Building Multicultural ChurchesNäide

Overcoming obstacles to true multicultural churches: Corinth

The church in Corinth had many problems, not least factions. Paul describes the divisions in the church in 1 Corinthians 1v10-12.

Today, we often disagree and fall out along doctrinal lines or because we are drawn to one pastor over another, and we can assume that also happened in Corinth. It is more likely, though, that the divisions among the members of the church in Corinth were not theological. It is easy to miss the ethnic markers that Paul sprinkled all over the text.

Apollos was noted as an Alexandrian (Egyptian) Jew (Acts 18v24). They had their own reputation. Paul notes that Peter is called by his Aramaic name, Cephas, suggesting the group that followed him spoke Aramaic and were thus Palestinian Jews. The church would have had Diaspora Jews but also many ethnic Corinthians, who were quite proud of their status as residents of a Roman colony and who enjoyed using Latin. This may explain why Paul doesn’t address any theological differences. There weren’t any. The problem was ethnic division: Aramaic-speaking Jews, Greek-speaking Jews, Romans and Alexandrians, each with their own faction and faction leader.

This understanding also helps us better understand 1 Corinthians 12, which addresses spiritual gifts, but doesn’t stop there. Verses 12-27 are about unity and diversity in the body. The section begins with a typical Pauline quote about unity amid ethnic and cultural diversity. He then continues to write about how we need all the different parts of the body to function. This is usually interpreted to suggest that we need different spiritual gifts to function well. However, in light of how Paul starts this section in verses 12-14, we must be open to the fact that Paul was suggesting that we need all the different ethnic groups. Verses 21-26 then make much more sense if we see it in the context of how some ethnicities are treated with less respect than others.

This again seems to further evidence that the divisions described in 1v10-12 are related to ethnicity.

The relevance for us is that we need to avoid ethnic factions within a multicultural church. This is avoided by recognising our need for people from all backgrounds to enable us to properly function as the body of Christ together.

We need each other.