NOTES for Co1 1:10-17

Moving from the conversation about the Kingdom and salvation to the concrete problems of the Corinthian church, Paul reproaches the Corinthian Christians for the divisions that had arisen among them (vv. 10-12). Of course, the issue could hardly have been the deification of Paul himself or of anyone else whom the apostle mentions in his letter. But parties of supporters and followers could certainly have formed in the Corinthian church, much as groups of supporters and followers of one or another philosophical school sometimes arose in Greek cities. And in opposition to the supporters of all the groups that existed among the Corinthian Christians, a party, so to speak, of "pure Christians" inevitably had to appear, people who criticized all the others for deviating from the truth and proudly said of themselves: but we belong to Christ!

Of course, this state of affairs did nothing to help normal spiritual life. And the issue was not only that constant disputes inevitably distracted the Corinthian Christians from the main thing for which they gathered in church. The main problem was that such disputes, as can be seen, often divided those arguing so deeply that they did not even want to communicate with one another, and thus destroyed the Church as a spiritual space. For when Jesus departed, He did not leave in the world a religious brotherhood or a theological school. He left here a community of people living in the Kingdom, through whom it could abide in the world, transforming it. This, and only this, is the Church's chief task. Everything else, preaching, religious instruction, theological research, and even works of mercy, matters only as witness to the Kingdom. Of course, the development of theology is impossible without theological disputes.

But if disputes end with the community falling apart into groups opposed to one another, such theologizing must be recognized as a complete spiritual failure. And the issue is not only counter-witness, but also that the people taking part in such disputes are ultimately not brought into communion with the Kingdom by them, but separated from it. For the Kingdom requires not unity of views, but normal relationships with one's neighbor, and if those are absent, one will have to forget about abiding in the Kingdom. Even those whose arguments turn out to be impeccable from a theological point of view.

Texts from Holy Scripture often give rise to many interpretations. People perceive the paradoxical words of the New Testament in different ways. But today’s text is not like that. Having read it, one cannot invent any meaning other than the one the apostle placed in it. Paul often writes in strange and difficult language, expressing in words what a human being is incapable of expressing. Today, however, we read a simple and readily understandable text. He implores us to live in unity and not to seek grounds for division.

Unity is one of the most difficult things for any group of people to attain. This is shown, if by nothing else, by the fact that the apostle writes this in one of his earliest letters, when even those who knew Christ personally were still alive. Yet disputes and quarrels, arrogance and pride had already settled in the Church. That is why the one argument the apostle uses, the one capable of stopping hatred and destroying evil, appears immediately in the text: he implores them by the name of Jesus Christ. For He alone is able to restore and save what has perished in hostility and hatred.

In his letter to the Corinthian Christians, Paul is evidently speaking about some division that had happened in the Corinthian church, about certain church or near-church parties that had formed there. Now, of course, it is hard to say exactly what the essence of the conflict was, but judging by Paul's words, one has to think that the issue was groups formed around different teachers or preachers connected with the Corinthian church. And apparently things sometimes reached the point where, behind their mentors, their followers sometimes ceased to see Christ, often forgetting the very essence of Christianity.

The apostle, judging by his words, did not try at all to go into the subtleties of the disagreements that had arisen. He asks a simple question: who was crucified for you? Who opened the Kingdom to you? One of your teachers or mentors? Or Christ after all? Paul does not try to resort to any theological arguments; he is not interested in the details of the doctrine or religious worldview of the groups that had arisen in the Corinthian church. And not because he lacked the knowledge to sort it all out. He simply remembers well what many of his Corinthian fellow believers had apparently begun to forget: Christianity is not a religion, and the Church is not a theological academy or a club of religious intellectuals. Jesus did not come into the world and did not die on the cross in order to give the world a new religion, a new theology, or a new morality, but in order to open the Kingdom to it. And the Church was founded by Him as a community of people living in the Kingdom.

Of course, religion, theology, and morality can all be useful for witness to the Kingdom. But not when they come to the forefront, so that disagreements on these questions begin to determine the whole life of the church community, even to the point of division. If this has happened, it means that Christ has already been forgotten in this community, and the church has essentially ceased to be the Church, turning into an ordinary religious organization. Paul speaks sharply against such a transformation. For after his meeting with the Risen One on the Damascus road, he became an inhabitant of the Kingdom, not an adherent of a new religion. And he calls the Corinthian Christians to the same thing: to be inhabitants of the Kingdom.

In his epistle to the Christians of Corinth, Paul, as seen, speaks about a certain division in the Corinthian church, about certain parties formed in the church or near church things. It is of course difficult now to say exactly, what was the nature of the conflict, but, according to Paul's words, it comes to think that it was about groups formed around various teachers or preachers, connected to the church of Corinth. And, as seen, it sometimes happened that the followers behind their instructors sometimes ceased to see the Christ, forgetting very often the sense of Christianity. The apostle, according to his words, tried not to go into details of disputes.

He asks a simple question: who was crucified for you? Who revealed to you the Kingdom? One of your teachers or instructors? Or is Christ? Paul does not try to use theological arguments, he is not interested in the details of the dogma or the religious conception of the world of these groups that have arisen in the Corinthian church. And not because he didn’t have enough knowledge to understand all this. He simply remembers well as seen, what many of his Corinthian coreligionists began to forget: Christianity is not a religion, and the church is not a theological academy and either a club of the intellectuals of religion.

Jesus came into the world and died on the cross not for this, to give to the world a new religion, a new theology or a new morality, but to reveal to the world the Kingdom. And the Church was established by Him, as a community of persons living in the Kingdom. Of course, for the witness of the Kingdom, can be useful and religion, and theology, and morality. But not when they pass in the foreground, such that the disputes on these questions begin to determine all the life of the church community, until the division.

If such a thing happened, then Christ is already forgotten in this community, and the church, in fact, stopped being a church, being transformed into an ordinary religious organization. And Paul is tremendously against such a transformation. For, he became after the meeting with the Resuscitated on the road to Damascus, an inhabitant of the Kingdom, and not a follower of the new religion. And he calls the Christians of Corinth to the same thing: to be inhabitants of the Kingdom.

In the early Christian Church there were different ministries to which God called different people. One of these ministries was the ministry of an apostle, or messenger, which existed not only in the Church but also in other Jewish religious brotherhoods of the Gospel era, on whose model the early Christian Church was formed.

For religious brotherhoods the ministry of messengers always had special importance, since these were communities without a rigid structure, more like communal movements than centralized organizations. Messengers played an important connecting role in such movements: they could testify to members of other communities about important events, both communal and spiritual, that were happening in their own community. In this way the brotherhoods exchanged spiritual and life experience, without which the brotherhood could not exist as a single whole.

In the Church, however, the role of the apostle-messenger had special importance, because the Church was held together first of all by the good news and by testimony. The Church was not a religious organization bound, as usually happens in religious organizations, by a single ritual or a single doctrine. Of course, most members of the early Christian Church were connected with the Synagogue, but the Synagogue was not unified in this respect either, all the more since the Church included not only Jews but also recent pagans who were interested in Judaism without fully accepting it, and for them Jewish ritual was not as close and organic as it was for the Jews themselves.

The early Christian Church was united only by faith in Jesus as the Messiah promised by God, whom God had raised from the dead, and in the Kingdom that this risen Messiah brought into the world and to which everyone who believes the risen Jesus and entrusts his life to Him can be joined. Here testimony about the Risen One and about the Kingdom He brought into the world came to the forefront, and apostolic ministry became central.

Paul is therefore glad that it was precisely apostolic ministry that was entrusted to him by God. Of course, Paul did not have a church that he could call his own in the sense in which those who headed specific church communities called different churches their own. But this state of affairs did not upset him at all, for he understood what ministry had been entrusted to him by God.