1 Corinthians 1:8-17
The day of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of in 1 Corinthians 1:8, brings before the Christian’s mind God’s answer to His Son’s rejection by Israel and the world at large. The present is “man’s day” and that term is actually used in 1 Corinthians 4:3 (New Translation); but the Scriptures abound in assurance that the day of man’s rule is to be presently superseded by another day, another order of things, in which God will carry out what He has long purposed. Fifty-one times in the New Testament the term “day” is used with reference to what is to come, as “that day,” “the day of redemption,” “the day,” and others.
It is evident from these passages that this promised “day” has three distinct characters; first, in point of time will be the day “of our Lord Jesus Christ” as in the eighth verse of our chapter. It is called “the day of the Lord Jesus” in 1 Corinthians 5:5 and in 2 Corinthians 1:14; “the day of Jesus Christ” in Philippians 1:6; “the day of Christ” in the tenth verse of that chapter, and in the 16th verse of the second chapter. This “day” will be heavenly in its sphere, beginning with the resurrection morning when we shall go to be with the Lord.
“The day of the Lord”, so much the theme of Old Testament prophecies, and named in 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2 (N.T.) and 2 Peter 3:10, will begin when He descends to the world to overthrow the wicked and begin His millennial reign.
“The day of God” (2 Peter 3:12) is at the end of the scenes of judgment, after the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). Then there will be new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell, the old creation, everything on which the unbelieving have rested, being dissolved and passing away. Here begins the eternal state, in which the kingdom, hitherto under the Lord’s dominion, will be given up to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24).
1 Corinthians 1:8 in our chapter suggests a reference to Jude 24; Ephesians 5:7 and Revelation 19:5-9, which will have their fulfillment before the Lord descends from heaven to earth to begin His promised reign (2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 19:11-21 and 6).
Every believer will be blameless in the day of Christ, because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The Christians at Corinth were very blameworthy when the Apostle wrote, as he proceeds to show them from this first chapter and all through the epistle; but he can speak to them of God’s faithfulness: God is faithful, though they were not; and by Him they had been called unto the fellowship, or communion, of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
You and I, too, dear young Christian, just as truly as the Corinthian believers of Paul’s day, have been spoken to by God concerning the fellowship of His Son. “Called,” in verses 1, 2 and 24, “calling” in verse 26, speak of the Christian’s vocation, but “called” in the 9th verse is used in quite a different sense, referring to an invitation, or we might say, a designation, from God for each of His children, to share in all the precious and holy fellowship of His beloved Son. Fellowship began as soon as the church was formed by the descent of the Holy Spirit, as we see from Acts 2:41-42. It is linked with the death of Christ, and in the Lord’s supper it finds expression, as it is said in the tenth chapter of this epistle: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion (or fellowship) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread (or loaf) and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
Fellowship is, as, another has said, having a part together with Christ, and in the blessings that are with Him.
These verses, 4 to 9, have brought before us very briefly the most singular favor of our God to His children. The subject is dwelt upon in far greater measure in the epistle to the Ephesians, but the state of the believers at Corinth was such that the Holy Spirit, instead of bringing before them the glories of Christ and their own highly privileged place in God’s sight, had to address them strongly about their bad ways.
Verses 10 to 13 set out the first of the offenses, at Corinth. As yet it was only a party forming within the Assembly, but it was, as we know from what has taken place in Christendom, the beginning of a very great evil. God, who knew all from the beginning, all that would form the history of His church here on earth, foreseeing the legion of sects and divisions that have developed, wrote by the Apostle the words which are before us in these verses. It is impossible to avoid their direct application; no words could be more plain, no instruction more precise.
In 1 Corinthians 14:37, we have this arresting statement: “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.”
These verses come to us therefore with all the authority of the Lord Jesus—to us, and not only to the saints at Corinth in Paul’s days, because, as we have already seen, the second verse of the epistle takes in every Christian everywhere.
If 1 Corinthians 1:10 were regarded as the Word of God for today, by the many thousands of believers who are united with sectarian bodies and other divisional groups and parties, should they not make diligent search in order to learn the true path for faith, which is assuredly to be found from the Scriptures? There is one body and one Holy Spirit, and Christians are to endeavor (or use diligence) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3-4). Where He has liberty in every heart and conscience, verse 10 of our chapter is fulfilled.
It was through members of a woman’s household that the Apostle learned of the contentions within the church of God at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11). The entire company of the saints had entered into a party spirit; some were boasting of being “of Paul”; others “of Apollos”; yet others “of Cephas” (Peter), and lastly, and probably the most boastful of all, there were those who professed to be “of Christ,” as of a superior grade of sanctity. How pointed is the comment in the thirteenth verse: “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” Thus was the folly of their party-forming exposed.
Whenever a difference of opinion develops among the saints of God, it is plain that one or the other must have erred; perhaps, indeed, both are wrong. The infallible, unerring Word of God is in the hands of each of us as the only guide book of the children of God, and the Holy Spirit is present to apply that Word (John 16:13). Instead of resorting to argument and contention, the saints will, if they are subject to God and His Word (Acts 20:32; 2 Tim. 2:15, 3:15-17) resort to earnest and continued prayer, and in His time they will learn what is of Him. Then division, if it occurs, will be for Christ’s glory in the separation of the saints who are guided by the Word of God from those who are set upon a course of their own choosing.
The Apostle thanked God that he baptized none of the Corinth believers but Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas; he did not know if he had baptized any others. The twelve were commissioned to baptize (Matt. 28:19); not so was the Apostle to the Gentiles, although he baptized on occasion, and we are expressly told that the believers at Corinth were baptized (Acts 18:8).
Indeed, no other of the apostles was given to make known what is involved in baptism so fully as was Paul (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:12).
His work was the preaching of the good news of God’s grace, and this not in wisdom of words, that the cross of Christ might not be made vain (1 Cor. 1:17).
(To be Continued)