Articles
Reasons For Division (2)
Last week, we began our look at Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, particularly noting that the church there was very divided, and for numerous reasons. We looked at some of those reasons last week, and continue this week by looking at more reasons for their divided condition.
Lack of Concern for Their Brethren. (1 Cor. 8:1-13) Before we get to the reason for their division, it would be good to first consider the city of Corinth and a major factor that is relevant to this particular issue: Idolatry. Albert Barnes states, in his introduction to the first letter, said, “the city of Corinth became eminent among all ancient cities for wealth, and luxury, and dissipation. It was the mart of the world. Wealth flowed into it from all quarters. Luxury, amusement, and dissipation, were the natural consequents, until it became the most gay and dissolute city of its times, -— the Paris of antiquity.” Barnes went on to note that this city, being the home of the temple of Venus [goddess of love or, more correctly, “licentious passion”], was easily influenced by the temple’s religious practices and “became the most frivolous, dissipated, corrupt, and ultimately the most effeminate and feeble portion of Greece.” To say the city was idolatrous would be a given, and the immorality that was a result of its idolatrous practices is also a given.
It was in this situation from which the church arose, and its converts would be well familiar with the city’s practices. Paul would also note within this first letter that “the unrighteous” would “not inherit the kingdom of God,” and listed among “the unrighteous” those who were “fornicators,…idolaters,…adulterers,…homosexuals, [and]…sodomites” — all of which were behaviors associated with their idolatrous religious service to Venus — and then reminded the brethren, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Note that some of these brethren were among the idolaters before they were converted and began following Christ. They were very familiar with its practices and habits.
With this in mind, let us now consider that some brethren were apparently buying meats from the market that had been offered to idols without any thought as to the image they were portraying to some of their weaker brethren. To the weaker ones, maybe even some who were very recent converts, they would see their brethren eating these meats that had been offered to idols, possibly even “eating in an idol’s temple” (1 Cor. 8:10), and their weak conscience would be defiled because they had only previously known of it as meat offered to an idol (1 Cor. 8:7). Some with the weaker conscience might even “be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols” and their weak conscience would be “wounded” (1 Cor. 8:10, 12). In other words, those who did not yet understand the idol was meaningless would only see their brethren as participating in the very practices they had been admonished to leave behind as ones who were now followers of God. Not having the full knowledge and understanding of what was true and right, they would be utterly confused about what their brethren were doing and it is possible that some would be influenced to then participate in something they believed to be wrong, thus causing them to stumble.
And, apparently, the brethren who were eating these meats were doing so with absolutely no regard for their weaker brother’s conscience and their feelings toward the practice. It was as if they were saying, “I know the difference between the true God and these dumb idols and you just need to grow up and get over it.” There was no regard for their brother’s conscience by the ones eating the meats. Paul rebuked them early in this portion of the letter, saying, “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1). They were dividing themselves based on their knowledge of what was right or acceptable, and they were not building up their brethren, but causing them to stumble! This was no way to have unity!
Abusing Liberties. (1 Cor. 11:2-16) Corinth was a multicultural city, without a doubt, but it still had its traditions, too. One tradition that existed then was one common among many societies and cultures of the time [and even today]: that women were to be in subjection to men. Paul outlines the “chain of authority,” wherein God is over Christ, who is over man, who is over woman (1 Cor. 11:3). He went on to show that, in that region, there were certain practices that visually demonstrated this submission; men were to pray with their heads uncovered, but women were to have their heads covered.
Somehow, possibly because of their conversion and the understanding that all were now one in Christ [as Paul noted in the letter to the Galatians, “there is neither male nor female,” (Gal. 3:28)], some women were apparently removing their head coverings within the assembly and were a source of distraction and disturbance, making it difficult for others, who did not see this as acceptable, to concentrate on what they were gathering together to do.
Paul’s answer to them was simple: “Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?” (1 Cor. 11:13). There was no one right answer that would apply to all churches, but they had to determine what was right in their location and circumstance. As he would add later, “But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” (1 Cor. 11:16). In other words, since there is no one answer that fits all situations [i.e., this is a liberty they had to decide], they needed to work it out amongst their number, each considering the other.
Excluding. (1 Cor. 11:17-22) For many of these issues, one might possibly expect to exist because of the various backgrounds and levels of knowledge and spiritual maturity, but one would think they could unite on the memory of the one for whom they lived, right? But even in this memorial, there was division! Paul chastised them, saying, “Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse. For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you” (1 Cor. 11:17, 18). He then notes what was happening: “For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk” (1 Cor. 11:21).
The first problem was that they were not gathering to remember the Lord in the memorial supper at all, but to satisfy their hunger! And in doing this, they added to the problem by excluding the one who had nothing while gorging themselves and drinking to the full. What should have been a time where there was true “communion” (1 Cor. 10:16, 17) — joint participation and sharing — had turned into an all-you-can-eat for those who had, and exclusion for those who had not. In even this, there was no unity!
One factor common to all these issues is one we will address more thoroughly in next week’s article, but it is plain to any honest observer: Brethren did not care about one another! It seems that each disciple was living his or her faith to God and Christ alone, with no regard or concern for how their lives, words, and actions affected their fellow believer. That is no way to have unity amongst a plurality of believers, but the path to “unity” by isolation!
More next week. — Steven Harper
