Some people love math, some tolerate it, and some simply hate it. I’m somewhere in the tolerate it camp. My son-in-law Joel is definitely in the Love Math camp. I think it comes down to two things: understanding and utility. Those who love math somehow understand why it all makes sense and why it is useful. Some of us, though, just don’t get it. And that brings us to our first Corinthian Controversy, division in the church (yes, that is a corny grandpa joke).
Oddly, though, the joke reveals the truth. What is the opposite of division? In math, subtraction is the opposite of addition, and division is the opposite of multiplication. By dividing, we are doing reverse multiplication. And that is the first problem Paul addresses in his letter to the Corinthian church. “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:10–12, NLT)
Take a quick look at the present-day church, and you’ll find that divisions have multiplied over time. Christ-followers are divided by denomination (which is also a math term for the bottom part of a fraction). But we also divide over all kinds of other stuff such as worship style, preferred Biblical translation, and the day we gather. Christians also divide based on social items such as political leanings, economic status, age, race, etc. The list is long.
But is the problem our differences or how we handle them? In many ways, there will also be differences in the body of Christ. Even Paul points out later that he and Apollos have different callings and roles in the larger unity of Christ’s Kingdom. The real issue is that the Corinthian division led to strife, quarrels, conflict, judgementalism, and back-biting in the church.
Now, Paul didn’t just yell, “STOP IT.” He instead spent a good deal of ink and paper revealing to the Corinthians the truths and attitudes that lead us to agreement and unity. This section about division runs from verse 10 of Chapter 1 to the end of Chapter 3. We will cover Paul’s arguments in the coming weeks. For now, let’s skip to the end. Paul concludes, “So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you—whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23, NLT)
Differences will remain, but we lose much when we allow those differences to become division, leading to conflict, separation, and quarrels.
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