One of the most egregious issues in the Corinthian church was the division that was caused by spiritual pride. Corinthian believers exalted themselves as being more spiritual than others in the church, creating a power struggle that destroyed fellowship. Paul pointedly rebukes them for their pride, and in 1 Corinthians 4:6-8, he uses himself and Apollos as examples of what they ought to be as servants of God. He demonstrates that the very things they claimed as markers of spiritual maturity were exactly what proved their spiritual immaturity.

In 1 Corinthians 4, the Apostle Paul describes ministers of God as servants and as stewards. Then in verse 2, he says that the qualification of a steward is that they must be found to be faithful or trustworthy. Faithfulness is judged against the absolute standard of God's faithfulness, so no man will be perfect. But what matters is consistency in the things that matter to God. That is why Paul goes on to say that true faithfulness is not judged by man--God is the judge. Only God knows the motivations and intentions of the heart, and it is God's praise that servants should desire rather than the praise of men.

As Paul is describing the proper view to have of ministers in the church ( pastors, elders, teachers, etc.) in 1 Corinthians 4, he first chooses the term servant (under-rowers) to demonstrate that they should not be lifted up and exalted. But then he uses the word "steward," which shifts the viewpoint significantly. A steward is one who has been appointed to be the manager or supervisor of the master's household. That would include oversight of properties, goods, systems, money, and even other servants. With that management responsibility, the steward is also given authority by the master to make sure everything is carried out according to the master's will. This is exactly the role to which God has appointed pastors and elders in the church. They are to steward the "mysteries of God," which Paul reveals in Ephesians to be the message of the gospel and the church of Christ. Therefore, even while operating as a fellow servant in the church, an elder has been given by Christ the responsibility of faithfully delivering the whole counsel of God, guarding it against error, and shepherding the flock, and the authority to carry out those responsibilities according to Scriptural principles and mandates.

One of the major problems in the Corinthian church was the division caused by loyalty to human teachers. Paul addresses this issue in chapters 1 and 3, and then revisits this issue again at the beginning of chapter 4. After giving the negative command at the end of chapter 3, "Do not boast in men," he gives the affirmative command in verse 1 of chapter 4: "Regard us as servants." In that one word, servants, a unique Greek term used nowhere else in Scripture, Paul gives the picture of ministers of the church being "under-rowers," akin to slaves below decks in a galley ship, pulling the oars at the command of the captain. The main point that comes out of that word that Paul wants us to understand is that the ministers of God in the church did not choose that position for themselves. They were gifted and appointed by God, and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:16, they are under "compulsion" to fulfill that ministry, since that is the single unique mission in life to which God has called them and commissioned them to do.

The biggest problem in the Corinthian church was division and disunity, fostered by pride. They could not agree on the best teachers, and they could not even agree on what constituted truth. Most of the problems they had were based on wrong thinking, which Paul addressed directly in the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians. At the end of chapter 3, he summarizes everything he has taught them so far, focusing on four things that would help to avoid division in the church: having a correct view of truth, of teachers, of life and the world, and a correct view of Jesus Christ. If they could agree on these essentials, unity could be maintained. The same is true for churches today.

Twice in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds believers that we are the Temple of God. The first is in chapter three, verses 16-17, where he says that the church as a whole is the Temple of God, and because God's Temple is holy, we should be holy as a community. The reason for that holiness is that we are the dwelling place of God's Spirit. With that statement, Paul then gives this warning: whoever defiles that Temple of God, God will destroy. Since each believer is part of that overall Temple, then each believer is responsible for what they bring into the church through their own personal lives. If it defiles your own personal holiness, then it defiles the church as whole. Therefore, every believer is accountable for the holiness of the church and how their life affects it positively or negatively.

Hebrews 11 provides for us a list of people who are examples of the faith. the events that are given are not one time occurrences of faith, but demonstrate that these people persevered in faith through their lifetime. This list is preceded by that statement at the end of chapter 10 that "the just shall live by faith." So faith in a Christian's life is not defined by his great achievements, but by the everyday small moments of life in which faith in God is demonstrated, even in circumstances and instances which we do not understand.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells us that Christ is the only true foundation of the church and of our Christian lives. On that foundation, every believer in Christ has the opportunity to build, not constructing their own life, but building up the church. Paul says we can choose from two categories of materials with which to build - that which is of eternal value (gold, silver, precious stones) or that which will perish (wood, hay, stubble). Only that ministry that brings eternal value to the church will survive the fire of testing and will yield eternal rewards to the servant.

The true church of Christ is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. There are many who call themselves part of the church, yet they have laid a foundation of ideology, humanitarianism, social justice, or an imaginary Jesus of their own making. These are not part of Christ's church, since they have laid a false foundation of "sand" which will crumble. The only valid foundation for any church must be the Jesus Christ of the Bible, God come in the flesh, born of a virgin, perfectly sinless in his human existence, crucified on the cross for our sins, dead and buried in a tomb, resurrected bodily the third day, ascended to His Father in heaven and now sitting on the right hand of God. That Jesus alone is the foundation of the church, of Christianity, and the One in whom we must believe for salvation.

The Fifth Commandment in Exodus 20 tells us to "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." Paul echoes that command in Ephesians 6:1-3 in a section of Scripture that deals with submitting ourselves to one another. Interestingly, that command is not qualified depending on whether our parents are good or bad, so it is a command that is still binding on all of us. How we honor our parents may be a little different form person to person, but here are a few suggestions: 1) Obey them under the authority structure of the family that God ordained; 2) Encourage them; 3) Forgive them; 4) Speak well of them; 5) Seek their wisdom; 6) Care for them; 7) Pray for them.