“Same Difference”
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
1-22-2023
In the name of Him who unites us in the one, same confession, dear friends in Christ. Have you ever heard the phrase: “same difference?” If you’re the language-police then you probably see it as a ridiculous oxymoron. That’s because those two words mean totally opposite things. Either something is the same or it’s different. It can’t be both, right? Some English scholars believe it came about by merging two phrases: “the same” and “no difference.” Oddly enough, over time the phrase “same difference” came to mean that the two things were equal or alike. For example, if I offer to give you $100 and ask if you’d like five 20's or two 50's, (for those of you who are mathematically challenged, the amounts are equal) you could say, “Same difference, Pastor... just give me the money, please!”
But there may be another way in which that phrase can be true. Now follow me here. If there are a series of things that make a group of people unique and different than others, then that group is united by having the same differences. In a general sort of way, that’s certainly true about the Christian Church. We are unique and different than all the other religions of the world. In some form or another, all non-Christian religions believe that the bad things people do causes a rift between them and the gods/powers who control the universe. And they have to work like crazy to make things right. Christianity, on the other hand, teaches the opposite. The Triune God expressed righteous anger over our sins. But HE did the work of making peace between Himself and mankind because we were unable to. So He sent His Son who died on the Cross for our sins in order to appease His wrath and reunite us with Him.
So, there are certain basic truths like this which all Christians agree on in and that’s what unites us. Ah, but if that’s true then why is Christianity fractured into so many different church bodies? A conservative estimate is that there are over 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide. How come? Well, besides the basic truths that we agree on, there are also plenty of doctrines that we disagree on. And those differences are not inconsequential. If you take the time to work through them, you’ll see that in one way or another all those differences have to do with our justification before God. That is to say, it’s a question of how our sins are dealt with and removed. If a doctrine of a Christian denomination somehow leads us to believe that we had anything to do with our salvation or undermines the Means of Grace, then it’s a difference that divides the Christian Church. And so, it’s a good thing for us to disagree with those who might embrace such teachings. Because if that doctrine is taken to its ultimate conclusion, then we are no different than all the pagan religions of the world. So in love we must call each other back to the pure truth of God’s Word and hopefully find agreement on those “same differences” that should be uniting us.
And that’s what St. Paul was writing to the Corinthians in our Epistle Lesson. He wanted them to be united in those “same differences” of the Christian faith. In verse 10 he appealed to them to “agree.” In the Greek it literally says to “speak the same thing.” Paul also encouraged them to be united in the “same mind and the same judgment.” In other words, he wanted them to have the same confession of faith in what they thought, said, and did as Christians. That doesn’t mean they had to be robots, but they ought to agree on the truths which were foundational for their faith.
The reason why Paul said this was because there were divisions that had developed in the Corinthian Church. The word there for “divisions” was often used to describe a piece of cloth being torn apart. And there were certainly some sinful things going on which were tearing apart that congregation. Rather than give you a long list of what the specific problems were, I can summarize them all by saying that the Corinthians had begun to treat the Church like a business or a social club. Things that were accepted by society were being imported into the Church, which is never a good idea. And these things were tearing apart their unity.
One such example is mentioned in our text. There was a power struggle going on and the people had aligned themselves into different groups based upon their allegiance to the various pastors and evangelists who had worked in their congregation. Paul, Apollos, and Cephas {better known as Peter} had all done ministry work among them. And they were now acting superior to one another depending on which of these men they claimed as their own special teacher. There was also a group who basically said “A pox on all your houses! We claim to follow Christ Himself.” On the surface that sounds good, but don’t be fooled. They were simply trying to use the name of Jesus to gain control.
Now why would they do that? The answer is: sinful pride. And that pride was dividing them and ruining the unity of their “same confession.” So Paul took them to task by pointing them back to the very thing which had united them in the first place which was their Baptisms. It didn’t matter who Baptized them or who preached God’s Word to them or who fed them the Lord’s Supper. Those men were mere instruments of the Lord. The foundation of their faith relied on what God had done for them through Jesus Christ. It was the power of His death and resurrection which saved them. THAT is what their same confession consisted of, not some silly cult of personalities. So Paul was calling them back to those foundational truths which they had first learned because it was the only way that their divisions would be mended and unity restored.
Those foundational truths are the key to what holds Christians together. Perhaps an illustration would help understand this. Several years ago, Gayleen and I visited a fascinating church in the town of Herrenberg which is in the southern part of Germany. It had been built on a hill nearly 700 years ago. But over time the building structure literally began to split. That was due to the fact that deep under the foundation of the church, water had slowly eroded the softer rock and the ground had shifted, which it continues to do to this very day. For a while they weren’t even able to hold services because of safety reasons. But after some work underground and installing steel rods to hold it together, the splitting ceased... for now.
That’s an apt description of the Christian Church. Martin Luther once said, “Justification is the article on which the Church will stand or fall.” Justification is the doctrine of how we are saved by God through Christ Jesus. And it is a foundational truth for the Christian Church. If it’s eroded in any way by false teachings, the Church cannot stand. It will split apart and divide us even as we’ve seen with the development of all the denominations out there. That’s because we are not all confessing the “same differences” which makes Christianity unique. And when that happens, we have no choice but to be divided. The only thing that can reunite us is believing and speaking the same things based on God’s Word. Will that ever happen this side of heaven? Nobody knows. All we can do is keep trying and calling one another back to the foundational truths given to us by God.
This need for us to agree and speak the same thing in our confession of faith can be seen even in our Lutheran Church. In 1580 the Book of Concord was compiled which contains the foundational truths that unites Lutherans based on the Bible. All of our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregations have agreed to abide by that confession of faith. It unites us. Yes, we still have disagreements the small things. And for the most part, it’s over things that don’t impact our doctrine. However, whenever heated debates arise it’s because a teaching or practice threatens to erode a foundational truth of our shared faith. Examples of that are the doctrine of who should and shouldn’t be Communed at our altars and whether women can be Pastors or if practicing homosexuals are to be allowed as members. In these circumstances, when we find that we aren’t all speaking the same thing in the essential doctrines it splits us apart.
That can also happen even within our own congregation. Thankfully, our disagreements are usually not over the doctrines of the Lutheran Church. For example, whether you choose to receive the wine in Holy Communion from the common cup or the individual cups is not a doctrinal issue. On the other hand, if someone disagrees that the wine is truly the blood of Christ, then we’ve got a major division. The same can be said about the power of Baptism, the definition of sin, the need for repentance, etc. If any of our teachings or practices threaten to erode the foundational truths of what we believe and confess from God’s Word, then we’ve got a BIG problem. And it will most certainly divide us
As in Corinth, our sinful pride is the cause of it all. The only solution is to confess our sins and ask God to reunite us by His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. St. Paul encourages us to turn our attention away from ourselves and back to the grace we all received in our Baptisms. Together, we can then go to God’s Word and allow it to direct our thinking, our speaking, and our actions so that we can agree and once again confess the same foundational truths by which we are saved. May God grant us that unity in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!