Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
The verse describes the church at Corinth splitting into rival groups that each claimed loyalty to a different human leader. The rivalry turned on comparing ministers and disputing who was greatest, with some admiring learned eloquence, some appealing to closeness to Jesus in His earthly life, and some judging a teacher by his past. Such party loyalty is carnal and spiritually defective, springing from envy, selfishness and separation from Christ rather than from true spirituality. It is answered by the truth that Christ is not divided, that no human teacher was crucified for believers, and that ministers are only servants through whom they believed while God alone gives the increase. God requires that there be no divisions but perfect unity of mind and judgment, which comes as believers draw nearer to one another in proportion as they draw nearer to Christ the great Center.
Factions in Corinth
The verse records the Corinthian church breaking into contending parties crying loyalty to different leaders, one saying belonging to Paul, another to Apollos, another to Cephas, another to Christ, as though the ministers had competing claims. These claims of allegiance to human leaders reflected prejudice about them rather than the liberality, generosity and tenderness that show Christ abiding in the heart, and they revealed a carnal condition with narrow understanding and defective spiritual experience rather than growth in grace. Such party spirit threatened great harm and even ruin to the church, and it stood opposed to the unity and shared judgment urged among believers, with God requiring perfect unity with no divisions, all speaking the same thing and perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgment. The rivalries concerned the relative merits of those teaching Christ's doctrine, comparing abilities and favoring one minister over another, disputing in strife for supremacy who should be accounted greatest.
Some praised Apollos for eloquent, learned speaking contrasted with Paul's deliberately simple presentation of the gospel, some appealed to Cephas or Peter for his closeness to Jesus in His earthly ministry, and some judged and condemned Paul by his past persecution of believers. Even claiming to follow Christ did not excuse division, for it expressed a proud, independent spirit that rejected the help and authority of gospel ministers.
Paul and Apollos worked in harmony despite the imagined differences among faithful ministers, and the rivalry arose even though their work was united. The preference shown to Apollos became part of the dissension, but he did not exploit it or encourage the divisions, and he left rather than profit from them. The dissensions greatly increased after Apollos's visit, when false teachers led believers to despise Paul's instructions while the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel were perverted.
The first chapter together with the second and third chapters is to be read carefully in every church, because much is to be gained by careful study of them. It is a reproof to ministers of the gospel and to all churches wherever they are located, calling ministers to humble their hearts before God, seek the truth and search the Scriptures, with the warning that unless they humble their hearts their names will not be placed in the book of life.
Christ Not Divided
To say I am of Paul and I am of Apollos is to be carnal and to walk as men, showing a narrow understanding and a defective spiritual experience rather than growth in grace and true spirituality. Such rallying cries divide believers into parties around human ministers, claiming to belong to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or even to Christ in a partisan sense, while true workers draw people not to themselves but to Christ by preaching the truth that makes all one in Him. Withdrawing from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and binding up with others repeats that Corinthian sin.
The party spirit springs from envy and strife cherished by members, from selfishness and lack of self-denial and self-sacrifice, even in the ministry, and it brings weakness into the church. It divides over minor matters while neglecting decided unity and earnest missionary effort on vital points, and the unsanctified leaven of selfishness left unchecked produces spiritual disease. The variety of cherished ideas then brings a spirit of opposition and repulsion that divides teachers and students instead of uniting them, when submitted hearts wearing Christ's yoke and learning meekness and lowliness would lose self in Him and labor together to strengthen and bless and uplift one another until such differences disappeared.
The cause of division and discord is separation from Christ, for unity comes through union with Him. Cherishing prejudice and jealousy, listening to reports against brethren, imagining evil of them and indulging evil surmisings breaks the sacred bonds of holy union that God requires among co-workers. Dissension and variance and party feeling are the work of the enemy, striving for supremacy and disputing who shall be accounted greatest.
The answer to every such claim is that Christ is not divided, that no human leader was crucified for believers or became the one in whose name they were baptized. Such prejudice about leaders lacks the liberality, generosity and tenderness that show Christ abiding in the heart, and it threatened great harm to the church. Ministers and all things belong to believers, who belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God, so believers must not glory in people nor rely on finite people for wisdom nor make any human being the center of faith, for Christ alone is the source of wisdom.
The verse rebukes division because God requires that there be no divisions but that all speak the same thing and be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. In unity is strength, and to lightly regard Christ's prayer for oneness just before His crucifixion and make little effort to cultivate it misrepresents Christ before the world. Because God requires this perfect unity, it is possible to reach it, with different gifts and different works entrusted to servants blended together in His work rather than made a cause for rivalry.
The secret of unity is union with Christ, for Christ is the great Center, and believers draw nearer to one another just in proportion as they draw nearer to Him. When Christ's truth fills mind and heart, accusing and demeaning one another cease, and united with Christ believers will surely be united with brethren in the faith.
Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom believers believed, one in object though their work and gifts may differ, while God alone gives the increase and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Different ministers may supply different needed qualifications as servants through whom God helps the church, and their instruction from Scripture is to be welcomed without idolizing them, for it is the truth they teach, not the minister, that is to be received and valued. Those gifts and works are never to be used to separate believers or to form accepted truth into separate parties under different heads, and when contention and party spirit appear they must be investigated and called by their right names as born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
United Witness Today
The Corinthian cry of loyalty to Paul or to Apollos stands as a warning against forming divisions by preferring one religious worker or speaker over another and claiming allegiance to particular leaders. Such attachment to a favorite minister can divide a church and dishonor God's messengers, for it is carnal and walking as men, coming from envy and strife cherished by members and causing weakness. Christians are not to idolize any minister or refuse another's work, nor to withdraw from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and bind up with others. A minister who emphasizes a different phase of truth or presents the Word in a different way is not to be condemned, and no minister need fear that his brethren do not regard his exposition as of consequence. Allowing prejudice, envy, jealousy, discord, and evil surmisings against brethren repeats the Corinthian sin, separates from brethren and thus from God, and such preferences are unsanctified.
Believers are instead to humbly and gratefully receive the different servants God sends, accepting the instruction each gives from Scripture and benefiting from their differing qualifications. Ministers are servants through whom God helps the church, and different ministers may supply different needed qualifications that the church should welcome without idolizing them. It is the truth they teach, not the minister, that should be received and valued. Attachment to a favorite minister and refusal to benefit from other teachers reveal that Bible truth has not sanctified the people. Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom believers believed, one in object though their work may differ, while God alone gives the increase, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
No minister is to seek to bind converts to himself as his own property, controlling them by commanding, dictating, forbidding, and telling them what to do, or to claim a church that will do his bidding and be ruled by his wisdom. Those who accept the truth after it has made an impression on their hearts belong to Christ and are to be treated as the property of Christ, not as the property of man. No minister is to be conscience for other men or gain an experience for them, and God's truth is not to be preached so that those who accept it form into separate parties under different heads. Ministers and other workers are to cooperate in harmony, use their different gifts together, and follow Christ alone as their Leader rather than fastening themselves to a human leader, for those gifts are never to be used in a way that separates believers from one another. Refusing fellowship with those who do not do just as one's own company does, with wrangling and strife, shows the need for reconversion, while those truly converted press together in Christian unity, exercising no unwise authority over others, with the meekness and lowliness of Christ appearing in all that is said and done. When contention comes in and a party spirit is manifested, investigation must be made and things called by their right names, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
God is leading out a people and preparing them for translation, and those acting a part in this work must stand as sentinels for God, seek to labor unitedly instead of dividing, be willing to be servants of all, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the great Exemplar. Believers should lay aside self-interest, give God the glory for success, and show that they are united in their work. Party spirit and party feelings among brethren are the work of the enemy, and strengthening prejudices and jealousies, listening to reports against brethren, and imagining evil of brethren breaks the sacred bonds of holy union God requires. God would have sacred order exist among His co-workers, that they be bound together by Christ in the Lord God of Israel, faithful, frank, and true to each other's interests, constantly listening for orders from their Captain rather than listening against or suspecting one another.
Contention among the Corinthian believers in claiming allegiance to different leaders hindered the apostles' work, and though Apollos and Paul worked in harmony their rivalry threatened to hinder the gospel work. Divisions arising when church members attach themselves to different leaders instead of being united bring a dearth of the Holy Spirit in churches. The manifestation of the Spirit of God is hindered and He will not be sent as Comforter and Strengthener until all are of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous. The warning applies especially in the closing days of earth's history, when Satan seeks to create dissension and disunion among God's people.
The remedy for contention and faultfinding and mischief-making is earnest self-examination and humble earnest prayer, with more of Christ and less of self, and cleansing of heart and mind from all unholy leaven in the short precious time still left for purification in the time of atonement, for the same experience of selfishness producing spiritual disease will be met again. This requires closely examining the soul to see whether the love of God is possessed, being doers of the Word and not hearers only, seeking the Lord for a renewed heart by the Holy Spirit when His love is lost, and representing the character of Christ in justice and purity and truth as shown by the fruits. It requires cherishing love and deference and respect, putting away prejudice, and giving enemies no occasion through differences even in opinion. When a brother errs the fault must be told to him alone, then with one or two more, then to the church, and differences must not be published to the world, because Satan and his confederacy use dissension against the saving power of grace, and to lightly regard Christ's prayer for oneness and make little effort to cultivate oneness greatly misrepresents Christ.
In times of persecution true believers will put aside rivalry and disputes over who is greatest and unite against their common peril. Such strife must cease because common peril and coming trouble are at hand, and true believers will abandon party claims and unite in one testimony of cleaving to Christ as personal Saviour. When the storm of persecution breaks, the people of God will draw together and present a united front to the enemy, and among true believers this party spirit disputing as to who shall be accounted greatest in strife for supremacy will cease. No one of the true believers will longer make these party claims, but the testimony of one and all will be cleaving unto Christ and rejoicing in Christ as personal Saviour, hearing the true Shepherd's voice and gathering to Him as true sheep knowing that voice, while those who have not received the love of the truth depart from the faith.
Christians should not take their identity from human teachers or divide into followers of different leaders, for Christ alone is their head. This was shown when Zwingle refused any name but Christ's and pointed to his agreement with Luther in Christ's teaching despite having had no communication.
The verse describes the church at Corinth splitting into rival groups that each claimed loyalty to a different human leader. The rivalry turned on comparing ministers and disputing who was greatest, with some admiring learned eloquence, some appealing to closeness to Jesus in His earthly life, and some judging a teacher by his past. Such party loyalty is carnal and spiritually defective, springing from envy, selfishness and separation from Christ rather than from true spirituality. It is answered by the truth that Christ is not divided, that no human teacher was crucified for believers, and that ministers are only servants through whom they believed while God alone gives the increase. God requires that there be no divisions but perfect unity of mind and judgment, which comes as believers draw nearer to one another in proportion as they draw nearer to Christ the great Center.
Factions in Corinth
The verse records the Corinthian church breaking into contending parties crying loyalty to different leaders, one saying belonging to Paul, another to Apollos, another to Cephas, another to Christ, as though the ministers had competing claims. These claims of allegiance to human leaders reflected prejudice about them rather than the liberality, generosity and tenderness that show Christ abiding in the heart, and they revealed a carnal condition with narrow understanding and defective spiritual experience rather than growth in grace. Such party spirit threatened great harm and even ruin to the church, and it stood opposed to the unity and shared judgment urged among believers, with God requiring perfect unity with no divisions, all speaking the same thing and perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgment. The rivalries concerned the relative merits of those teaching Christ's doctrine, comparing abilities and favoring one minister over another, disputing in strife for supremacy who should be accounted greatest.
Some praised Apollos for eloquent, learned speaking contrasted with Paul's deliberately simple presentation of the gospel, some appealed to Cephas or Peter for his closeness to Jesus in His earthly ministry, and some judged and condemned Paul by his past persecution of believers. Even claiming to follow Christ did not excuse division, for it expressed a proud, independent spirit that rejected the help and authority of gospel ministers.
Paul and Apollos worked in harmony despite the imagined differences among faithful ministers, and the rivalry arose even though their work was united. The preference shown to Apollos became part of the dissension, but he did not exploit it or encourage the divisions, and he left rather than profit from them. The dissensions greatly increased after Apollos's visit, when false teachers led believers to despise Paul's instructions while the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel were perverted.
The first chapter together with the second and third chapters is to be read carefully in every church, because much is to be gained by careful study of them. It is a reproof to ministers of the gospel and to all churches wherever they are located, calling ministers to humble their hearts before God, seek the truth and search the Scriptures, with the warning that unless they humble their hearts their names will not be placed in the book of life.
Christ Not Divided
To say I am of Paul and I am of Apollos is to be carnal and to walk as men, showing a narrow understanding and a defective spiritual experience rather than growth in grace and true spirituality. Such rallying cries divide believers into parties around human ministers, claiming to belong to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or even to Christ in a partisan sense, while true workers draw people not to themselves but to Christ by preaching the truth that makes all one in Him. Withdrawing from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and binding up with others repeats that Corinthian sin.
The party spirit springs from envy and strife cherished by members, from selfishness and lack of self-denial and self-sacrifice, even in the ministry, and it brings weakness into the church. It divides over minor matters while neglecting decided unity and earnest missionary effort on vital points, and the unsanctified leaven of selfishness left unchecked produces spiritual disease. The variety of cherished ideas then brings a spirit of opposition and repulsion that divides teachers and students instead of uniting them, when submitted hearts wearing Christ's yoke and learning meekness and lowliness would lose self in Him and labor together to strengthen and bless and uplift one another until such differences disappeared.
The cause of division and discord is separation from Christ, for unity comes through union with Him. Cherishing prejudice and jealousy, listening to reports against brethren, imagining evil of them and indulging evil surmisings breaks the sacred bonds of holy union that God requires among co-workers. Dissension and variance and party feeling are the work of the enemy, striving for supremacy and disputing who shall be accounted greatest.
The answer to every such claim is that Christ is not divided, that no human leader was crucified for believers or became the one in whose name they were baptized. Such prejudice about leaders lacks the liberality, generosity and tenderness that show Christ abiding in the heart, and it threatened great harm to the church. Ministers and all things belong to believers, who belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God, so believers must not glory in people nor rely on finite people for wisdom nor make any human being the center of faith, for Christ alone is the source of wisdom.
The verse rebukes division because God requires that there be no divisions but that all speak the same thing and be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. In unity is strength, and to lightly regard Christ's prayer for oneness just before His crucifixion and make little effort to cultivate it misrepresents Christ before the world. Because God requires this perfect unity, it is possible to reach it, with different gifts and different works entrusted to servants blended together in His work rather than made a cause for rivalry.
The secret of unity is union with Christ, for Christ is the great Center, and believers draw nearer to one another just in proportion as they draw nearer to Him. When Christ's truth fills mind and heart, accusing and demeaning one another cease, and united with Christ believers will surely be united with brethren in the faith.
Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom believers believed, one in object though their work and gifts may differ, while God alone gives the increase and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Different ministers may supply different needed qualifications as servants through whom God helps the church, and their instruction from Scripture is to be welcomed without idolizing them, for it is the truth they teach, not the minister, that is to be received and valued. Those gifts and works are never to be used to separate believers or to form accepted truth into separate parties under different heads, and when contention and party spirit appear they must be investigated and called by their right names as born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
United Witness Today
The Corinthian cry of loyalty to Paul or to Apollos stands as a warning against forming divisions by preferring one religious worker or speaker over another and claiming allegiance to particular leaders. Such attachment to a favorite minister can divide a church and dishonor God's messengers, for it is carnal and walking as men, coming from envy and strife cherished by members and causing weakness. Christians are not to idolize any minister or refuse another's work, nor to withdraw from some for reasons existing only in the imagination and bind up with others. A minister who emphasizes a different phase of truth or presents the Word in a different way is not to be condemned, and no minister need fear that his brethren do not regard his exposition as of consequence. Allowing prejudice, envy, jealousy, discord, and evil surmisings against brethren repeats the Corinthian sin, separates from brethren and thus from God, and such preferences are unsanctified.
Believers are instead to humbly and gratefully receive the different servants God sends, accepting the instruction each gives from Scripture and benefiting from their differing qualifications. Ministers are servants through whom God helps the church, and different ministers may supply different needed qualifications that the church should welcome without idolizing them. It is the truth they teach, not the minister, that should be received and valued. Attachment to a favorite minister and refusal to benefit from other teachers reveal that Bible truth has not sanctified the people. Paul and Apollos are only ministers by whom believers believed, one in object though their work may differ, while God alone gives the increase, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
No minister is to seek to bind converts to himself as his own property, controlling them by commanding, dictating, forbidding, and telling them what to do, or to claim a church that will do his bidding and be ruled by his wisdom. Those who accept the truth after it has made an impression on their hearts belong to Christ and are to be treated as the property of Christ, not as the property of man. No minister is to be conscience for other men or gain an experience for them, and God's truth is not to be preached so that those who accept it form into separate parties under different heads. Ministers and other workers are to cooperate in harmony, use their different gifts together, and follow Christ alone as their Leader rather than fastening themselves to a human leader, for those gifts are never to be used in a way that separates believers from one another. Refusing fellowship with those who do not do just as one's own company does, with wrangling and strife, shows the need for reconversion, while those truly converted press together in Christian unity, exercising no unwise authority over others, with the meekness and lowliness of Christ appearing in all that is said and done. When contention comes in and a party spirit is manifested, investigation must be made and things called by their right names, for all dissension is born of the narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds.
God is leading out a people and preparing them for translation, and those acting a part in this work must stand as sentinels for God, seek to labor unitedly instead of dividing, be willing to be servants of all, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, the great Exemplar. Believers should lay aside self-interest, give God the glory for success, and show that they are united in their work. Party spirit and party feelings among brethren are the work of the enemy, and strengthening prejudices and jealousies, listening to reports against brethren, and imagining evil of brethren breaks the sacred bonds of holy union God requires. God would have sacred order exist among His co-workers, that they be bound together by Christ in the Lord God of Israel, faithful, frank, and true to each other's interests, constantly listening for orders from their Captain rather than listening against or suspecting one another.
Contention among the Corinthian believers in claiming allegiance to different leaders hindered the apostles' work, and though Apollos and Paul worked in harmony their rivalry threatened to hinder the gospel work. Divisions arising when church members attach themselves to different leaders instead of being united bring a dearth of the Holy Spirit in churches. The manifestation of the Spirit of God is hindered and He will not be sent as Comforter and Strengthener until all are of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous. The warning applies especially in the closing days of earth's history, when Satan seeks to create dissension and disunion among God's people.
The remedy for contention and faultfinding and mischief-making is earnest self-examination and humble earnest prayer, with more of Christ and less of self, and cleansing of heart and mind from all unholy leaven in the short precious time still left for purification in the time of atonement, for the same experience of selfishness producing spiritual disease will be met again. This requires closely examining the soul to see whether the love of God is possessed, being doers of the Word and not hearers only, seeking the Lord for a renewed heart by the Holy Spirit when His love is lost, and representing the character of Christ in justice and purity and truth as shown by the fruits. It requires cherishing love and deference and respect, putting away prejudice, and giving enemies no occasion through differences even in opinion. When a brother errs the fault must be told to him alone, then with one or two more, then to the church, and differences must not be published to the world, because Satan and his confederacy use dissension against the saving power of grace, and to lightly regard Christ's prayer for oneness and make little effort to cultivate oneness greatly misrepresents Christ.
In times of persecution true believers will put aside rivalry and disputes over who is greatest and unite against their common peril. Such strife must cease because common peril and coming trouble are at hand, and true believers will abandon party claims and unite in one testimony of cleaving to Christ as personal Saviour. When the storm of persecution breaks, the people of God will draw together and present a united front to the enemy, and among true believers this party spirit disputing as to who shall be accounted greatest in strife for supremacy will cease. No one of the true believers will longer make these party claims, but the testimony of one and all will be cleaving unto Christ and rejoicing in Christ as personal Saviour, hearing the true Shepherd's voice and gathering to Him as true sheep knowing that voice, while those who have not received the love of the truth depart from the faith.
Christians should not take their identity from human teachers or divide into followers of different leaders, for Christ alone is their head. This was shown when Zwingle refused any name but Christ's and pointed to his agreement with Luther in Christ's teaching despite having had no communication.