Paul
the apostle desired that the church members in Corinth “all
speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among”
them. He wanted them to “be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment”,
and in chapter one and verse eleven of
First Corinthians, Paul continued his letter by sharing how he heard
there were
“contentions among”
the church members where we read:
that
there are contentions among you.
The
verse begins, “For
it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which
are of the house of Chloe,...”
Paul began
with the word, “For”
which means “even as, indeed, no doubt, seeing then, verily and
therefore” “it has been declared”
which means “it was manifested, given to understand, indicated and
signified” “unto me” or
“to Paul” “of you” which
refers to the Corinthian church, “my
brethren”
or “Paul's fellow believers who were united to another by the bond
of affection ”, “by them which are
of the house” which
means “through the people who belonged to and lived within” of
Chloe”
whose name means “a green herb” and was “a Christian woman of
Corinth”. Although Paul desired for the church in Corinth not to be
“divided”
and “perfectly joined together”
in their “mind”
and “judgment”,
people within “the house of Chloe”
reported this was not the case.
The
verse continues, “...that
there are contentions among you.”.
Paul added
the words, “that there are” or
“there are present” “contentions”
which means “wranglings, debates, strife and variance” “among
you” or
“in, by and with the church members”. Paul heard there were
“debates and strife” within the Corinthian church.
When we think through
these words from Paul, we notice a couple of interesting points.
First, there was someone within the church who was reporting to Paul
the progress they were making. “Chloe”,
whom Paul mentioned by name, must have been a trusted and loyal woman
within the church to make such accusations, and rather than hearing
from those who were leaders within the church, Paul heard it from
her. Secondly, rather than “unity” within the church as Paul
desired, the church was “contentious”
and “divided”. When Paul addressed these problems, he did so with
the authority given by Jesus Christ for him to be an “apostle”.
Proverbs thirteen and verse ten says, “Only
by pride comes contention: but with the well advised is
wisdom.”, and no doubt Paul knew these
“debates and wranglings” arose from “pride”.
Jesus wants His church to be “unified”, and yet, there continue
to be “divisions” today. While we learn about the church in
Corinth, let us be aware of Jesus' desire, and do all we can to see
that His pleasure is realized.
Next
time Paul shares how the church members were divided between, “Paul,
Apollos, Cephas and Christ”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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