The Word Made Fresh
1From Paul, who by God’s will was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and our brother Sosthenes, 2to those in the church at Corinth who have been set apart through Christ Jesus to become saints, along with everyone everywhere who call on the name of Jesus Christ with us:
3Grace to you and peace, through God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank God for you because of the grace you have been given in Christ Jesus, 5because you have been enriched through him in every way in speech and in understanding. 6The good news of Christ has been strengthened in you 7so that you are not lacking any spiritual gift while you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will give you strength to the end so that you will be blameless when his day arrives. 9God is faithful, and God has called you into a relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord.
10I beg all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to agree with one another, without any divisions among you, so that you are united in the same mind and purpose. 11Chloe’s people have told me that you have been divided. 12Some of you are saying things like, “I belong to Apollos,” and “I belong to Cephas,” and “I belong to Christ.” 13Has Christ been separated? Has Paul been crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I’m glad that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so that none of you can claim to have been baptized in my name. 16I did also baptize Stephanas’ family, but beyond that I don’t think I baptized anyone else. 17After all, Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but only to announce the good news – not with wisdom and eloquence, but simply that the power of the cross of Christ might not be lost.
18You see, the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are languishing spiritually, but to us who are being saved it is the very power of God. 19After all, it is written, “I will undo the wisdom of the wise, and baffle the understanding of those who think they understand.” 20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this era? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21Since the world didn’t know God through wisdom, God decided to save those who come to believe through our foolish preaching. 22Jews demand signs, of course, and Greeks pursue wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, and that is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24But to those who are called – both Jews and Greeks – Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than our wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than our strength.
26Think about your own call; very few of you were wise by human standards, or powerful, or born into nobility. 27But God chose that which the world calls foolish to shame the wise, and what is weakness in the world to shame the strong. 28And God chose to use that which is low and despised in the world to put to shame the high and mighty, 29so that no one can boast with God present. 30God is the source of the life that is yours through Jesus Christ, for Christ is our wisdom from God, and is also our righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Commentary
1-3: Corinth, located on the isthmus between Greece and the Peloponnesus, was the “sin city” of Paul’s day. It was a major trading center, the Corinthian Gulf to the north and Saronic Gulf to the southeast provided ships with safe navigation away from the open sea. The church there had been founded by Paul (see Acts 18) around 50 A.D. The letter we are currently reading, which we call 1 Corinthians, is at least his second letter to the church there, for he mentions an earlier epistle (see 5:9-12). It opens with a typical greeting, purporting to be from Paul and Sosthenes. Sosthenes is the name of a synagogue official in Corinth (Acts 18:17), but we cannot be certain it is the same man. Sosthenes may be the person who actually wrote the letter at Paul’s dictation, much as had Tertius written Paul’s letter to Rome.
4-9: As was the case with Romans (Romans 1:8-15), Paul begins by giving thanks for them. We note that his thanksgiving is for nothing they have done, but rather for what Christ and others have done in and for them. God’s faithfulness, not theirs, is mentioned, along with the hope that they might one day be blameless. Apparently they are not, at present.
10-17: If we found the last paragraph curiously short on applauding the congregation at Corinth, we now discover the reason: there is division in the church! The problem, as Paul sees it, is that the congregation has divided into factions, each following one of their transient teachers — Paul, Apollos, or Cephas (Peter). At least some of them claim to follow Christ. Paul chides them for these divisions, and insists that his ministry there was not for the purpose of gathering a following for himself. In fact, Paul denigrates his own preaching, and says he did not try to be eloquent “but simply that the power of the cross of Christ might not be lost.” Preachers do sometimes think people will be saved through their preaching skills instead of through what God has done in Jesus.
18-25: The proclamation of a crucified Messiah is foolishness to those who demand logical proof and want to see signs (here Paul’s quote may be from several Old Testament passages, such as Isaiah 29:14 or Job 5:12-13). The cross is a stumbling block to them, but to those who are called, that is, believers, the cross demonstrates the power of God.
26-31: More than that, God does not call people based on how important they are in the world. Paul tells his congregation to take a close look at themselves; their eclectic makeup is proof that God does not play favorites based on wealth or knowledge.
Takeaway
Divisions in a congregation can always be avoided or disarmed if the leadership constantly seeks God’s guidance and input. Regardless of whether we agree, the real question is, “Do we love one another as Christ has loved us?”