Are you already satisfied? Are you now rich? Have you become kings while we are still nobodies? I wish you were kings. Then we could have a share in your kingdom.
It seems to me that God has put us apostles in the worst possible place. We are like prisoners on their way to death. Angels and the people of this world just laugh at us. Because of Christ we are thought of as fools, but Christ has made you wise. We are weak and hated, but you are powerful and respected.
Even today we go hungry and thirsty and don’t have anything to wear except rags. We are mistreated and don’t have a place to live. We work hard with our own hands, and when people abuse us, we wish them well. When we suffer, we are patient. When someone curses us, we answer with kind words. Until now we are thought of as nothing more than the trash and garbage of this world. (Contemporary English Version)
On this particular July 4 in the USA, there is perhaps no more pertinent biblical passage than today’s in addressing the current American political and emotional climate. Yet, before this is specifically addressed, let’s understand what was going on with the Apostle Paul and the Corinthian Church…
The Corinthian Divisions
Special interest groups had formed within the church. Each was following a specific person – some Paul, some Apollos, and some other leaders and teachers. The groups began to harden into political church factions. And Paul wanted nothing to do with this way of being Christian, because it is antithetical to the gospel itself.
Christ died to bring unity, not division. Paul established egalitarian churches that showed no favoritism. The Corinthians were called to a way of being that breaks down barriers between rich and poor, Jew and Greek. This business of groups and factions only fostered the division which Christ died to do away with.
By the time the Apostle wrote his letter to the Corinthian Christians, they had devolved a way of being with each other that was judgmental. They were pointing out unhealthy and demeaning comparisons, and boasting about how their group was more spiritual and wise than the others.
The Apostle Tackles the Divisions
So Paul, never one to shy away from initiative and justice, went on the offensive. Admittedly, in today’s New Testament lesson, Paul is quite sarcastic. He was actually mocking the Corinthians for their sinful arrogance and pride; and he used their own ways of being together against them to demonstrate how utterly foolish and ridiculous they were being.
The Apostle Paul countered with some comparisons of his own, using the example of the apostles themselves. Through his sarcastic comparison, he essentially argued that God used the very real oppression and suffering of the apostles toward good and positive ends.
Paul contrasted the apostles and the Corinthians to show the injustice that was happening in their factional wars with each other. By drawing attention away from the Corinthians and putting it on the apostles, Paul upheld a Christian ministry of weakness, not strength.
The apostles endured much suffering and opposition in their ministry. Paul viewed himself as a sort of dishrag that was used to clean the dirty dishes of the world. And he was okay with that, because it had a redemptive purpose. But he was not at all okay with the dirty business of factions and divisions within the church.
George Washington Addresses the Divisions
In our own day, it’s as if we have not learned the lessons of the past. And that is most likely because we have such little historical knowledge and awareness. I know of few people who realize George Washington was very much against a party system of government – and argued against it for similar reasons to the Apostle Paul.
Washington considered parties to be the bane of republican government. Parties were factions that threatened to divide the electorate into competing groups who might use violence to advance their interests.
He argued that political parties might also disrupt the separation of powers, especially in the case of unified government where loyalty to a party could interfere with the system of checks and balances.
What’s more, Washington said that parties threatened to stand in the way of effective representation, with elected officials tempted to represent only fellow party members and to leave opposition groups without a voice in government.
George Washington was mostly unique among the founders in never reconciling himself with political parties and never acknowledging the positive things that parties can bring to republican government.
Although it’s likely that Washington understood that parties were inevitable, he argued for keeping them under restraint and limiting their interference in the political process as much as possible.
Obviously, the party system won out, and rather quickly. In a healthy state of being, political parties can mobilize voters and encourage voter participation. They help build support for officeholders and serve as conduits of communication to the people. Political parties allow minorities to form coalitions to create majority rule.
Stick with the Evidence
Yet, what we seem to continually experience nowadays is the unhealthy aspect of the party system. People are hardened and reified into established positions and refuse to listen to the other. In such a position, evidence-based practices take a back seat.
For example, although there is not a shred of evidence that the former U.S. President experienced a hung jury and a corrupt judge in being convicted on 34 felony counts, a sizable chunk of Americans believe the corruption to be true – seemingly only because the former President said so, and without any objective, reasonable, and serviceable evidence to offer in backing up that claim.
And that prideful hardened spirit is the very thing that was happening in the ancient Corinthian Church. They wanted what they wanted, and they didn’t care what the other group thought. Each group believed (without evidence) they were wise and right. Yet, all of them were, in reality, foolish and unjust.
If we want a better public political climate; the freedom to be who we are; and confidence for the future; then, we had better begin with examining ourselves and listening well to the other first, before we assume that our own group is in the right and should be in control.
The privileges of freedom can only be enjoyed by embracing the responsibilities of freedom. And those responsibilities include a unified concern for the common good of all citizens, and not just the ones I like and who agree with me.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and the Prince of Peace; Give us grace to lay aside our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord. Help us to build bridges, not walls, and live into the unity you provided for us in Christ, through the Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 