Fellowship with Believers • 1 Corinthians 1:1-13
By Jessica McMillan
Everyone has opinions and preferences, and it is not necessarily wrong to have them. Problems can occur, however, when our preferences take priority over our relationships. When this happens in a church, instead of focusing on the common faith we have in Christ, we can find ourselves among factions and cliques that are dominated by personalities, opinions, and ideas that become divisive in the larger group. The church in Corinth was a prime example of this issue. Paul’s letter to them is also relevant to us today because our unity should only be found in Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
A typical Roman letter would begin with a salutation, identification of the writer and the recipients, and a short greeting, which often was a “grace and peace” type message. The passage for this week opens with Paul’s address to the believers in Corinth and sets the tone for the rest of the letter. By establishing his authority as divinely called, Paul reiterates that they are “called to be saints” as well as his authority to speak about the problems that he is about to address.
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
After Paul affirms their identity in Christ, he follows with the second part of a typical Roman letter; a prayer or word of thanksgiving. Not only are the Corinthian brothers and sisters reminded that they belong to God by his grace, but Paul also encourages them that God will be faithful to complete his work in them. Fellowship with other believers creates a communal trust in God and can lead to a strong commitment to Christ. We often need to be reminded that we are better together. Even though the Corinthian church has serious problems, God’s faithfulness has not changed, and believers can remain united even if they disagree.
1 Corinthians 1:10-13
Verse 10 begins the body of the letter. There are four problems that Paul has heard about that he will address through the letter: factions, incest, lawsuits, and sexual immorality. Apparently, someone from the household of Chloe informed him about the first problem. It is not uncommon for there to be divisions in our churches. The divisions in this section are not denominational. They are factions within the church that are doing harm to the overall body. Well-meaning believers can allow personal preferences, favorite teachers, or secondary issues to become more important than the unity of the church.
In the Corinthian church, there were four camps. The “I follow Paul” group may have preferred Paul’s emphasis on freedom and grace. Apollos is described in Acts 18:24 as an intellectual man who was well grounded in the scriptures, and there was a group in the church that followed him. Then there’s the Cephas (Peter) group that possibly appreciated Jewish tradition or his standing among the apostles. Finally, the “I follow Christ” group might seem to be the best and most correct one, but the fact that Paul included it in the factions indicates that this was not a healthy one either. Some commentators say that this group implied that they were more spiritual than the others since they only followed Christ. Surely, it is safe to assume that the people preferring the leadership of Paul, Apollos, and Peter also loved and followed Christ! Paul’s point was that following Christ is not the issue; it is that the rivalry between them was causing damage and disunity.
Fellowship is lost when we divide ourselves based on preferences, opinions, or favorite personalities in leadership. Many people look at our churches and decide that squabbling churches cannot represent the Christ they claim to serve. May we all work to do our part to not let this be true of our churches.
McMillan is on faculty at NOBTS and is a member of Roseland Park Baptist Church, Picayune.
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