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. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20); 1 Cor. 5:44In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 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, 2623If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? (1 Corinthians 14:23)
26How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (1 Corinthians 14:26); Heb. 10:2525Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 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. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 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. 12:1818But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. (1 Corinthians 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, 238For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:8‑11)
20But now are they many members, yet but one body. (1 Corinthians 12:20)
30Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12:30)
13Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. (1 Corinthians 14:13)
23If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? (1 Corinthians 14:23), 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. 12:2828And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 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. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 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. 5:19-2119Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 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. 1:1111For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. (1 Corinthians 1:11), he had to reprove them for "contentions": in 1 Cor. 3:33For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:3), for "envying, strife, and factions"; in 1 Cor. 4:1919But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. (1 Corinthians 4:19), for being "puffed up"; in 1 Cor. 6:11Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? (1 Corinthians 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. 11:1818For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. (1 Corinthians 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.