I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Corinthians 1-4

In his introduction, Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, that they already have all of the spiritual gifts which they need; we have every spiritual gift which we need.  He then goes into the danger of using the differences in teaching focus between different teachers to justify division in the Church.  He even addresses those who try to use this passage to justify doing the very same thing when he warns of those who divide themselves from others by saying, “I follow only Christ.”  Surely you have heard the nondenominational Christians who say, “We don’t have denomination because Paul warns against that. We only follow Christ.”  This does not mean that it is any more wrong to be nondenominational than to be part of a denomination.  The problem comes in when you think being part of a nondenominational congregation, or part of a specific denomination, makes you a better Christian than those who follow a different approach.

The Gospel message is foolishness to those who use human wisdom to understand the world.  Division in the Church results from our attempts to use human wisdom to resolve issues about righteousness.  Wisdom relies on logic, but the accuracy and reliability of conclusions reached by logic depend entirely on the assumptions with which one starts.  Paul uses the example of how worldly wisdom views the Gospel message to remind us how human wisdom falls short of understanding God’s plan.  Those who seek to understand God by way of signs and wonders stumble over the idea that Christ died.  Those who seek to understand God by way of looking at nature think that the idea of Christ’s resurrection is foolishness.  I cannot help but think of the story of the man born blind in John 9. When the religious leaders told the formerly blind man that they knew Jesus was a sinner, he did not respond by appealing to logic or wisdom.  He merely said, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner. But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”  He did not try to debate the educated and wise.  He merely used the words which the Spirit gave him.  Let us not try to cleverly come up with an answer to those who attempt to argue with us.  Instead, let us rely on the Spirit to give us the words to say.