1 Corinthians 1:1-17 - To All Believer-Saints in Christ

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Gifts at Corinth

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sectarianism Is Sin

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

Paul begins by demonstrating his God-given authority to speak His word to the believers in Corinth, identifying them all as saints who are called into the righteousness of Jesus who makes us all who He calls to be holy in Himself.  This destroys the false belief that only certain men who do enough good can be elected and assigned sainthood by men, for only God can make us holy and that in Christ alone and not by the vote of church leaders or councils as the Roman church erroneously continues to do.  Saints are quite simply “all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” as it is written by God’s authority that overrules any papacy writing.  The called apostle and messenger of God’s word through the gospel goes on to address the spiritual gifts of His grace for building up His body consisting of all called ones who are made holy and just by grace (Hebrews 12:23), which is the true universal (catholic) church and not one run by men apart from the word of truth.  God Himself by His Spirit gives gifts to men (Ephesians 4:8) for this purpose that we may speak and teach truth and righteous living by His enabling understanding and wisdom.  The testimony of our conversion lies in this new life demonstrated by the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12, 15-16) now displayed in our ability to know and express these once buried truths throughout the scriptures that have been revealed in Christ through His apostles to us by the indwelling Spirit in acknowledgment of the truth of the gospel.  He therefore equips His saints in the church body with spiritual gifts of various kinds to work together in harmonious ministry for building us up.  The goal is that we all arrive at the same thinking and judgments of understanding how to interpret and apply the word of God to ourselves and each other.  Jesus promises to keep us to the end when we meet Him and so we can rely on the work Je does in us so we can continue His work in this world until that day.  He is faithful!  The Father God called us into fellowship in His Son for these things as ministers of His grace for salvation and has given gifts to men when He ascended (Ephesians 4:16) that we may grow in his love together as His body which is the true catholic universal church with members spread across the world out of every nation in many different denominations.  We are called to reach this understanding of the scriptures together that we may prove what is right and true and eliminate the false teachings while focusing on the critical truths of major doctrine without arguing over minor matters which are not clearly certain in our interpretation and understanding in light of other scripture.  We are not to be contentious, but instead are to be curious and valiant for the truth together as we use and follow those with the gifts to lead and guide us as wise shepherds.  We are also warned about aligning ourselves with certain teachers at the expense of other gifted men like the example given here of identifying with the teaching of rabbi Paul or eloquent Apollos or Cephas (Peter).  It should be said, “I am of Christ” instead.  All good teachers and preachers of the gospel point to Jesus Christ and not themselves and we likewise must look to the same.  Jesus alone died for us and baptizes us into Himself by His Spirit, so we should not idolize anyone but God’s own Son who alone delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10) as we listen to and learn from godly and gifted men under Christ’s authority and given such gifts of wisdom for our edification.  Even Paul made it abundantly clear that he preached the cross of the gospel of Christ and did not attempt to persuade with eloquence or intellectual arguments.  The message is Christ and Him crucified to save us and use us to bear witness of these truths to others that they also may come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) while hearing the wisdom gifted to us to accomplish all He has given us to do (Ephesians 2:10) by the gift of grace.  This is the message to all believers who are also called saints in Christ Jesus.