GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CORINTHIANS 1:11-13
11 I have heard news about you, my brothers, from members of Chloe’s household, that there are rivalries among you.
By saying “among you,” Paul is pointing to divisions within the church, the body of believers. We need to understand this in the context of separating ourselves from false doctrine. Paul heard about the divisions from “members of Chloe’s household.” Chloe’s name was Greek, a name from mythology; she was probably not a Jew, but a Greek Christian who sent news to Paul about the trouble in the church.
12 I mean that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or was it into the name of Paul that you were baptized?
The simple sense of these two verses is that Paul is condemning a practice, namely siding with one preacher over against another, since we are all followers of the same Christ. None of our preachers did what Christ did (that is, be crucified for our sins), nor was anyone ever baptized into the name (and therefore the life, death, and resurrection) of a preacher or minister of Christ, but into Christ himself, and into his suffering, death, and resurrection.
The superficial causes of the divisions can be guessed at. Paul had started the Corinthian church about five years previous to this. After making limited visible progress in Athens, he had moved on to Corinth (Acts 18:1) where he found a group of Jews, many of whom were receptive to the gospel.
Apollos was a recent convert but an energetic and dynamic speaker. After receiving more instruction from Aquila and his wife Priscilla, he went to Achaia (and Corinth) with the blessing of the churches and with letters of introduction from them (Acts 18:27). He debated with the Jews in public there that Jesus was the Christ.
For some reason, perhaps to avoid choosing between Paul and Apollos, some Corinthians wanted to show their allegiance to the leader of the original apostles, Peter (also called Cephas, John 1:42). Paul’s encounter with Peter in Antioch, when he confronted the apostle over an error he was making, is recorded in Galatians 2:11-21.
Finally, there were some Corinthians who said, “We’ll have none of that. We are only going to listen to Christ!” They might seem to be the ones who were right, until we consider what that would mean. If Paul preached Christ to them and brought them to faith, and if Apollos enriched their faith and deepened their knowledge of Christ, and if everything Paul and Apollos taught was in agreement with the Apostles back in Israel and led by Peter, then why would anyone turn against them in favor of Christ, apart from their preaching and teaching? Wasn’t it Christ who commanded them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15)? And more importantly, Jesus said to the seventy-two: “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).
Paul rapidly dismantles their arguments: Nobody was baptized into me, Paul; nor into Peter or Apollos, either. And neither Peter nor Apollos nor I were crucified for you (see “Against Indulgences” below for an additional comment about this). Most importantly: Christ is not divided. Therefore, do not say that you follow this teacher or that or Christ apart from them if they are all in agreement. You are blessed by having many preachers and teachers who share the faith with you and with your children. Try hard not to prefer one over another, but to be blessed by them for their different gifts. Remember, “The righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). Be thankful, be ecstatic, be delighted, that you believe, for you have been rescued from the certainty of damnation. The men in the boat who had a hand in rescuing you were under orders from Christ their Captain. They were pulling hard at the oars, but it was his hand that reached down to grasp you and to pull you to everlasting safety. Give all of your thanks and praise to him.
AGAINST INDULGENCES
One argument made in the Middle Ages in favor of indulgences was especially made from Colossians 1:24, “I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up those things that are lacking in the suffering of Christ, in my flesh, for his Body, which is the Church.” They argued that Paul and the rest of the saints benefited others with their suffering in regard to satisfaction. The Lutheran response was: “With these words the apostle is signifying that he, as one member of the mystical body under Christ [that is, his church], he fills up the sufferings not as if Christ’s Passion were an insufficient price which the saints’ sufferings must still complete…. Paul is said to have suffered for the church not as though to redeem it or to make satisfaction perfectly for it (for in this sense he denies that he was crucified for the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 1:13), but only with respect to benefit and advantage. He suffered for the church, that is, because of the church…. Again, 1 John 3:16: “We ought to lay down our souls for our brothers,” surely not to redeem them but to strengthen them in faith through our death, to stir them up to steadfastness, and to provide other benefits” (Gerhard, On Repentance). Whatever suffering or misfortune any Christian undergoes for the sake of their loved one or other Christians is done for the benefit of their souls in their time of grace, in this lifetime, whether they are living at that time or later and learn of them only as a matter of history, illustration, or anecdote. They benefit people in the life of faith, but not with regard to the object of their faith and to the price of their sins and trespasses, which was the work of Christ alone for us all (John 1:29). His is the throne; we are the servants who will serve him (Revelation 22:3). In this life, we may suffer many things. “Some are punished with loss,” one Church Father wrote, “others with various illnesses, others will all sorts of mistreatment, others with insults by the unworthy. And they suffer many other things.” But no one should ever worship us or rely on our perseverance in suffering for the sake of their own sins. The blood of Christ has done everything for our sins. The blood of Christ alone has rescued us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 Divisions