Is "The Placing of Fellowship" Scriptural? Part 3

Due to the lengthy nature, I have divided this into several parts. Part 1 is here and part two can be found here.

As you go through these, I again encourage you to do so with Bible in hand and prayer in your heart. God's Word should not be taken lightly nor played around with.

I Corinthians 1:2 tells us who the letter is written to.
1) The church of God which is at Corinth
2) to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints
and
3) with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

So clearly there were assemblies which regularly met in specific towns. The instruction was to all Christians. they all have the same Lord.

Why would he emphasize that? After calling Jesus Christ "our Lord", Paul repeats it while pointing out it is the same Lord as that of those who in every place call upon the name of Jesus.

It is clearly a preface to the serious matter he is about to address, namely the factions and divisions that had arisen in the early church.

The gist begins in verse 10 and continues for several chapters, though he specifically addresses these divisions the first time only through verse 16.

Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (12)
Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (13)

I have in the past assumed the connection is clear but apparently was wrong. Paul is emphasizing the unity of the church throughout the world. In context, you can easily replace the names of people for the names of locations.

"Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Moscow; and I of London; and I of Boston; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?" would be the paraphrase. Since all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord have the same Lord, there can be no division between locations and anything which seeks to set up dividing lines between those congregations or between different leaders is a direct contradiction of Scripture.

In chapter 3 Paul returns to the example, this time using solely himself and Apollos. We know they were not really the ones being referenced because he explicitly states that in 4:6. But before doing so, he points out that regardless of who taught or baptized the saint, all saints belong to Christ (3:22-23)

I encourage you to go back and read chapter 3 again. Seeking to identify with anything other than Christ means you are carnal-minded (v.4) and contradicting God's plan for the church (vs. 9, 16)

Paul then sends Timotheus to continue what Paul had taught "every where in every church" (v. 17) which indicates they had worked together for quite some time if Timotheus knew the thought processes of Paul.

In chapter 6 we find some things that Christians had escaped from after which Paul returns to the figure of the body of Christ. Every Christian is part of the body of Christ (v. 15).

How many spirits are there in this sense?

He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (v. 17)

If you are joined to the Lord in that one spirit, your physical location matters not, you are joined with the entirety of the body of believers. That is the clear teaching of this passage.

Chapter 8, specifically verses 5-6, have some application but since it is a bit more abstract, I shall leave it to the reader to determine if they wish to pursue that line and we shall keep on with the clear statements regarding the matter at hand.

Chapter 10 is a lengthy dissertation that demonstrates the entire nation of Israel was one body (v. 1,2,3,4, 18) and so too is the church (v. 16-17). All who partake of the communion are one body. You cannot partake of the communion body of Christ and not be part of the Spiritual body of Christ (v. 21).


When discussing the communion further, Paul discusses divisions that are of a different nature than those he discussed earlier (v. 18). Clearly, these divisions are related to how the local congregation partook of the Lord's Supper.

He then goes into a discussion of Spiritual gifts. Beginning in 12:11 and continuing through vs. 27 he applies again the picture of the church as one body with many members.

Verse 12-once again clearly and succinctly makes a very vital statement: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ (12).
For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

As usual, the Bible says exactly what it means and what we need to follow. All who are baptized, and this has been consistent through Acts, Romans, and now I Corinthians, all who are baptized are baptized not into a congregation, not into following a particular preacher or sect or apostle, but are baptized into one body, the body of Christ.

In fact, verse 25 seems to specifically reject the idea that different congregations are to be considered separately; "that there should be no schism in the body. Any division, whether "natural" or artificial, is to be rejected. All who belong to Christ are part of the same body and not to be divided.

Now we come to what might be considered a puzzling passage if we ignore the remainder of Scripture. I Corinthians 14: 23-34. "if therefore the whole church come together" (v. 23) is followed by "let your women keep silence in the churches" (v. 34).

Is this an indication that there were multiple gatherings of people in Corinth that sometimes gathered in smaller groups and at other times came together in a relatively massive assembly? That is admittedly how I read it, though I have heard other explanations.

So which church did an individual belong to; the
sub-group", the "whole church' of Corinth that encompassed the various sub-gatherings...or the body of Christ?

This is one of the few places in Scripture where the order of service is in any way, shape or form discussed (and in an interesting side note , very seldom followed in the churches of today). If those discussed belonged solely to the Corinth church or one of the sub-groups, then all the material heretofore contradicts this passage as Paul always previously has discussed the unity of the entire body of Christ.

Conversely, if he is discussing the order of service in their specific congregation, as seems to be indicated by his comparison to "all the churches of the saints" in verse 33, then it harmonizes with the remainder of Scripture.

Quick question; who are the "saints" referenced in I Corinthians 16:1?We can see they are not the people of Galatia (vs. 1) or Corinth (vs. 2).

(Somewhat of a trick question, though not much of one if you read through I Corinthians before beginning this portion of the study as the answer is given in verse 3).

Paul then closes with his itinerary, his hopes for Timotheus, Apollos, and the travels of various people (v. 17). He discusses the greetings of various congregations and again mentions that "all the brethren" greet those in Corinth (v. 20)

So just as we saw in part 2, we note that there are individual congregations in Corinth, in households (see the verse on Priscilla and Aquila), and that they have regular interaction (chapter 14).

This time we see there are divisions creeping in revolving around who the saints followed for which they are roundly chastised and admonished to repent.

Just as a common thread running through Romans was the two possible states, the common thread running through I Corinthians has to do with the unity of the body, there being but one body. Any claim to follow anyone other than Christ is anathema to Paul. This is a lesson we would do well to learn.