To say that the Church is divided is a bit of an understatement. There are more than 60 separate congregations just in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and all too many of these grew out of disagreements. And then there are the many denominational differences which separate us, as we can’t seem to agree about important things such as who should be baptized or how congregations should be governed, or relatively trivial matters such as the type of instruments that are played in worship.

But unfortunately, quarrelling is not a new problem for us Christians. The first great denominational split took place about 1000 years ago, when the Roman pontiff and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other. And in today’s passage, Paul discusses the serious divisions within the church in Corinth about 1000 years before that, in the first century A.D.

So, how can we Christians resist the ancient temptation to separate from each other? Perhaps most obviously, we can avoid developing a cult of personality where it comes to our church leaders. How ridiculous, Paul says, it is for us to brag about which minister baptized us (v. 13), or to insist that our pastor is somehow wiser than those who preach in other congregations (v. 12).

Instead, Paul urges us to focus on the more important things that unite us. After all, every Christian has received the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus (v. 4). Every Christian has been given spiritual gifts, and every Christian is waiting for the coming of Christ (vv. 7-8). All these things should therefore bind us not only closer to Christ, but closer to one another as well (v. 9).

Now, none of this is to say that the issues which divide us are unimportant – after all, Paul goes on in this very letter to try to straighten out many of the Corinthians’ theological misunderstandings. But it is to say that as we wrestle and strive to determine the truth, we must do so together – that we seek to be united in both mind and judgment (v. 10), drawing closer together as we draw closer to our common Lord and Savior.

I Corinthians 1:1-17 (ESV)

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge–
6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you–
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.