Podcast Introduction Our reading today is 1 Corinthians 1-2, and I’m calling the episode “Too Smart By Half” Comments on 1 Corinthians 1-2 Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 1 1 Corinthians is actually the Apostle Paul’s *second* letter to the church at Corinth (In 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul mentions his “previous letter”.  This letter has been lost.), he opens chapter 1 by identifying himself, and he declares that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ *by the will of God*.  We haven’t talked about what an apostle is yet on this season of the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15, but let me quickly give you the meaning. The Greek word *apostolos* means “a special ambassador”. What is an ambassador? According to Merriam-Webster it is “a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.” The eleven disciples (remember Judas was out of the picture at this point) became apostles when Jesus told them to “…go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you to do…” just before he ascended into heaven. Paul’s apostleship does not come from the fact that he was one of the 11, because he wasn’t. It comes from the fact that Jesus spoke to him after His death and resurrection, and after His ascension, while Paul was traveling to Damascus. (Acts 9) (If you’re not familiar with this part of the history of the early church, we won’t get to Acts 9 until July of next year so you might want to go read it now.) So Paul is saying that God called him to be an apostle.   He is establishing his credentials, his authority, because he has some important spiritual matters to take up with them.   After his introduction and giving thanks to God for those in the Corinthian church, we learn that even in the very early church, some division had crept in. Which confirms once again the verse from Ecclesiastes 1:9, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” As a race, people don’t really change. Even today, divisions happen within churches. Factions form. Disagreements happen. Preferences clash. Listen, people are people. These unfortunate things happen in any organization that has more than one person in it, don’t they? My goodness, even in my own one-man business I have disagreements with myself! There are many reasons that divisions and disagreements are not good, but the main reason that Paul points out is that the central idea of the church gets lost. Paul says, “…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg all of you to agree with each other. You should not be divided into different groups. Be completely joined together again with the same kind of thinking and the same purpose.” He says it in a nice way, but in essence he gets out the big stick when he says, “by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is as if the Lord  (which means The Big Boss, The Master) Himself is telling them this. And Paul says, “Get it together, folks. Focus on the Main Thing.” What is the main thing? He tells us in verse 23: But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. The full meaning of that phrase is that Jesus purch