The church at Corinth was in a sad state. The fellowship of the church was about to collapse. Listen to some of the things that were occurring and see if they sound familiar: verbal accusations, differing opinions, competitive positions, power struggles, envy contention, grumbling, griping, complaining, murmuring, quarreling, attacking, and gossiping. It was believer against believer. A severe split was about to take place.
So in Paul’s letter to them, this was the first problem he dealt with because a divided church won’t last long. There were a lot of other problems that needed to be dealt with and Paul does deal with them in this letter but the people couldn’t handle ANY of the problems if they were not one in spirit and mind.
The ministry of ANY church cannot effectively go on until the people of the church stand together. Worship, missions, reaching out and ministering to others will all be affected.
But thank God there is an answer to every division in every church. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, gives eleven answers or solutions to division in a church. The answers are sound. In fact, these answers will pull any divided church together if the people are willing to listen. Paul doesn’t start giving the answers until verse 17 and the answers continue through chapter 4.
In tonight’s portion of the letter, Paul emphasizes the problems in the church before he gets to the answers. READ v. 10.
Paul begins by exhorting them to agree. Notice that Paul doesn’t have fire in his eyes or a fight in his heart. There’s no trace of anger when he writes. His heart is tender and full of joy. He graciously appeals to the Corinthians. He says, “I appeal to you.” He pleads and begs them. He calls them brothers twice in just two verses.
The exhortation is strong. It’s direct and straightforward. There should be no problem in understanding it, because it is plainly and simply stated. He exhorts them to agree in speech—quit talking against each other, accusing, attacking, murmuring, grumbling, griping, complaining, and gossiping. Quit using the tongue to stir dissension and division.
He tells them to allow no dissension “among you.” This division is not outside the church. It is inside. Paul saw this church as fuming and fighting from within. All the problems didn’t come from outside the church and cause the division. They started from inside the church, believer against believer.
Paul asks them to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.” The Greek words used in this verse gives the idea of a torn net being repaired and mended, or a man’s broken and dislocated limb being restored to its proper place. The union is to be both in mind and thought. So the exhortation is for the Corinthian church to restore itself—not just to be united together—they are to be perfectly united together in mind and thought.
READ v. 11. The problem of quarrelling had gotten so bad that some believer within the church went to Paul about the matter. Just who he was in not known. We just know that he was from the house of Chloe, who was apparently a believer well known to the Corinthians.
Chloe was probably a citizen of Ephesus and not of Corinth because Paul would never have identified his source of information if that person had lived in Corinth. Some of the arguing parties might turn against Chloe and her household. Paul was writing to Corinth from Ephesus, so a member of Chloe’s household probably reported the matter to Paul on some return trip from Corinth.
The nature of the division of the church is more clearly defined by the word “quarrels.” There was a severe strife between factions and cliques in the church.
READ v. 12. Everyone was exalting some former minister over the other ministers of the church. Those who weren’t exalting one minister over the other were becoming super-spiritual by proclaiming they were followers of Christ, not of man.
Let’s take a quick look at what were probably the three basic problems causing the division in the church.
1. There was the problem in preaching ability and style. There was no difference in the messages preached by Paul and Apollos. They both preached the gospel of Christ, but there was a difference in their style of preaching and ministering. Acts 18:24 tells us that “Apollos was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 2 Cor. 10:10; 11:6 says Paul was not a great orator. So some undervalued Paul as a preacher and supported Apollos. They failed to see God’s distinct call and gifts to each minister.
Paul was gifted in understanding the Scriptures and as an administrator in church order. Paul excelled in strengthening believers, in growing disciples, and in establishing churches. He was a church planter. Based upon what we read in verse 12, it looks like the Apollos followers began to intellectualize and socialize Christianity and were turning away from why the church existed which was to follow the doctrine of salvation in Christ and that believers needed to walk in Christ day by day.
2. The second problem was the problem of turning liberty into license. Cephas is mentioned. That’s Peter. Peter’s emphasis had to deal with the tradition and rituals of the church because he was the apostle to the Jews. Some wanted the traditions and rituals to be stressed more and that Paul’s emphasis on doctrine, salvation, and the daily walk of the believer be stressed less. So the two groups began to gather around the name of the two apostles and form cliques. Frankly, that’s the difference in several denominations today. Some prefer the ritual over the walk.
3. Then there was the problem of those who claimed to follow Christ. These were probably fed up with the other groups and set themselves up as being more spiritual than the others. They thought of themselves as being too spiritual to be involved with any clique. They may have even thought of themselves as the only true spiritual Christians in Corinth.
The Corinthians in general considered themselves to be so advanced in maturity that it gave them a privileged position. They set themselves up to be the judge of others. They bypassed God’s authority and took it upon themselves to judge teachers, to judge the wise and the unwise, to establish their own set of moral standards and to judge the gifted and the gifts. So there’s the problem.
READ v. 13-16. The problem with cliques in the church is threefold. Look at v. 13 again. Paul shows us in this one verse how cliques strike. They strike:
• At the Person of Christ or His Lordship.
• At the crucifixion or death of Christ.
• At the baptism or witness of the believer.
Let’s look quickly at each of these.
1. Cliques divide Christ. A clique always thinks it is right, no matter how wrong it is, and it wants its way—too often at any cost. A clique sets itself up as the Lord, as the person who is able to judge what is right and wrong for the church. A clique attempts the impossible: it tries to divide Christ, to take Christ over to its side. A clique often claims that Christ supports its position, that Christ would hold the position and do exactly what the clique is doing.
But note the question: Is Christ divided? Is part of Him over here with this group and part of Him over there with that group? Who rules the church? Who is Lord?
Who has the right to judge and say what is right and wrong, the Lord within the church, or cliques within the church?
Jesus cannot be divided. There is only one Lord and He cannot be divided.
2. Cliques elevate men to be saviors. Paul wasn’t crucified for the Corinthians so he wasn’t the savior of the Corinthians nor of any other body of believers. So if Paul wasn’t their savior then no other preacher of leader of a clique was a savior. Believers don’t owe their allegiance to preachers and leaders of cliques.
We are to obey and follow the will of Christ as dictated in Scripture, and we are to support the servants of the Lord whom He places in our midst to minster to us.
3. Lastly, cliques make a person a man-follower. They don’t go in a direction because of their beliefs or their doctrine. They go in the direction that the others go—not following the Lord and His leading, but following each other.
That’s sad because when a believer is baptized, they confess and give testimony to the Lord that they are committing themselves to follow Jesus. They aren’t confessing loyalty to any man, no matter how great and wonderful that man might be.
Paul ends this portion of his letter by adamantly denying that he ever attempted to secure a personal following of believers. He thanks God that he only baptized a few believers so that no one can accuse him of wanting to for a following or a clique.
Just for your notes or your knowledge before we close this out:
Crispus was the leading ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth. He was led to Christ and baptized by Paul personally.
Gaius was Paul’s host when he was in Corinth. Since Paul baptized Gaius, Paul probably led him to the Lord as well. Not sure if this is the same Gaius who served as a missionary to Paul in Acts 19:29. May be although the name was common.
Stephanas was one of three messengers who delivered the Corinthian letter to Paul. Paul baptized the members of his household.
