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God’s Sanctified People… Not!

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Listen or read the following transcript as D. A. Carson speaks on the topic of sanctification and growth from 1 Corinthians 1:1-17.


Please turn in scripture to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1. And I shall read the first 17 verses, Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.

This is what scripture says:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him, you have been enriched in every way, with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge, God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you’ll be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. I appeal to you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this, one of you says, ‘I follow Paul.’ Another, ‘I follow Apollos.’ Another, ‘I follow Cephus.’ Still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

This is the word of the Lord.

Are you a sanctified Christian? That’s a hard question to answer, isn’t it? Because all the options seem problematic. Are you a sanctified Christian? “Yes, I am.” But by answering quite that way, it seems as if you are on the edge of denying the sanctification that you’re affirming of yourself. Are you a sanctified Christian? “No, I’m not.” Well, don’t you have any desire to be holy? How can you be a Christian if you are comfortable with saying no? So we opt for fuzzy in-between responses. “Well, not yet.” Well, what’s the delay? Or, are you a sanctified Christian? “Sometimes.” What determines when you are and when you aren’t? Or, “Working on it.” All of these seem somehow uncomfortable. Part of the problem is that there are two ways of talking about sanctification, even within the Bible. One of them is used to talk about growing in Christ, becoming more holy. It follows then, in this way of thinking, justification. When you become a Christian, you are justified before God. Declared just before Him.

Christ’s righteousness is counted on your behalf, and your sin has been transferred to him and he’s paid for it. You are declared just before God, that’s an on-off thing. You either are justified or you are not. You don’t get more justified. You are justified before God because of what Christ has done, you become a Christian. But that doesn’t by itself change exactly how you live. Sanctification as a word has often been used to describe the process by which we become more Christ-like, conformed to the image of God’s dear son, growing in grace until, finally, glorification, the dawning of a new heaven and a new earth, resurrection existence, no more sin, no more temptation to sin, perfect holiness in the presence of a perfect God. Between justification and glorification is, of this usage, sanctification, it’s a process. And so it’s a process in which we should see ourselves growing in holiness, in contentment, in confidence in God, in trusting, obedience, engaging in warfare against sin, wanting to be holy. But there is a second usage. This is an absolutist usage. You are possessed by God, you are owned by God. You are already God’s.

In the Old Testament, the shovel that is used to take out the ash from the altar is called sanctified, or consecrated, or holy. It’s the same word in the original. It’s a holy shovel. Well, clearly it’s not a shovel that’s becoming more holy. A shovel doesn’t become more holy, it’s just a shovel. But it is called sanctified, it is called consecrated, it is called holy because it’s used exclusively for the service of God. It’s used exclusively in the context of Old Testament temple worship. So there is a sense in which Christians are sanctified just because they’re Christians. They have become Christ’s, they belong to him, they have been blood-bought. This is as absolutist, it’s on or off as justification. In justification, you’re declared just in the judicial realm. Before God, you are now guilt-free and righteous before him. You are sanctified in that sense, in that you are already now possessed by God. You are reserved for him. He has purchased you through the death of His own son. Already sanctified. And so, face the question again, are you a sanctified Christian? Well, in the first sense, in the growing sense, your answer is likely to be just a little bit fuzzy. So it is with the Apostle Paul.

In Philippians Chapter 3, he doesn’t use the word sanctified here, but you get the idea. He says, 3:10, “I want to know Christ.” Now he’s saying that even though he does know Christ, he’s a believer, he’s a Christian, he’s an apostle. I want to know Christ. He means I want to know him more. Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. And so somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead, that’s glorification. And then he makes it clear that he’s talking about a certain progress. He says, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” So in one sense, Christ Jesus has taken hold of him. He’s already sanctified. He’s Christ’s. On the other hand, he’s not yet reached his goal, that’s glorification. He’s in-between, he’s pressing on. Then he adds, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” So, in the first usage of sanctification, that’s the kind of answer Paul would give. In the second usage, that is you’re either sanctified or you’re not, you’re either possessed by God or you’re not, are you a sanctified Christian? The right answer is yes. You either are a Christian or you’re not. And that brings us to the opening verses that I read a few minutes ago verses 1 to 3, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.”

So, this church in Corinth is already sanctified in Christ Jesus. Then he adds, “Called to be his holy people.” That’s the same word, holy is the same word as sanctify. To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be a sanctified people. And then you read on in the Book. And you discover that in this Book, the church in Corinth is quarreling, can’t agree on who the best leaders are, there are lawsuits within the church. One of the members is shacked up with his stepmother, others have very loose views of Christian morality. There are all kinds of debates about divorce and marriage. Some are really acetic in their practices about food, for example, and withdrawing from those who are connected with idols, and others are really quite open and blasé about it. They’re arguing about the Lord’s supper, they’re arguing about tongues and other spiritual gifts. And indeed, some of them can’t quite get the doctrine of the resurrection sorted out. They’re so convinced there isn’t a general resurrection at the end of the age, that they’re not even quite sure that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Or if they affirm that Jesus rose from the dead, it’s a slight embarrassing belief, but it’s there somehow. But it has nothing to do with our resurrection at the end of the age. And these are sanctified Christians.

And you realize right away then that this sort of sanctification has to be, what shall we call it, the positional kind. They are Christ’s, but they’re very immature. And so Paul not only says that they’re sanctified in Christ Jesus, but they’re actually called to be sanctified, and he spends much of the rest of his letter teaching them how to be sanctified because that’s what they are. Did you see? You have a double usage that is right there in the opening salutation. Indeed 1 Corinthians is rather remarkable amongst Paul’s letters. Some of Paul’s letters focus on one particular question, one particular theological challenge, like Galatians, for example. But this letter has been called forth by the Spirit of God in the mind of Paul to answer an array of questions that have shown up in the church. In other words, Paul has not begun by a theological structure that he’s trying to make, he is answering things that have been forced upon him because of problems faced by the church in Corinth. You see that already down in verse 10, he says that there are divisions and adds, verse 11, “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.”

So he’s had a report, not by cell phone, not by letter, there was no postal system in those days, well, there was, but it was only for the military, ordinary folks didn’t have a postal system. So what has happened is that some people from the household of a woman called Chloe have traveled and met Paul where he is, many miles away, how long it’s taken, we have no idea. And they have brought careful reports about trouble in the church. That occupies Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Then at the beginning of 5, we read, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. And he begins in Chapters 5 and 6, 3 more topics that he hears about by some sort of report, whether from Chloe’s people or some other group. Then in Chapter 7, he begins a new section, he says, “Now, for the matters you wrote about.” And again and again, as he goes through the various sections, he says now about this and now about that, hence for example, now about virgins 7:25. 8:1, now about food sacrificed to idols, and now about charismatic gifts, and so on. He goes through these various topics, and in this section what is really interesting is that the church is divided about almost every one of them. And that’s why he changes the form of his argument. In the first section, he simply gives the truth of the way they are to act and how they are to respond.

But in this section, from Chapter 7:1 on, where the church has actually written a letter to him, said, “Dear Paul, we’re divided. Some of us think this, some of us think that, what do you say?” And you can hear Paul wrestling with the pastoral responsibility, not simply giving an answer, but trying to hold the church together too. So he develops what some have called a yes-but form of argument. He turns to the first group and he says, “Yes, yes, yes, you have a good point there, but…” Then he turns the other group, “Yes, yes, yes, you make quite a good point too, but…” It’s a kind of yes-but argument and runs right through this. “Yes, yes, it’s good to be single, it’s good not to be married, it’s good to be sexually acetic, but…” And then he talks about the value of marriage, the gift of God, and so on. “Yes, yes, yes, it’s good to be married, but…” And there are some constraints there too. And then he goes on and tackles topic after topic until in one passage when he is dealing with the Lord’s supper, he says, “In the following matters, I have no praise for you.” It’s all but, there’s no yes. Do you see? But what that means is that this letter is not made up of one sustained theological argument. What it’s made up of, rather, is a series of topics that have been raised by them, either in letter or by reports, that have to do from one end to the other with sanctification, growth and conformity to Christ, immaturity.

What holds this letter together is not one theological topic, the way one topic holds Galatians together. What holds this letter together is Paul’s declaration right in the opening verses, he says, “You are sanctified in Christ Jesus, that’s your position, and now you are called to be sanctified.” And he begins to unpack what that looks like. Now, these first 17 verses, might usefully be broken down into 3 parts. Number one, empirical evidence of the Corinthians’ sanctification. That is, the evidence in their lives that they really are sanctified. Verses 4-9, “I always thank my God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him, you have been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.” So here’s the first bit of empirical evidence, they have been enriched in speech and knowledge. That is, the gospel has come to them with such power that they talk differently. And what they know about God is different. Speech regularly in scripture reflects what’s on the inside. And they have been changed, they have received the witness of Paul, the apostle to the truth of the gospel, they have been transformed. And one of the evidences now that they really are sanctified is precisely that they talk differently. Their topics of conversation, the way they talk, the way they interact with people, and indeed what they know about God has been fundamentally transformed.

Not only so, but they abound in spiritual gifts as they wait for the Lord’s return. Verse 7, “Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.” Again, Paul is focusing on this long period between Christ’s first coming and his second coming. This time when the Lord will be revealed afresh. And during this period, this is a group that knows what the gifts of the spirit of God really are. That is a topic that he’ll deal with at much greater length in Chapters 12 to 14. And third, he says, “They have been kept by the power of God in the fellowship of His son.” Verses 8 and 9, “He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you’ll be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In other words, one of the evidences of their sanctification is that they keep at it, they don’t quit.

They’re persevering because God keeps His own people, He preserves them. That’s why elsewhere in 1 John 2, for example, we can read, “Certain people went out from us, from the church, in order that it might be made clear that they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would’ve remained with us, but their going showed they were not of us.” In other words, the evidence that they really are God’s, and thus, in position sanctified, is that since their conversion, they’re not falling aside, they’re not like some who make a profession of faith and two months later, six months later, two years later, they fall aside. They’re persevering, whatever the challenge is, they’re Christians, they’re persevering, and that’s evidence that really they are God’s sanctified people.

That’s why also we read in Hebrews 3:14, “You have been made partakers of Christ,” that is you have become Christians, “if you hold the beginning of your confidence, the beginning of your faith, steadfast to the end.” Do you see? That’s what marks a genuine Christian, somebody who’s genuinely sanctified in Christ Jesus. So in other words, Paul begins by listing the empirical evidence of sanctification. They are enriched in speech and knowledge, there is indication of transformed living. They abound in spiritual gifts and they’re kept by the power of God in the fellowship of His son.

Second empirical evidence of what is missing in their sanctification, verses 10-12.

In brief, it is a party spirit. We’ll begin with verse 11, and then come back to verse 10. “My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.” What kind of quarrels? Over what topic? He explains, verse 12, “What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul.’ Another, ‘I follow Apollos.’ Another, ‘I follow Cephas.’ Still another, ‘I follow Christ.'” Now, there are several things that need to be unpacked, so we show what this means and does not mean. Their immaturity, their lack of sanctification is not displayed in lives that are indistinguishable from the lives of pagans. He’s just finished saying that these are genuine Christians. Their speech really is different, their knowledge is different. They show signs of the gifts of the spirit. Not only so, but they’re persevering in the Christian way. So you must not think that these people have so slipped aside that, oh, they call themselves Christians, but the way they live is indistinguishable from the way pagans live, no. What marks out this problem, in Paul’s mind, is that these Christians, in the context of this church are arguing about who the hot leaders are.

Now, why each group fastened on one particular leader, we can’t be quite sure because the text doesn’t tell us. Some might have said, “Well, frankly, I like Apollos, he’s got a great reputation as a preacher, I just love listening to him, I follow Apollos myself.” And others might have said, “Well, Peter, he’s the great Peter of Pentecost, you know? And he was the one that God used in connection with Cornelius. And he’s sort of winsome, he’s a bit of a bull in a China shop, and he is capable of suffering from foot and mouth disease. But nevertheless, there’s a winsomeness to all of that, and I rather like Peter, he’s my guy.” Still others may have said something like, “But Paul, that mind, he founded this church, you owe a certain allegiance to the chap who founds the church in a particular city, and thus is responsible under God for your very conversion. What a mind! What a mind, and a heart too! Mind and heart together. Can he write, oh can he write?” And then others would come along and say, “All very worldly, you’re following human leaders. I don’t go in for this, I’m a Calvinist, I’m an Armenian stuff. I’m just a Christian, I follow Christ.” Thus in effect, telling all the others that they’re second-class Christians because they’re first-class Christians, since they don’t have a party spirit, and thus maintain the party spirit by declaring they don’t have a party spirit.

Now, we don’t know all the reasons for these particular allegiances. What we do know is that these particular allegiances were so passionately held that it generated divisions in the church, quarrels in the church. Hard to believe, isn’t it? I like my leader better than your leader. But it happens again and again, doesn’t it? That’s why Paul makes his appeal in verse 10, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Now, it’s very important to see what Paul is saying here. He is not arguing that they should just agree to disagree, be nice and forbearing. That’s an appeal that Paul makes elsewhere, but it’s not the appeal here. It’s something much more probing. It is that you think the same thing. Did you notice the language? That all of you agree with one another, not agree to disagree, agree with one another in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. That presupposes more than an agreement to get on, just to turn off those disputed topics. It presupposes instead that there is a Christian responsibility to come to common mind on these matters. And the only way that can be done is by self-consciously bowing to the authority of scripture, self-consciously bowing to the authority of Christ and to the gospel.

And then in that framework, talking things out until they have a common mind, a shared mind. Now, it’s better to put up with disagreements, than merely to be mean and nasty. But it’s better yet to find out why you’re disagreeing, and then to develop a common mind in the church because each party is bowing to scripture and willing to be corrected by scripture until we reflect a kind of common gospel scripture mind. That’s what Paul wants. And in fact, in Philippians, the book to which I referred just a few moments ago when I read the testimony of Paul, the appeal to think the same thing shows up 10 times in 4 short chapters. Indeed, in the verse immediately succeeding what I read in Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul goes on to say, “All of us then who are mature, should take such a view of things.” That is a view in which we’re pressing on to gain more of a conformity to Christ and pressing on toward the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus, we should all take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you, only let us live up to what we have already attained. And that’s partly why Paul has written all the rest of 1 Corinthians. When the church is divided, he not only wants them to get along with each other, he wants them to come to a common mind as to the truth of these matters in their own thinking.

Third, we’ve had empirical evidence of sanctification.

We’ve had empirical evidence of what is missing in their sanctification. And the first thing that he mentions is this quarrelsome spirit. Now biblical evidence of what is needed in their sanctification verses 13 to 17, 3 things.

1. The centrality of Christ (verse 13)

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Did you see what is presupposed is that the more that the church is fastened on Christ and his glory, the more the church comes together in unity. If Christ is sort of the presupposed figure, whereas what’s really important to you is some other party, or some other issue, or some other leader, then the more the church has potential for fragmenting. And then the obvious question is asked, well, did Calvin die for you? Did Steve Matthewson die for you? The more Christ is exalted, the more the church comes together. Did you see? What you must have is the centrality of Christ. That’s one of the reasons why so many in this congregation have traveled to all kinds of places in the world and have met brothers and sisters in Christ and found an instantaneous connection. Well, it’s not because the cultures are the same, or the language is the same, or the food is the same, it’s not because the sense of humor is the same, or the literature is the same, or the history is the same. It’s not because the political allegiances are the same or the topics of conversation, no, no, no. What it is, is the shared centrality of Christ.

2. The centrality of the gospel

Is Christ divided? Verse 13. “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you are baptized in my name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else for Christ, did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Now, there are two or three things that need to be explained here to make sense. First, at a superficial level, it’s worth pointing out a detail that indicates what is common in Paul’s letters that Paul dictated his letters. You see this, for example, when Paul is writing to the Romans, he begins Paul the apostle and introduces himself, and so on, the way he regularly does. And then in the last chapter popping up is this little verse, “I Tertius who wrote these things greet you.” Where’s Tertius come from? Well, he’s the scribe. He’s the secretary. He’s what was called in the ancient world, the amanuensis. When I was much younger at Trinity and we didn’t have emails and all the kinds of things that come directly to me now and never get passed through a secretary’s hand, then I dictated a great deal of my correspondence, and sometimes I would dictate a long letter to someone. And it turned out that my secretary at the time, Judy Tetour, knew this person as well. And she’d sneak in a little sentence at the bottom, it says “Bob it’s me, Judy, I’m typing this. I just wanna say hello too.” And then she’d pass the letter nicely typed out under my nose. Of course, I had to approve it before I signed it. And she’d look rather sheepishly and say, “You don’t mind if I sneak that in, do you?” And I would say, “Well, you know, Paul, let Tertius do it, so who am I to criticize you? What can I say?”

And in this sense, do you see that Paul was used by the Spirit of God to dictate the letters that have come down to us as scripture. And you sense that’s what’s going on here, when Paul can say, “I thank God I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.” And he’s thinking as he’s dictating, yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. And he keeps right on going. And you think to yourself, well, why did God the Holy Spirit allow that in? Why didn’t God the Spirit say something like, “Come on, Paul, clean that up. You know, the secretary can retype that page, you know. It looks a bit messy and unprofessional.” But no, the Spirit of God wanted this in. Why? Why? And the answer is because it immediately indicates that Paul does not put baptism on the same level as faith. You see, there are some Christian groups who argue not only for a certain mode of baptism, fair enough, that’s a well-held view, but who argue very strongly that you cannot be a Christian unless you are baptized by a certain mode. Under the ages of their teaching. You must be baptized or you cannot be a Christian. After all, doesn’t Acts Chapter 2 say “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins?”

So if you’re supposed to repent and repentance is required to become a Christian, you’re supposed to believe, belief is required to become a Christian, then you’re supposed to be baptized, that’s required to become a Christian. But Paul can say, I was not sent to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Which shows he’s making a difference. His little discussion about whom he did not baptize becomes important in order to maintain a difference between baptizing and preaching the gospel. You cannot imagine the Apostle Paul saying, “Paul, God did not send me to preach the importance of faith, but to preach the gospel.” Because faith is precisely the means by which you receive the gospel. Without faith, there is no salvation. A point that Paul himself makes again and again. But he can say this, his job, when he came to Corinth was not to baptize a lot of people, it was to preach the gospel. He makes the distinction himself. But that doesn’t mean that these people didn’t get baptized. It means that others did it in his team. If he thought it was so important, he would’ve done it himself. But he doesn’t think it is of the same importance as faith. Having said that, it really is very important to understand that in the New Testament, when someone is converted, they’re baptized and they become a member of the church. It’s a package deal. In the New Testament after Pentecost, there is no instance of someone who becomes a Christian and then says, “But you know, I think I’ll have to wait until I’m a little more holy, a little more sanctified before I get baptized. When I’m sanctified enough, then I’ll get baptized.” And no one who says, “Well, now I’ve been converted and I’ve been baptized, but I don’t wanna join a church because quite frankly, I had a bad experience in another town, in a previous church. And I don’t wanna get tied up with that sort of bad experience again. I’ll just be independent. I’ll go where I’ll go and that’s it. I won’t be tied down.” Absolutely inconceivable in the New Testament.

If someone said, I believe, but I won’t get baptized and I won’t join the church, their nominal belief would be questioned fundamentally. Because when you do become a Christian, you want to do what Jesus says regarding baptism and joining the local church. That’s his body. How could you not want to be part of his body? Do you see? It’s merely presupposed? But having seen how all of these are tied together in the New Testament, it still remains important to distinguish in level of importance between preaching the necessity of faith and preaching baptism. They’re on a different plane, otherwise, Paul could not say what he says about he came not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Do you see? Now then within that framework, the appeal that he makes is really important. I’m sure most of us have heard these jokes about heaven. You get there and you’re talking with a bunch of friends and somebody hears a whole lot of loud, boisterous singing over a wall and someone raises the question, who are the singers on the other side of that wall? And the answer is, well, they’re the Baptist. They think they’re the only ones here. And, of course, the joke comes out in various forms, switch for Anglicans, Presbyterians, whatever, depending on the group you prefer to insult. But the fact of the matter is for those who really are touched and saved by the gospel, there’s one Christ, there’s one gospel.

Which is why the Apostle Paul in writing to the Ephesians can give us these remarkable words at the beginning of Ephesians Chapter 4. He goes on to talk about the differences of gifts, but begins by saying, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who is overall and through all and in all, there is only one gospel.” There’s only one way in. The good news of what God has done in Christ Jesus to bear the sins of his own people, to pay for their sin, to transform them, to pour out his spirit upon them, and finally bring them to glorification on the last day.

3. The centrality of the cross

So the centrality of Christ, the centrality of the gospel, and third in particular, the centrality of the cross. Verse 17, “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Then 17b, “not with wisdom and eloquence lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” Now to introduce the expression, not with wisdom and eloquence anticipates, in fact, where the next paragraphs go. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it next week when we discover how dangerous it is to try to move people merely with eloquence and rhetoric as opposed to moving people by the power of the gospel itself. So, in some ways, this is anticipation of the turn in Paul’s argument, but it also has great bearing on what has already been said. “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

The point is that as long as people are saying things like, “I’m of Paul.” “I’m of Apollos.” They’re not merely indicating their personal preferences, they’re establishing their self-identities. “I follow Apollos because he’s a great preacher, and frankly, I have a better judgment than you do about what good preaching is. I’m that part of the church that really loves good preaching. I am. And you are necessarily inferior because you don’t see it quite my way.” So a party spirit is partly a self-identifying thing, isn’t it? Do you see? And even if you say, “I am of Christ,” in this context, you are really saying, “Well, you have your earthly leaders. I just follow Jesus. I’m a simple Christian,” but with overtones of indicating, “unlike you people who are clearly at a second tier of spirituality, I am back to basics all the time.” In other words, we’re playing games of one-upmanship. Counting points. And how does anybody play games of one-upmanship when standing beside the cross? To play party spirits, Paul says, is to empty the cross of Christ of its glory. The cross is the place where Christ made himself a nobody, not just becoming a human being, but made himself a nobody, that he might bear our sins in his own body on the tree, and shall we play one-upmanship games in the shadow of the cross? It’s not simply ugly, it’s blasphemous. If you want to increase the glory of unity in the church of Jesus Christ, you don’t really do it by talking all the time about unity. You do it, instead, by talking about Christ, and the gospel, and the cross. For in the light of that cross, there really is no place for self-promotion and the endless games we play to prove our superiority over one another, the kind of superiority on which so much division finally rests.

So, biblical evidence of what is needed in this sanctification, the centrality of Christ, the centrality of the gospel, and in particular the centrality of the cross. So let me ask the question again. Are you a sanctified Christian? Well, in the second sense of sanctification, the first usage in Paul in verse 2, that question is exactly the same as, are you a Christian? If you’re a Christian, you have been set aside by God, you are sanctified. The answer must be if you’re a Christian, simply yes. And if you’re not a Christian and wonder what some of this is about, then the first thing you must do is repent and to believe. Turn away from your own stances on things and bow to the lordship of Christ and ask him for his mercy in the light of the cross.

But in the second sense, are you a sanctified Christian? Are you growing with Paul? Such that you can look back and see the steps of growth you’ve taken and then say with him, “But I don’t see that I’ve already attained my goal. I’m pressing on to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, in anticipation of the glory yet to be revealed.”

Let us pray. Grant, we pray, in all of our hearts, a genuine love of holiness, a refusal to rest in a kind of spiritual mediocrity, eager to be conformed increasingly to the likeness of King Jesus in anticipation of the holiness that will be ours, in perfection on the last day. We thank you that because of Christ’s death on our behalf, we who take the name of Christ are sanctified, and we pray, Lord God, that you will sanctify us for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

 

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.
To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.