A Display of God's Glory/Conclusion

From Gospel Translations

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is a wonderful letter to read and meditate on if you want to understand more of what life together as a church entails. What you find there is that we as a church are to be marked especially by Holiness, Unity, and Love.

Why is the church to be like this? Because the character of the church is to reflect the character of God. We are to be holy and united and loving essentially because God is like all these things. We are to be holy because God is holy. We are to be united because God is one. We are to be loving because God is love.

First, we are to be holy in the sense of being strange to the world, but special to God. We are to be pure. Holiness is to be an attribute which marks the church. It is to be a trademark; it is to be common among us, and typical. When someone considers our particular church, they are to think, “That is a holy community.”— not meaning a bunch of self-righteous, prudish people, but a community that in our conduct holds out hope of a better, more humane, more God-honoring way of living. That’s why all these matters of membership and teaching and discipline are important. We are to be holy because God is holy.

Also, we are to be united because God is One. It’s very interesting in I Corinthians chapter 1, when Paul begins with the ill report he had heard of the various divisions and factions in the church, that the apostle deals with the issue theologically. Look at the question he poses to them in light of their divisions in I Corinthians 1:13: “Is Christ divided?” What a fascinating question! When you think about it, no local church has any other basis for being. When Paul looks at the divisions in the church and then turns to ask, “Is Christ divided?” the powerful theological