Author: Rev. Lek Aik Wee

The Apostle Paul has been informed by brethren from the house of Chloe of the division in the church of Corinth where rival cliques are formed threatening the unity and peace of the body. These cliques claim to have the Apostle Paul, Apollos, Cephas or Peter and Christ as their leaders. As far as the Apostle Paul is concerned, he has not supported the formation of such a clique in his name. He expressed surprise! He spent one and half year in Corinth to establish the new believers in the faith and teach the Word of God to them. He did not recall teaching them to do any of such contentious behaviour.

The believers in Corinthians are called to unity in Jesus Christ, putting on the mind and living out the life of Christ that is in them. The body of Christ shall have that perfect unity with each functioning as Christ’s agent of righteousness and love to the honour and glory of God.

The phrase “perfectly joined together” is one word in Greek which means “to put a thing in its appropriate condition, to establish, set up, equip, arrange, prepare, mend.” Let the body be what Christ has intended it to be. MacArthur said well, “In our individual minds and among ourselves, we are to be one in beliefs, standards, attitudes, and principles of spiritual living.”

Being freed from the bondage of sin, the believer is exhorted not to go back to the filth of sin but to mortify the flesh, to put it under subjection. Let there be love and unity among Christian brethren one for another. Amen.

God endows His people with spiritual gifts. He also enables them to exercise them. God is faithful to His promise that when He saves a sinner, he shall never be lost. Jesus affirms this in John 10:28-30 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one. His grace is sufficient to see him through life’s journey to reach his final destination in heaven. Jesus intercedes for His saints at the right hand of the Father in heaven to ensure that they can never be lost. What a comforting truth of God’s unchanging love for us. May we take heart to live a God honouring life worthy of His love. Amen.

The church in Corinth, observes the Apostle Paul, has been endowed with spiritual gifts. These spiritual gifts are to be exercised for the building up of the body of Christ. And God has amply supplied these spiritual gifts so that the church may be engaged in faithful service before the Lord returns.

The Apostle Paul gives thanks to God for the spiritual growth that he witnesses in the Corinthian church. He attributes it to the grace of God that is supplied by Jesus Christ. Indeed, for a Christian to grow, he must abide in Jesus Christ.

What a greeting! God’s unmerited favour continues to manifest its presence in your life. It is through God’s grace that the Apostle Paul is sent to Corinth and counselled to stay on by our Lord Jesus. Not pleasant for the mission team to contend with the enemies of the faith. They are placed in harm’s way. Physical dangers of imprisonment, caning and even stoning.