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What Was the Assembly in Corinth Like in the Days of the Apostles?
In Corinth there existed, in the apostles' day, a company of people who had believed the Gospel, been born again of the Holy Ghost, baptized by Him into "one body", gathered out by Him from among Jews and Gentiles, and gathered to the name of JESUS.
Every Lord's day (not to speak of other occasions) these were, by the same Holy Ghost, "gathered together" unto His name (Matt. 18:20; 1 Cor. 5:4); for He had promised, when so "gathered", He would be in the midst; and, as gathered by the Holy Ghost, they assembled, or came together, to meet with Him (1 Cor. 14:23, 26; Heb. 10:25).
They did not meet as a voluntary society of man's creation or device, but as the church, or assembly, of God (1 Cor. 1:2)—an association, or body, of His forming—in their respective places, in which they had been set, not by their own choice, but by Him (1 Cor. 12:18). They had neither option, choice, nor selection in the matter, and there was yet, in that day and city, nothing else under the Christian name to tempt them into any other position.
We know, from Acts 18, that the Apostle Paul had been the Holy Ghost's instrument for the original calling of that assembly. We know, from passages in his letters to them (1 Cor. 12:8-11, 20, 30; 14:13, 23, etc.), that they had, in the midst, gifted persons of some, at least, of the classes of which the apostle declared to them that God had set such in the assembly. (1 Cor. 12:28).
It does not, however, appear that they had among them anything like what is now known as "a stated" or "settled ministry". There is no hint, either in Acts or in the epistles, of anything like a "minister", or "presiding elder", or other officer, conducting or regulating "the services" in their assemblies, or presiding at the Lord's table. The absence of any such person is evident, first, from the absence of any allusions to him either in the apostle's reproofs, instructions, or salutations; second, from the fact, evident in the whole tone of the apostle's admonitions and instructions in 1 Cor. 11-14, that the freedom of ministry in their meetings was wholly unrestrained by the presence of any one in authority.
What Were the Saints in Corinth Like?
It is further evident, from the epistles, that though these persons were, by the Holy Ghost, denominated "saints" (1 Cor. 1:2), there was still existing in and among them an evil element, known in Scripture as "the flesh", which "flesh" made known its presence by some, at least, of the works described by the apostle in Gal. 5:19-21 as peculiar to it; for in Chapter 5 of his First Letter the apostle had to tax them with one of its ugliest works, and to warn them against several others. In 11:21, he had to blame them for another of these-drunkenness, under the most atrocious circumstances, at the Lord's table, and in company with gluttony; in 1 Cor. 1:11, he had to reprove them for "contentions": in 1 Cor. 3:3, for "envying, strife, and factions"; in 1 Cor. 4:19, for being "puffed up"; in 1 Cor. 6:1, for "going to law"; and in 1 Cor. 11 & 14 for such abuses of ministry and the Lord's supper as made their coming together "not for the better, but for the worse," inasmuch as there were "divisions" among them. (1 Cor. 11:18). Women were being allowed to take part in the meetings; display in the use of tongues was allowed to usurp the place of edification, and such unseemly disorder in the exercise of prophesyings prevailed as proved that they were not acting in the Spirit, since "God is not the author of confusion".
What About Divisions in Corinth?
It further appears that the presence of these carnal "contentions", "factions", and "schisms" began to take the form of cliques, grouping themselves together under different names, as Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and even the sacred name of Christ was made among them a party-name.
It is pretty evident, from the silence on the subject in the second epistle, that the apostle's admonition took effect, and suppressed, for the time, at all events, the development of this sectarian spirit into open rupture, which was well.
We may, however, picture to ourselves the state of things which must have resulted had this been otherwise, as by so doing, we may find help in seizing on certain important principles bearing on our own position.
Let us imagine that the factions in Corinth had run so high that on some given Lord's day each of those named by the apostle had concluded to separate itself from the others, and had secured a separate place of meeting; so that on that Lord's day morning, instead of the one original assembly we have thus far been occupied with, there were found also in Corinth four other meetings, each in its respective building, under its respective name of Paulites, Apollites, Cephites, and Christites, or, Christians.
Table of Contents
1. Corinth and Sects
2. Five Assemblies - What Then?
3. What Does "Ground of Gathering" Mean?
4. What Is the Next Step?
5. Suppose Paul Now Visits This City?