ordinary christianity for the world.
Corinth, A Church Divided, 1 Corinthians 3:1-11
Poetic Praise
Divisions In The Church
1 Corinthians 3:1-11
Paul previously made the case that God's wisdom is not like human wisdom, that the best wisdom, intelligence and scholarship that man has to offer is foolishness compared to God's wisdom, the wisdom of Scripture. Paul made the case for the necessity of regeneration and/or conversion from the mindset of the world to the mindset of Christ. To become a Christian is to undergo a complete change of heart and of mind.
That change has a definite beginning, and then grows in fits and starts. This change is always personal — it always effects personal values, beliefs and behavior. And as I shared with you previously, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ necessarily means a covenantal relationship because God always relates to His people covenantally. So, the change that allows one to profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior comes about as a realization that God's saving grace applies to the professor personally, that the professor of Christianity has changed from being a covenant breaker to being a covenant keeper, albeit by the grace of God.
Christians understand that there are two aspects of covenant keeping. First and foremost, they understand that God alone has kept His covenant through the faithfulness and righteousness of Jesus Christ — and that Christ has applied His covenant faithfulness to His people. Christians, then, having received Christ's applied covenant faithfulness then apply themselves toward the manifestation of Christ's righteousness in their own lives, knowing that Christ will provide guidance and strength toward that end. All of this is to say that there is such a thing as Christian maturity and that maturity is different than immaturity.
Addressing this issue, Paul said that he could not address the Corinthians as "spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ" (v. 1). Think about that for a moment. These First Century Christians were not paragons of faithfulness, as we like to consider them. Rather, they were babes in Christ. They were so immature in their faith that Paul had to alter his ordinary way of speaking about God because they failed to understand the most basic concerns of faithfulness.
Was he saying that they were not saved? Yes and no. Some were and some weren't. He was saying that the Corinthian church was a mixed bag, that it contained people who were saved and people who were not saved. Churches, according to the Westminster Confession are always "more or less pure", so that the "purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error" (WCF, xxv, 4-5). However, this does not mean that every church member who errs is unsaved. Rather, it means that sometimes those who are actually saved behave like the unsaved. It means that it is possible, even likely, that Christians who do not work at spiritual maturity, who do not make an effort to grow in faithfulness may find themselves excluded from the kingdom. Yes, we are saved by faith. Yes, Christ alone provides salvation and sanctification. And yet, all Christians are commanded to engage in works. We are not exempt from works, but are called to works.
Christians who don't grow in the faith are dead, not alive in Christ. Such people will find themselves on "rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away" (Matthew 5:5-6). These words are from Jesus' Beatitudes, which were given for the encouragement of God's people, to encourage us forward in faithfulness, to give us the courage to persevere in faithfulness. We are encouraged to dig down deep into the soil of Christianity. And what is that soil? It is what provides nourishment for spiritual growth — Scripture, history, and fellowship. The soil in this parable is the backdrop, background, context, medium, milieu, setting, and/or surroundings in which Christianity will flourish.
The Christians at Corinth to whom Paul was speaking had an excuse for their immaturity. There wasn't much Christian Scripture (New Testament), or Christian history (the church was young), or fellowship (Christians were few in number). We don't have such an excuse today, and God will judge us all the more severely for our Christian immaturity.
"They were so far from forming their maxims and measures upon the ground of divine revelation, and entering into the spirit of the gospel, that it was but too evident they were much under the command of carnal and corrupt affections. They were still mere babes in Christ. They had received some of the first principles of Christianity, but had not grown up to maturity of understanding in them, or of faith and holiness; and yet it is plain, from several passages in this epistle, that the Corinthians were very proud of their wisdom and knowledge. Note, It is but too common for persons of very moderate knowledge and understanding to have a great measure of self-conceit. The apostle assigns their little proficiency in the knowledge of Christianity as a reason why he had communicated no more of the deep things of it to them." (Matthew Henry).
This whole chapter is a call to Christian maturity, which begins with the realization of our immaturity. Paul was disappointed in the level of Christian maturity he found in Corinth. Would he be more or less pleased if he came to minister with us today? I don't just mean with us at Covenant Presbyterian Church. I mean, how would Paul respond to the churches across the globe — and particularly the American church today? George Barna has documented that Christians today are not much different than non-Christians in any measure. According to Barna, there is no significant difference between the lifestyles of the saved and the unsaved in today's social landscape.
John Gill says of verse one, "...not that they were in a carnal state, as unregenerate men are; but had carnal conceptions of things, were in carnal frames of soul, and walked in a carnal conversation with each other; though they were not in the flesh, in a state of nature, yet the flesh was in them, and not only lusted against the Spirit, but was very predominant in them, and carried them captive, so that they are denominated from it." It appears that the church at Corinth to which Paul was speaking was very much like the church today. Thus, we need to listen carefully to what Paul says to them because he would likely say similar things to us.
Gill continues, "they too much walked as other men, who make no profession of religion; that they were led by the judgment of men, and were carried away with human passions and inflections; and in their conduct could scarcely be distinguished from the rest of the world."
Paul found much of the same immaturity in the church at Galatia. There he delineated the works of the flesh, identified the things that bring trouble to the church. "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21). And those who will not inherit the kingdom of God are not Christians. However, this does not mean that all those who were guilty of these things were not Christians, but that those who did not grow out of these things would find themselves excluded from the kingdom. All sinners are not banned from the kingdom, only unrepentant sinners, only those who continue in their sin, who sin willfully.
Of course, it is not enough to say what is forbidden. Paul also tells us what is necessary — what we are to do, how we are to be in Christ. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:22-24). When Paul went to Corinth preaching nothing but Christ and Him crucified, he meant to teach them to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires.
The Puritans called it mortification — the subjection and denial of bodily passions and appetites by abstinence or self-discipline. Mortification is not a hard thing or a harsh thing that causes suffering. Rather, it is the abandonment of those feelings and desires that are the true cause of suffering. Paul was talking about mortification when he said "that our old self was crucified with him (Christ) in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:6). And again in Ephesians 4:17-24:
"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
And in Colossians 3:5-11:
"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all."
You have heard it said that the church is the bride of Christ, which means that Christ is the husband of the church. Do you know what it means to be a husband? Do you know what husbandry is? It's a word that you don't hear much today. Nonetheless, God's primary function in the world is husbandry. "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building" (v. 9 — KJV).
Webster defines mortification as "the business of a farmer, comprehending agriculture or tillage of the ground, the raising, managing and fattening of cattle and other domestic animals, the management of the dairy and whatever the land produces. 1. Frugality; domestic economy; good management; thrift. 2. Care of domestic affairs" (Webster, 1828). God is raising a crop of people for harvest. Are you one of them? What about your children? Who is husbanding your children?
Paul is telling us in chapter three that divisions and dissensions in the church are the result of sin not yet overcome or purged from the Body of Christ. But he is not suggesting that anyone be run out of the church because of some latent or manifest sin. Rather, he calls all Christians to grow up in Christ, to get over their attachments to sin and evil. Christian discipline (or discipleship) is self-discipline (or self-control through submission to the power of Jesus Christ). This is the critical element that was missing in Corinth, and is missing in too many Christians today.
Yes, we are saved by grace alone, yet we are called to righteousness. Yes, it is the righteousness of Christ alone. The righteousness that saves is not ours, but Christ's. It is a foreign righteousness that is applied to believers by the power of God — but it is righteousness, nonetheless. Justification by the blood of Christ is immediately credited to believers, and is sufficient for salvation. Yet, sanctification through the mortification of the flesh must be willingly engaged and regularly practiced by those who persevere to the end. Sanctification is not possible apart from the power of Jesus Christ. It can't be faked. But neither is it magic. It doesn't happen automatically. It doesn't happen all at once. It doesn't happen without hard work. It doesn't happen without willing submission to Jesus Christ, who is alone the author and power of it. It is not works-righteousness, but it is righteousness and it does require work.
How else can we explain Paul's emphasis on the personal reward for perseverance in faithfulness. Paul said that "each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor" (v. 8 — MKJV). Part of what this means is that they would not be rewarded according to Paul's labor, nor will you be rewarded according my labor, nor will Reformed Christians be rewarded according Calvin's labor. Rather, each will be rewarded according to his own labor. Note that the reward is real, and so is the labor. We are saved by grace, and we are saved for works. Works apart from grace cannot save, but neither does grace apart from works — works of righteousness.
John Gill says of this verse that we are not given reward for our success — "not according to the success of it," but according to our willing engagement of the work given to us by Jesus Christ — works of mercy, works of service and growth in righteousness by the grace of God. The reward does not come as a result of our success, but serves to encourage us toward greater faithfulness. In other words, God withholds rewards from those who do not grow, who do not mature in faithfulness.
Of all of the churches mentioned in the New Testament, the contemporary American church today is most like the Corinthian church that Paul addressed. The church in Corinth and the church today suffer from spiritual immaturity. Paul wasn't saying that they were not saved, he was saying that they were unacceptably immature, and that the primary evidence of that immaturity were the divisions that plague the church and interfere with evangelism.
Ray Stedman said that "the two major forces that were active in this city, creating the atmosphere in which the Corinthian church had to live, were these: intellectualism and sensualism. This was a city devoted to the worship of the goddess sex."1 John MacArthur said that "they had managed to drag into their church life all of the features of their former pagan existence. They had not made a clear-cut separation — they had not come out from among the world to be separate."2 Like those who heard Paul in Athens (Acts 17), the Christ that they accepted was a Christ of Greek origin, not the Hebrew Christ of the Bible. They accepted Christ only to put Him into their pantheon fully clothed in the robes of Greek mysticism and philosophy — Greek (human) wisdom.
This is why Paul spoke so hard against human wisdom in the first two chapters. In chapter three he is saying that the failure to accept the Christ of Scripture by substituting a christ of Greek or human wisdom results in, among other things, divisions in the church. The divisions arise from the false understandings produced by filtering the gospel through the categories of human wisdom, by submitting the gospel to the categories of academia. Nowhere does Paul suggest merging human wisdom with God's wisdom. Rather, he insists that human wisdom is not adequate to the task of interpreting God's wisdom. Nowhere does he try to make the gospel appeal to human wisdom. In fact, he says that such an appeal is futile because "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God" (2:14).
By extrapolation, then, the effort to make the gospel appeal to popular tastes is no different than trying to make the gospel appeal to the natural person. The Greek word translated as natural is psuchikos, which literally means sensual. So the natural person is a sensual person, a person dominated by feelings (passions). The effort to bring natural people into the church by appealing to their natural sensitivities is an invitation to trouble. It is destructive to the peace and purity of the church.
Rather, says Paul, build on the foundation you already have. Build on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Church growth is not a matter of packing the pews with natural people. Work the good ground that you have been given by Christ. Plant and till and water the soil you have. You don't need different soil or different seed or different water. What you need is the discipline of perseverance in faithfulness. What we need is to do works of righteousness where we are planted. What we need is God's wisdom to show us who God has called us to be, and how to live lives of grace in Jesus Christ. What we need is the spirit of Jesus Christ to give us the courage to be Christian in the midst of a culture that is not Christian. Having been called by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, we need to rely upon the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to make a difference. But we are not to make just any old difference. The difference we are to make is the difference between God's wisdom and worldly wisdom, between righteousness and lawlessness, light and dark, Christ and Belial.
Paul sums up this concern in his second letter to the Corinthians:
"...we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. 11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. 14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:1-18).
