1 Corinthians 1:10-16

 

Paul has given his usual salutation and has offered his thanks for what God has done for the Corinthians—in so doing reminding the Corinthians of their blessings and their attendant responsibilities. With verse 10, Paul launches into the main body of the letter. Here, he begins addressing the issues and problems within the church. The first issue he touches on is what I call the Problem of Sectarianism, and in these verses, he introduces this problem.

As we read these verses, we have to remember that in NT times, there was no long-distance communication--no phones, no internet, no telegraphs. The only way for news to travel long distances was through human messengers. While Paul was in Ephesus (in Turkey), he had no way of knowing what was going on in Corinth (in Greece) unless somebody told him. And we see from verse 11 that somebody did. We can assume that Chloe was a Christian in the Corinthian church, and some of her family visited Paul. Whoever these people were, we don't know for sure whether they came to Ephesus specifically to talk to Paul about the problems at Corinth, or whether they were there for other reasons and this just happened to come up.

However it happened, from these people, Paul learned that there were contentions in the church. The word translated contention in verse 11 literally means: “quarrel, i.e. (by implication) wrangling:--contention, debate, strife, variance.” (Strong) In classical Greek, it was sometimes used for battle and warfare. From verse 12, we learn that the church was divided into separate groups or parties that rallied around the names of different Christian leaders. We don't know how far this had gone in Corinth—whether the church was in danger of splitting completely—but we do know it was serious enough for Paul to address it.

I was going to say that this implies Corinth was a large church if it could support four separate competing parties. And I do think, based on all available evidence, this probably was a large church. But I do remember a story Albert Barr told of being in a church that was divided into two groups who were at odds with each other—it was a church with six people in it, and three of them would not talk to or sit with the other three. This also reminds us that this problem of division and strife within the church is not relegated to the first century.

Here, as I said, it seemed to have formed around individuals. First, there was a group around Paul, who had been the founder of the church. Second, there was a group around Apollos. We first meet Apollos in Acts 18:24: “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.” Apollos was a fervent follower of God, and he became a Christian after learning of the gospel from Aquilla and Priscilla in Ephesus; from there, he traveled to Corinth and had a successful ministry among the Jews. Perhaps many in the church at the time of this letter had been converted under Apollos' ministry and had never even met Paul. Third, we have a group around Cephas or Peter. We have no record that Peter had actually visited Corinth, but he was a leader and important figure in the NT church, so it makes sense that his influence would be felt there. Fourth, we have a group based around Christ. Albert Barnes suggests that these were Christians who came from Palestine and had actually seen and heard Jesus during His earthly ministry. This might have made them feel they had some special claim or privilege that put them above the rest of the church.

This was the situation in the church—the people of the church were divided up into individual groups, each based around particular individuals. This led to contentions, quarrels, and arguments between the various groups. We know these groups were rallying around particular individuals—we don't know what divided them beyond that. It's not clear if Paul knew. What Paul did know was that this needed to stop.

In verse 10, Paul lays down his appeal: he asks them to “all speak the same thing.” This seems to have the general idea of agreeing together, being able to act and speak as a united church rather than a collection of warring parties. He also appeals “that there be no divisions among you.” The word translated divisions literally means a rent or tear. Paul didn't want sectarianism to tear the church apart. Instead, they needed to be joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. Barclay says that the word translated joined together is used in medical writing to refer to a bone being mended and growing together after a break. That was the kind of unity Paul desired for the church.

What could be the cause of this kind of unity? Why would the Corinthians choose to be perfectly joined together? Why would the church today choose such unity? Paul gives a very short, concise answer to that in verse 13: “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”

They were saved by Jesus, and there was no division in Jesus. It was Christ and Christ alone who was the author of their salvation. It wasn't Paul (or, by implication, Apollos or Peter) who had died for their sins; it wasn't Paul in whose name they were baptized; it wasn't Paul in whom they hoped for salvation. As Paul will come back to later, individual ministers do have their role, but ultimately, salvation is all from Christ, and therefore, all Christians have unity in Him. That is what is important. Who or where you were saved is only incidentally important. Even to have seen Christ in the flesh, though a great honor, would not really matter to your salvation. All that matters is that we are saved by faith in Him.

That was why he could make this appeal--because he was making it to his brothers in the name of their common Lord. We have said that there was one group within the church that seemed to make some sort of special claim on Christ, but really, all of the church, regardless of their background or personal preferences, should have been saying “I am of Christ.”

Christians aren't always going to agree about everything. But there should be some kind of fundamental unity so long as we all worship and serve and have faith in the same God. And while there are times when divisions and disagreements are necessary, they should never be because we have begun to put individuals in the place of God and transferred our faith and allegiance to them.

This is Paul's general statement about this issue. He will go into greater detail in the next section.