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RECONCILIATION AND FAILURE OF THE LAW 83
see in the words `that call upon the name' a reference to believers like Crispus and Sosthenes who were of Israel. In
either case, the last four words emphasize reconciliation once more.
(3) The divisions (1 Cor. 1:12). - The divisions at Corinth were not something similar to those sectarian and
denominational differences which we find in the professing church today. They had a dispensational rather than an
ecclesiastical or doctrinal character.
`Now this I say, because each one of you is saying, I am indeed of Paul, but I indeed of Apollos, but I indeed of
Cephas, but I indeed of Christ' (1 Cor. 1:12 Author's translation).
Paul is utterly impartial. He will not descend to faction. However much one may be right and another wrong,
the spirit of the whole contention was contrary to the truth. Apollos and Cephas are left out of the question by Paul.
His first concern is expressed in the words:
`Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?' (1 Cor. 1:13).
Paul strikes hard at one of the false accusations made against him that he was setting himself up in opposition to
Christ. Everywhere and always he was the slave and apostle of Christ, preaching certainly a doctrine which the
twelve apostles could not have held during the earthly life of the Lord, but arising out of His title Son of Abraham,
and out of His death and resurrection. He had refrained from personally baptizing, lest any should say he had
baptized in his own name.
The `Cephas' party threw doubt upon Paul's apostleship (see 1 Cor. 9:1-5); the `Apollos' party preferred the
Alexandrian eloquence of Apollos to the lack of `excellent speech and enticing' words of Paul, whose speech this
church of the city of orators declared to be `contemptible' and `rude' (2 Cor. 10:10; 11:5,6). What shall we say,
however, of the `Christ' party? In what way were they blameable? They divided Christ, where Christ had united, in
effect they denied the reconciliation. We can trace references to this party through the two epistles. For example,
1 Cor. 9:1 :
`Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?'
We can be certain that the apostle would never have introduced such personalities into his epistles, had he not
been `compelled to be a fool in his boasting' by reason of the opposition to his office and ministry.
In 2 Corinthians 10:7 we have another reference to those who said `I am of Christ':
`If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so
are we Christ's'.
So also 2 Corinthians 11:23 - `Are they ministers of Christ? ... I am more'. 2 Corinthians 5, however, boldly sets
aside this party once and for good, and the reason is thus made clear. The reconciliation could not be preached at
the same time as Christ after the flesh:
`Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now henceforth know we Him no more' (2 Cor. 5:16).
Then comes the ministry of the reconciliation. Those who said `I am of Christ', and those who knew Christ after
the flesh are still with us, and these are the ones who most antagonize the teaching of the apostle Paul. Out of a
mistaken zeal and an undispensational position they cry, `Back to Christ': they say, `We are satisfied with the words
of Christ', meaning the four Gospels, failing to see that Paul was a minister of the self-same Christ raised from the
dead and ascended to the right hand of God.
(4) The cross (1 Cor. 1:23,24). - The Greeks accounted the preaching of the cross foolishness, and to the Jews it
was a stumbling block. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ was the wisdom of God and
the power of God. Here again the reconciliation is in view.
(5) The wisdom of God in a mystery (1 Cor. 2:7). - This wisdom of God associated with the cross (1 Cor.
1:23,24) was ordained before the ages, and the reconciliation of the world was the first great step towards its
realization. It could not be spoken to the Corinthians in their carnal state, so that the apostle determined to go no