There is a lot going on in the church today. At first glance, it looks like Christianity is all over the map. For example, there have been recent splits among the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, to name a few. These are not small splits, either. It is a sign of how radically divided the nation as a whole is, and Christians are no better. The church in Corinth really mirrored a lot of the division we see today. A lot of the same issues emerged then that are dividing the church now–issues over sexuality, spiritual gifts (or non-gifts), which Christian influencers we follow, marriage and divorce issues, and so on.
Paul needed to nip the issues in the bud while there was still a semblance of a church left. In one sentence he sums up how they should get together as the body of Christ: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20 ESV). Paul warns them not to be children (“childish”) in their thinking. They should be infants in evil, where infants don’t even know what evil is! And they should be mature in their thinking, where they are patient with one another, compassionate, caring, and deeply rooted in the Word.
Just one chapter earlier Paul wrote about the importance of love. Love is patient. It is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not self-seeking. These are all pointing Christians to mature thinking, something the church at Corinth really needed if it was going to survive. When we model mature thinking, it makes Christ attractive to others. We need to model the bride of Christ in a way that showcases who Jesus is. The church is the bride of Christ and nobody in their right mind wants to get near a bridezilla!