From: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
An Appeal for Unity
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Commentary:
10-17. St Paul takes the Corinthians to task for the strife in their community —
not, it seems, quarrels over matters of doctrine, but minor disagreements due to
preferences for certain teachers. Even so, the Apostle is very much against fac-
tions, and he starts his letter by stressing that unity is essential to the Church.
He makes four points, as it were — an appeal (v. 10); a description of the state
of affairs in Corinth (vv. 11-12); a doctrinal reflection: Christ cannot be divided (v.
13); and a summary of his (Paul’s) ministry (vv. 14-17).
His appeal is virtually a warning: “I appeal to you by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” The Apostle only calls on the name of our Lord when he has very serious
counsel to offer (cf. 1 Thess 4:1; 2 Thess 3:6); he makes it clear that it is a very
grave matter to put the unity of the Church at risk. Each of these groups in Co-
rinth is appealing to whichever authority it prefers — without Paul, Apollos or Ce-
phas having any say in the matter. Christ cannot be divided and therefore neither
can the Church, Christ’s body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-31).
Finally, St Paul points out their feeble grounds for basing divisions on personal
relationships: very few of them can claim to have been baptized by him, because
his concentration has been on evangelization.
This entire passage is a defense of Church unity. Throughout the centuries the
Church has confessed this truth of faith — from the Apostles’ Creed (”I believe in
the Holy Catholic Church”) right down to the “Creed of the People of God” of Paul
VI: “We believe that the Church which Christ founded and for which he prayed is
indefectibly one in faith and in worship, and one in the communion of a single
hierarchy” (no.21 ).
10. “That you all agree...in the same mind and the same judgment”: St Paul is
not calling for mere external unity or just living peaceably or being sure to come
together for certain liturgical ceremonies. He wants something that goes much
deeper than that: the concord that should reign among them should stem from
their being of one mind, from feeling the same way about things. In saying this
he obviously does not mean to restrict the freedom every Christian enjoys as far
as earthly affairs are concerned: it is the unity “of the Church” that Paul is dis-
cussing, and in that area there is no room for factions among Christians (cf. v.
11). Differences, diversity, which do not affect the unity of the Church are some-
thing lawful and positively good.
One basic dimension of Church unity is unity of faith. That is why the Fathers
and the Magisterium have borrowed from what St Paul says here, to show that
genuine progress in understanding the content of truths of faith must always
keep in line with earlier understanding of the same: “any meaning of the sacred
dogmas that has once been declared by holy Mother Church must always be re-
tained; and there must never be any deviation from that meaning on the specious
grounds of a more profound understanding. ‘Therefore, let there be growth [...]
and all possible progress in understanding, knowledge, and wisdom whether in
single individuals or in the whole body, in each man as well as in the entire
Church, according to the stage of their development but only within proper limits,
that is, in the same doctrine, in the same meaning, and in the same purport [”eo-
dem sensu eademque sententia”]’ (St Vincent of Lerins, “Commonitorium”, 28)’.
(Vatican I, “Dei Filius”, chap. 4).
11-12. St Paul now goes on to discuss the dissensions (v .10) which “Chloe’s
people” have told him about. We must presume that Chloe was a woman well
known in the church at Corinth; and obviously there is no question of secret de-
nunciations but of a well-intentioned effort to bring to Paul’s attention a problem
requiring solution. Chloe’s people might have been members of her family or ser-
vants of hers who had visited the Apostle in Ephesus (cf. 1 Cor 16:15-17).
Although St Paul does not go into much detail, we can see that a number of
groupings had grown up among the Corinthians. They each claimed to follow a
prominent Christian (clearly without any encouragement from their “heroes”),
and a certain rivalry had developed which could easily undermine the unity of
faith. The group who claimed Apollos — a Jewish convert from Alexandria (Egypt),
a man of eloquence, well versed in the Scriptures (cf. Acts 18:24-28) — would
have emerged after Apollos spent some time preaching in Corinth shortly after
Paul left there (cf. Acts 19:1).
“I belong to Cephas”: the Peter group may have consisted of people who knew
him to be the leader of the Apostles (cf. 3:21-23; 9:4-5; 15:5); St Peter may have
passed through Corinth at some point, but there is no evidence of a visit and it
is more likely that some of his disciples or converts had come to the city.
“I belong to Christ”: this can be interpreted as a reference either to a fourth group
very attached to certain preachers from Jerusalem, of a Judaizing tendency — and
therefore very attached to Jewish traditions and very disinclined to acknowledge
the newness of Christ’s message; or else to some Christians who were disgusted
at the petty quarrelling of the other groups and, therefore, would naturally claim to
belong to Christ and only to Christ. It is possible, however, that this is a personal
statement of St Paul’s, designed to show how foolish these groups are: You may
say that you belong to Paul, to Apollos or to Peter: but I belong to Christ.
What the Apostle says here should lead us to avoid narrow-mindedness: each of
us has his own job to do, where God put him, but he should also make his own
the sentiments and concerns of the universal Church.
13-16. Crispus was, or had been, the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth and had
become a Christian through Paul’s preaching (cf. Acts 18:8). Gaius was another
convert of Paul’s and the Apostle had stayed with him when he was in Corinth (cf.
Rom 16:2). Stephanas’ family had been the first to be converted in the province
of Achaia; and Stephanas himself was now with St Paul in Ephesus (cf. 1 Cor
16:15-17).
There is no excuse for divisions, the Apostle tells them: unity is not dependent
on which teacher you had or who baptized you; it is something based on Christ
— whom all the preachers preach; Christ was the one who was crucified for every-
one, and his is the name they were baptized in. And there is only one Christ;
therefore they all belong to him.
It is through Baptism, the door of the Christian life, that a Christian becomes part
of the one body of Christ; there the merits gained by Christ on the cross are ap-
plied to him, and the baptized person is configured to his dead and risen Lord:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,
so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might
walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4). And the Second Vatican Council states that:
“by the sacrament of Baptism [...] man becomes truly incorporated into the cruci-
fied and glorified Christ and is reborn to a sharing of the divine life, as the Apostle
says: ‘for you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with
him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead’ (Col 2:12)”
(”Unitatis Redintegratio”, 22).
17. In the first part of this verse St Paul is giving the reasons for his actions as
described in the preceding verses. The second part he uses to broach a new sub-
ject — the huge difference between this world’s wisdom and the wisdom of God.
“Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel”: this is a reminder
that preaching is St Paul’s main task, as it is of the other Apostles (cf. Mk 3:14).
This does not imply a belittling of Baptism: in his mandate to the Apostles to go
out into the whole world (cf. Mt 28:19-20), our Lord charged them to baptize as
well as to preach, and we know that St Paul did administer Baptism. But Bap-
tism — the sacrament of faith — presupposes preaching: “faith comes from what
is heard” (Rom 10:17). St Paul concentrates on preaching, leaving it to others to
baptize and gather the fruit — a further sign of his detachment and upright inten-
tion.
In Christian catechesis, evangelization and the sacraments are interdependent.
Preaching can help people to receive the sacraments with better dispositions,
and it can make them more aware of what the sacraments are; and the graces
which the sacraments bring help them to understand the preaching they hear
and to be more docile to it. “Evangelization thus exercises its full capacity when
it achieves the most intimate relationship, or better still a permanent and unbro-
ken intercommunication, between the Word and the Sacraments. In a certain
sense it is a mistake to make a contrast between evangelization and sacramen-
talization, as is sometimes done. It is indeed true that a certain way of admini-
stering the Sacraments, without the solid support of catechesis regarding these
same Sacraments and a global catechesis, could end up by depriving them of
their effectiveness to a great extent. The role of evangelization is precisely to
educate people in the faith so as to lead each individual Christian to live the Sa-
craments as true Sacraments of faith — and not to receive them passively or
apathetically” (Paul VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 47).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Matthew 4:12-23
Preaching in Galilee. The First Disciples are Called
[15] “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—[16] the people who sat in darkness have seen
a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has
dawned.” [17] From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
[18] As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is
called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were
fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
men.” [20] Immediately they left their nets and followed him. [21] And going on
from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called
them. [22] Immediately, they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
[23] And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among
the people.
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Commentary:
15-16. Here St Matthew quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 8:23- 9:1. The territory
referred to (Zebulun, Naphtali, the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan),
was invaded by the Assyrians in the period 734-721 B.C., especially during the
reign of Tilgathpilneser III. A portion of the Jewish population was deported and
sizeable numbers of foreigners were planted in the region to colonize it. For this
reason it is referred to in the Bible henceforward as the “Galilee of the Gentiles”.
The evangelist, inspired by God, sees Jesus’ coming to Galilee as the fulfillment
of Isaiah’s prophecy. This land, devastated and abused in Isaiah’s time, will be
the first to receive the light of Christ’s life and preaching. The messianic meaning
of the prophecy is, therefore, clear.
17. See the note on Mt 3:4. This verse indicates the outstanding importance of
the first step in Jesus’ public ministry, begun by proclaiming the imminence of
the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ words echo John the Baptist’s proclamation: the se-
cond part of this verse is the same, word for word, as Matthew 3:2. This under-
lines the role played by St John the Baptist as prophet and precursor of Jesus.
Both St John and our Lord demand repentance, penance, as a prerequisite to
receiving the Kingdom of God, now beginning. God’s rule over mankind is a main
theme in Christ’s Revelation, just as it was central to the whole Old Testament.
However, in the latter, the Kingdom of God had an element of theocracy about
it: God reigned over Israel in both spiritual and temporal affairs and it was through
him that Israel subjected other nations to her rule. Little by little, Jesus will unfold
the new-style Kingdom of God, now arrived at its fullness. He will show it to be a
Kingdom of love and holiness, thereby purifying it of the nationalistic misconcep-
tions of the people of his time.
The King invites everyone without exception to this Kingdom (cf. Mt 22:1-14). The
Banquet of the Kingdom is held on this earth and has certain entry requirements
which must be preached by the proponents of the Kingdom: “Therefore the eucha-
ristic celebration is the center of the assembly of the faithful over which the priest
presides. Hence priests teach the faithful to offer the divine Victim to God the Fa-
ther in the sacrifice of the Mass, and with the Victim to make an offering of their
whole lives. In the spirit of Christ the pastor, they instruct them to submit their
sins to the Church with a contrite heart in the sacrament of Penance, so that
they may be daily more and more converted to the Lord, remembering his words:
‘Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”’ (Vatican II, “Presbyterorum Ordi-
nis”, 5).
18-22. These four disciples had already met our Lord (John 1:35-42), and their
brief meeting with Him seems to have had a powerful effect on their souls. In this
way Christ prepared their vocation, a fully effective vocation which moved them to
leave everything behind so as to follow him and be his disciples. Standing out
above their human defects (which the Gospels never conceal), we can see the
exemplary generosity and promptness of the Apostles in answering God’s call.
The thoughtful reader cannot fail to be struck by the delightful simplicity with
which the evangelists describe the calling of these men in the midst of their dai-
ly work.
“God draws us from the shadows of our ignorance, our groping through history,
and, no matter what our occupation in the world, he calls us in a loud voice, as
he once called Peter and Andrew” ([Blessed] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By,”
45).
“This divine and human dialogue completely changed the lives of John and An-
drew, and Peter and James and so many others. It prepared their hearts to lis-
ten to the authoritative teaching which Jesus gave them beside the Sea of Ga-
lilee” (”ibid”., 108).
We should notice the words of Sacred Scripture used to describe the alacrity
with which the Apostles follow our Lord. Peter and Andrew “immediately” left
their nets and followed him. Similarly, James and John “immediately” left the
boats and their father and followed him. God passes by and calls us. If we do
not answer him “immediately”, he may continue on his way and we could lose
sight of him. When God passes by, he may do so rapidly; it would be sad if
we were to fall behind because we wanted to follow him while still carrying
many things that are only a dead weight and a nuisance.
23. “Synagogue”: this word comes from the Greek and designates the building
where the Jews assembled for religious ceremonies on the sabbath and other
feast days. Such ceremonies were non-sacrificial in character (sacrifices could
be performed only in the temple of Jerusalem). The synagogue was also the
place where the Jews received their religious training. The word was also used
to designate local Jewish communities within and without Palestine.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.