1 Corinthians 1:9-17

1Co 1:9-17

9. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

10. Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11. For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14. I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15. Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

The Apostle's Appeal

We have noticed how frequently and fervently the Apostle Paul cites the name of Jesus Christ; it is quite as remarkable how he uses with emphasis and unction the name of God. We read of "the will of God"; "the Church of God"; "my God"; "the grace of God"; "God is faithful": the whole confidence is thus put in God. If a miracle is to be wrought, it is by God alone the miracle can be accomplished. This introduction is specifically and uniquely religious. The Apostle is not going to be merely eloquent or argumentative; he is going to base his standing upon the Eternal; he will have a rock under his feet; on no bog of his own making will he venture to stand when he delivers his great appeal to the Corinthian Church. "God will do this" is his constant declaration. If you wonder how the miracle is to be accomplished, the answer is "God will do it"; if you ask how you, so far gone in all evil, are to be brought home and made secure, the answer is, God will do it all "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." God does not come into the arrangement at a remote period; there is nothing accidental in the interposition of the Divine power: all the idea of the Church began in eternity, began when God began. The universe is a garment with which he clothes himself. There is only history to us; there is no history to God; it was written in the unwritten record before the world began. God does a few things that we can see, that he may encourage us to believe that he can do other things that are not immediately obvious, or that are only too obvious as to their apparent impossibility of even being done. Out of the earth he will bring a beautiful flower, and presenting it to us will say, There shall be richer beauty than this brought out of your poor heart. He shapes the universe out of chaos tumultuous, measureless, shapeless chaos and says, All this rounding and brightening and glory is but a hint of something I am going to do in human nature: men shall be brighter than suns; hearts shall be more constant than stars. What we see in nature is symbolic of what we shall see in grace. So the Apostle, in coming to the Corinthian Church dissolute, corrupt, shaken to its very foundations, divided into a thousand parts says, God will work out the miracle of your perfectness, and your harmony: the God who called is the same God who will crown. Here is the steadfastness of the Christian Church. If this faith were a mere matter of words, clever arguments, skilful mental inventions on the part of disputants, we should have small faith in it, for there may one day arise a controversialist so mighty as to destroy all other lovers of disputation. We are only secure when we stand back in God, when we take refuge in the Eternal, when we repeat the old prophetic formula, "the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

The Apostle is now ready to undertake his immediate business. In the tenth verse a marked change of tone is noticeable "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." The Church is only strong when united. It is possible to have a united Church. This would seem at first sight to be utterly incredible, and indeed it can only be made credible by placing the emphasis upon the right word. The Church is suffering to-day very largely from a misplacement of emphasis. The Church is not heretical, painfully, and lastingly divided; the Church is more than an exemplification of cruel schism: but that something more and something better is concealed by the use of false or vicious emphasis. Have we not often seen how possible it is to repeat the words of a message, and yet to leave the message itself undelivered? Let us think of that steadfastly, for the whole secret may be in that one suggestion. The words may be literally quoted, and yet by tone, by emphasis, by weight of voice here or there, we may wholly misrepresent the meaning of the message; we may have a literal declaration, but not a Divine Gospel from the heart of God. A Gospel sermon may be void of Gospel tones, and being devoid of Gospel tones all its evangelical promises go for nothing; the light that is in the sermon is darkness, and how great is that darkness! The Apostle will have unity, in mind, in judgment, in heart, will he not then permit diversity? No man has spoken for diversity more pointedly and eloquently than the Apostle Paul; it is he who enumerates the diversities that are in the Church; but it is also he who shows that, although there may be diversities of administration, there may be the same spirit, and that the unity is to be found in the spirit, and not in the mere expression of individual genius or special idiosyncrasy of character. How to have unity in diversity is the problem that is given to us for solution. We have it everywhere else why not in the Church? There is not a man in the country worthy of citizenship who is not a patriot; and yet probably hardly any two men in the country have an identical policy as to this or that particular question. Patriotism is deeper than party. There are times when party is suspended, and with one shout, because with one heart, men say, Defend the country! Save the altar! It is possible in the Church to have all manner of theological speculation, and to recognise charitably every special theological standpoint; it is possible to have a great hubbub of words, quite a tumult of eloquence, quite an Atlantic storm of contradiction, and yet to have unity: because unity is not an affair of words; it is an affair of motive, aspiration, desire. We find our unity not in our opinion but in our love. Had the differences of Corinth been great, had they in any degree been heroic, the Apostle would have recognised their breadth and grandeur; but they were frivolous divisions, merely petty pedantic classifications.

Let the Apostle himself explain the case: "For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them who are of the house of Chloe" an elect and saintly lady, whose servants had probably brought the message "that there are contentions among you" not high controversies, noble debates, such as stimulate the mind to finer ambitions and endeavours, but small contentions, and spiteful recriminations, and pedantic distinctions, "every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." What a truthful man the Apostle was! He gave his authority for the accusation. Paul never could stoop to the base trick of the anonymous. Everywhere he comes boldly to the front, gives up his authority, makes his statement in his own name, tells exactly how the thought came into his mind, and on what ground it is based, and by what reasons it is justified. Here we have names, references, and particulars. What a skilful man, as well as truthful, was Paul! For he begins by putting his own name first. Had it been a question of honour, he would have put his own name last; but being a question of little mean contention, he says some of you say, "I am of Paul," and Paul never would found a sect; Paul would have nothing to do with a party spirit; he knew that party spirit always kills true trust. And another said, "I of Apollos": I like eloquent preaching; I like rhetorical presentation of truth; I like a smooth, fluent speaker; I like my theology to come upon me with the depth and sweep of the Ganges. And another said, "I of Cephas" Peter: we know something of Peter's seniority, and we like to be classified under a name so comparatively ancient as the name of Peter. "And I of Christ." Was it possible to be a partizan and to take the name of Christ? Yes: that is the bane worst of all. Surely the Apostle would have said, "Some of you, thank God, say, We are of Christ." He utters no such commendation. He sees that the very name of Christ has been debased by this wicked partisanship.

There are people who suppose that they are not sectarian because they do not belong to any particular communion. They are always the greatest sectarians of all. There are persons who say they have no creed, no theology: generally they are the most narrow-minded of pedants. There are persons who say, We do not take any human name; far be it from us to sail under any merely human flag; we are brethren, we are Christians, we are saints; we do not take any qualifying or limiting name. They need none if they would call themselves plain hypocrites! The qualification would be wasted upon them. Better have the naked truth, though sometimes it may present rather ghastly aspects. Have no faith in those people who want to be regarded simply as brethren, Christians, saints, and to deprive themselves of all the little comforts and conveniences arising from classification and qualification. We are still human; we need definition, for definition is sometimes an assistance and a strengthening of our best nature. We cannot all hang up our garments upon the horizon: some of us need a closer accommodation, a near convenience, for the disposal of some little things that belong to us. We do not thereby limit Christ; it is Christ who condescends to show himself through the medium of communion, it may be what is called denominationalism, or classification of Church thought: this need not be sectarianism; it may be the broadest, noblest charity. Are we free from this charge? Are there not Paulists among us, and followers of Apollos, and people who imagine they would die for Peter? And are there not some who wish to be known simply by the unexplained and infinite Name? How does Paul treat this party spirit? He treats it characteristically. Wherever you find Paul you find him standing on first principles, on acknowledged axioms, on solid historical facts. Paul will not come and talk to these people an upon equal terms, saying with a kind of suppressed whine, Is this wise of you? Is this the best course you can pursue? Will it not be better to yield a little here and there, and to live upon a basis of compromise? No such tone do you find in the Apostle Paul! At once, inclusively, finally, he says, "Was Paul crucified for you?" The crucified should be sovereign. He who has suffered most should reign; he who has made the Church possible should be the Church's Lord. Let us hear how many questions the Apostle puts: "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" We feel already that we are in the hands of a master. This man will not let us escape by evasions. He will have Christ put in his right place. Given Christ at the heart of things, and Paul will allow large liberty as to human aspects, and temporary relations, and immediate conveniences; but he will not have two Christs; there is only one Christ in Paul's Church; his eyes never become so dim that he mistakes the three crosses as of equal value; he separates with a sacred discrimination, and he claims that Jesus Christ should be the one Lord as he was the one Sufferer. We must follow Paul's example, and go back to fundamental lines. Who made the Church possible? Christ. Whose Church is it? Christ's. For whose glory does it exist, in no narrow or selfish sense, but as a revelation of his infinite love? For Christ's sake it exists. May we not, then, take the name of Christ, simply, singly, unqualifiably, and use that as our designation? No, because we may indulge our vanity even in that titular distinction. We may think we have done all Christ wants us to do when we have simply labelled ourselves with Christ's name. We can be Christ's in the largest, deepest, and truest sense, without any ostentatious declaration of his Name. To live Christ is better than merely to bear the nominal designation of Christ. Vanity is very subtle in its operation. Sometimes vanity leaps into a prayer suddenly, and turns it into blasphemy; sometimes vanity comes across a man's beneficence, and that which he was going to give as a sacrifice, he presents as a certificate or a claim to distinction. Vanity may therefore come into our choice of the word Christ as the description of our faith: it so specialises us as to inflict dishonour upon other people, and therefore its use may be wrong; as who should say, Look at me: I am simply called Christ's; other men are called Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Presbyterians. All these names I abjure, and if you wish to know what I am I wish to be known simply by the name of Christ. The man who talks so is either a fool or a knave. If a man wants to be Christ's you will not hear him saying anything about it in any invidious spirit; he will not condemn other Christians that he may raise himself on a higher pedestal; he will recognise diversity, and show how possible it is to have unity in difference. The misplacement of emphasis is to be found in the fact that we are always putting forward the wrong points; the points may themselves be useful, but we put them out of proportion; we create a false perspective, and thus we make the near the great: whereas if we placed it at its right point in the line, it might be beautiful, illustratively useful, but being put out of its right position, it distorts the whole picture, and goes itself for less than it is worth. Find out the principal things, and magnify these. Faith is greater than creed: faith is eternal, creed is variable. Rest is greater than the mere time on which the rest is to be taken. Revelation is greater than the book in which it is disclosed. Brotherhood is larger than any limitation of mere blood or physical kinship. So we should get at the heart of things, at the Christly element, at the eternal quantity, and lay our emphasis there with a right cordial voice.

The Corinthians talked much about baptism. The Apostle apparently had heard of that love of a special sacrament or ordinance. He says, "were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" then it were a poor baptism; there is nothing in it; you are baptized by water that will dry on you and be forgotten; unless you are baptized by fire your poor Christianity will soon decline and wither away. "I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other." What an illustration this, of what is meant by inspiration! Here is an inspired man correcting himself; first being very positive that he had baptized only one or two, and then remembering that he had baptized another household; and then, confusedly, half-forgetting whether he had in fact baptized anybody or not. Here is the truthful man; here is the really inspired Apostle; inspiration not relating to the memory of incidental facts and circumstances, but referring to the grand doctrine "lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name." That is the point on which the emphasis is laid. Is the Apostle then despising baptism? Nothing of the kind. Is he in any sense undervaluing it? No. What is he doing? He is putting it in its right perspective. As compared with the Crucifixion it is nothing in value: as compared with life, faith, love, it is a mere mechanical form, useful as a symbol, appointed as an ordinance, but still capable of being thrust out of proportion, unduly and absurdly magnified, and thus rendered insupportable and immeasurably mischievous. How grand the Apostle is here! Looking upon the whole Corinthian Church, he says, "I thank God that I baptized none of you"; not that baptism is wrong, not that I do not baptize, but I can see now that you have a disposition to magnify little things instead of great things, and you have a genius for distortion, and it would have been a very easy thing for you to have said, "Paul baptized us, therefore we are Paul's men." I thank God I had next to nothing to do with your baptism; not that baptism is wrong or useless, but that you would have made a false application of a very small fact. How prone we are to operate in this direction, to assume false honours, to shelter ourselves behind false securities, and to diminish the glorious Christ into a mere mechanical form or passing phase of history! How may we recover ourselves from this? By always asking the one question, Who was crucified for us? Who gave himself for us? How does the Apostle come into this argument? He comes into it, first of all, by right of apostolicity; that we have already seen; then he comes into it with his usual tender persuasiveness, as if he would plead upon his knees. Saith he, "Now I beseech you," that is an attitude of humiliation, that is a tone of courtesy "Now I beseech you, brethren." The tone heightens a little, and a council fraternal is called upon the spot. "Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now the occasion is sublime; the Lord is present, and under his presence must this controversy be adjusted. So he proceeds to put up the Cross, to draw the Corinthian Church around the Cross, and to have the whole conflict settled by the spirit of the Cross. Every controversy can be settled at the Cross, can be completely settled, finally settled; and no soul will retire from that centre saying that he has got an advantage over his brother. When Christians meet there they will be bowed down in a common penitence, they will be chastened by a common humiliation; they will see so much of their Lord as to see but little of themselves; and they will say, For Christ's sake, let us forgive and forget, utterly blot out, with all possible obliteration, every unholy, irritating, exasperating memory; and let us remember that we are nothing except so far as we are in Christ; our testimony is useless if it be not begun, continued, and ended in Christ. We have been unkind, ungracious, uncharitable: now in sight of the bleeding Lamb of God let us cease to see one another's littlenesses and begin to see one another's excellences. That was the Pauline method. Any man who adopted that method, by its very adoption proved himself to be called called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Prayer

We bless thee, Father in heaven, for the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: it unites all things, it gives form and meaning to thy government, it creates the tears of the universe, it creates the songs of heaven. God forbid that we should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shameful, glorious Cross. We are crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live, yet not we, but Christ liveth in us; and the life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. We are Christ's miracles; he has taken us at the spear-point in the deadly fight; we are the Lord's prey, we have been captured by that man of war. Help us to look at all life from the point of view created by the Christ; then there shall be no night, no separating sea, no desolate wilderness, no death; the grave will have no victory, and the night can hardly make room for all the stars that throng upon her darkness. Give us to live in Christ, and for Christ, and to Christ; may he be our song, our subject, our confidence in life, our hope in death. Thou knowest us altogether the cold heart, the reluctant will, the eager spirit, the soul that sheds all its tears in secret, the contrite heart: look upon us according to our pain and need, and come to us with all the balm of Calvary; may grey hairs be no sign of age, may the stooping form be a proof of the ascending spirit and the ripening heart, and may we all become, through Christ and the eternal Spirit, better and better, like a ripening harvest. Amen.