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  Where Jesus is Lord

The development   of the soul and spirit  is  essential for a full life.   

No 5 Unity and the Problem of Divisions, Splits and Parties 1 Cor. 1:10 -17  

Paul addresses the first and primary problem of the Corinthian church - division and party spirit.  Division has always been a problem among people.  To get it in perspective we must acknowledge all these things happen in families, in friendships, in marriages, in the work place; we have had them since the fall of Adam.  Children fight, families have feuds, husbands and wives fight, sportsmen argue, pop groups spit up, and it is all because of our selfish sin nature. Divorce is at an all time high and devastates marriages and families.  Like the break up of a marriage, so a congregational divorce is painful and tragic-especially for babies in the church who look to their spiritual parents for security and nourishment. When you have two or more people wanting their own way, having their own interests, concerns or priorities you have conflict, it is inevitable. James tells us that the source of conflicts comes from within each one of us (James 4:1-2).

The problem is common among Gods people today. The same problem is devastating people and churches today. I do not know of any church today that does not have any problems. Almost every epistle in the New Testament deals with the topic or mentions it. Paul wants the local assembly to have doctrinal unity.  All believers have spiritual unity already, “By one Spirit you were all baptised into one body” 1 Cor. 12:13.   The whole universal church has spiritual unity because, “If we have not the Spirit we are not His” (Rom.8:8). Doctrinal unity is completely placed upon scripture; this must be the foundation of all church life. (Jn. 17:11; 21-23; Acts 2 :46-47).  It is not spiritual unity that is the problem but doctrinal unity.  Many believers today are willing to drop the truth of scripture for some mystical union, this is not scriptural. This will severely weaken the church and bring confusion. It is superficial harmony, a shallow sentimentalism. This puts an emphasis on the external unity Paul emphasises internal unity.

On the other hand disharmony, splits quarrels and lack of unity in local churches have caused some to turn away from the church.  Quarrelling in the church is a reality because of our desire to get what we want and when we do not get it we huff, stamp off and begin to run of at the mouth. God is dishonoured, His people are discredited and demoralised, and the world is turned off and confirmed in unbelief. Fractured fellowships rob us of our joy and effectiveness. The testimony of the church goes.  It confuses new believers.  It causes factions and splits, doctrinal confusion and spiritual weakness.  Satan s policy is to divide and conquer.  

The Centrality of Christ and a Plea for Doctrinal Unity  

Vs 10 “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgement.” The Lord Jesus is again mentioned.  His Lordship is still central.  Paul comes along side to plead with them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeals to them as brothers, family members. Whatever we do and how we deal with problems must be centred on Him.  Our behaviour has to be in directed relationship to Him. This epistle emphasises the Lordship of Christ.  That would help many churches and groups sort out their problems.  We do not make him Lord, He is Lord, and we are to acknowledge that and bow to that and receive directions on how to deal with situations with His advice.  Christians have serious problems today.  We talk about the Lord, sing about the Lord preach about Him but when it comes to problems and issues we do not do what he tells us to do.  Is He your Lord? Then listen to what He says?  

Unity of Doctrine  

“That you all agree.” It means “to speak the same thing” to be united. The divisions were internal, and the group was still one church. Paul saw the dangers of a split, a divorce.  The unified body had become a mess of separate parts pursuing their own desires. Doctrinal unity is essential for a spiritually healthy, harmonious and effective church.  It does not mean everyone is identical and must say the same words.  It means we should not be clawing one another to death, pulling each other down, committing character assassination, judging wrongfully.  It means we should not hate one another or fight one another.  It means we should eliminate divisions and be made complete in the same mind.  It means we remove all barriers.

To live above with saints we love, Will certainly be glory!

To live below, with saints we know, Well, that’s another story.

The union or agreement is not the mystical unity of the universal church as in Ephesians, nor a manufactured unity as in the ecumenical movement but unity within the local congregation. We are to work at maintaining the unity (Eph.4:1-3) this is a continual thing, it does not just happen. We are permitted to have a different point of view about secondary issues or non essentials but not in fundamental doctrine. The Scriptures are the absolute authority. God is not confused nor is He the author of confusion.  Cults have unity but people are not permitted to have their point of view and are not allowed to disagree.  The Christian is permitted to disagree as so long as he does it in an agreeable way. In matters where the scriptures are not explicit there is room for difference of opinion but if the Bible is clear there is no room for difference, because if we differ with scripture we differ with God. Scripture is our final authority.

 Divisions

 “Divisions” is schisma and means “to tear or rip or separate.”  It means there should be no break, no fracture of the church, no division, and no judgement which is done by fighting, gossip, maligning, criticism, attacking, hatred or bitterness.  We see that in many churches today, there is contention, strife, division and party spirit.  There are cliques that threaten the unity. These things cannot be permitted to remain in our lives.  Paul mentions people who did this in Romans 16:17, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissentions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.”  He urged the Phillipian believers to “Let there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgement.”   What is the same mind?  It is the mind of Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5-8).

Perfect Unity  

“That you should be perfectly joined together in the same mind and into the same judgement.”  The verb is used for restoring anything to its right condition. Restorative action was required.  It is unity of mind and thought. It is used of mending nets (Matt. 4:21 ) and of supplying what is lacking in faith (1 Thess. 3:10 ).  The text describes the human body being knit together; it is to be a loving union in the body. We love the various parts of our own human body and take care of them it is to be the same with the members of the spiritual body, the church.  Unity must be genuine not saying something and believing something different in your heart.  That is hypocrisy and deceit, pretence of unity.  The demand is for internal unity which would influence external decisions they would make.  They were to be unified in truth, in conviction, standards behaviour and principles of living (Acts 4:32 ; Eph. 4:3).  The only source of unity is God’s Word which establishes the standard for truth. It is not saying you accept the church statement of faith or constitution with reservations but accepting it as your desire to uphold it and have fellowship with the body of believers who also have accepted it.   All believers have not come off an assembly line and have the same components they are different, there is variety.  We have different gifts and can have a difference of opinion so long as it does not go against scripture and is done in the right spirit but we are to be of one mind in doctrine and church policy. That does not mean we cannot change the church policy if we can make adjustments making it better but we cannot change the Word of God. 

Our Pastor /elders team make decisions on the basis of unanimous agreement not by majority.  The leading or senior pastor/elder may give the direction or have the vision but it is shared with the team and agreement is essential to make it work proper and with harmony. We have one mind before we make important decisions that will affect the whole church but have the freedom to serve the Lord how He leads individually so long as it does not affect the unity of the team. They continue to work to maintain the unity of the Spirit.  The congregation submits to the elders with confidence because of their harmony under the spirits direction and power. Blessing is associated with unity, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.  There God commands the blessing” (Ps. 13:1-2). It is associated with joy, “joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, untied in spirit, intent on one purpose” (Phil.4:2). We are called to preserve it (Phil. 2:3).  

Contentions

Vs 11 “For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there be are contentions among you.”

“Contentions” or “quarrels” is the Greek word eris.  Eris was the goddess of strife and wrangling. There were quarrelling, schisms, strife and wrangling in the church at Corinth .  Paul received this information first hand- he named his source- he said, he got the information from Chloe.  It was not any kind of “cloak and dagger” affair. That is important for us to remember we should not make a charge unless we can back it up.  People will want to tell you about a certain person or situation, and it may be unpleasant.  They may want you to do something about it because they can’t handle it.  We should ask them to go with us and make a definite date to do so.  If they make a charge they should go with you but if not forget it.  If you pass on any information about someone are you willing to stand behind it?  Or are you just a gossip or troublemaker? 

If there is sin in the church it needs to be dealt with.  We should not stick a plaster on it but deal with it and fix it with love, patience, and understanding but with honesty and that may mean confrontation.   We must expose wrong and do something about it. 

The trouble in Corinth was that they were a bunch of babies Christians.  Babies generally do a lot of crying.  They seek a lot of attention.  They are not mature enough to deal with problems in a proper godly manner.  Baby Christians belong in a nursery.  

DIVISIONS OVER LEADERS-PARTY SPIRIT  

Vs 12 “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Divisions were being caused by believers following different leaders of the church. There is always a danger that we see the “men” and not focus on the message.  Clearly the trouble was widespread, and cliques had appeared. The result was a spirit of contention, quarrels, wrangling, and disputes. They formed cliques around certain men.  One group was proud to be pupils of Paul; in another group the adoring admirers of Apollos, and there were some who liked Peter, or Chepas, and they all formed a chummy cult of Cephas.  There is nothing wrong in having certain affection for someone who led you to the Lord, or had input into your life or baptised you. It becomes wrong when it brings factions in the local church. The believers at Corinth were segregated into four groups by their self-willed exclusiveness. This caused factions instead of unity. Too often people come away for ma meeting and have been attracted by the personality, the handsome speaker, the eloquent words, and fail to get the blessing of the message.

The Paul party. Paul was of great intellectual capabilities, he was brilliant, and he was courageous – but apparently not very attractive physically. 

The Cephas party. Simon Peter was fiery.  He had been weak at first, but became the rugged preacher of the gospel.  He had a great heart and was emotional. They liked his down to earth, impetuous often crude handling of the Word.

The Apollos party.  Apollos was one of the great preachers of the apostolic church.  He was not an apostle and has not been given much recognition, but he was a great preacher. They were captivated by his eloquence, his pulpit power, and his ability to sway the audience form one emotion to another.

All three had something strong personalities, but they did not cause divisions.  Paul did not preach one Christ, Apollos another, and Cephas another. They all contended for the faith.  They all had the same Saviour, the same Lord and the one gospel. They maintained the unity of the spirit, and they exalted Jesus Christ.  It was the members of the church in Corinth who were guilty of making the divisions.  All there were God’s men.  Paul was going to write to them about this.  He is going to show them the centrality of Christ.  He is the answer to the factions and fractures in the Church.  There will be no solution until men and women willingly come to the person of Christ.

The Christ party. “We are in Christ.” This fourth group thought they were superior spiritually.  It is the worst group of all.  They are the super-duper group.  They were saying we do not follow men we follow Christ.  They had their own clique, they excluded other believers, they had something other believers had not, and they were spiritual snobs.  They had a false humility.

The church is being destroyed from the inside.  The problems are not on the outside but on the inside.  Paul said they were all acting like children. Liberals creep into churches and destroy them but so do the spirit of division.  One man can destroy a church.  One man can destroy its testimony and that is why there must be discipline.  Paul addressed that in Chapter 5. There are feuds in churches.  People may shoot each other before they talk to one another.  They would avoid one another rather that encourage one another.  They hide from someone rather than get things right with them.  They will leave a church because they are not mature enough or man enough to deal with the situation and get on with serving the Lord.  Many of God’s people end up with scars they have put on each other. When they attacked one another.  Many drop out and refuse to have fellowship but still think they are mature.   

THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST  

Paul explodes in a series of questions.

Vs 13 “Has Christ been divided?”   Of course not.  Christ was given to all of them not just one group. Sectarianism is a sin. The spirit of sectarianism in the church was condemned by Paul.  Anything that breaks up the unity of Christ has something wrong with it.  Loyalty to any leader, faction or group that breaks up the unity of the local church is wrong. Christ cannot be divided up into different parts and handed out to different people. The three men preached the same gospel but there may have been a different in emphasis, a difference in delivery, different illustration and treatment or application of the text but the same gospel. 

“Was Paul crucified for you?” The crucifixion of Christ is the foundation of Christian unity, and it is absurd to contemplate unity on any other basis. It was unthinkable to believe anyone else done the work that Christ alone done. He wants them to get their eyes of people and on Christ.

“Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?  He is not referring here to water baptism, but to the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13 ).   They were baptised in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit not in Paul’s name.   He is attempting to get their eyes back on Christ.  They were baptised into Christ not any man.   

WATER BAPTISM  

VS 14-16 “I thank God that I baptised none of you except Crispus (he had been the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth Acts 18:8) and Guis, that no man should say you were baptised in my name.  Now I did baptise also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptised any other.” Here he is talking about water baptism. It is an important matter in the New Testament church.  When a sinner trusted Christ he was baptised. He was publicly showing he was cutting himself off from his old life.  It was a costly thing to do in those days. They would often be rejected by their family and friends. He is saying that he didn’t specialize even in that because of the danger of people thinking he was baptising in his own name. He is not minimising believer’s baptism, but rather putting it in its proper perspective.  He focuses on the centrality of Christ. His main ministry was preaching. Some people think water baptism saves them or that it actually has some mystical power that cannot be gotten otherwise. Paul attaches so little importance to baptism that he couldn’t remember whether he had baptised anyone else or not. He was saying if you are going to make baptism an issue then I wish I hadn’t baptised any of you.

Water baptism as a place in the Christian assembly, it is desirable, it is never to be made the °issue for division.  We are to look upon it with joy and victory as believers are identified with their Lord in the waters of baptism and publicly show his death and resurrection.  It is a testimony to their relationship with Him. It is not a condition to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ but it is a step of obedience in following Him after you have come to Him for forgiveness of sin and received salvation.

  BAPTISM CAN DIVIDE BELIEVES - CHRIST DOESN’T

 VS 17 “For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel, not in clever speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.”  Baptism is to honour Christ not divide His church. There are many people today separating over many secondary issues.  This causes schisms and strife in the church.  The church in Corinth was fractured by that kind of party spirit.  The three men mentioned had brought a message that had a unifying quality and power.  The gospel they preached emphasised fusion not fraction.  However, the Corinthian were baby Christians, they began to put he emphasis on individuals and secondary issues.  Now Paul is drawing attention away from their factions and their party spirit and turning them to the centrality of Christ. Paul was letting them know he was not flattered by the group who were saying they were of Paul. He was saddened by it and wrote to correct it. Paul had his priorities right, he determined to serve the Lord in truth and unity and preach the gospel.  Christ was the centre of his ministry and life. Paul faithfully preached the cross and that salvation was not in any human devoice, God done it in Christ.

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