WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday June 29, 2014
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A CALL TO UNITY
(Don’t confuse the messenger with the message)
(1 Corinthians 1:10-17)
Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth was
written to address the many problems that had cropped up there, during the
time, immediately following his founding of the church during his second
missionary journey (Acts 18:1-8). The believers in Corinth had begun to
question Paul’s authority as an apostle appointed by CHRIST. They were also
misusing worship, suing each other in court, engaging in all sorts of
immorality, and even denying that the resurrection of CHRIST ever took place.
The apostle Paul wrote this
letter circa A.D. 57 on behalf of himself and Sosthenes, the ruler of the
synagogue at Corinth. Sosthenes was the man, who was beaten by the angry mob
that day in the courtroom, while standing before the Roman governor Gallio of
Achaia (Acts 18:17). Sosthenes must have converted to Christianity some time
following that mob scene in his city. The obvious purpose of this letter was to
correct any damage that had already occurred, and to stave off any further
damage to the Christian belief system in this young church at Corinth.
In the biblical Greek, the word
used for “divisions” in verse 10 is “schismata”, and it describes a condition
of “tears and splits that divide the wholeness of a unit”. In 1 Corinthians
1:10-17, after giving thanks to GOD, Paul focuses in on the obvious divisions
taking place in the church at Corinth, and he sets out to present his appeal
there for unity. The debate in the Church at Corinth over Christian leadership
had all but destroyed the unity of that local congregation. They were
constantly engaged in heated debate over who they should follow. Some wanted to
follow Paul, while others were loyal to Apollos, and Peter, and fortunately,
some, who were still in their right mind, were yet willing to follow CHRIST
JESUS, the GOD appointed, true HEAD of the Church.
Some people, and understandably
so, have come to cite this passage as an argument against forming different
denominations within the Christian body. When we separate the Christian church
into different factions, we are, in effect, arguing that our group is “best” or
“right”, and as a result, we separate ourselves from others who are really
equal members in the body of CHRIST.
We all can agree that, here in
the twenty-first century, we have become more interested in teaching people
about our various denominations (i.e. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic), than we
are about teaching GOD’s perfect idea that is now called “Christianity”.
However, it would serve us well to always remember that “Christianity” is the
only “true” religion, because it is the only religion that is a product of
GOD’s mind. Every other religion, sect, or denomination known to man, is quite
simply, a product of man’s own mind, and therefore, in essence, is wrong.
The good news is that GOD already
knew that this kind of desire, for human superiority, would rise up out of the
minds of men. And so, through HIS permissive will, HE grants us these options,
as long as we respect HIS most basic of Christian principles, that were laid
out for us, by CHRIST, in Matthew 22:37-40. There CHRIST states the greatest of
all Christian doctrine when HE commands that,
we;
“Love GOD with all our heart, soul, and mind, and that we love our
neighbor as we love ourselves”. CHRIST goes on to say that, “All the other commandments and all the
demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (NLT).
And, even though, we may never
organize our Christian churches in the same way, nor are we likely to ever
worship GOD, in the same way, and in fact, we may never even believe in
precisely the same things about the same ALMIGHTY GOD that we share. However,
“Christian unity”, is intended by GOD to transcend all these differences, and
bring men together in fellowship and love. It is that same kind of “Christian
unity” that JESUS prayed about in John 17, and, that same kind of “Christian
unity” that Paul wrote about to the Church here in this letter to the
Corinthians, and indeed, in all of his other doctrinal letters. It is a unity
that is not born of bricks and mortar, but rather, it is a unity of “personal
relationships”, not unlike the one we’ve already seen, between the FATHER and
the SON, as an example to us, for all time.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER-
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