This is the fourth installment in my series, How do the apostles refer to the church? Paul uses a variety of words and many different images for the church in this epistle. The two most frequent are church (22x) and brethren (23x). I will start with church, end with brethren, and look at all the rest in between.
Church
The epistle begins, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth. Throughout the epistle he speaks of the church of God, the churches of God, the churches of the saints, the churches of Galatia, the churches of Asia, the church that is in their house, as well as just church and churches. It seems obvious to me that Paul’s idea of church is always local. However, the local church was a little different in Paul’s day and thinking. I mean, there was just one church in Corinth. It is not “the churches in Corinth”, but “the church of God in Corinth.” I have no idea how many people were in the church in Corinth, nor if they met at times in smaller groups, but I do know they all came together at least some of the time: If therefore the whole church be come together in one place (14:23). It is also quite interesting that church occurs 9x in chapter 14.
Other images or metaphors for the church
3:4-15 The Corinthians were being divided by their attitudes toward different teachers of the Word and in addressing this Paul combines two metaphors:
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
4-8 ye are God’s husbandry – that is, you are God’s cultivated field
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
10-15 ye are God’s building
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
In the context he is addressing the role of those who labor with God in the gospel and the Corinthian's carnal attitudes toward these laborers, but in so doing he gives two beautiful pictures of the church.
He doesn’t waste any time, he immediately gives a third and more powerful image of the church:
3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
know ye not that ye are the temple of God? That is, the holy place, the holy of holies where God dwelt. The tabernacle/temple in Old Testament days was where God dwelt on earth, where he could be found; now the church is his temple, where he dwells on earth.
5:7 that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened – Christ is the Passover lamb, we are the unleavened bread. This might be considered an indistinct metaphor, but then chapter 10…
10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. The context is the Lord’s Supper: 16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Oh the power of this Supper! By the cup and the bread we partake of the blood and body of Christ, and by our all partaking of the body of Christ we become one, for we are all partaking of one Christ. Therefore, as Christ is one, we are one. The bread we receive is his body, thus in Him we are one bread and one body. This leads to…
12:12-27 the body of Christ
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. The body is a metaphor for the church. The context is spiritual gifts and the point is: one body, many members; many gifts, one body. Diversity in unity; unity in diversity. This is the second time in our Bibles that Paul speaks of the body of Christ, but since he wrote this epistle one year before Romans, it is actually the first time.
14 For the body is not one member, but many
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body
Paul spends a lot of time on this - one of the themes in this epistle is unity and the evil of division. Their reaction to the gifts of the Spirit led to division, so he tells them there is an underlying unity in the variety of their experience: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. This is the lead in to for as the body is one...
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Now he applies his metaphor to them. Nearly every translation says, “You are the body of Christ”, but there is no article (the) before body in the Greek, so it literally reads: Now you are body of Christ. But that’s not good English. Now you are a body of Christ is better. The New American Standard Version comes closest, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” He is saying, "Church of God in Corinth, you are a body of Christ. He is the Head and you are each members of it. Each one is important, for the body is not one member, but many; and there are many members, but only one body."
So, Paul uses this metaphor to illustrate our essential unity in the midst of our spiritual diversity. And what is interesting and different from the way we use body of Christ is he is using it to describe the local church in Corinth. As they each one believed in Christ and were baptized in the name of the Lord, they were thereby baptized into the body of Christ. And it is the Holy Spirit who made their baptism effective.
Finally, brethren. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is the most frequent expression for the church in this epistle (and in all the New Testament). It actually occurs 28 times, but only 23 of them refer to the Corinthians. As in Acts and Romans, the emphasis is on our relationship to one another: we are brethren, we are family. I’m going to sound like a stuck record* as I cover the rest of the New Testament but… It is interesting that we don’t emphasize this as much as the early church. This is obviously God’s emphasis, and probably should be ours as well.
*stuck record – (For anyone who is only familiar with CDs or mp3s) In the good old days recorded music was available on vinyl discs called records. Between 1898 and the late 1950s records were 78 rpm. In 1948 the LP (Long Play) was introduced, 33 1/3 rpm. This quickly became the standard. There was also 45 rpm for singles (actually a song on each side, but the A side was the hoped for hit). I’ve seen 78s, but my experience was with the 33 1/3 and 45s. A ‘stuck record’ was when the needle would get stuck on the record and repeat a certain phrase over and over, like I’m going to do with brethren. And in passing let me say, there’s just something about the sound of music being played on a vinyl disc!
Next: 2 Corinthians and Galatians
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