Loyalty to Christ

Starting with verse 10 of 1st Corinthians, Paul begins the body of the letter. The first substantive issue Paul deals with is division in the Church. This is a denial of what the Church is. The Church should be unified before all about the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Just like church members of today, we often align ourselves with individual leaders in the church. There is no room for party spirit in the Church. Christ demands complete loyalty. Our loyalty is to Jesus Christ and not even to the senior pastor. Many churches have splintered because many Christians do not follow the leadership of the elders.

Baptism is important but has nothing to do with salvation. The end Romans 3 and the beginning of 4 shows justification for anyone comes from grace and not works. Righteousness only comes to a person through preaching of the gospel and not through cleverness of speech. The cross of Christ also can be made void by how the gospel is presented, such as it is seeker services.