Fighting Divisions

1 Corinthians 1:10-17
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. 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? 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 but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

After teaching the Corinthians a brilliant prayer and giving them words of encouragement, Paul immediately launches into that which can destroy a church - divisions. Let’s just be honest - life inside of the church is messy. That’s because we’re messy people. Not one of us is sinless, and as a result, we take out our sinful natures on each other. The only One who was sinless wasn’t tolerated either!

Apparently, inside of the Corinthian church, there was fighting and what appears to be a “one upsmanship” mentality. They were bragging about who brought them into the faith, baptized, and discipled them. And while that is a juvenile arguement it was also dangerous. The name of Christ is being supplanted in the hearts of the Corinthians by the names of their leaders and mentors. This is absolutely not what Jesus (or any of those leader) had in mind. Now the Corinthians are toying with idolatry.

Paul ends his comments with a brief thought about serving within your purpose rather than trying to be all things to all people. His role was not to baptize the converts, but instead to preach the Gospel of Christ and to do anything else would be a waste of his precious time and mental resources. That doesn’t mean that baptism wasn’t important. It is vital. But it just wasn’t his main role. Paul knew how to keep his focus on what he had been assigned by the Holy Spirit to do. You have to admire that dedication to the ministry. And because of that focus, we have 13 Epistles today, penned by his hand that contain God’s Word for our lives.


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