There were also problems at the Lord’s Supper. This was not a matter of the kind of historical disagreement you had during the Reformation, particularly involving Luther, Zwingli, and the Roman Catholic Church. Then there was great difficulty over differences of understanding concerning Christ’s presence in the elements of the Lord’s Supper. The context of 1 Corinthians is that of a big fellowship meal, not just the observance at the end of a morning service. The problems developed when some came to the meal with much, while others came with nothing. Those who had an abundance did not give to those who had nothing. Consequently, some were gorging themselves and getting drunk, while others were starving.
There was also disorder in the worship service. Paul talks about that in chapters 12 and 14. But their errors did not only have to do with matters of practice. We discover in chapter 15 that some of them were even denying the bodily resurrection of the dead. So there were present in the Corinthian church errors in both doctrine and practice.
We look at all this and remark, “My goodness, what a church! I wouldn’t want to belong to a church like that.” But the fact is, we do belong to a church like that. Right now, the church that we belong to is separated unto Christ and given all spiritual gifts. We have been called by Christ to be holy. But at the same time, these or other problems are among us. Therefore, we experience the same difficulties, factions, jealousies, misunderstandings, and misuse of gifts God has given to us.
What do we do about it? Does the fact that the church is made up of people who are both saints and sinners mean that we just accept it now and go on our way until the return of Christ when we are perfected? Certainly not! And certainly not for the church in Corinth either!
The apostle Paul was describing a church very much like the churches in all ages have been. Paul was not writing to them to say, “Go on in the way you’re going. It’s alright to be separated unto Christ but be sinning at the same time.” God forbid that Christianity should teach anything like that. Instead, what the apostle Paul writes to do in this letter is to bring those whom God has brought into His kingdom to a fuller measure of devotion to Him and a greater experience of the holiness of God.
He is writing about it in this first section, where he is talking about divisions. You notice in verse 10 the way he is going to handle this throughout the letter: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” That is what he wants. You ask, “How is that to happen?” Paul spells it out later in his letter. Elsewhere he spells it out in Philippians where he had a similar problem. There was an incipient division in that church. Two women were fighting, and he knew that it would spread. He deals with it by encouraging them to be of one mind. He writes for them to have the same mind as Christ Jesus, who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Let that mind be in you. Be like Jesus Christ. Draw near to Him. And when you do, these divisions begin to fade away and the sin begins to be conquered. This knowledge gives expression to the glorious reality of the fellowship of the people of God. That is what this letter is to do. As you study it, pray that God will use these texts to speak to you and to lead you increasingly in the way that you should go for Christ’s sake.
