In His first epistle to one of the churches he had established, the Apostle Paul directed the letter to “The church of God which is at Corinth, to them who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, along with all in every place that call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1:2).  Notice that Paul declared the people in general had been sanctified (set aside for holy use) and that they prayed to Jesus their Lord.  It is important that we recognize that, though Paul addressed his letter to “the church,” its contents applied to each individual within the church.  We know this because he repeatedly uses the words “you,” “our,” “your” and “my brethren.”

In verses 3-8 Paul pronounces God and Christ’s grace and peace on the individuals in the church.  He thanked God for His blessings on them.  He notes that they had been given Christ’s Words along with knowledge of those Words and the testimony (witness) proclaimed by those Words which had been established in them.  They had also received all of the gifts of the spirit (healing, deliverance, tongues, miracles, etc.–12:1-12) which are in use today within God’s true church whose members daily battle the same Satan, the same devils and the same types of people as did those in the ancient church.  Paul reminds church people that the Body of Christ must have all of the spiritual gifts in order to remain in a state of holiness until the return of Jesus Christ when salvation will be made available to those who qualify.  Read Hope and Salvation.  Key word–Hope.  In 1:9 Paul tells the saints that they were (are) called to have fellowship with Him and Christ, which is possible only if one remains “confirmed”–firmly established in the Truth through obedience to “the testimony (witness) of Christ” (vs 6).

Beginning with verse 10 the apostle addresses a problem that has been brought to his attention by a parishioner named “Chloe” who reported that there had developed “divisions” or “contentions” among some of the church members.  Notice that the contentions had developed among the people, not among the church leadership who were all in one accord.  Otherwise, Paul would have addressed them to make sure that they were all preaching the same thing (Phil. 3:1,16; 4:2).  As was the case with their Master, Paul had told the Hebrew Christians that He (Jesus) is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).  Old Testament prophets knew Him as the Lord Who does not change (Mal. 3:6).  Recall that He (the “Scripture”/Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) preached THE one and only Gospel to Abraham (Gal. 3:8).  Jesus has not changed, neither has His Gospel.  Paul noted that the same Gospel preached to ancient Israel was also preached to “us, upon whom the ends of the world have come”–the New Testament Church (1 Cor. 10:11).

All, in every church, were to be of the same mind and judgment.  Nothing has changed–Truth, the gifts of the Spirit,  judgments and the definitions of sin and holiness (breaking and obeying of the Law–1 Jn. 3:4)–all remain the same.

In verses 11,12 Paul defines the problem among some people in the Corinthian Church.  Divisions were occurring in the body based on different opinions concerning what different pastors, evangelists and teachers were proclaiming.  This apostasy could not be allowed to stand.  Paul asked if Christ was divided? or if any of them had been baptized in the name of Paul himself or any other leader?  The answer of course was no.  He goes on to declare that any change to God’s Word was to “make the cross of Christ on no effect.”  Paul and all the apostles preached “Christ and Him crucified.”  They preached the message of the cross and how Christ’s death on it enabled believers to receive forgiveness for their past sins (justification), then receive the Holy Spirit that enabled them to resist Satan and thereby keep sin out of their lives.  The Holy Spirit, he tells them in 2:9, taught them the “deep things of God” which consisted of “the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden mystery which God ordained before the world for our glory” (2:7).  Nothing has changed.  The Holy Spirit reveals to us these treasures by leading us to the Scriptures, specifically the “fine print” that I have been commissioned to declare to those who know only the “headlines.”  God’s “fine print” enables us to know “the things that are freely given to us by God” (2:12).  These are the things the apostles taught and God’s modern apostles still teach through the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Beginning in 2:14 Paul compares and contrasts the true child of God (the “spiritual man”) and the child of Satan (the “natural man”).  The natural man does not accept the things the Holy Spirit teaches.  To him they are foolishness.  The spiritual man, however, embraces the things of the Spirit for he has the mind of Christ.

In chapter 3:1-3 Paul notes that he has tried to speak with the trouble makers in the church but they were too worldly to hear him.  He calls them “carnal” (walk in the flesh) in that they were causing strife and contentions within the church.  His ultimate put-down came when he told those who were causing divisions (denominations) in the church: “you walk as men” (3:3).  Today Paul is telling those who are part of that two headed (Catholicism and Protestantism) religious monster that they are worldly, carnal, and that they “walk” (conduct their lives) as do those who do not know God–mere men.  He tells them that they have returned to the spiritual Gentilism (heathenism) in which they walked before their conversions.  Paul described their Gentile/heathen condition thusly: “Wherefore remember that you were in past times Gentiles ….  At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11,12).  In verses 2,3 Paul described them as “walking according to this world, in obedience to the prince of the power of this world (Satan) which is the evil spirit that now works in the children of disobedience ….  You were by nature children of (God’s) wrath ….”  This is the spiritual condition of those today who are involved in Catholicism or Protestantism in that, in God’s eyes, they are no different from the worldly people with whom they identify.

God’s true saints stand out from all others.  They are “peculiar”–different from others who call themselves Christians (1 Pet. 2:9/ Titus 2:14).  They are rejected by “the church” in that darkness hates light (Jn. 3:20).  So-called Sinners Saved By Grace walk in Satan’s darkness and therefore reject those who walk in God’s light because of the stark difference.  Jesus said that if the world does not hate us, reject us and speak all manner of evil against us for righteousness’ sake, we are not children of God (Mat. 5:10,11; 10:22).  L.J.