Paul's first letter to the Corinthians begins with a divided church. Some claimed Paul, others Apollos, and others Cephas. Each name had become a way of drawing a line between believers. Paul does not answer by deciding which teacher deserves the greater following. He brings them back to Christ and to the cross. Before he speaks of the natural person, the spiritual person, or those who are still carnal, he asks the church to remember where its life began.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who judge it by the wisdom of the world, but to those being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). Human wisdom looks for strength in what can command attention and overcome opposition. In Christ crucified, God reveals His wisdom through what the world sees as weakness. The cross unsettles our usual measures of greatness. It asks whether we will receive God's way or insist that He meet our expectations.
Paul carries this question into the second chapter. The natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is more than a difference in education or ability. A person may hear the words and understand their ordinary meaning, yet still dismiss the wisdom they reveal. The Spirit opens us to receive what we could not discover by placing ourselves above it. Paul then says, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). He does not mean that believers know everything Christ knows. He is speaking of a new way of receiving and discerning what God has made known through Him.
If the Corinthians have received this gift, why do their divisions remain? Paul makes the question personal in chapter 3. He addresses them as brothers and sisters, even as “babes in Christ,” yet says he cannot speak to them as spiritual because they are behaving as carnal people (1 Corinthians 3:1–3). The natural person who does not receive the things of the Spirit and the believer who still acts according to the flesh are not simply the same condition. Paul speaks to the latter as members of the church who need to grow.
Their jealousy and quarrels show what still governs their conduct. They know the message of Christ, but they have turned servants of that message into banners for competing groups. We can do the same whenever we value being identified with the right person more than caring for the people Christ has gathered. The flesh can make itself heard even in conversations about spiritual things: in the need to win, to be seen, or to stand above another. Paul's words invite us to examine our own behavior before we claim to have reached a higher place than our neighbors.
He answers the rivalry with a simple image: “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Paul and Apollos each had work to do, but neither could give life to the seed. God gave the growth. This does not make their service unimportant. It gives each servant a place without making any servant the center. When we understand that, we can labor faithfully, welcome another person's contribution, and give thanks for fruit that does not carry our name.
Paul then calls the Corinthians God's field and God's building. The image changes, but his concern remains: what is God making of this people? Paul has laid a foundation, and others build upon it; “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Every worker must take care how they build. Our words, our service, and the way we treat one another become part of that work. Paul says it will be tested. The foundation is Christ, but we must still ask whether what we build upon Him reflects His wisdom or our own desire for standing.
The image grows more solemn when Paul tells the church, “Ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16). He is speaking to them together. The people divided by jealousy are the very people among whom God's Spirit dwells. Their treatment of one another therefore matters deeply. We cannot honor the foundation while carelessly harming the community being built upon it. The person beside us is not an obstacle to our importance, but part of the house God calls holy.
Paul began by confronting the world's wisdom and ends by telling the Corinthians to stop glorying in men. They do not need to compete for possession of Paul or Apollos. In Christ, they belong to something greater than any one teacher: “And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's” (1 Corinthians 3:23).
That is the movement from a carnal way of thinking toward a spiritual life. It is not a claim that we have become wiser than everyone else. Such a claim could become one more occasion for pride. It is a continuing return to the cross, where our measures of greatness are challenged and our hearts are opened to the wisdom of God. The mind of Christ becomes visible as we serve without claiming the increase, build with care, and recognize the people of God as His dwelling place.
If we are Christ's, the question is no longer, Who among us is greatest? It is, Does the way we live together show whose we are?
Lenwood León Jack · Cornerstone 1131