THE KING’S BUSINESS
810
one with Paul in the presentation of the gospel of the free grace of God, is a seri ous question; for, while Peter may have been hesitant and somewhat compromis ing in this or a kindred matter (cf. Gala tians ii. 11-21), nevertheless his recorded sermons make salvation to depend upon the absolute grace of God just as clearly as do the utterances of Paul. The leaders of the “Cephas” party doubtless had letters of commendation (2 Corinthians iii. 1) ; were Hebrews (2 Corinthians xi. 22) ; profess ing ministers of Christ (2 Corinthians xi. 23) ; are called “false apostles” (2 Corin thians xi. 13); disputed the apostolic au thority of Paul, even accusing him of insincerity, as well as stirring up antag onism towards him (2 Corinthians i. 17- 24) . (c) The “Apollos” Party. The differ ence between the followers of Paul and the followers of Apollos was not so much one of a doctrinal nature as of a probable personal preference as to preachers. Apol los was a master of oratory and an elo quent preacher; Paul, apparently, was not a man of eloquent words. May not this be the reason why Paul contrasts “the word of wisdom,” thereby indicating the preaching of Apollos, with “the wisdom of words,” thereby probably indicating his own message (i. 17-31). The adherents of Apollos were in danger of being car ried away, by subtle philosophy. Against this danger Paul very strongly warns them. (d) The "Christ" Party. It may be that this party was connected in some way with James, the brother of our Lord (xv. 7; cf. Acts xv.). His followers may have claimed that oh account of his relation to our Lord he was necessarily superior to all of the other apostles and had a relation to Christ which they did n o t. have. Or it may be that the members of the “Christ” party were neutrals, refusing to have any thing to do with Paul, Peter, or Apollos. These,. supposedly, claimed to be through with all human teachers, asserting that they received their teaching directly from Christ —no human head for them (cf. Matthew
xxiii. 8, 10). Surely he who knows the Lord should honor His servants who are teachers in the Lord'(cf. Hebrews xiii. 7). The existence in the Christian church of contention, schism, and party division was most- certainly inconsistent with the espousal of the cause of Christ. It was a libel on Christianity, and gave the world an occasion to justly find fault with the church. The unity of the church is threat ened, for the existence of the party spirit was a precursor of spiritual disaster and death. It is not false doctrine, but a party spirit that is here censured. There has always been danger in hero worship. Undue attachment to certain leaders has been the overthrow of a people more than once. The sin here censured is not that of mere denominationalism. It is something worse; it is a lack of unity and union in the body of Christ, God cafes more for unity than for union. There is nothing that will more quickly break up the unity of a church than the existence of envy, jealousy, and strife (cf. Ephesians iv. 1-3). The exist ence of such vices is always a sign of unspirituality (cf. iii. 1-4). The name of but One Person is important enough to dominate a church; but One is worthy to imprint His name upon us, and that One is Christ. The danger in the Corinthian church was that which threatened to break the unity of the church—the virtue described by Christ as the most potent wit ness of the Church to the world (John' xvii. 8,10,21,23). The existence of such conditions not only affected the church’s testimony before the world, but was likely to eat up the very life of the church itself, “but if ye bite and devour one another, take.,heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Galatians v. IS). Very soon this party spirit, and division, and contention, which as yet had existed only within the church, would spread without (xi. 18,19). Already, apparently, it had carried itself . even to the Lord’s table (cf. xi. 18-34). It is not necessary to suppose that the teachers themselves were opposed to each other. They may have been on the best
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker