Paul addressed his letter to the congregation of God in Corinth and, in the same greeting, associated the Corinthians with all those who called on the name of Jesus Christ in every place (1 Corinthians 1:2). Corinth was a distinct congregation with people, disputes, and obligations that Paul could address directly. Yet the Lord on whom they called was also the Lord of believers elsewhere. That relationship explains why Paul could correct a quarrel reported from one household by appealing to convictions that Christians in every congregation were expected to share. The Corinthians needed to reckon with what their words and loyalties implied about the Christ they confessed. The question was whether people who belonged to the same Lord would let His teaching govern what they said, how they judged their differences, and how they regarded His servants.

The Quarrels Reported by Chloe’s Household

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “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” (UASV). The appeal comes in the name of the very person whose place in the congregation their rival loyalties obscured. The words translated “that all of you agree” speak literally of saying the same thing, and Paul immediately connects their speech with their thinking and judgment. The report from members of Chloe’s household gave him a specific reason to make that appeal, since the Corinthians were quarreling (1 Corinthians 1:11). The quarrel could be heard in the claims people made about themselves, each identifying with Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ (1 Corinthians 1:12). What they said exposed the judgments they were making about where they and their fellow believers belonged.

The slogans tell the reader whose names were being used, while Paul’s explanation locates the rivalry among those making the claims. Apollos and Paul had both labored for the benefit of the Corinthians, and Paul describes their work in terms that give each his proper place. Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3:5–9). Planting and watering were distinguishable tasks serving the same work, so the value of Apollos’s labor gave the Corinthians no reason to diminish Paul’s, and gratitude for Paul’s labor gave them no reason to slight Apollos. In fact, Paul later says that he strongly urged Apollos to visit them with the brothers (1 Corinthians 16:12). That detail shows how differently Paul regarded Apollos from those who were using the names of the two men to distinguish their own groups.

The Questions That Exposed the Division

Paul brings the Corinthians back to their common allegiance with three questions. He asks whether Christ is divided, whether Paul was crucified for them, and whether they were baptized in Paul’s name (1 Corinthians 1:13). The first question exposes what the rival claims imply about Christ. The second recalls whose death provided the basis for their salvation, and the third recalls whose name defined the allegiance they acknowledged in baptism. Paul makes himself the example, so his correction reaches even those who might have expected him to welcome their use of his name. He remembers baptizing Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanas, but the point he draws from the matter is that no one should be able to claim that he was baptized in Paul’s name (1 Corinthians 1:14–16). Even the honor of having been baptized by an apostle gave a believer no separate standing in the congregation.

The words “I of Christ” deserve care because Paul includes them in his account of the quarrel without explaining the motives of the people who used them. Later he tells the whole congregation that they belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). Belonging to Christ was therefore true of the very believers whom the quarrels were dividing. A Corinthian who used a teacher’s name to claim a superior standing had overlooked that shared allegiance, and even the name of Christ could be misused if someone claimed Him as the possession of a faction. Paul’s response calls the Corinthians to recognize the standing of fellow believers on the basis of their relation to Christ. It also gives a present-day congregation a way to examine its loyalties whenever members begin to treat agreement with a favored pastor as the measure of another believer’s faithfulness.

What It Means to Share the Same Mind and Judgment

The terms Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 1:10 show how far he wanted the correction to reach. The word translated “divisions” refers here to rifts in the congregation, while the verb translated “be united” can convey the idea of putting something in proper condition. The Corinthians needed to repair a breach already evident in their speech, and that required them to reconsider the judgments behind what they were saying. They had to agree about who had died for them, whom they belonged to, and how to regard the men who had taught them. Paul supplies grounds for that agreement by recalling Christ’s death and their baptism and by explaining the work that he and Apollos had done. A congregation can quiet a quarrel by avoiding its subject for a time, but Paul writes directly about the convictions and judgments that had given rise to it.

Paul’s handling of the resurrection later in the letter shows what agreement required when the disputed matter was a teaching of the gospel itself. He reminds the Corinthians of the message they had received, including Christ’s death for their sins, His burial, His resurrection, and His appearances to witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:1–8). He then asks how some among them can say there is no resurrection of the dead when Christ is preached as having been raised (1 Corinthians 15:12). His argument follows their claim to its consequences for Christ’s resurrection, the apostles’ preaching, and the believers’ faith (1 Corinthians 15:13–19). Paul gives them grounds to see why the two positions cannot stand together. The agreement he seeks in that case rests on the truth of what God did in raising Christ and on what that fact establishes about the hope of those who have died.

The Same Teaching in Every Congregation

When Paul explains why he sent Timothy, he calls him his beloved and faithful child in the Lord and says that Timothy will remind the Corinthians of his “ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every congregation” (1 Corinthians 4:17, UASV). The purpose of Timothy’s work is expressed in the word “remind.” The Corinthians had already received instruction, and Timothy would recall to their attention what Paul taught and how Paul conducted himself in Christ. Paul’s immediate appeal that they imitate him follows his description of how the apostles responded when reviled, persecuted, or slandered (1 Corinthians 4:11–16). That conduct spoke directly to the arrogance Paul was correcting among people who were boasting in one teacher against another (1 Corinthians 4:6–7). Timothy could bring the two together for the Corinthians by reminding them of a teaching they knew and of conduct that showed what it required.

Paul’s phrase “everywhere in every congregation” gives the Corinthians a reason to take that reminder seriously. The instruction belonged to his regular teaching among Christians, so receiving it would bring Corinth into agreement with what the other congregations were being taught. Paul makes a similar point when addressing believers whose circumstances differ from one another. In discussing marriage, circumcision, and slavery, he directs each person to live according to the situation in which God called him and says that he gives this direction in all the congregations (1 Corinthians 7:17–24). Circumcised and uncircumcised believers remained distinguishable in their circumstances, yet both were to obey God’s commandments. That passage shows how a common apostolic rule could govern believers whose backgrounds and obligations called for different applications of it.

How Congregations Received and Acted on Common Instruction

The letter concerning circumcision shows how the first-century congregations addressed a dispute that affected believers in several places. Some men from Judea were teaching the brothers in Antioch that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised according to the custom of Moses (Acts 15:1). Paul and Barnabas disputed that teaching, and the question was taken to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem (Acts 15:2, 6). Peter recalled that God had given the Holy Spirit to uncircumcised Gentile believers and affirmed that salvation came through the grace of the Lord Jesus (Acts 15:7–11). James appealed to the words of the prophets as he explained the admission of Gentiles and stated what should be written to them (Acts 15:13–21). The resulting letter disavowed the unauthorized instruction and was addressed to the Gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia (Acts 15:23–29). When it was read in Antioch, the believers rejoiced at its encouragement, and Acts later records that the decisions were delivered to congregations in other cities for them to observe (Acts 15:30–31; Acts 16:4–5).

Paul’s arrangements for a contribution for the holy ones show how congregations could follow common instructions while acting locally. He told the Corinthians to follow the direction he had given the congregations of Galatia and instructed each person to put something aside according to his means (1 Corinthians 16:1–2). Corinth would approve the people who were to carry its gift to Jerusalem, and Paul would send them with letters (1 Corinthians 16:3–4). The common instruction thus identified a shared responsibility and gave the Corinthians specific work to do in carrying it out. The sums set aside depended on what individuals could give, and the congregation had a role in deciding who would carry its gift. The help reached beyond the congregation that collected it, giving practical expression to the bond between believers in different places.

Applying the Same Standard to Disagreements Today

Paul’s treatment of food in Romans shows that shared doctrine also governs the way Christians handle choices Scripture leaves open. One believer ate a wider range of foods, while another ate only vegetables, and Paul required the one who ate to refrain from despising the one who abstained and the one who abstained to refrain from judging the one who ate (Romans 14:1–4). Both answered to the same Lord, and that shared conviction determined how they were to treat one another. The question about circumcision in Acts concerned a claim about what God required for salvation, while the question about food in Romans concerned a choice that Paul allowed believers to make before God. Reading the two passages in context helps a congregation identify what kind of disagreement it faces. Leaders can then explain why a claim contradicting the gospel requires correction, or why believers who make different choices in a matter of conscience are to receive one another.

A congregation faces a recognizable Corinthian problem when members discuss a teaching chiefly in terms of the pastor who favors it. If one group appeals to the founding pastor and another to his successor, the useful question is what the relevant passage actually teaches and how the surrounding argument establishes its meaning. That inquiry may require both groups to revise what they have been saying, particularly if each has heard only the verses its preferred teacher emphasizes. It also gives the teachers themselves a way to serve the congregation by examining their claims openly and welcoming correction from the text. Paul tells the Corinthians that they should regard him and his fellow workers as servants of Christ and stewards entrusted with God’s revealed truths, and that a steward is required to be faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1–2). The faithfulness of such a teacher becomes visible when he helps believers give their allegiance to Christ in a matter where he might otherwise have gained a following for himself.

You May Also Enjoy

A Serious Warning to Visible Churches: An Outward Profession of Faith Without Real Heart Change

About the Author

CLICK LINKED IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE STORE

CLICK TO SCROLL THROUGH OUR BOOKS