Scanning the dial of the bedside radio before arising a few mornings ago, I came across a preacher holding forth on I Corinthians 4:7: "What do you have that you did not receive?". The theme of his message was God as the source of all blessings - our having nothing of benefit that did not come from Him. Despite the validity of the premise (Js. 1:17), such was not the apostle's intent. His words were rather a rebuke.
By Paul's definition, the Corinthian church was "carnal" (i.e., "fleshly" as opposed to "spiritual"). Significantly, this fact was first addressed, not in terms of the congregation's indifference to moral rectitude (or lack thereof), although such would be dealt with sternly; its pitting of members one against another in legal litigation; or even its desecration of the sacraments which, as pointedly observed, had already occasioned divine judgment in their midst; but rather its sectarian divisiveness (I Cor. 1:10-13; 3:1-4).
In founding the Corinthian church, Paul's emphasis had been (and, as he points out, continued to be) Jesus Christ. Indeed, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (I Cor. 1:23; 2:2). The Corinthian's problem lay in their reversal of this focus. Reflecting basic human impulse (hence their "carnality"), spiritual interests had come to serve self-focused ends. As opposed to "who and what Jesus Christ is," the Gospel had, in effect, become means to self promotion in terms of "who and what we are." Given the dominance of this spirit, the apostle issues an indictment of the church at large.
(The late A. G. Dornfeld use to facetiously describe the Corinthian scenario in terms of a religious wrangling among Catholics ["I am of Peter"]; Lutherans ["I am of Apollos" - "sola scriptura," Acts 18:24]; Baptists ["I am of Paul"] and members of the Church of Christ ["I am of Christ"]).
The question posed to these competitive constituencies thus became: "On what basis do you deem yourselves spiritually superior? What do you have that was not given to you? If you did not produce the realities of grace extended to you, what then entitles you to elevate yourself over others whom God likewise accepts? Are we better than He?"
This becomes but one of the issues with which the apostle deals elsewhere in exhorting the believer's seeking of divine blessing upon the believing community at large: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (i.e., believers, Eph. 6:18). To frame the injunction in the form of a presently applicable question: "When was the last time we prayed for the church down the road?"
In so doing we shall better come to understand: 1.) Our own quality of spirit, and 2.) Our relationship to others who, in the exercise of saving faith, have found the same acceptance that we know.
Burl Ratzsch
