1Corinthians 1:10-25 REMEMBER HOW YOU WERE CALLED When God saved us, He made us each a new creation. I am so grateful because that means not only am I given a new beginning, but I have been placed by the Spirit of God into the Body of Christ. My position in Christ is secure. In an assembly gathered in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, unto Him is composed of those who are "brethren" - family members. The function of a body and a family is coordinated by the head. When one person in a family begins to speak out contrary to what the family agrees is a characteristic of family identity, it creates division. Division, when it develops, becomes a schism where the mind and judgment of differing opinions lead to a sect. This has been a serious problem among God's people from near the beginning of this Church Age. The assembly at Corinth was at the "division" stage and was quickly moving into schisms that led to sectarianism - following men instead of God.
The "contentions" or quarrels the saints at Corinth were having were because they were focusing their attention on the messengers rather than the message of the Word of God. This, unfortunately, is not uncommon today. When people get their eyes on the Lord's servants, their personalities, their abilities or lack of ability, or their style of presentation of the message God has given them to pass on, what could have been a great blessing becomes a cause of division. The variety of God-given gifts is meant to be a benefit to His people. The Corinthians had a history in the city of Corinth of teachers and philosophers promoting their own "wisdom" and arguing over differing opinions. The saints of God were divided over the same kind of reasoning. Some followed Paul because he had been the one who brought the Gospel along with others and had been the chief spokesman. He preached the message of salvation by grace alone, and the resulting blessing that came from the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ had been experienced by the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Apollos was apparently quite articulate and maybe had an imposing way of presenting himself and the message he preached. Peter would have been looked up to and recognized as one of the twelve who had journeyed with the Lord for three and a half years and had opened the Gospel to the Gentiles. Then there were those with a lofty opinion of themselves who made Christ out to be the head of the schism they were a part of, instead of the One the Gospel was about. How awful is the divisive spirit when we get our eyes on men instead of on the Lord Himself.
Because of his leadership in bringing the Gospel, Paul could see the danger if he gave the impression by baptizing people that he had a special authority. It is possible to make a man out to be what he is not and thus make an event or an ordinance what it is not. Baptism is the testimony of an individual to live a new life in Christ and for Him. When we have been immersed in the Body of Christ, that act has nothing to do with the will of mere mortal man. Public baptism is the outward evidence of a person having trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and owning Him as our Lord.
God's wisdom is seen in the message of the Gospel. The wisdom of men considers silly the fact of Christ not only dying for our sins but being raised from the dead. Many today oppose the preaching that Jesus is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life, and His death alone paid the price for our sins. People still are trying to make themselves acceptable to God by doing good and being good to their neighbors. Others faithfully carry out church ordinances, believing that activity would make them acceptable to God.
The Jews stumbled over the Person and work of Christ because they wanted a great, dramatic, miraculous sign like fire from heaven as proof that the Lord Jesus Christ was their Messiah. They did not accept the "sign of the prophet Jonah." They wanted to see power, and Israel returned to the glory days of David and Solomon. The Greeks laughed at the cross work of Christ, thinking that it was foolish that acceptance with God is made because of salvation that included not only the death of Christ for sin, but the resurrection of the Savior from the dead.
Paul called on the experts, the interpreters, and the philosophers to reveal how they came to God through their fields of expertise. None of them knew God. Those who heard the preaching of the Gospel, the preaching of the cross, and the preaching of Christ crucified and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, experienced the wisdom of God and the salvation of God. Some people are very impressive when they speak, but have very little to say. The message is what is important. The message of the cross leaves no room for a halfway position. Crucifixion does not leave any person in doubt as to who a person believes in and what they are going to defend. These are the ones who are "the called." They are not divided into Jews and Greeks. Jews who believe know the Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God. The Greeks who believed in Him knew He was the wisdom of God. They had been searching for wisdom and found it in a Person. The Jews would know that the only life-changing power was in Christ. Those who appear to others as foolish because they have simply accepted God's offer of salvation and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are the wisest of men. Those who considered the death of Christ on the cross as weakness will have to accept the blessing from that redemptive work as far stronger than anything men try to do to earn eternal life.
Those who have believed are in the fellowship of His (God's) Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who died for us. We have given our testimony to that in baptism when we identified ourselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior. Now both Jews and Gentiles are united into one spiritual unity because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ.