" on Sunday mornings. He wants a close, intimate relationship.

Do we think of God as someone who's promised to meet our needs but is aloof, distant? Many fathers, overly caught up in their work, provide handsomely for their families but are emotionally distant from those families. That's what many, many kids have grown up seeing - that their dad loves them by providing for them with material things, but takes little interest in them as persons. So, those kids think of God in the same way - as Someone who will provide for us, but who is too busy running the universe to be involved with us intimately, with our feelings and desires.

Thus, this verse, seemingly ordinary and very easy to skip over (especially if you speak Christianese), reveals quite a bit of God's heart. He wants to be very closely involved in all aspects of our lives.

(Matthew 15:1-20). When the religous Pharisees criticized Jesus' disciples for not performing the ceremonial washing before eating, Jesus got defensive. Defensive in a good way, meaning that he defended the disciples. He called the Pharisees hypocrites and then said "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." He then went on to explain that it is the heart, not clean hands, that really matters in life. The heart is the source of our good, and the source of our evil.

Thus, it is critical that our hearts be engaged with God, that we talk to Him about what really matters to us. That we admit to Him when we see the junk in our hearts. That we confess to Him when we find we're honoring Him with our lips, but satisfying our hearts with everything but Him.

The fellowship which God has called us into demands that we be totally honest with Him, about the bad and the good. About what we really desire as well as our sins. That fellowship is what Christianity is all about.

Next: We'll talk about the rest of the chapter and its relationship to denominations of today.