That There Be No Divisions Among You.

I Corinthians 1:10-17

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 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. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?"

I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." (I Corinthians 1:10-17)

Paul was concerned about division within the church at Corinth because he had heard that tere were divisions among them. They were argueing over which pastor had taught them and whether they were better qualified for having been taught by one than the other.

Unfortunately, these same types of disagreements arise today on regular basis. People decide that a person who has not been through a particular course of study, or who does naot do things a certain way are not as well qualified as those who do it that way or who have been through a certain program. In the church I pastor, a former pastor took the position that a person who had not gone through the discipleship program was not qualified to teach in the church. He proceeded to remove everyone of those who had been teaching, some for several years, and install those who took his program. Several were graduates of bible colleges, and nearly all were more grounded in scripture than he was. It didn't take long for the church to beegin to shrink.

Others have been very critical of those who did not use Jack Hyles or John R. Rice's methods. Paul refers to himself, Apollos, and Cephas, or Peter, as opposed to Christ, as the ones the people were emphasizing. Neither Paul, Apollos, nor Peter had died for the peoples sins. They were not to be baptized in the name of either one.

Paul rejoiced that they could not credit many to him for fear that they would set him up as something important, or begin to say Paul had saved or baptized them. As he stresses, God sent him to Preach the word. Even that could be made of no value by emphasis on his eloquence, or his intellectual and psychological preparation.

If they would examine what all four had taught, they would find that each had taught the same thing, and that there was no contradiction or conflict. The emphasis needed to be on Christ, and even that not as a way of setting one above another. In Christ, there should be unity of mind and judgement.

Notice Paul is begging them not to let such things produce separation.