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Divisive Waters

By Phillip Ross

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Published: 20Jun2009
Word count: 804
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Human beings must take care not to issue judgment or discern things apart from reference to God. The word judgment is to be understood in its widest meaning here. It means making decisions, evaluations. And it incorporates the ability to discern meaning. All meaning issues from God, and apart from God all meaning vanishes. The only way that unbelievers can make sense of the world is to borrow meaning from God, while at the same time deny His very existence.

Paul explains in Romans 1:19-20, "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They deny the truth and justify what is not right, not true, according to God's Word.

In 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul tells us that we cannot properly pronounce judgment, we cannot correctly discern or understand anything under the light of humanity -- from our limited human perspectives. So, we must wait for the coming of the Lord, for the power of regeneration in Christ, which will "bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart" (v. 5). In Christ through regeneration everything changes. Nothing is the same. In the light of Christ, the North Star of human history, we come to know our place in the world. Conversely, those who are not regenerated in Christ, who do not see in the light of Christ, those who do not have the North Star as a stable point of reference, do not and cannot know where they are at. They are lost.

Such is the difference between the wisdom of God and the foolishness of the world.

1 Corinthians 4:6-16 sums up the theme Paul has belabored in this letter to the Corinthians to this point. That theme is the difference between the wisdom of God and the foolishness of the world. He has applied this difference in perspective to himself and Apollos. Why Apollos?

Apollos had first misunderstood the gospel when he had been instructed by the followers of John the Baptist (Acts 18:24). But under the tutelage of Aquila and Priscilla he came to a fuller understanding. Scholars speculate that Apollos was with Paul as he wrote this letter to the Corinthian church because Paul was commending Apollos to Christian ministry among the Corinthians. Consequently, he suggests that Apollos and he were of the same mind in their beliefs and teaching.

The point that Paul was making was that Apollos had originally misunderstood the gospel, but had since come to understand it correctly. Apollos had been able to go from misunderstanding to understanding, from the foolishness of the world to the wisdom of God. Apollos had been "competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John" (Acts 18:24-5).

Apollos had all of the qualities that are exemplary for Christians. He was educated and articulate. He knew the Bible well. He had received Christian training. He had fervor and passion for the Lord. And everything he said about Jesus was accurate. For all intents and purposes, Apollos was an ideal Christian, except that he knew only the baptism of John.

What was the baptism of John? According to Mark 1:4, "John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." According to Matthew 3:1-2, "John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, (saying) 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" And as we know, when John the Baptist was arrested Jesus picked up John's followers and his message. According to Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

The other thing that John is known for is water baptism because John water baptized Jesus. And remember that when Jesus was baptized John saw "the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him" (Matthew 3:16). So, we see that Apollos, prior to meeting with Aquila and Priscilla, appeared to have everything right. Yet, Paul faulted him for knowing only the baptism of John, implying that there was something significant that Apollos lacked -- some sort of baptism, or something related to baptism.

If we fail to see what Apollos was missing, we will fail to see the point that Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 4. So, we need to understand baptism. Unfortunately, baptism is widely misunderstood in the church and that misunderstanding has divided the church for centuries.

Phillip A. Ross, author of many Christian books, has been a pastor for over 25 years. He founded http://www.Pilgrim-Platform.org in 1998, which is loaded with information about historic Christianity. He published an exposition First Corinthians In 2008 that demonstrates the Apostle Paul's opposition to worldly Christianity. Arsy Varsy -- Reclaiming the Gospel in First Corinthians, Ross's book, shows how Paul turned the world upside down.

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