The church in Corinth was indeed the church of God, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints (I Corinthians 1:2): and yet was full of divisions (1:10-12), spiritual immaturity and dissension (3:1-4), arrogance (4:18-19), and sexual immorality (5:1-2). This strong contrast between their calling and their behavior is quite instructive for churches today, since we often have similar conflicts.

As part of his argument against factions in the church, Paul declared that he had not baptized any of them – except Crispus and Gaius – so that no one could claim to have been baptized in the name of Paul (1:14). Oh, wait, he also baptized the household of Stephanas; and maybe others, but he can’t remember if he did (1:15). This ‘mid-paragraph correction’ shows us that the letter was dictated somewhat hurriedly, with a sense of urgency: Paul felt the need to respond immediately to the report brought to him by Chloe’s people (1:11), and did not slow down to smooth out, or go back to edit out, the jaggedness of this paragraph.

This urgency may have been merely logistical (that is, the person who was going to carry the letter to Corinth needed to hurry to catch a boat or caravan); but it also may have been theological, where Paul felt the imperative of insisting that the message of the gospel focuses on the cross. The cross appears to be a foolish message to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God (1:18). “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:23-24).

The church’s challenge throughout the ages, and certainly in our present day, is whether we will allow the message of the cross to be our message, or whether we will accommodate what we say to the prevailing culture of the world around us. Will we compromise our message, and talk instead about something that seems less foolish and less shameful? Or will we stand our ground that the gospel we preach is all about Jesus and his death on the cross?

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Your foolishness is indeed wiser than all human wisdom, O Lord: your weakness is stronger than any human strength. We trust in you: for you have died for our sins and been raised for our life. Forever and ever, you are our Lord.