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As we continue to step thru the scriptures, we find ourselves in Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is one of those books of great theological controversy. Chapter 11 when it deals with “communion”, Chapter 14 when it comes to speaking in tongues and prophecy and how the church should meet and should women speak at all when the church meets. Chapter 15 and being baptized for the dead and even the trumpet (for my eschatology folks) back to Chapter 11 and head coverings for women and the infamous “man is the head of woman”. Chapter 5 and “church discipline” and finally Chapter 7 and divorce and remarriage.

These conterversies has caused a divide amongst Christians for years, especially since the protestant reformation (the 16th century); however, what is so ironic is that Paul actually wrote the letter to destroy the divisive spirit amongst these saints and we use the letter to divide. Weird right? There is a quite a bit we can focus on in this letter but I want to focus on this section here:

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Now I know your bible may break apart verses 9 and 10 but I included 9 for a very specific reason.  Before Paul gets into the division part he says (paraphrasing here) “God called you altogether to have an intimate relationship with Christ which means means you have an intimate relationship with one another”.

This would have been an interesting preface to not only the following verses but also to entire letter. Why? Well simple they were dividing over everything. Yet Paul is telling them they are one in Christ.

Just like then our culture is fascinated with Charismatic personalities. It just happens to be something that has been the fiber of humanity since the beginning. You remember Israel didn’t want God as their king, they begged for a king like the nations around them. When all were supposed to hear from God in Exodus they told Moses “you go for us”. And even in the church age where Paul taught that each was as important as the next, they still had problems with following someone other than Christ. Yet Paul says “I was sent to preach the Gospel”

That leads to the obvious question? Who is the leader? Who are we to follow? With so many voices coming over the loud speaker who should we listen to? The guys on TBN? The guys with the big churches? The guys that Larry King bring on his show? What about the guy who is the spiritual advisor to the president? What about the guy who sent the flyer to your door? What about the guy who has the best selling book? What about the guy with the sell out conference that has all the celebrities? You see we are not lacking in our choices of people to follow today. But Paul asks

“Is Christ divided”

This is a rhetorical question but the answer is no! Christ is not divided as we will see any division causes the Temple (the body of Christ/Church) to be destroyed and anyone who destroys Christ body will be destroyed (we will see this quote in a later chapter).

So who are we to follow? Christ! And we will find out in Chapter 13 what exactly is the fruit of one who is following Christ. Listen, there is nothing wrong with having a favorite teacher, having convictions in common with certain denominations, even associating with a specific doctrinal stance (Westminister, London Baptist, Catholic…). The problem is when thse convictions lead to a division in Christ’s body, a division that prevents us from living out the “one anothers” (as they are called), then we are bringing destruction to the Temple of God.

Following Jesus looks like the Cross. If your following of Jesus makes you pompus, pious, self-righteous, gives you a level of arrogance, and doesn’t allow you to be spit on, beat, whipped and hung so that you “die daily” then you aren’t following the leader.

divisiveness, unity

Let me first start by saying this isn’t a post to start controversy, no, not at all. However, it is a post to point some things out. Today there is a push for women to sit by silently and let the men do the work. Men can care for, disciple, train, lead and even admonish women, yet women are not allowed to reciprocate that type of work. Women are to sit silently by, waiting tables, keeping the kids quiet, taking care of the home, while the men go out and do the “real work of ministry. Many men have rewritten ecclesiological history basing their theological conclusions off of a handful of verses. Well what does Paul think?

Romans 16 provides us with a totally different perspective of womanhood and manhood in the church, at least at Rome. Here is what Paul says:

16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

Jon Zens whose latest book “What is With Paul and Women” says this:

Paul designated Priscilla and Aquila as his “coworkers”(cf. Rom. 16:3). The same word, sunergos, issued with reference to people like Timothy and Titus. Junia and Andronicus [wife/husband or sister/brother] were greeted by Paul as “outstanding among the apostles” (cf. Rom. 16:7). They were his relatives and had been in prison with him. Clearly, there were many identified as “apostles,” like Barnabas, who were not among the original Twelve. Junia was also among such apostolic workers. There is no reason to think that she was the only such female apostle or that female apostles were regarded as rare or unusual. This illustrates that apostolic labor was not male-specific. Among all the people Paul greeted in Romans 16, ten were sisters among whom were “Tryphena and Tryphosa [who may have been twins], women who work hard for the Lord” (cf. Rom. 16:12).

In other words, women were not just passive, standbyers waiting to be told what to do by men. They were filled with God’s Spirit, which means they were gifted just like men and these gifts were used to build the Church along side of their fellow Spirit filled male contemporaries.

If the Church is to be all that it can be, then we have to allow all who are gifted to operate in their gifts. This is not exclusive to women but also children who are filled with the Spirit. As the Body we dont’ want to mute anyone who can speak on the behalf of God, rather that is gender, age, or tenure in the faith. All of God’s people can speak, can be used and can “bear burdens”, “admonish”, “teach”, “encourage” and “edify”. As Paul says “when Jesus ascended He gave gifts unto men” these gifts are to be used for His body and these gifts are not exclusive to any specific demographic as all are “one in Christ”.

spiritual gifts, women

We all know and believe that there is a lot we can learn from our brother, the apostle Paul. For he has written many of the New Testament books that we study and learn from. I was having a discussion this week with friends and fellow believers and it was pointed out, how much Paul was looking forward to seeing the believers of the Roman fellowship so that he can be encouraged by them. Paul says in chapter 1 ” that I may be encouraged together with you while among you each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine” Rom. 1:12. He then says in our reading today: “that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company Rom. 15:32.  I can only imagine how encouraged the believers of Rome were when they read   how encouraged he (Paul) would be by being in their midst. What we can learn from this is that we all should continuously  encourage each other. There isn’t anyone within the body of Christ who isn’t significant enough to encourage fellow believers. When this letter was written it was  addressed to those who had been saved for a while as well as those who had just gotten saved the day before. They were all encouraged by Paul and he said he would be just as encouraged by them. We should look forward to the encouragement we receive from our fellow brothers and sisters as well as the enouragement we will give to them.  Paul tells us in in 1 Tess. 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another. So let us begin to think of each other and how we can encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as look forward to the encouragement we would recieve from the Body, so that we may feel the refreshing rest Paul speaks of in Rom. 15:32. Be encouraged…

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Paul says: Now we who are strong have and obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up (Rom. 15:1-2) .  Those are some pretty powerful words to consider. In today’s times so many of us (not all) are totally consumed in ourselves and our personal obligations (work, kids, spouses, house work, etc…) that we don’t have or don’t make time to even consider our weaker brothers and sisters in the faith. Lots of times we have a “sink or swim” attitude towards each other. We attend gatherings every week and don’t know anything about each other. So how would we know which of us are weaker or stronger? We have got to become more caring, and more loving, and compassionate.  How much better would life be if those of us that are strong would actually see it as an obligationor a duty to not only consider the failings of the weak but to bear or carry them as we are called to do? How much love would those who are weaker see and experience? How much growth and strength would they receive? But most important, how much Christ would they see in those of us who have been made strong in the faith? Paul says ” For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached YOU fell on Me Rom.15:3. What better example could be given? I know this post consists of a lot of questions but I think these are the types of questions we should all ask ourselves so that we can begin to experience living in  the harmony with one another that Paul speaks of in Rom.15:5-7.

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