1 Corinthians 1:10-17 Don’t Empty the Power
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 17, 2020 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(Understanding the Text) Paul first affirms his love and appreciation for the church at Corinth. Then he lays into them about their divisive behavior. However, he does not tell them that they are idiots and stupid. Instead, Paul appeals to them as his equals in Christ. His first statement reminds them who they are serving. Paul’s appeal is that they stop the fighting. They have decided that to be a convert or follower of one person is of higher status than to be the follower of another. I would assume that all of these leaders gave the same message whether it was Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. By Paul’s comment about baptizing, it sounds like part of this had to do with who converted them to Christ, but I’m not sure. It is hard for me to understand why they were making such a big deal about it from my modern perspective, but evidently, for them, the leader you were associated with was a cause for fighting. Were they trying to get their identity from being part of an exclusive group? I think the ones who said that they followed Christ were disgusted with the others and trying to show them not to follow a man before God; however, in participating in the argument, they were only exacerbating the situation. It was not about who was right. It was about the arguing itself. They were not acting toward each other in love, which means that even if they were right, they were wrong.
Chloe’s people brought the information to Paul. Did she send them to him for help? Or did they happen to have business in Ephesus and while there, reported the happenings in Corinth as a natural outgrowth of conversations with their friend and mentor?
Three other names are mentioned: Crispus, Gaius, and Stephanas: (1) Crispus was an influential Jew in Corinth. “Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). (2) Gaius is a little confusing because there seem to be several Gaiuses in the New Testament. Gaius #1: “So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel” (Acts 19:29). If this is the same Gaius, he was a good friend of Paul’s who traveled with him a lot. I don’t think he was in Corinth at this time. I think he had left Corinth with Paul and gone to Ephesus. I don’t know if when Paul wrote the letter whether Gaius was with Paul or traveling. I think maybe Paul had sent him somewhere because he is not mentioned in the greetings. On the other hand, this might be a different Gaius since the verse says that he was a Macedonian although this might not be an issue since Corinth was a cosmopolitan place with people from everywhere residing there, and if Gaius was a Macedonian rather than a native, it would explain his willingness to travel with Paul rather than stay behind when Paul left. Gaius #2: “There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus” (Acts 20:3-4). This verse is an argument against Gaius who Paul baptized in Corinth and Gaius the Macedonian being the same in that it has a different Gaius from Derbe. Gaius #3: “Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you” (Romans 16:23). This is the Gaius that Paul baptized since Paul wrote to the Romans from Corinth. This tells me that the church met in Gaius’ house and that Paul lived there while he was in Corinth. Gaius #4: The last Gaius that I found was a friend of John’s. “The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth” (3 John 1:1). Was this one of the previously mentioned Gaiuses or a totally different one? Anyway, the only thing I know for sure was that the Gaius who Paul baptized was also Paul’s host while he lived in Corinth and was also the host to a church, maybe the whole church, in Corinth.
Stephanas is mentioned three times in 1 Corinthians. The first is this verse. The second and third are together in the closing of the letter. “Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people” (1 Corinthians 16:15-18). This tells me that Paul baptized the household of Stephanas and Crispus because they were among his first converts in Greece. Probably, Paul was alone at that time, but once his assistants like Timothy caught up with him, he had them do the baptizing. Why didn’t Paul baptize? Was it because of dissensions like in Corinth, or was there a physical issue that caused Paul to avoid that kind of bending? Or some other reason? Paul simply says that it is not his calling. “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel.” Anyway, Paul holds Stephanas’ group up as a shining example of how the others should be. He points out that instead of quarreling, they were devoting themselves to serving other Christians. The other thing this tells us is that Stephanas was with Paul at the time he was writing the letter. He was in a group with two others–Fortunatus and Achaicus–and he made Paul feel good.
(Revelation of God) “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” There is an important principle here. Paul is actually saying that eloquent words take away from the power of the message of the cross of Christ. I think he is saying that when we enjoy the presenter more than the message, we have missed the message. I have seen this when people are entertained by the preacher and just accept whatever comes from his mouth. It is also reassurance for me that my eloquence is not the deciding factor for people’s reception of the message. It is the message itself that Jesus died on the cross for humans to live that has power, not the method of delivery. The cross of Christ is full of power. Interposing human style and theatrics and logic cannot increase the power of the cross of Christ since style, theatrics, and logic have so much less transformative power. There is no need to try to increase the power of God through our own personalities. We need to stay out of the way of the message and let it flow out lest we diminish the message. Now does this mean that we should not do our best to present the message in a way that will hold people’s attention? No. Does it mean that entertaining preachers are bad? No. It simply means that anytime we, or a preacher, become the center instead of the message, we are failing. Whenever the preacher becomes more important than the cross, it is wrong. In the end, we should remember the message, not the entertainment.
(Application) My application for myself is that it is more important to be loving than right. The problem was the arguing, not about who was right. Paul commends the household that serves others rather than picking out a side that has correct theology. I have noticed something interesting in my reading of the New Testament that is different from the common messages I hear most people speak about. In the New Testament, they speak over and over of serving fellow believers and of helping fellow believers and of loving fellow believers. There is little mention of serving those outside of the faith. I think that they did treat others with lovingkindness based on history, but I think that was a byproduct of focusing on serving each other. Nowadays, the emphasis in the church is on serving non-Christians rather than being insular with each other. I think it’s good to do this, but I wonder if we are getting the cart before the horse. Maybe, we should be focused on serving each other, and that will naturally lead to outreach? I see a lot of people who claim (probably in truth) to serve the poor or the weak, yet they seem to reserve their love for a specific group. I also see a lot of secular people who serve the poor and weak, but they do not know God. Serving the poor and undeserving does not seem to be the cause of unity among brothers and sisters in Christ. Thus, I think that focusing on serving each other (and defining each other as anyone who is a servant of Christ) is the cause that has the natural effect of serving the undeserving also. Thus, I will no longer feel guilty about focusing on serving my fellow church members above knocking on doors. I will serve where God has placed me and not be stressed if I am not getting results of more people in the church. Instead, my call is to serve the ones that are there. God has given them to me. My other application is that God’s message is more important than I am. The cross of Christ is powerful and as long as I keep preaching it and living it, my own weaknesses will not be able to keep it from reaching people’s hearts. I just have to keep it front and center instead of letting it fall behind out of sight.
(Prayer) Help me to serve my fellow believers and to direct their focus to You rather than looking at each other or myself. Always, guide my words to direct attention to You. Too often, I feel like my presentation of the gospel makes people see me. I do not want applause. I want people to remember You when they think about a lesson I have taught or about other words and actions that I have given them. Help me to always see You when others speak and to point others to You when I speak. Help me to get out of the way and let others see You.