Notwithstanding what the Corinthian brethren had been, and despite what they occasionally were, they were “the ecclesia of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2). They comprised a community of men and women called out of the darkness of the world. An invitation was extended them to share in the future glory in the kingdom. In times past, they were not a people of God, but had walked in moral depravity and indifference to things which are holy. Some of them had been fornicators, idolaters, thieves and such like (1 Cor. 6:9-10). But from such backgrounds, God works out His plan by acting like a potter, molding and shaping vessels worthy to bear His name (Isa. 64:8; 2 Cor. 4:7). They became a people who were “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.”
Such a calling, though conferred freely through grace, requires His sons and daughters to walk worthily, knowing how to behave in “the ecclesia of the living God.” The apostle came to test them, looking for the effect of the power of the Gospel in their lives (1 Cor. 4:19). But he found a meeting torn with factions, loose in morals and astray in doctrine. Paul, therefore, sought to focus their attention on their high calling: the urgency to walk as becometh saints. His letters entailed teaching they should have known; but lacking “power” in their lives, they had turned inward, “biting and devouring one another,” “provoking one another” and “envying one another.” The Truth should have been their common ground, but they were not “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). As a result, their meeting quickly crumbled, for love was put aside and pride exalted.
Facing the complex and difficult task of correcting their errors, the apostle’s labor was with much love and compassion (2 Cor. 12:15) even as one who has begotten them by the Gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). His attitude was exemplary, imitating that of the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:2; Rom. 5:8). He did not give up after hearing of their condition, because he had their welfare in view — “but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Even before they came to the Truth, when they were alienated from the life of God, being dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-5), their condition did not stifle his love for them. He saw instead what a convened community could become after a life of dedication: a glorious ecclesia, not having spot or wrinkle, Christ’s fullness and his true companion for eternity (Eph. 1:23; 5:26-27).
An ecclesia, although imperfect and at times beset with problems, is, nevertheless, a suitable arena for developing godly characters. It is composed of mortal people who are imperfect, who “have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The Corinthians had to learn to repudiate the flesh, “for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1 Cor. 3:3). Like them, we need to recognize the flesh for what it is and crucify it with its affections and lusts. Let us then rise to greatness in Christ, not living after the flesh, which ends in death, but seeking to be spiritually minded, which is life and peace (Rom. 8:5-6).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One