Divisive, Factional,
Superficial, Slanderers, Judgmental, Carnal, Nominal, Holier-than-thou,
Flirting, Vulgar, Inconsiderate, Provocative Immoral, Incestuous, Unrepentant,
Loose, Litigious.
At first glance, the words above
seem to fit the non-believer, but the Apostle Paul was dealing with these
issues in the Corinthian Church. How is it possible for Christians to behave
like this? Paul assigns Christians to two camps – spiritual or worldly (1 Cor.
3). The spiritual Christians were the ‘mature’ believers, and the worldly/carnal
he designated as ‘immature.’ It is the fighting and factionalism found among
them that Paul addressed in chapter 3:1-4. His issue with the Corinthian
brethren was the use of their spiritual gifts for “self-centered purposes
rather than building up the body of Christ.”[1]
We would like to gloss our eyes over and pretend such people do not dwell among
us; closer to home, the words above could very well describe our own character.
Just think about it for a minute –
Christians fighting against each other; Christians with a thirst for taking
each other to court; Christians elevating themselves above each other (title
hungry); desiring and taking of another’s husband or wife; Christians who are unrepentant
about living in a carnal state. There is nothing new under the sun folks. The
Apostle Paul had to deal with these issues in his time, as we do now. Still,
Paul’s assignment is to build up the brethren, calling for “unity, oneness and strength”
in Christ Jesus. By the time we get to chapter 9, he uses racetrack and boxing
metaphors to stress a unifying principle – The Christian life is a race, a
fight, but it is imperative that folks be built up in the faith, that we demand
a commitment to Christian living, or risk
disqualification:
