Sorry for the delay, I honestly forgot that I promised to run through this letter of Paul's (1 Corinthians). So let's see what John MacArthur says about the 1st chapter.
1Corinthians 1:10-13 "I appeal to you brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers some from Chloe's house have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 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." Is Christ divided?...
What Paul is eluding to is no different than what we see today in the church in form of denominations. The Corinthians were getting it twisted and focusing on things that weren't of the utmost importance and allowing this to break them up. You see that Paul is explaining that people are saying that they follow different people. Johnny Mac says that the Corinthians started to break up and follow who they thought was the coolest (High profile personalities), for example someone who hangs on every word from a pastor as opposed to every scripture/word from Jesus. Be reminded that all men are sinful and eventually will make an error, Jesus never has and never will so you know His word is always good. This brings back the conversation of foundational doctrine that can't be misinterpreted. As Christians we can't misinterpret the resurrection, virgin birth, substitution (life for life, Jesus for our sins), and various other doctrines. However we can disagree on drinking (having a leisurely drink versus no drinks), methods of witnessing, worship music style, and other issues that don't affect the foundation of our faith. We have to stay together despite having different opinions on things that don't affect salvation. One of the biggest turnoffs to non-believers is the division in the church, we see all the time. "Why would I want to belong to a group and have to oppose other groups when I can just stay neutral." It's ugly!
A problem I had was I used to dislike the Catholic church and claim that they were openly committing blasphemy on multiple accounts. Then I met a great Catholic follower and we talked ever day about our differences and shared beliefs, coming to find out that our foundation was the same. His church chooses to put a high focus on things I don't agree with but should that affect our brotherhood, I don't think so, we are both following Jesus. However we first have to understand what we stand for and what our foundational beliefs are (search archives for more on foundational doctrines).
3 comments:
Touchy subject for many. Interesting to see why the Corinths strayed and why. It's amazing how all things come back to the word of God. The foundation is there, but we keep trying to build new things over it and make it our own.
Jules,
uh..I don't want to get to crazy with my Catholicism take. Whether it be adding books to the Bible, the high priest, praying to Mary, or money to get people out of purgatory and into heaven. Take a look again at Durham's post on Martin Luther.
On the other hand and going back to the scripture on here of 1 Corin 1:10-13. I really like what you were saying about following people as opposed to focusing on the scrips. I always here people hyping up their preacher as he is the best. Or down playing other preachers saying their message is watered down. Good point that "all men are sinful" And not to put them up on a pedestal and stay focused on the End Game of a personal relationship with Christ.
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I am the definition of a church connoisseur. I can easily twist and corrupt the gift of discernment. I do sit, judge, and evaluate those who teach the Word. No other point to this comment other than confessing a sin that I struggle with in this area. Thanks for listening.
- TEvans
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