Paul has introduced his letter and revealed the faithfulness of God as the foundational doctrine behind his first letter to the church at Corinth. Today, we see the overall exhortation of his letter. The whole letter concerns Christian unity and agreement. Every verse that follows verse 10 is part of the exhortation that the church all agree and there be no divisions among us.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 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.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

Paul’s purpose (v. 10)

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Paul writes his letter to exhort the local church. Exhort is the English word translated from the Greek, παρακαλω, which means to help, comfort, counsel, encourage, teach, or build up. When Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, He sent Him as the παρακλητος, or one who helps, comforts, counsels, encourages, teaches, or builds up (cf. John 14:16). Paul’s purpose is to do the work of the Holy Spirit to the church at Corinth. Paul is exercising his spiritual gift, exhortation, for the congregation’s good. We recognize, here, what a spiritual gift is. A Spiritual gift is the work of the Holy Spirit through a member of Christ’s church. A spiritual gift is not an outworking of one’s own ability. If the Holy Spirit is within us, empowering us for His ministry, we know that He is here to build up the church, comfort, help, counsel, encourage, and teach in positive ways. From this, we gather that hellfire and brimstone preaching is unbiblical—sin and hell are real, but our teaching should not be opposite the character and work of the Holy Spirit who empowers us. Paul’s tone is one of encouragement and building up. We often picture Paul as a bullheaded apostle who wasn’t afraid to let people have a piece of his mind. Here, we learn otherwise. Paul’s demeanor is humble. He is charitable. When he does rebuke, even with some of his seemingly harsh statements, he does so from brokenness and out of sincere care for others and love for the body of believers. Why? He is doing the ministry of the Holy Spirit who guides him.

Paul is building up the congregation in Corinth by the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He desires to exhort the congregation so that every member agrees and there be no divisions among them. Instead of division, Paul writes so the congregation may be made complete in the same mind and judgment. Throughout his letter, Paul will exhort for the purpose of ending division and making the congregation complete in the same mind and judgment.

Paul connects unity and being made complete. He connects division and incompleteness. We recall the two-fold definition of sanctification. We are sanctified, set apart as holy, all at once at the moment of regeneration. We are being sanctified, completed, so that our practice is being conformed to our calling in Christ. Christ is the one who completes us, confirm us to the end blameless in His sight (cf. v. 8). If a congregation is complete, there is no division. The more we know Christ, the more unified we are with others who are in Christ. With maturity comes unity. Paul’s goal is to lead the Corinthian church to maturity that leads to unity. We recognize, here, that unity is not uniformity. Paul is encouraging the church to be united even though there are differences. Differences enable discipleship. Why is maturity leading to unity Paul’s goal?

Paul’s justification (v. 11-17)

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 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.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Chloe and her people are one distinct group within the church at Corinth. Paul neither praises nor reprimands them particularly. They are the Paulites who apparently wrote to Paul about their concerns resulting in Paul’s reply by this letter. There seem to be at least four divisions within the church at Corinth: Paulites, Apollosians, Cephasians, and Christites (all of them Christians). The sects were not merely divided ideologically but, also, quarreling about their differences, which is why most of the congregation did not care for Paul. Some followed the teachings of Paul instead of Cephas (Peter). Some followed the teachings of Apollos instead of Paul. Some followed the teachings of Christ instead of Apollos, Peter, or Paul. But, Apollos, Peter, and Paul taught Christ’s teachings—a point Paul makes. Christ is not divided. Christ’s human messengers are here to teach what He taught. Christ’s human messengers were not crucified for the church. The church is not baptized into Christ’s human messengers but into Christ.

Such a celebrity culture also divides the church today. Some are of Augustine. Some are of Luther. Some are of Calvin. Some are of Spurgeon. Some are of Graham. Some are of MacArthur. Some are of Piper. Some are of Sproul. Some make a celebrity out of Christ rather than follow Him as Lord. The human teachers are servants of Christ. Christ died. Into Christ alone is the church baptized. He is our only Lord, yet incomplete people divide the church because they glorify the teachings of a person, or even what they believe to be the teachings of Christ, rather follow Christ alone as Lord and glean sincerely from His messengers. They make Christianity about superiority rather than servanthood and use a certain set of teaching from a particular individual as the point on which they try to divide the body of Christ. 

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

During his year-and-a-half as pastor of the church at Corinth, Paul only baptized two individuals and one family. Others might have been baptized, but Paul was in Corinth to preach the Gospel. The Paulite sect was just as bad as the others because Paul did not wish to created his own religion or denomination. He simply wanted people to cling to the old rugged cross. Christ sent him to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. What does it mean that Paul preached the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech? We find the scope of Paul’s preaching in Corinth in Acts 18:1-17:

• Paul reasoned with people to persuade them concerning Christ as Messiah (Acts 18:4-5),
• taught the word of God (what we call expository preaching/teaching; Acts 18:11), and
• debated concerning the meaning of the Law (Acts 18:13, 15).

Doubtless Paul was highly intelligent while preaching in Corinth. He did not water down the Gospel or biblical teaching. He sought to explain the deep things of Scripture and formulate arguments as to the meaning of the Law. He did not fail to reason with the Corinthians by saying something like, “Jesus died for you. Repent,” and leaving it there without providing the deep things of God. Contrary to what we might have heard, Paul gave people deep theology and explanatory teaching. Yet, not with cleverness of speech? Since Paul formulated arguments and debated concerning the Law and taught expositorily, cleverness does not refer to the depth or extent of Paul’s communication. He wanted the church to be mature from the start. No one grows unless the teaching is beyond him or her to some degree. I think cleverness refers to Paul’s motivation. He did not wish to be praised because of his words or celebrated as a spiritual guru. He wanted people to understand what Christ taught. Paul was not trying to be original or sound profound. It taught the deep things of Scripture using language that people might have understood. Paul was no longer interested in high, pharisaical synagogue teaching. He sincerely wanted people to understand who Jesus was and what Jesus was doing. So, he spoke intelligently but understandably, and he strived to teach that which came from Christ rather than his own philosophy. Such is one of the many struggles of anyone who teaches in the church today. Much work is required to eliminate our own philosophies, get past everything we want to say, and preach the Gospel—not in the cleverness of our own speech.

Paul resisted the temptation to try to be original or sound profound (be a know-it-all guru) so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. How can anything make the cross of Christ void? Is not the work Christ did already finished (cf. John 19:30)? How can an already finished work be voided? The payment went through! The check did not bounce! Jesus paid it all! Yet, Paul believes it could have been made void in some way—if he exalted himself and his own ideas rather than Christ and Christ’s teaching when he pastored the church (glorified himself). If our goal is to sound profound, wrangle about words (cf. v. 11-12; 2 Timothy 2:14), or create points of contention or division (cf. v. 10-12; Romans 12:18), Scripture calls us out as immature and voiding the cross of Christ. Since Christ’s work is perfect, we can only void it by drawing attention away from it—glorifying ourselves, our preferences, and our ideologies rather than worshipping Christ and building up His congregation.

The purpose of this series, then, is to teach that which is necessary for unity in the body of Christ, and especially the local church. May we all grow into greater maturity and follow after Christ alone.