Year 8, Day 70: 1 Corinthians 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Today we jump to the New Testament as we tackle another of Paul’s letters.  The letters to the Corinthians are a great mix of teaching and correction.  Above all else, though, they are written in love.  If Paul didn’t care about the Corinthians, he would not have written.

As for Paul’s love and encouragement, look at what Paul tells the Corinthians.  They are a congregation who knows no lack.  They have all of the gifts of God present among them.  They are rich in the Spirit of God!

They are not without their problems, however.  It’s said that wherever you have 5 people gathered, you have no less than 7 opinions.  Humans beings love to have controversy.  We love to think about ourselves.  We love to seek glory.  We love to seek power and control.

What that often means is that the more richly we are blessed the more prone we are to arguments.  When a group is underequipped, they must band together and appreciate each others’ strengths.  When we are abundantly equipped, we have more than we need and we can then be critical of those whom we allow ourselves to not value.  It’s a sad reality among human beings.

How does Paul try to teach into this situation?  Paul reminds them that they should be united in Christ.  He tries to get them to realize that they are in the same body.  He tries to show them that they should not take God’s blessing and turn it into an opportunity for conflict.

We are one in Christ.  We should be more united by the essentials of God’s love than broken by our human uniqueness.  We should be brought together under the cross of Christ and thus freed to be unique in God’s calling.

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