W hen we are tempted to grow discouraged over the state of our churches, we would do well to read again Paul’s First Letter to the Corin thians. Was there ever a church with more troubles? It has been said that the problems in Corinth were incidental rather than fundamental but when a church has that many incidental ailments, something is wrong fundamentally! When we begin to study the Corin thian situation, we discover that times have not changed much after all, and the distempers at this church sound pretty familiar. Since Paul addressed his letter not only to the Corinthians but also to “ all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (I Cor. 1:2), the Holy Spirit evidently realized how contemporary its message would be through all the centuries. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan says that Paul began with the CARNALITIES and moved on to the SPIRIT UALITIES or the SPIRITUALS. He did not say: “ There are evils at Corinth but there are many good things too, so I will skip the negatives and major on the positives.” He did not say, “ Love is the answer to everything, so I will ignore the sins of the church and dwell on the more excellent way.” He wrote twelve chapters on church troubles before he got around to love! To begin with, the church was riddled with fac tions, isms and schisms, splits and sub-splits over favorite preachers. I can hear it now: " I like Paul because he is a doctrinal preacher.” “ But Apollos is so cultured and such an orator.” “ Ah, but Peter is so practical and down-to-earth.” Then there was a fourth party, probably the most difficult of all, who said “ We are of Christ.” Each teacher had empha sized some distinctive truth and the Corinthians were divided over “ wisdom of words” instead of united in “ the foolishness of the cross.” We still have Paulites, Cephasites and Apolloni- 26
ans. Walk away from any Bible conference and hear someone ask, “ How did you like HIM?” Another may reply, “ He is not as good as Dr. Blank who was here last year.” Now of course many of us have been blessed by the particular ministry of certain men and we may have a special affection for them be cause of what they have meant to us. On the other hand, God hates the glamorizing and glorifying of men, especially preachers, the following around of pulpit idols, worshipping at the shrine of this celeb rity or that, just as the world bows at Hollywood al tars and a nation of sheep flocks after political Mes siahs. There was a case of gross immorality at Corinth and instead of being concerned and dealing with it, the Corinthians prided themselves on their broad minded tolerance which they probably mistook for Christian charity when really it was un-Christian non chalance. Paul told them to put the offender out of the church, not to get rid of him but to reclaim him — and indeed he did return. Such action was for the good of the delinquent brother and for the good of the church. One infected member can poison the whole body. “ A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” One bad apple can spoil a barrel of good apples. There is almost no discipline in the church to day because there is almost none in our homes and personal lives. Our Lord judges us as much by what we tolerate as by what we practice. Pergamos toler ated the Balaamites and Thyatira “ suffered that wom an Jezebel” and the Lord of the Lampstands demand ed drastic action. Paul advised the Corinthian Chris tians not to keep company with, not even to eat with, fornicators, covetous persons, idolaters, railers, drunk ards and extortioners. One church member living in sin is a malignancy and churches so infected do not need sun-baths, but surgery. If the offender is a THE KING’S BUSINESS
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