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1 Cor 1:17 The apostle Paul
is addressing the problem of factionalism in the church at Corinth. Some
of those Christians were inordinately enamored with the person who had immersed
them — even to the point of adopting the baptizer’s name as a religious title (1
Corinthians 1:12-13) — a practice not dissimilar to the common habit of
wearing human titles in the modern world of "Christendom." In view of such a
perversion, Paul expressed thanksgiving that he had personally immersed only a
few of these people (1 Corinthians
1:14-16). It was within this context that he wrote: "For Christ sent me not
to baptize" (1 Corinthians 1:17).
Baptism was not the problem; it was the perverted practice of certain
Corinthians that warranted rebuke. The apostle was not disassociating himself
from the importance of baptism as a component in the sacred plan of redemption (Mark
16:16; Acts 2:38;
22:16;
Galatians 3:27;
1 Peter 3:21);
rather, he was contending that no special adoration was to be attached to the
person administering the rite. 1 Corinthians 1:17 |
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