Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The message of the gospel is God’s infinite wisdom presented in an infinitely logically and simple way so that men can be saved from sin and misery and death. It is a message that has brought comfort, strength, joy and peace to the seeking soul, distraught and at its wit’s end. The power of God shown through in the heart of such bringing healing to the aching soul.
The gospel is the power and wisdom of God to save. Despise not the gospel for it is the only hope, the only cure for sin and death. The Apostle Paul is exhorting the church in Corinth to press on in sowing the seed of the gospel. He made a relative comparison driving home the point that even the least of God’s wisdom bordering upon “foolishness” as fallen man would interpret God’s ways, is still superior to man’s wisdom.
The Apostle Paul was quoting Scripture taken from Isaiah 29:14 “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” He was alluding to the truth that God shall intervene by His power to save man by confounding their “wisdom”.
The Apostle Paul has personally experienced liberation from the bondage of sin when he received Jesus Christ at his Lord and Saviour. He was confronted by Jesus through a bright light from heaven on the road to Damascus for persecuting Christians. He was blinded for three days. He realised that the Jesus whom he was persecuting is the living and true God. He asked Jesus to forgive his sins. Jesus restored his sight. He was a changed man from that day onwards. He understood the power of the gospel, the preaching of the cross, indeed, saves!
The Apostle Paul’s focus is to preach the gospel in its simple entirety without garnishing it with any of man’s intellectual wrangling whom man calls “wisdom”. He sees it as a danger because it stands to twist and distort the gospel message. The gospel loses its power to save!
He forbade that the Christians in Corinth have a wrong notion of the mission of the church. If it becomes a holding place for man’s ego, it will fail. Christ has not sent him to baptise although this is a part of the Great Commission. He was to make disciples so that God’s kingdom will be advanced. He is an instrument in God’s hand. The gospel work is not done in his name. He cannot save. Therefore, his preaching has always been to point men to Christ.
Jesus is Lord and Saviour. There is none else. The Apostle Paul by his apostolic authority rebuked the church at Corinth for idolizing men, albeit himself! He seeks to awaken their spirit to mind the things of the spirit and not be caught up with earthly position and empire-building. By using the Apostle Paul’s name, the members are gathering disciples for their carnal end. This is not acceptable, the Apostle Paul retorted!
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.