“For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (1 Corinthians 3b)
In our world today many have conflicting views about what the essence of the gospel is. Many are influenced by our self reliant and materialistic culture, by the media and celebrities. Thus they think the gospel is all about the individual reaching his or her full potential. The individual be anything he or she desires. This could also include prosperity, fame, good health. Many others equate the gospel with patriotism or simple morality. Still others think the gospel is about tolerance for other people’s beliefs and acceptance of whatever of whoever they are. And others equate the gospel with social justice.
The believers at Corinth thought the essence of the gospel was the manifestation of the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesy as well as the tolerance of sinful lifestyles. Consequently, they thought they had achieved perfection. They boasted in their superiority. They thought they had godly wisdom, discernment, and insight into the deepest spiritual mysteries. They thought they were showing mercy by tolerating blatant sin in some of their members they was accompanied by a haughty arrogance which left them blind to all their faults and sins, among which were self-aggrandizement, a party spirit, and disunity.
So we can see these Corinthians were quite a bit like American Christians. Many believers are split over many things, most notably political ideology. Some Christians support one party and disparage the other often with malice, spite and venom, convinced of the veracity of their cause. But the fact is, the gospel of Jesus, as Paul reminds us, does not consist of partisanship or national or church politics. The Word of God teaches us to pray for those who govern us as an act of obedience to the Lord (see Romans 13, Titus 3:1-2, 1 Peter 2:13-17), to pray even for those who mistreat and abuse us (Matt. 5:43-44).
Paul chastised the saints at Corinth for their carnality, spiritual immaturity, and pride and he would do the same for most of our contemporary churches. He would take great pains to show us that we are behaving according to the flesh and that we should take no pride in such behavior. Therefore, we ought not be proud of our own divisiveness, partisanship, or tolerance of any sin. The cause of the Kingdom of God should take first place in our lives. We do this by imitating and obeying Jesus through acts and words of compassion, mercy, and kindness. We ought to build each other up in Christ and seek to demonstrate to the world the love, peace and unity of the Holy Spirit. That unity in Christ is exactly what all men and women desire. The church should be the place where they find it.