Divisions in the Church: 1 Corinthians 1:10–17✞
One of the things Paul made a point of stating in the last passage is that he was an Apostle. He was given his mission directly from Christ Himself; his words, therefore, have a certain amount of authority. Interestingly, however, he is not in the habit of simply telling his readers what to do or think or believe. He understands Christianity better than his readers do, but he also trusts that they have the Holy Spirit, just as he does, so he lays out the facts for them and allows the Spirit to work. (I made this same point when blogging about Romans 12:1–2.)
And so, characteristically of Paul, that’s how he starts this passage as well: “I appeal to you, brothers1” (verse 10✞ ). Paul is about to call out the Corinthians for bad behaviour, but he’s going to appeal to their reason (and to the Spirit). And what is he going to appeal with them to do?
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
Paul the Apostle is writing to the church in Corinth and appealing to them to correct some errant behaviour. A few things, in fact; there will be a number of issues addressed in this letter. So what’s the first – where does Paul start? They’re not united. They don’t agree with one another. It’s actually a topic that comes up in a number of Paul’s letters—unity of believers is important to Paul—but in this case he’s calling out the Corinthians for a specific kind of disunity:
11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
The Corinthians have divided along leadership lines; everyone has picked their “favourite” leader, and is now thinking they’re a better Christian than the others because of it. They’re probably saying things like:
- I follow Apollos because I like the way he explained things better than how Paul explained them!
- Well I follow Peter, because Jesus commissioned him to lead the Church!
- Well I follow Paul, because he’s the one who planted this church, and he writes such eloquent letters
- Well I’m more spiritual than all of you, because I follow Christ!
Interestingly, when pointing out their faulty reasoning, Paul doesn’t mention Apollos or Peter, he calls out those who follow Christ and those who follow himself.
“Is Christ divided?” he asks. (In my opinion, going straight to the ones who probably feel they’re taking the holy high ground on this issue!) If you’re a Christian you’re a Christian; you’re saved by Christ’s work on the cross. Yes, there are people like Apollos and Paul who are there to help people understand things, but what they’re helping people understand is the work that Christ has done for His Church. So… if you don’t follow Christ you’re just not a Christian, period, and therefore, if you do follow Christ… well you’re not really saying anything, are you? We all follow Christ!
But, if you really are following Christ, then you’ll also appreciate the truth of Paul’s teaching and preaching, not to mention that of Apollos, and the authority of Peter/Cephas. (I don’t know if Peter ever actually went to Corinth.)
But what about those who “follow” Paul? Again, he gets to the heart of the matter: “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Yes, Paul was an Apostle, who was a good teacher/preacher and helped people understand very difficult nuances when it comes to Christianity, but all of his preaching was to point people away from himself and toward Christ. And when they came to belief in Christ they were baptised – in the name of Christ.
In fact, baptism really seems to be on Paul’s mind:
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize …
The ESV Study Bible notes indicate that they think this entire issue was based around baptism: The Corinthians were picking sides based on who baptised them. (I never read it that strongly, I always thought baptism was just part of the larger point Paul was making, but they’ve done more thinking and studying about this than me so they’re probably right.) Verse 16 was always interesting to me, because Paul seems so flustered by the issue! “I’m just glad I never baptised anyone, so you can’t even get it wrong and claim you were baptised in my name. Well, except for a couple of people. And, okay, yes, maybe there were some others – but the point is that I wasn’t baptising a lot of people!”
Which, by the way, is an interesting point on its own! Why didn’t Paul baptise more people when he was in Corinth? Surely people were being saved when he was there, and surely, when people get saved in the New Testament, they would get baptised! So why didn’t that happen? Paul here says he’s glad he didn’t baptise anyone, but it doesn’t sound like a conscious choice he made at the time, he’s just glad it worked out that way. I can only assume there were others there with Paul when he was at Corinth, perhaps the local leadership, and they were doing the baptising.
So what was Paul doing, while others were baptising? He was preaching.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Paul saw preaching as his ministry. (Having written half of the New Testament himself, I think we can all agree on that!) What he was doing in Corinth was preaching the Gospel. But what does Paul mean when he says “not with words of eloquent wisdom?” Surely eloquence would be helpful, not to mention wisdom, in articulating the difficult concepts outlined in the Gospel! He’s referring to a particular oratory style that was used at the time. I’ll let the ESV Study Bible notes explain:
1 Cor. 1:17b words of eloquent wisdom. The art of rhetorical persuasion was highly valued in the Greco-Roman world, and professional orators frequented large cities like Corinth, giving impressive displays of their ability to entertain and instruct. Paul’s proclamation of the gospel failed to measure up to these standards. This failure, however, served to place the spotlight on the power of the message itself (see also 2:1–5), for the Holy Spirit so empowered Paul’s words that they awakened faith in Christ (cf. James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23–25) and changed people’s very hearts and lives.
ESV Study Bible notes
Paul isn’t talking about “eloquence” as a general concept, he’s saying, “I didn’t present the Gospel in a specific way that you guys like to hear people speak. However, because of that fact, what you heard was the Gospel, rather than just a pretty speech!” And frankly, if we’re honest, I think anyone who’s been a Christian for any length of time—at least in the West—can relate. I know I’ve been in situations where I heard someone preach and felt my heart burning within me… but then a half hour later couldn’t remember what the sermon was actually about. It sounded good at the time; it was passionate; but what did it say? Paul’s listeners in Corinth didn’t have that problem: what they got was the Gospel, every time.
I think this should be a relief to Christians who don’t think they’re good at speaking, or presenting good arguments. You don’t need to be! When you find yourself sharing the Gospel, you share what you know, the way you understand it, and you let the Spirit do the work. The cross of Christ has power – God has saved many, many people through poor explanations of the Gospel; sometimes the explainer doesn’t get it all 100% correct, or trips over their words, but there’s enough for the hearer to accept it, and then it’s up to them to try and figure out the rest (just like everyone else does).
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