If we are to classify them, Paul was Attic and Apollos was Asian in speaking style. For a person who liked ornamental language, who liked a lot of the figures of speech that were just a bit more prosaic perhaps that Paul was using, Apol los was their man. There was also a group who fol lowed Cephas or Peter. This could well have been a group of believ ers who were more legalistic than the others. And this could have come from the earlier teaching of Peter (compare Galatians 2:14). And finally there were the very spiritual people who said, "No, we are of Christ." I think the way it is used here is a suggestion that these were not marvelous and wonder ful Christians as much as they were people who said, "You can be of Paul, but I am better than you be cause I am of Christ." And keep in mind again, I Corinthians is written to Christians. Those who were of Paul, or of Apollos or of Peter, in these factions, were still Christians and for someone else to stand aside and say, "Well, actually I am the only one of Christ," is com pletely off base. These were indi viduals who were trying to lord it over the others by indicating that they were the only true spiritual Christians. All this sounds rather contemporary, does it not? In verse 13, Paul emphasizes that they are all one in Christ and that Paul could not make them Chris tians, only Christ. He simply pre sented the message and it was only Christ who could transform them. In verses 14 and 15, Paul says he baptized only a few at Corinth. He is not belittling baptism. He rec ognizes the tendency of these peo ple to splinter into groups and so he bent over backwards, not to
It is the type of an individual who is simply looking for an argument, who is pointing out faults and sel dom, if ever, looks for the positive side. And so the Word of Cod in Romans is not suggesting that hon est debate to solve problems is wrong, it is using the word in the sense of constant fault finding and debate for the sake of debate as an "eristic'^philosophy. So also at Corinth there were contentious people who were al ways spoiling for a fight. If you were for something, they were against it. In verse 12, we read, "Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." Paul suggests that there were at least four divisions al though he may be speaking just in an illustrative fashion here. At any rate here were four significant div isions in the church at Corinth. Some would say, "We agree with Paul, he founded our church. We feel that the kind of message he presented is the message that we must follow." Or they may have been saying, "I like Paul's simple, plain, expository approach." But there were others who said, "No, Apollos seems to appeal to me a little more." Now Apollos appar ently was a speaker who was quite eloquent. Paul, as we will see later, was not considered eloquent by the standards of that day. The speakers of the classical era were at times grouped into two large, somewhat artificial, classes. The Attic type orator was known for effective logic, a simple style, and a strong commitment to clarity in all communication. The Asian type orator was a stylist. Ornate language and a somewhat over done delivery was his trademark.
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