The Apostle Paul wrote at least two letters to the church at Corinth. It was a congregation that he had helped to establish, so they were obviously close to his heart, but the main reason he kept writing to them is because it was a congregation filled with conflict.

For starters, they had already begun to split into different denominations. One group followed Paul, another his successor Apollos, still another the apostle Peter, and yet a fourth group of gnostics rallied around a spiritualized version of Jesus Christ. There were also a number of charismatics in the church, who specialized in speaking in tongues, and who tended to turn every worship service into either a skills competition or a talent show. One member of the congregation was openly living with his stepmother as husband and wife. Some folks were treating the Lord’s Supper with all the dignity of a spring break fraternity party. Others had trouble believing in the resurrection … and on and on it went.

Apart from that, things were going just fine!

Paul’s response to this whole mess is what we now know as First Corinthians, which is basically a refresher course in “Christianity 101.” In other words, rather than trying to sort out a situation that was already sordid enough, Paul almost immediately turns his attention to getting the Corinthians back on track.

He begins by reminding them that the risen Lord has made a claim upon their lives. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you?” he asks at the outset of the letter. Regardless of how the rest of the world may have viewed them, Paul wants the Corinthians to realize that they are not nobodies, they are somebodies. More precisely, they are Christ’s body! Which is why their current behavior strikes him as so unseemly. If this was their idea of being the body of Christ—his eyes, his mouth, his hands—then all they have done is to create the impression that our Savior was blind, tongue-tied, and all thumbs.

I often wonder whether the Apostle Paul would be equally adamant with us today. We have different problems than the Corinthians, to be sure, but what we sometimes forget is that the rest of the world is watching to see how the church will solve these problems. And more to the point, whether we will solve them in a Christ-like manner.

Needless to say, because the church is made up of people … and because people are frail and sinful … the church will always have its fair share of conflicts and controversies. The church was never intended to be a utopia, where everyone always gets along and no one ever has his or her feelings hurt.

However, it was intended to be a place where we still love one another even when we don’t agree … and where we still forgive one another even when we’re hurting … and where we still come together even when we’re having trouble working together. Above all, the church needs to be a place that the rest of the world will recognize as the Body of Christ!