How the Corinthians Were Too Concerned with Seeking Praise to Seek Purity

All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95)

Before beginning to survey the Corinthians’ specific sin problems, I want to press home the fact that Christians helping each other toward purity isn’t optional – it contributes to the state of our eternal souls. The author of Hebrews makes this clear when he gives this alarming instruction:

“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” – Heb. 3:13-14

Why should believers encourage each other daily? The danger to be avoided is being “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”. And what is the worst that could happen if this hardening reaches its goal? According to the last verse, it’s the possible opposite outcome to what the author hopes for. It’s that we don’t hold fast “our assurance firm until the end.” That is, if sin’s deceit is allowed to harden us fully, then we will lose our assurance about the gospel of Christ. The terrible truth that would be manifest in such a case is that we haven’t “become partakers of Christ,” because we never were.

When understanding the picture of salvation and the Christian life in the New Testament, we always need to remember two things. The first is that God’s salvation is entirely His work, and its completion is guaranteed to all those whom He’s caused to be born again. The second truth that we’re highlighting from this passage is that God uses human means to accomplish the salvation of His chosen ones, and therefore our perception of those means isn’t always accurate. Basically, we should remember that although all with faith in Christ are eternally saved, such faith can be counterfeited by sinful hearts, so that the New Testament writers didn’t take it for granted that everyone claiming Christ was born again. Further, the human means required for the continuation of believers’ faith brings some doubt into the final condition of people’s attitude toward Jesus. And hence the necessity of regular if not daily encouragement.

The passage from Hebrews gives us the basic groundwork for the need for mutual purity. Its main principle is that one of the chief ways God fuels the flame of our faith is through our brethren’s encouragement. And although encouragement is mainly positive, it must always be ready to bring opposition to temptation and sin. And this was what the first Corinthian believers were severely lacking in. But it was also a manifestation of a deeper sin that prevents us from keeping each other accountable today.

The Corinthian Conceit

It should come as no surprise to anyone well-versed in Scripture’s teaching that the chief fault of the Corinthians was pride. But I find that many people don’t have a great grasp on what this abomination truly is. Thankfully, the Corinthians’ pride manifested itself in much the same ways that it does among western believers today, so we can see ourselves as in a mirror.

The basic definition of pride is self-sufficiency, or thinking that you alone can provide for your own happiness or satisfaction. On the flip side, it’s a forgetfulness of God that leads you to making up your own sinful standards and values. In the case of the Corinthians, they were proud of their knowledge and abilities to provide that knowledge with others. This was most manifested in them boasting about their favorite leaders and the use of their spiritual gifts. Having been blessed with loving and helpful leaders and abilities for the praise of Christ, they took them and used them for their own self-exalting ends.

Of course, we see this type of pride in many Christian groups and churches. How often are churches in love and obsessed with their favorite preacher or teacher? When this happens, and they center their Christianity around this one teacher’s personality or teaching, they’re really manifesting pride in their own ability to follow the best leader and teacher possible. Rather than seeing the person as an instrument of God, they see him as their Lord on earth.

In a similar way, oftentimes Christians boast in their specific Christian tradition and distinctions. They’ll even go so far as to claim that they have the monopoly on biblical teaching, to the contempt of other groups. And this is precisely what many Corinthians were doing.

The underlying appeal most believers find in their specific set of beliefs and practices is that it’s different from others, and it’s beautiful in their minds. But many times, it isn’t the biblical truth that their tradition communicates, but its form and method they find appealing.

In the case of the Corinthians, they had mixed the teaching of their favorite leaders with the world’s love for a moving and showy presentation. They were styling their Christian teachers, including Paul, Apollos, and Peter, as some kind of skilled and knowledgeable orators, and basing their preference for them based on that. They were seeking their satisfaction in their choice of teaching delivery, rather than in the good news of Christ itself. And this led to their strife, jealousy, and division.

The sin that the Corinthians were committing in this area is summed up with Paul’s admonishment to them in chapter 3:

“So then let no one boast in men.” – 1 Cor. 3:21a

Then he further describes this boasting in terms of their attitude toward each other:

“. . . so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” – 1 Cor. 4:6b-7

Underlying this perception of superiority was a love for worldly acclaim. Rather than pursuing the glory of Jesus through the teaching of sinful people to obey Him, they were pursuing praise from other people. And if you’re seeking the glory of people, rather than the glory of God, then you’re not going to be caring much about their purity. So, the first main problem preventing believers from striving for the body’s purity is pride. This deserves further application to our besetting sins and deceptions today, but it’s only the beginning of a long list of things keeping us from purity and discipline. Let us examine ourselves, and do everything in the love of our Savior.