It seems like Paul was dealing with issues in the Messianic community (i.e. "the Church") in much the manner as we are dealing with divisions in the Messianic community today. While we can all, at least in principle, follow the same Messiah and worship the same God, how we understand what that means and how we operationalize that worship can be radically different.
I suppose today Paul might have said something like, One of you says, “I follow Billy Graham”; another, “I follow the Pope”; another, “I follow the UMJC”; still another, “I follow Christ.” That kind of puts things in perspective, though I'm sure many of you will think I'm being unfair. The way I read it though, today, just as in Paul's day, we create divisions where they may not need to exist. Certainly Paul wasn't in favor of such divisions:
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. -1 Corinthians 1:13-17Is the Messiah Yeshua divided? Paul didn't think so, yet we seem to be subdividing him all over the place. Every time a church splits, every time a denomination fractures and forms its own group, every time the Messianic or One Law/One Torah or Two House communities stand apart from their fellows, we split off part of the Messiah and drag him with us down the path our particular interpretation of the Bible. I thought we were supposed to be following him, not the other way around. What are we looking for?
Where is the wise person? Where is the Torah teacher? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. -1 Corinthians 1:20-25If the Messiah is the power of God and the wisdom of God and we all follow the Messiah, why aren't we "wiser" than we are (as opposed to a bunch of "wise guys")? Paul went on to say:
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. -1 Corinthians 1:27-29If this is true, why do we boast about our "wisdom", our identity, and our titles all the time, both in the Messianic blogosphere and before God? To counter that attitude in himself (even though Paul was well educated and positioned), he said "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling". (1 Corinthians 2:2-3). This isn't to say Paul didn't have a tendency to occasionally pontificate, but much of his overarching message as recorded in his letters was not one of division and self-aggrandizement but one of unity and humility. What divides us isn't in the message of Paul nor is it from the Spirit of God.
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,I'm as guilty of relying on my own "wisdom" as the next guy, but Paul reminds me, and reminds us all, that "we don't know jack" without the Spirit of God to guide us into having the mind of the Messiah.
“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ. -1 Corinthians 2:14-16
Of course, there has been more than one person in the community of faith who has claimed some special relationship with God and a few of these folks have called themselves "prophets". On that basis, they claim the Spirit of God has given them special "revelation" not covered in the Bible (and many times contradicting the Bible), and thus cults are born. Yet many more of us simply claim that we're smart enough to know better, that our interpretation of the Bible is the "right" one, and that our interpretation nullifies everyone else's understanding. In that, I think each and every expression of Christian and Messianic worship has been found guilty from time to time.
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 3, Paul calls Apollos and himself (and by inference, all other disciples and teachers of the Messiah) only servants and co-workers in God's service. Could Paul have meant that both Jewish and Gentile disciples were (and are) "co-workers", with one worker planting the seed and the next worker watering it, and so on? Are we really in this together?
I've heard from more than one person that some people are repelled from us rather than drawn to us because of our divisions and bickering. What are we doing driving people away from Him? If we all serve the Messiah as we claim, why aren't our fruits good and our actions appealing?
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. -1 Corinthians 3:10-13The foundation of our faith was laid by the only one with the power and right to lay that stone: the Messiah. What we choose to build on it, for good or for ill, is our own decision. Regardless of how pleased and satisfied we may feel about the "coolness" of what we've constructed, a day will come when fire will descend and reveal the true nature of our work.
3 comments:
James, I totally agree with your sentiment. I can some it up in one word: love. At the same time it cannot be denied that there is a NEED for divisions, as divisions can act to purify the Body by wilting away rotten flesh that makes the whole body sick (if left untouched):
"In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a congregation, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there HAVE TO BE DIFFERENCES among you TO SHOW which of you has G-d's APPROVAL." (I Cor. 11:17-19)
So, according to Shaul at least some divisions are G-d's own doing and are used to display G-d's approval by dividing away heretical teachers along with their flocks.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. -1 Corinthians 3:5-9
I probably should have more strongly emphasized this verse, since it specifically shows that different members of the unified body have different roles, but that all roles within the body are necessary. In the sense that we have different roles (a pancreas can't take the place of a lung), we are different and there are separation points, but we are also contained within the same body and because of that, we are interdependent. In other words, we can't live without each other, no matter how different we may be from each other.
As far as heretical teachers and "rotten flesh", I'm not including them as contained within the body, though they could be if they repented and came under Yeshua's authority. Frankenstein's monster imitated human life without being an actual person created by God.
The divisions I continue to pound upon are those that result in the continual arguing within the Messianic community (and for that matter, within the more traditional Christian church) and the divisions that give the world the idea that we really don't know what we're talking about when we talk about grace and love towards others.
I also agree. But there is one more reason/perspective given by Paul. It is not: "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," (i.e. us belonging to them). But he turns it around: "Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Sha'ul, or Apollos, or Kefa, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and you are Messiah's, and Messiah is God's." They (the servants) all belong to us... but we belong only to Messiah. We can learn from all of them, but don't belong to any of them. That is a perspective that will give Him the glory instead of giving it to people or organizations.
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