The people in the church of Corinth had diverse backgrounds. All people travelling through north, south, east and west had to pass through this town because of where it was situated. Paul speaks about divisions and asks them to be united.
The church then was divided into groups;
1. The first group consisted of Paul and his followers. They felt they were at liberty because of the word.
2. This group headed by Apollo was known for eloquence and the ability to explain the word of God.
3. Cephas who was a disciple of Christ was the leader of this group. His followers were Jews, who observed the rituals of their tradition.
4. These were the followers of Jesus Christ. They saw themselves as righteous people and saw anyone else as non entities.
Paul accuses the church of trading all forms of messages. He pointed out the distractions in the church. Some were;
i. they focussing on who baptized them rather than the one who died for their sins.
ii. Valuing eloquent wisdom rather than the gospel.
Christ is not divided hence we should not be divided by any minister. We should be seen as one no matter where we are coming from. There is unity in diversity. Our gifts must be brought together to build the church of Christ.
The non essential things are being Presbyterians, Methodists or charismatic’s and the like.
Our differences must not lead to factionalisms since this brings acrimony to the church. The church is multi-dimensional hence unity and diversity should lead to us being rooted and built up in Christ.
We pray that there would be genuine oneness in the church that we are truly rooted and built up in Christ.
Love, like death hath all destroyed
Rendered all distinctions void,
Names and, sects and, parties fall;
Thou o Christ is all in all. (Hymn 720)
No comments:
Post a Comment