Corinth: An Overview of a Messed-Up Church

To study the early church in Corinth, we must understand first the city itself. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city known for its ethnic diversity, rich culture, commerce, and wealth……however it was also known for its vast paganism and immorality (mostly in terms of being sexually immoral). It was a great port city which saw trade ships and other sea vessels daily, which facilitated all of the diversity both culturally and religiously. The worship of many pagan gods was fueled by sexual immorality which in turn brought about the negative connotation for the name ‘Corinth’, because it was mostly known for its prostitution. Acts of sexual immorality ran rampant in this thriving city. With all of this taking place, Paul saw a great and urgent need for a renewed spiritual health among the Corinthians. What does this city sound like to you today? If we analyze the historical facts, Corinth sounds a lot like America doesn’t it? We are a people full of diversity, we are among the wealthiest nations in the world, many different ‘gods’ are worshiped daily, and sexual immorality runs rampant. We must focus on Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and see what he has to say through God’s inspiration on how to get our nation to ‘wake up’ and take a look at our spiritual health as a whole.

There are 4 key themes in 1 Corinthians – 1. Divisions in the church 2. Christian conduct 3. Worship 4. The Resurrection

Divisions – Early on in Paul’s letter (1 Cor. 1:10-17), we see something that is sadly still happening within our churches today and that’s division within the church body. Back in this time, there wasn’t an official church building like we have today. In that date and time, they met at different homes within the city, like our small groups that we may have today, or our Sunday school classes. They would meet in this group, have teaching over Scripture and some fellowship, and then they would depart. Well, Paul expresses that he’s gotten word that there has been some arguing amongst the members of this church body of believers. Verse 12 (NIV) he writes, “What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’” Everyone had gotten caught up in their little group, or what we call their ‘clique.’ Rather than realizing they were all on the same ‘team’, the kingdom of God, they were too busy concerning themselves with what group or clique they were with and who’s way was better and truer than the other. Paul quickly brings about the point in verse 13, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” Paul wanted the Corinthians (and us) to understand that we aren’t here to follow a man, a Sunday school teacher, a small group leader, a specific church group, or any other Christian affiliation as if it is THE one authority….as if it IT was the Savior. These cliques and teams we form are foolish because they bring about division and affliction between the very people we will one day share the kingdom of God with! Church and/or small groups were not formed with the intention of ‘teaming up’ against one another, rather, they were formed for fellowship with other believers, for developing relationships with fellow believers, for spiritual growth, and for strengthening the kingdom of God. Might I suggest, that the Corinthians became more interested in worshiping and serving their ‘groups/cliques’ than worshiping Jesus Christ and serving each other in fellowship and brotherly love. In Chapter 3, Paul goes into a bit more detail about having divisions within a church body. Paul stated that because the Corinthians had these divisions amongst themselves, they were still spiritual babies. Paul says in verses 1-2, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” To have divisions amongst ourselves as believers in Christ is childish. It shows a lack of true spiritual growth. Being in a quarrelsome state, or even in a simple ‘cliquish’ mindset (if that can be used as a word here), demonstrates the fact that we as believers are not ready for the spiritual meat of the Word of God, thus growth cannot and will not take place. You see, if we get caught up in the cliques or the ‘my church/their church’ game, we are completely missing the big picture. Paul illustrates this concept in verses 5-8. Paul tells us that God does provide us with teachers of His Word, but it is not them we are to put our faith and trust in because they have no authority or power to manage the spiritual aspect of the Word. They are merely seed planters but it is God who causes things to grow. Therefore, we follow God, not a man-made group. We are ALL on the same team and that is God’s Kingdom.