Brothers – 1 Corinthians 1:1-10

Corinth was a metropolis of sin-seeking pleasure, entertainment and drunkenness. While Athens – shadowed by the worship of Athena – left us with a legacy of half-wit poets and philosophers, Corinth, shadowed by the temple of Aphrodite, has left us – literally – with a legacy of venereal diseases.

And the gospel.

By the will of God, Paul had come to Corinth as an Apostle to work for the transformation of these sinners in Corinth so that they might be the saints God had declared them to be.

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called saints… (1 Corinthians 1:1-2)

Paul was an Apostle. That is, someone who had witnessed the resurrected Lord and been personally commissioned and empowered by Him as a messenger (Acts 1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 9:1).

And yet, the Corinthians had doubts over Paul. His speech and his appearance were unimpressive.

But Paul had no doubts about who he was. He was a guy called by the grace of God to work for their salvation.

The opening verses of his first letter to the Corinthians go on to paint a wonderful image of the church. “I give thanks to my God for you… because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus… in every way you were enriched… you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

But, if you kept reading to the end of the book, you might wonder why Paul would want to have any association with them at all.

Let’s face it: Corinth had problems. Big problems.

There were divisions (1:10-11); personality cliques (1:12-17); carnal thinking (1:18-25); immorality (3:1-9); perversions, fornication and incest (5:1-8; 6:12-20). There was worldliness (5:9-13); lawsuits (6:1-8); rebellion against authority (4:1-21); marital conflicts (7:1-40); abuses of liberty (8:1-13; 10:23-33); idolatry (8:4-13; 10:1-22); ugly pride (8:1-3; 10:12); selfishness (11:17-22); demon worship (10:19-22); insubordination (11:2-16); abuses of God’s intended roles for men and women (11:2-16); abuses of the Lord’s Supper and church gatherings (11:17-34), and abuses of spiritual gifts (12:1-14:4).

That’s some list. But does Paul condemn them to hell? No. This was not going to look good on Paul’s resume, but did he distance himself from this embarrassment of a church? No. Why? Because Christ had, by His own blood, made them brothers.

I appeal to you, brothers… (1 Corinthians 1:10)

The Lord Jesus Christ considered these sorry sinners His saints.

Jesus was willing to put His Father’s Name and seal over these Christians. And so Paul was determined to treat them as his brothers.

We are going to have to make up our minds regarding this truth once and for all. Is
the justification of sinners before God grounded in our moral performance or the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

Biblical scholar Leon Morris once said, “The ideal of the Corinthian was the reckless development of the individual. The merchant, the man of pleasure, the athlete… these are the true Corinthian types. In a word, the Corinthian recognised no superior and no law but his own desires.”

But notice how Paul counters this independent spirit. Paul refers to Jesus as either Lord or Christ 15 times in these 10 opening verses.

It is Jesus – Lord and Saviour – who justifies the ungodly.  Jesus is their Lord; therefore, they are His saints – right down to the most unsaintly.

In becoming their Lord and Saviour, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers, nor is Paul. And this is part of Paul’s opening appeal.
Having both been justified by the same Lord, they are brothers.

Paul had spent 18 months teaching and nurturing these young Christians. He knew them; he wept over them and was repeatedly hurt by them.

Now, it’s easy to write off those we have no close association with. It is easy to stand back at a distance and criticise, exclude, condemn and impute impure motives to those we don’t really know. It’s a great Australian pastime to knock and mock strangers.

But it’s hard to give up on a brother.

Paul doesn’t love them and aches for them because they are good. They weren’t. He doesn’t stick with them because he enjoys popularity or status among them. He doesn’t.

Paul can love them and bear with them – even while he hurts for them, corrects and disciplines them – and even while they mock him.

He can do this because the gospel has made them brothers. And as brothers, Paul is banking – for himself and the Corinthians – on the promise that Jesus will,

…sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8)

It is Jesus – not Paul – who died for them. It is Jesus who is your Lord and Saviour. And it is Jesus who will sustain you to the end – guiltless.

Why? Because God has promised it. And He who called you and saved you in the first place is faithful, and He will do it.

He did it for Corinth. He has done it for you.

Imagine that. Despite their shocking state, they will appear before God absolutely guiltless. Blameless, without a single charge against them.

Paul could say this because he was not banking on their goodness but God’s. Paul is not banking on his eloquence or powers of persuasion but on the faithfulness of God in the gospel.

Therefore, Paul can love them.

Love is impossible to sustain when it depends on the good works of others. And patience and forbearance are impossible toward those who mistreat you if you’re banking on their applause for your hard work.

The origin, continuation and ultimate beauty of this bride, the church, is grounded in the grace of God, who, through the Lord Jesus, has made you brothers with one another and members of Christ’s body.

Christ has invested His life in the Church, and Paul, in imitation of the Good Shepherd, had been investing his life in Corinth. And such ties, when genuine, are not easily broken.