Corinthian Party Spirit and its Remedy

C. E. Stuart

Commencing with a reminder of his apostleship, Paul connects Sosthenes with himself in the salutation here addressed ‘unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours’. No other epistle of Paul has an address so wide in its application as this, which embraces every professing Christian throughout the world, and through all the time that the church of God shall be upon earth. No one therefore, even in these days, who bears the name of Christ, outwardly calling on the name of the Lord, which expresses profession, whether real or not, can excuse himself from submission to the teaching of this epistle. It is universal in its application. To it let us turn.

Beginning with the acknowledging of every good thing in them that he could, and counting on God’s faithfulness to accomplish His purposes of grace towards them (1 Cor. 1:4–9), Paul first treats of those evils rife amongst the assembly of which he had been informed. ‘I beseech you, brethren’, he writes, ‘by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you’ (vs. 10, 11). Schism had begun its work, and heresies would appear to test them (11:18, 19). Schools of teaching they had fostered, which engendered divisions, pupils ranging themselves under different teachers, calling themselves after their names. But who were the teachers they ran after who allowed this, and, worse, fostered it? We may ask, but ask in vain. Their names, then familiar as household words, have perished, whilst those of God’s faithful servants of the same date, Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, remain to this day. What a lesson to any who would gather round themselves and encourage such a practice in our day! Such forget, or, at all events, by their action contravene, the teaching of this epistle.

How, then, did the Apostle deal with this? He reminds them that he had not laboured with any such intent, and asks the pertinent questions, ‘Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?’ How carefully he had worked at Corinth, baptising very few, lest any should say that he had baptised unto his own name. His work was to preach the gospel, not to baptise; to call on souls to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not to make disciples to be surnamed after him. John the Baptist had disciples called after him. Paul avoided all that for himself, for what was right in John’s day would have been wrong in Paul’s day (1:13–17). He preached too, but not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For he had understood the principle on which God was working, namely to bring down all high thoughts of man, as evidenced, first, in the subject preached, the cross, and the person exalted, Christ crucified (vs. 18–25), next, in the people called, and the instruments used for the preaching of the truth (vs. 26–29), and, thirdly, in the way of blessing provided for souls, for the Corinthians and all others. ‘Of [God]’, he writes, ‘are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord’ (vs. 30, 31).

From: Truth & Testimony, 2020, Q2