WE ARE FOLLOWERS OF WHOM?
In the first
chapter of First Corinthians, St Paul speaks of certain division that consumed
this Greek congregation, and that needed urgent attention, because it
threatened the unity of not only this congregation, but potentially also the
unity of the whole universal church.
It seems to be
that the congregation, most probably at the instigation of false teachers were
divided in every aspect of Christian doctrine and moral, as it can be seen
throughout the whole letter.
Disagreements about
who were true apostles of Christ (1Cor 4:1-5); about marriage and singleness
(1Cor 7:1-2,17); about Idolatry (1Cor 8:1-2), about the Lord’s Supper (1Cor
11:17-19) and many other things, had the church divided in different parties,
and that, specially in the absence of their founding father, St Paul (1Corinthians
4:15), all had taken sides waving their adherence to each apostle, as they
understood their doctrine, since none of them were present there, so the
original unity of the church at Corinth became threatened, divided in different
bands under the name of each ‘apostle’ according to their preference
(1Corinthians 1:10-12; 3:4-5).
One of the
interesting points which is overlooked often, is the specific mention of Peter
or Cephas as one of the parties (1Cor 1:12).
If St Peter
would have had the first place in the Church, of if he had been ‘the Rock’ over
which Lord JESUS established his Church.
Or if Peter
would have been infallible, as some consider him to be, the mention of his name
would have been useless, because all would have believed in themselves, to have
been following Peter, apart from their own preference in other leaders.
His mention as only
one more among the others, means that in the mind of Christians of the first
century, Peter or Cephas as it is called here, was not more than just a common
apostle, without any authority or special gift separate from the other 11, and
specially, by opposing other apostles to his name, it proves that they considered
Peter to be fallible, even in matters of the faith.
But apart from
this, there is an even bigger doctrinal point that passes out attention, and
that is, that as much divided as that congregation was, they still were all
considered ‘Christians’ and children of God (1Corinthians 1:30).
THE SAME
PROBLEM TODAY
In the same way
today, once the first twelve passed from us into Glory, Satan again impressed
doubts and disagreements in the Church of God, but this time he succeeded,
because there wasn’t anyone on Earth who could claim divine sanction to be maximum
authority in matters of faith. The lack of authority was so great, that not
even councils or claims of Papal infallibility stopped the schisms.
But through all
this smoke of words, actions, accusations and murders ‘in the name of god’ that
Christians caused to each other, the words of Paul continue crying from
silence:
“YOU ARE
CHRIST’S” (1Corinthians 3:23).
JESUS never proclaimed
a written set of doctrines or proclaimed a Creed to hold on to in order to be
saved.
He never said
that a theorical examination was going to happen before we enter in Glory; or
that we have to agree to a certain number of points before being forgiven and
born again.
LORD JESUS only
proclaimed faith in Him as the Son of God, which included to obey everything He
commanded us, which was mainly moral, and repentance from a life lived away
from God’s will (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15).
And even when
Lord Jesus Himself commanded his apostles to baptize, Paul said that Jesus “did
not send him to baptize but to preach the Gospel”, which means, that the only
thing that saves us is the mercy of Jesus, from which baptism takes its value
from, but also, that without this faith and repentance in Jesus previous to it,
Baptism itself is useless
(1Corinthians 1:17).
Salvation is
based on a personal relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, by acknowledging Him
as the Son of God, and as the promised Messiah who gave his life as payment for
all our sins; and submission to Him for eternity after having confessed our
sins to Him in repentance (Acts 2:38) and nothing else.
Baptism must follow,
but not without personal faith, otherwise is pointless, because is a solemn and
sacred ceremony of an eternal pledge to God in Christ, based on his death and
resurrection, to resurrect spiritually from a life of sin to a new life in
Jesus (Colossians 2:12).
Nothing else is
necessary, theoretically that is.
We must honor
that commitment by living a holy life according to God’s will, or at least try
and desire to live holiness, and struggle in the process, but that is morally, not
theoretically. Because, even if we do not do this. If we disdain God’s holiness
and continue practicing sin without repentance, all our theoretical admission
of Jesus’s lordship in our lives will be counted as vain when we die, and we
will be condemned together with all enemies of Christ (1Corinthians 10:1-6).
In the old days,
ISRAEL divided in Israel and Judea, one more heretic and immoral than the
other, but both were seen by GOD YHWH as ONE, all children of Israel.
In the new days,
Christians divided into a thousand branches, but as long as they bent their
knees to JESUS and submit to Him as their Lord and Savior, GOD YHWH still sees
them as his children, followers of his beloved Son Jesus.
When we die, or when
Jesus returns to Earth, then our Lord will call us all together and sort things
out with us, explaining to us things that we did not understand during our
earthly life
(1Cor 3:13-15;
13:12).
If a Mormon, a
Jehova’s Witness, a Catholic, an Orthodox, an Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist and
even a Unitarian or a free lance evangelical who meets up in a cave, if we all
are into a single room, yelling and insulting each other, by principle, all will
be silent and fall on their knees if Lord JESUS CHRIST will enter that room.
Because to all of them, to all of us, HE IS OUR LORD, and we will listen to
what He says, and in a second will recant all our errors and accept what He
says without doubting a word.
This is how
JESUS see us.
That is why Paul
spoke to all these Corinthians as his children and as Christians still, even
when they denied fundamental doctrines, like the second coming or the
resurrection of the dead.
Because all were
washed clean and saved for the Father, through the HOLIEST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF
OUR LORD JESUS, BE BLESSED FOR EVER.
Amen.
Omar Flores.
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