I’m contemplating 1 Cor. 1:10-18 today. It strikes me that we’re in a kingdom that is also a fellowship. Yes, Christ is king, but according to vs. 9 we’re called not only to be his subjects but his fellows.
That word, “fellowship,” carries so many connotations and all of them are relevant to Paul’s point. It suggests sharing in a purpose and an experience. We have been called into Christ’s mission, into his glory, and his suffering.
It also speaks of camaraderie which the Corinthians had missed according to Chloe’s household. Instead of joining in the fellowship with Christ, they had begun to divide over role models. They had been called to share in the divine kingdom as brothers in the royal house of God but had become sycophants of human leaders.
This aspiration to exalt and then emulate the life of another human fractured the fellowship. Paul condemned them for seeking to follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ….wait. What was that last one?! We ought not to follow Paul because he wasn’t crucified for us. We ought not to follow Christ because when we attempt to emulate his life, we all emphasize some different aspect of it and become divided.
No, we’re not to follow the life of Christ but his death. Christ is our rabbi, and we are his disciples but only when we take up the cross. When we are baptized into Christ, we accept his tutelage and identify as his followers. But that baptism only has significance if we accept that it is the cross and the resurrection, not the biography of Jesus of Nazareth, that become our pattern of life.
The answer to “What Would Jesus Do?” is simple – “Die.” And through that death we may rise to live for God in childlike faith. And in that faith, we will live in fellowship with Christ and with each other.
Wrestle With God 