Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
Christ is not divided among rival leaders, and the verse rebukes the Corinthian slogans in which each claimed loyalty to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Christ and demands that all speak the same thing with no divisions. Paul was not crucified for believers and they were not baptized into his name, so allegiance belongs to Christ alone whose atoning sacrifice and fullness are sufficient for all, with baptism pledging the whole person to God in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Paul and Apollos are only servants by whom believers believed, one planting and another watering while God gives the increase, so their differing gifts are to be received without idolizing any minister or using differences to separate believers. God requires perfect unity with believers perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment, and union with Christ as the one undivided Head draws them together while separation from Him causes discord. Cherished envy, strife, and party spirit show a carnal condition that weakens the church and hinders the Spirit, so the remedy is cleansing of heart from selfishness, putting away suspicion and faultfinding, and pressing together in brotherly love under Christ.
Corinthian Party Divisions
Paul's question confronts the slogans heard at Corinth, where each one was saying I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, and it demands that all speak the same thing with no divisions but be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Christ is not divided, Paul was not crucified for believers, and believers were not baptized in the name of Paul. Because perfect unity with no divisions is required, it is possible to reach it, with the different gifts entrusted to servants blended in the work.
The divisions were rooted in comparing the merits and work of ministers and claiming different ministers as leaders, setting allegiance upon Paul or Apollos or Cephas rather than upon Christ alone as center of faith and baptism. Such comparison threatens the progress of the gospel even when the ministers themselves labor in harmony. The envy, strife, and factions this produced show a carnal, spiritually immature condition of walking as men. That cherished envy and strife, with withdrawing from some for no reason but what exists in the imagination and binding up with others, is the reason for the weakness of the church.
Party praise of ministers comes from lack of self-denial and self-sacrifice and leavens the church with selfishness, where some are unduly praised and others are demerited. That unsanctified leaven of selfishness produces spiritual disease. In Corinth the factions had grown under false teachers who were leading members to disregard apostolic instruction, and the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel had been distorted.
The instruction of the first, second, and third chapters on this division is of the greatest importance to all who have entered the Lord's army. The rebuke of strife and division identifies conditions that bring about a dearth of the Spirit of God. That warning applies especially in the closing days, when dissension and disunion are sought to be created among God's people. The lesson that Christians should not divide themselves under human teachers' names, since Christ alone is their head and no preacher can take Christ's place, is illustrated by Zwingle and Luther, who independently preached the same doctrine of Christ and therefore claimed no name but Christ's.
Christ Undivided and Supreme
Christ is not divided among competing factions or leaders, nor is He divided against Himself, but stands as the one undivided spiritual Head and center of God's people. Because He is undivided, His children are to blend in unity rather than divide into parties around human teachers. Since they expect to live together in unity in the same heaven, they must now put away evil-surmising and discord and devote heart, soul, mind, and strength to God's holy work with unity of purpose.
Christ, not any human leader, is the center and source of the believer's faith, wisdom, and baptism, and no person can take His place as the one who saves and leads His people. Faith must rest on God's power, not on human wisdom or authority, and no minister is to be treated as the source of the church's faith or made an object of jealous attachment, whether Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. Paul was not crucified for believers, so allegiance belongs to Christ rather than to Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or the preacher one prefers. Christ's atoning sacrifice, merits, righteousness, and fullness are sufficient for all, and all who belong to Him are one in Him.
Believers were not baptized in Paul's name or into loyalty to the person who teaches or baptizes, but into Christ. Those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost have pledged will, purpose, inclination, and whole life — body, mind, and soul — to be dead to the world and to all selfishness and subordinate to the will of God. Christ dwelling in one soul will not quarrel with Christ dwelling in another soul, and nothing in Christ wars against Christ.
Ministers Serve Under Christ
Paul and Apollos are only ministers through whom belief came, as the Lord assigned to each, one planting and another watering while God alone gives the increase, so neither planter nor waterer is anything in himself. Though their work may differ, with one stressing another phase of truth or presenting the Word in a different way, they are one in aim and each will receive reward according to his own labor, so no minister is to be condemned for such difference nor to fear he is unregarded by his brethren. God may send different ministers with complementary gifts because many different minds must be met, and the church is humbly and gratefully to receive the benefit of each one's teaching from the Word without idolizing any minister or rejecting one teacher from attachment to a favorite.
The different gifts entrusted to God's servants are to be blended in His work and must never be used to separate believers into parties under different heads. No man is to be conscience for others or to gain an experience for them, and when contention and party spirit appear they are to be investigated and called by their right names as coming from narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Ministers are not to encourage divisions nor to use preferences shown them to their own advantage, for allegiance belongs to Christ rather than to human teachers and comparison among them endangers the church. Ministers and physicians must have Christ abiding within rather than acting from irreligious hearts that confuse minds or hinder the work.
No minister is to bind converts to himself as his own property by controlling, commanding and dictating like an officer over soldiers, or to demand a church that does his bidding and is ruled by his wisdom. Once hearts have been impressed and have accepted the truth they are to be treated as Christ's property, not man's, with no unwise authority exercised over them but with the meekness and lowliness of Christ in all that is said and done and self hidden through daily conversion. Those converted under one man's labors who refuse fellowship with others who do not act just as they do need reconversion, for there is to be no wrangling, strife, or binding up in separate parties. Those abiding in Christ cannot be suspicious and envious of fellow ministers, work against one another, or contend to be ahead in estimation and credit for superior work. Such self-sufficiency, combativeness, selfishness and wilfulness separate the soul from Jesus, and variance where the will is not under Christ's control proves self still needs to be crucified.
Unity Required in Church
God requires perfect unity among believers, with no divisions but being perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, and because He has required this state it is possible to reach it. The rebuke is aimed at contentions where each one says I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, insisting that all speak the same thing. Christ is not divided, Paul was not crucified for believers, and believers were not baptized in the name of Paul.
The appeal for unity in faith and doctrine rests on the truth that Christ is not divided. Loyalty to human leaders must not be made to compete with loyalty to Christ, for unity belongs to Christ and union with Him brings believers together. Christ is the center of Christian unity; separation from Him causes discord, while union with Him draws believers together.
There is to be no division, no wrangling, no strife, and no binding up in separate parties in the church of God. Those who are truly converted press together in Christian unity under one head, Christ. Believers keep their own individuality, but their sympathies are to be animated and controlled by Christ, with hearts knit together in love because fellow believers are the purchase of Christ's blood. Christ died to save all and loves all, so coldness toward brethren grieves infinite love, and allowing trifling matters to produce alienation breaks that oneness; when all press together, working in love and unity, they exert a power of influence and fulfill their duty to preserve the unity Christ prayed should exist in the church. No unwise authority is to be exercised over those who accept the truth, but meekness and lowliness are to appear in all that is said and done, with self hidden through daily conversion, and those converted under one man's labors who refuse fellowship with those who do not do just as they do need reconversion.
Contention among those who belong to Christ contradicts their fellowship with Him. Such disputes and divisions arise when believers do not submit their hearts and minds to His discipline. Christians therefore cannot give allegiance both to God and to mammon, or unite themselves with organizations opposed to their commitment to Christ.
God's co-workers must be bound to one another in sacred bonds of holy union with no party spirit, party feelings, prejudices, and jealousies. Christ joins them together under one Captain, so they must keep sacred order among themselves, be faithful, frank, and true to each other's interests, and listen constantly for orders from Christ. They must refuse to listen to reports against brethren or to imagine evil of them, because creating division is the enemy's work, not God's work.
Living Unity in Practice
Loyalty to human leaders that breeds contention hinders apostolic work, for Christ is not divided, no apostle was crucified for believers, and none were baptized into a minister's name. Discord and working at cross purposes weaken the church and the work of salvation and dishonor God, while unity of purpose strengthens that holy work. Working at variance with strife and evil-surmising greatly dishonors God and misrepresents Christ before believers and unbelievers, who expect to see oneness in those who claim Him.
Believers must put away suspicion, evil-surmising, faultfinding, jealousy, judgment and discord, and cultivate brotherly love, tenderness, pity and courtesy. Differences are not to be spread to the world, but oneness is to be sought with one another. Those who cultivate faultfinding and display discord misrepresent Christ and reveal that Christ, the hope of glory, is not within. Jealousy, suspicion and judgment contradict the unity that belongs to Him who is not divided.
Believers must bear with the peculiarities of those around them, having traits of disposition molded in harmony with Christ's will, with the will under the control of Christ's will. When the will is so controlled there can be no variance with brethren, so variance proves self still needs to be crucified, and freedom comes when Christ makes a person free indeed. No one is complete in Christ without loving one another as Christ loved, in obedience to His command, and doing this gives evidence of completeness in Him. The faith that holds believers together is faith working by love and purifying the soul, joined with works, with Christ going before them imparting His righteousness revealed in a well-ordered life and godly conversation, preparing them to sit together in heavenly places in Christ and to work together without a thought of collision.
A trifling difference of opinion must not part close friends asunder or break up united labor for the salvation of souls. Regarding individual opinions as infallible and unchangeable and refusing to talk matters over together and concede to one another is spiritual weakness. Each worker must humble the heart before God, recognize that no one's opinion is without flaw, and unite in doing good work.
The remedy for party selfishness, where some are unduly praised and others demerited and the church is leavened with selfishness unto spiritual disease, is cleansing of heart and mind from all unholy leaven in the time of atonement. That cleansing comes by earnest self-examination and humble prayer against contention and faultfinding and mischief-making, and by having more of Christ and less of self. Laborers must lose sight of self, keep the eyes fixed on the Redeemer, cultivate brotherly love and tenderness of heart, and consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works in holiness.
God will not send His Spirit as Comforter and Strengthener nor give success in the field until His people obey to be all of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous, and until the rubbish of evil-surmising and discord is swept away. Cherishing discord, prejudice, envy, jealousy and evil surmisings against brethren separates from brethren and thus separates from God and greatly hinders the manifestation of the Spirit. When all press together, working in love and unity with hearts knit together because fellow believers are the purchase of Christ's blood, they exert a power of influence, and acting their part in preserving the unity Christ prayed should exist in the church is their duty. Allowing trifling matters to produce alienation and showing coldness toward brethren breaks that oneness and grieves infinite love, since Christ died to save all and loves all.
For a people God is leading out and preparing for translation, who expect to live together in unity in the same heaven, this unity means standing as sentinels for God, laboring unitedly, being willing servants of all, and following in the footsteps of Jesus as the great Exemplar. They must now devote heart, soul, mind and strength to God's holy work with unity of purpose.
Christ is not divided among rival leaders, and the verse rebukes the Corinthian slogans in which each claimed loyalty to Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Christ and demands that all speak the same thing with no divisions. Paul was not crucified for believers and they were not baptized into his name, so allegiance belongs to Christ alone whose atoning sacrifice and fullness are sufficient for all, with baptism pledging the whole person to God in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Paul and Apollos are only servants by whom believers believed, one planting and another watering while God gives the increase, so their differing gifts are to be received without idolizing any minister or using differences to separate believers. God requires perfect unity with believers perfectly joined in the same mind and judgment, and union with Christ as the one undivided Head draws them together while separation from Him causes discord. Cherished envy, strife, and party spirit show a carnal condition that weakens the church and hinders the Spirit, so the remedy is cleansing of heart from selfishness, putting away suspicion and faultfinding, and pressing together in brotherly love under Christ.
Corinthian Party Divisions
Paul's question confronts the slogans heard at Corinth, where each one was saying I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, and it demands that all speak the same thing with no divisions but be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Christ is not divided, Paul was not crucified for believers, and believers were not baptized in the name of Paul. Because perfect unity with no divisions is required, it is possible to reach it, with the different gifts entrusted to servants blended in the work.
The divisions were rooted in comparing the merits and work of ministers and claiming different ministers as leaders, setting allegiance upon Paul or Apollos or Cephas rather than upon Christ alone as center of faith and baptism. Such comparison threatens the progress of the gospel even when the ministers themselves labor in harmony. The envy, strife, and factions this produced show a carnal, spiritually immature condition of walking as men. That cherished envy and strife, with withdrawing from some for no reason but what exists in the imagination and binding up with others, is the reason for the weakness of the church.
Party praise of ministers comes from lack of self-denial and self-sacrifice and leavens the church with selfishness, where some are unduly praised and others are demerited. That unsanctified leaven of selfishness produces spiritual disease. In Corinth the factions had grown under false teachers who were leading members to disregard apostolic instruction, and the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel had been distorted.
The instruction of the first, second, and third chapters on this division is of the greatest importance to all who have entered the Lord's army. The rebuke of strife and division identifies conditions that bring about a dearth of the Spirit of God. That warning applies especially in the closing days, when dissension and disunion are sought to be created among God's people. The lesson that Christians should not divide themselves under human teachers' names, since Christ alone is their head and no preacher can take Christ's place, is illustrated by Zwingle and Luther, who independently preached the same doctrine of Christ and therefore claimed no name but Christ's.
Christ Undivided and Supreme
Christ is not divided among competing factions or leaders, nor is He divided against Himself, but stands as the one undivided spiritual Head and center of God's people. Because He is undivided, His children are to blend in unity rather than divide into parties around human teachers. Since they expect to live together in unity in the same heaven, they must now put away evil-surmising and discord and devote heart, soul, mind, and strength to God's holy work with unity of purpose.
Christ, not any human leader, is the center and source of the believer's faith, wisdom, and baptism, and no person can take His place as the one who saves and leads His people. Faith must rest on God's power, not on human wisdom or authority, and no minister is to be treated as the source of the church's faith or made an object of jealous attachment, whether Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. Paul was not crucified for believers, so allegiance belongs to Christ rather than to Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or the preacher one prefers. Christ's atoning sacrifice, merits, righteousness, and fullness are sufficient for all, and all who belong to Him are one in Him.
Believers were not baptized in Paul's name or into loyalty to the person who teaches or baptizes, but into Christ. Those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost have pledged will, purpose, inclination, and whole life — body, mind, and soul — to be dead to the world and to all selfishness and subordinate to the will of God. Christ dwelling in one soul will not quarrel with Christ dwelling in another soul, and nothing in Christ wars against Christ.
Ministers Serve Under Christ
Paul and Apollos are only ministers through whom belief came, as the Lord assigned to each, one planting and another watering while God alone gives the increase, so neither planter nor waterer is anything in himself. Though their work may differ, with one stressing another phase of truth or presenting the Word in a different way, they are one in aim and each will receive reward according to his own labor, so no minister is to be condemned for such difference nor to fear he is unregarded by his brethren. God may send different ministers with complementary gifts because many different minds must be met, and the church is humbly and gratefully to receive the benefit of each one's teaching from the Word without idolizing any minister or rejecting one teacher from attachment to a favorite.
The different gifts entrusted to God's servants are to be blended in His work and must never be used to separate believers into parties under different heads. No man is to be conscience for others or to gain an experience for them, and when contention and party spirit appear they are to be investigated and called by their right names as coming from narrow conceptions of unsanctified minds. Ministers are not to encourage divisions nor to use preferences shown them to their own advantage, for allegiance belongs to Christ rather than to human teachers and comparison among them endangers the church. Ministers and physicians must have Christ abiding within rather than acting from irreligious hearts that confuse minds or hinder the work.
No minister is to bind converts to himself as his own property by controlling, commanding and dictating like an officer over soldiers, or to demand a church that does his bidding and is ruled by his wisdom. Once hearts have been impressed and have accepted the truth they are to be treated as Christ's property, not man's, with no unwise authority exercised over them but with the meekness and lowliness of Christ in all that is said and done and self hidden through daily conversion. Those converted under one man's labors who refuse fellowship with others who do not act just as they do need reconversion, for there is to be no wrangling, strife, or binding up in separate parties. Those abiding in Christ cannot be suspicious and envious of fellow ministers, work against one another, or contend to be ahead in estimation and credit for superior work. Such self-sufficiency, combativeness, selfishness and wilfulness separate the soul from Jesus, and variance where the will is not under Christ's control proves self still needs to be crucified.
Unity Required in Church
God requires perfect unity among believers, with no divisions but being perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, and because He has required this state it is possible to reach it. The rebuke is aimed at contentions where each one says I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ, insisting that all speak the same thing. Christ is not divided, Paul was not crucified for believers, and believers were not baptized in the name of Paul.
The appeal for unity in faith and doctrine rests on the truth that Christ is not divided. Loyalty to human leaders must not be made to compete with loyalty to Christ, for unity belongs to Christ and union with Him brings believers together. Christ is the center of Christian unity; separation from Him causes discord, while union with Him draws believers together.
There is to be no division, no wrangling, no strife, and no binding up in separate parties in the church of God. Those who are truly converted press together in Christian unity under one head, Christ. Believers keep their own individuality, but their sympathies are to be animated and controlled by Christ, with hearts knit together in love because fellow believers are the purchase of Christ's blood. Christ died to save all and loves all, so coldness toward brethren grieves infinite love, and allowing trifling matters to produce alienation breaks that oneness; when all press together, working in love and unity, they exert a power of influence and fulfill their duty to preserve the unity Christ prayed should exist in the church. No unwise authority is to be exercised over those who accept the truth, but meekness and lowliness are to appear in all that is said and done, with self hidden through daily conversion, and those converted under one man's labors who refuse fellowship with those who do not do just as they do need reconversion.
Contention among those who belong to Christ contradicts their fellowship with Him. Such disputes and divisions arise when believers do not submit their hearts and minds to His discipline. Christians therefore cannot give allegiance both to God and to mammon, or unite themselves with organizations opposed to their commitment to Christ.
God's co-workers must be bound to one another in sacred bonds of holy union with no party spirit, party feelings, prejudices, and jealousies. Christ joins them together under one Captain, so they must keep sacred order among themselves, be faithful, frank, and true to each other's interests, and listen constantly for orders from Christ. They must refuse to listen to reports against brethren or to imagine evil of them, because creating division is the enemy's work, not God's work.
Living Unity in Practice
Loyalty to human leaders that breeds contention hinders apostolic work, for Christ is not divided, no apostle was crucified for believers, and none were baptized into a minister's name. Discord and working at cross purposes weaken the church and the work of salvation and dishonor God, while unity of purpose strengthens that holy work. Working at variance with strife and evil-surmising greatly dishonors God and misrepresents Christ before believers and unbelievers, who expect to see oneness in those who claim Him.
Believers must put away suspicion, evil-surmising, faultfinding, jealousy, judgment and discord, and cultivate brotherly love, tenderness, pity and courtesy. Differences are not to be spread to the world, but oneness is to be sought with one another. Those who cultivate faultfinding and display discord misrepresent Christ and reveal that Christ, the hope of glory, is not within. Jealousy, suspicion and judgment contradict the unity that belongs to Him who is not divided.
Believers must bear with the peculiarities of those around them, having traits of disposition molded in harmony with Christ's will, with the will under the control of Christ's will. When the will is so controlled there can be no variance with brethren, so variance proves self still needs to be crucified, and freedom comes when Christ makes a person free indeed. No one is complete in Christ without loving one another as Christ loved, in obedience to His command, and doing this gives evidence of completeness in Him. The faith that holds believers together is faith working by love and purifying the soul, joined with works, with Christ going before them imparting His righteousness revealed in a well-ordered life and godly conversation, preparing them to sit together in heavenly places in Christ and to work together without a thought of collision.
A trifling difference of opinion must not part close friends asunder or break up united labor for the salvation of souls. Regarding individual opinions as infallible and unchangeable and refusing to talk matters over together and concede to one another is spiritual weakness. Each worker must humble the heart before God, recognize that no one's opinion is without flaw, and unite in doing good work.
The remedy for party selfishness, where some are unduly praised and others demerited and the church is leavened with selfishness unto spiritual disease, is cleansing of heart and mind from all unholy leaven in the time of atonement. That cleansing comes by earnest self-examination and humble prayer against contention and faultfinding and mischief-making, and by having more of Christ and less of self. Laborers must lose sight of self, keep the eyes fixed on the Redeemer, cultivate brotherly love and tenderness of heart, and consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works in holiness.
God will not send His Spirit as Comforter and Strengthener nor give success in the field until His people obey to be all of one mind, loving as brethren, pitiful and courteous, and until the rubbish of evil-surmising and discord is swept away. Cherishing discord, prejudice, envy, jealousy and evil surmisings against brethren separates from brethren and thus separates from God and greatly hinders the manifestation of the Spirit. When all press together, working in love and unity with hearts knit together because fellow believers are the purchase of Christ's blood, they exert a power of influence, and acting their part in preserving the unity Christ prayed should exist in the church is their duty. Allowing trifling matters to produce alienation and showing coldness toward brethren breaks that oneness and grieves infinite love, since Christ died to save all and loves all.
For a people God is leading out and preparing for translation, who expect to live together in unity in the same heaven, this unity means standing as sentinels for God, laboring unitedly, being willing servants of all, and following in the footsteps of Jesus as the great Exemplar. They must now devote heart, soul, mind and strength to God's holy work with unity of purpose.