Oct 16, 2026 To Be or Not to Be…Corinthian – Words of Grace Blog – October 16, 2026
You may have heard someone say with great zeal that they would love to be like the early church, but that was likely said without knowledge. At least one church, the one in Corinth, gives us pause to consider if we really want to be like it.
The Corinthian church came about because the apostle Paul preached the gospel there and many were converted to Christ (Acts 18). Those whom Christ called to himself became the church in that city. The first letter to this church we have access to came about because Paul needed to tell them how to live like Christians in their culture.
Reading 1 Corinthians shows us that on one hand, the church in Corinth was not what we would want to be. The Corinthian Christians were saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ. They had many gifts from God, including the Holy Spirit, who lived in them. But they were still struggling with indwelling sin and were shaped more by the ways of their culture than by the ways of Christ.
A quick survey of this letter reveals divisions in the church based on the exaltation of personalities, as apostles were pitted against one another. There was a major case of open immorality that was tolerated by the church, and ongoing struggles with sexual sin by many others. Christians were suing each other, judging one another, and showing little care for what might cause their brothers and sisters in Christ to be confused about what constitutes appropriate behavior in the world. At home, husbands and wives were not serving one another with their bodies, and at church, members were not serving one another with their gifts and means. Even the Lord’s Supper became a place of division. In short, the Corinthian church was a mess.
On the other hand, Christ loved this church. Paul loved it, too. So loved and cherished was this church that Paul wrote this letter to correct them and call them to the way of Christ. He encouraged them with the grace of God and with the gifts of grace they had received. He reminded them of God’s faithfulness and of their fullness in Christ. Then, like a matchmaker for heaven who betrothed the church to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2), he rebuked them for unfaithfulness and urged them to loving devotion. Love was provoked by sin; correction, not condemnation, followed.
What Paul called the Corinthians to is what we want for our own lives and church. In place of human wisdom, he called them to faith in the cross of Christ (2:1-5). Rather than living divided among themselves, he told them to pursue the unity of a body and work as one (chapters 11-12). Instead of selfish living in sexual practices or in church services, he showed them the more excellent way of love (chapter 13). He called them to a life energized by the hope of the resurrection (chapter 15). And above all, he reminded them, as those purchased by God with the blood of Christ, to now eat, drink, and do all for his glory until the final day (10:31).
That is something to which we aspire. The 1 Corinthians way is what we want to be.
Let’s do something together this weekend. Let’s prayerfully examine our lives to consider if we are shaped by our culture or by our new life in Christ. Does our faith rest on the wisdom of man or the cross of Christ? Are we divided or united to others in the church? Is love the excellent way that makes room for others in our lives? Does the resurrection raise our level of hope and steadfastness? Is our aim the glory of God in all we do?
If we come up short in this examination, let’s come to Christ who has justified us and who washes us clean. He will make us what we want to be.
-Scott