1 Corinthians 3:3-9

§ 9. GOD'S RIGHTS IN THE CHURCH. One idea runs through this chapter and into the next, that of God's Church, God's temple at Corinth, in whose construction so many various builders are engaged (1 Corinthians 3:5-17). For this building's sake, and because it is His, God beats down the pride of human craft, making all things, persons, times, serve His people, while they serve Christ, as Christ serves God (1 Corinthians 3:18-23). To God His servants are responsible; it is His to judge and commend them (1 Corinthians 4:1-5). Thus the thought that the Gospel is “God's power, God's wisdom,” pursued since 1 Corinthians 1:18, is brought to bear upon the situation in Corinth. God who sends the message of the cross, admitting in its communication no mixture of human wisdom (ch. 1), chose and inspired His own instruments for its importation (ch. 2). What presumption in the Cor [464] parties to appropriate the diff [465] Christian leaders, and inscribe their names upon rival banners!

[464] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[465] difference, different, differently.