NOTES for Co1 3:11
Anyone familiar with the Gospel knows the parable of Jesus about the corner stone, with which He compares Himself, by implying by house this messianic Kingdom, which He brought to the world. And Paul speaks about Christ, as about the corner stone, on which was founded the Church. As we see, such a reminder was convenient in all the times, without excluding also the early Christian era. One could think that for every Christian this truth must be completely obvious. But all the same already in the time of Paul everything was not also simple. But why so? Maybe, because of this religiosity, which then penetrated into the life if not of the whole Church, then at least of its Jewish component? But it is not indeed even about religion and not of religiosity, but about certain disputes and conflicts in the Corinthian church, perhaps threatening its very existence.
Of course, there would have been a lot of Hebrew in the Corinthian church (the Jewish community of Corinth was one of the biggest in the Roman Empire), and the relations of the Jews, as is known, with the recent heathen were not so simple in the communities of church. However one can think that the tendency to disputes and the quarrels manifested, independently of its origin. It is difficult to say exactly which kind were these disputes and quarrels; it is only clear that the community of church divided into a certain kind of theological parties, which claimed if not for the exclusivity, then at least, for the priority. Here is, in these conditions the apostle reminds of this only foundation of the Church, which one should not look for replacement. And the problem here is not simply in the fact that to dispute for priorities moreover, Who is the real head of the Church, is at least ridiculous.
The problem is again in the fact that, what is the Church, on what depends its life. Disputes about superiority, about priorities, even on the orthodoxy of certain opinions usually begin when the disputers, at the height of their disputes forget about their Head and begin to think that the fate of the Church really depends on the outcome of their discussion, sometimes very violent. Perhaps, in certain cases such would have been the case, if the Church was an ordinary religious organization, the fate of which is defined by its leaders and recognized authorities. And it is the problem here, the fact is that the Church is not an religious organization, but the body of Christ.
And only its Head can define its fate. And the leaders and the authorities can determine, in most, only the fate of certain structures and institutes "of church", and more exactly the fringes of the church. And the apostle calls his coreligionists not to forget it. And to not transform the body of Christ into club of debates, in which each claims to the supremacy, having forgotten the real Head.