1 Corinthians 1:10-17

The first issue Paul must deal with is the disunity at Corinth that revolved around different teachers.  This must be first because Paul is one of the teachers.

Paul begins by putting the goal out in front of the believers in 1:10.  Paul wants them to speak the same thing, as in having a solid testimony to the gospel and the Lordship of Christ.  But to do this they must be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (opinions).  It cannot simply be words that agree; the words must be expressions of the heart.  And this will take some fixing, which is exactly what the phrase perfectly joined together implies.  It means to be restored or mended.  

How can they be mended?  It must begin with an identification of the problem.  Paul uses four terms that speak of the problem:

·        Divisions, 1:10; also in 11:18 (the Lord’s table issue) and 12:25 (the spiritual gifts issue).  It refers to a tear in a garment.  The one robe of righteousness of the Lord’s body is torn at Corinth.

·        Dichotomies, 3:3 (also translated divisions in the NKJV).  This is a work of the flesh in Gal. 5:20.  It means to stand apart, perhaps as the scene where two people with arms folded oppose each other.

·        Contentions, 1:11.  Also in the list of works of the flesh in Gal. 5:20 this means to fight or quarrel.  The divisions were open for all to see.

·        Sectarianism, 1:13.  The word is divided, but means to deal or distribute.  People in the church were being lobbied to choose sides.

An illustration of what was happening involved Paul himself.  There were people who acted as if Paul had been trying to form his own following.  It was common that when people wanted to show their agreement with someone’s teaching they would be baptized in that person’s name.  Paul makes it clear: he only baptized a few so that people would not be confused.  His ministry was all about the gospel of Christ, the message of the cross.  If people mistook Paul’s message as a call to follow him, then the cross would be of no effect.

We must give this issue serious thought.  We live in a time very much like what Paul described in 2 Tim. 4:3-4 when people in the churches will not endure sound doctrine but will have itching ears … will heap up for themselves teachers and will thus turn away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.  We do a lot of travel internationally and can attest that wherever we go the predominant interest is in one famous teacher or preacher or another.  There is an ignorance of Scripture but a lot of information about the latest favorite Christian superstar.

The first step in dealing with the tear in Jesus’ garment is to acknowledge the problem.  Hero worship of this sort will destroy believers and their churches because it trusts in the greatness of men and not the cross!  We cannot be engrossed in what is popular (what tickles the ear) and the cross at the same time.