Dealing With Divisions

ELEPHANT FIGHTS IN CHURCH

An African proverb says, "When elephants fight, grass gets trampled." Elephants do not throw their weight around for nothing. The average African elephant weighs 16,534 lbs. The largest elephant on record weighed about 24,000 pounds and was 13 feet tall! Wild elephants eat all types of vegetation, from grass and fruit to leaves and bark—-about 220 to 440 pounds each day. They also drink about 30 gallons of water each day.

Building a church is hard enough without bigger-than-life characters causing a stampede. Often, there are conflicts, disagreements and misunderstandings. The church at Corinth had been nurtured by two of the world’s greatest evangelists: Paul and Apollos. Their individual followers were displeased with each other, disrespected each other, and distant from each other. This strained the fellowship in the church, neglected the work of the gospel, hurt the name of the church in the community, and destroyed any hope of possible reconciliation.

(From a sermon by Ajai Prakash, Adequacy of Christ, 6/10/2010)

In a church filled with saved sinners trying to do right while living in a sin cursed world, divisions and carnality are bound to occur once and a while, just like they did in the early church at Corinth. Tonight we will discover some practical things we can do while dealing with divisions.

Do Something Different

1 Corinthians 1:10 KJV

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Speak the Same Thing

Paul appealed to brothers, not to adversaries, in the most authoritative fashion, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the 10th reference to Christ in the first 10 verses, leaving no doubt as to the One Paul believed should be the source and focus of Corinthian unity. His appeal was for harmony, not the elimination of diversity. He desired a unity of all the parts, like a quilt of various colors and patterns blended together in a harmonious whole.1

1 David K. Lowery, “1 Corinthians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 508.

Do Not Divide

1 Corinthians 12:25–27 KJV

That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

1 Corinthians 12:27 KJV

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Romans 16:17 KJV

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

Be knit together

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words Fit (Adjective and Verb), Fitly, Fitting

katartizo (καταρτίζω, 2675), “to make fit, to equip, prepare” (kata, “down,” artos, “a joint”), is rendered “fitted” in Rom. 9:22, of vessels of wrath; here the middle voice signifies that those referred to “fitted” themselves for destruction (as illustrated in the case of Pharaoh, the self-hardening of whose heart is accurately presented in the RV in the first part of the series of incidents in the Exodus narrative, which records Pharaoh’s doings; only after repeated and persistent obstinacy on his part is it recorded that God hardened his heart.) See FRAME, JOIN, PERFECT, PREPARE, RESTORE.

**joined together wheel**

Judgment (γνώμῃ). See on . The distinction between mind and judgment is not between theoretical and practical, since νοῦς mind, includes the practical reason, while γνώμη judgment, has a theoretical side. Rather between understanding and opinion; νοῦς regarding the thing from the side of the subject, γνώμη from the side of the object. Being in the same realm of thought, they would judge questions from the same christian stand-point, and formulate their judgment accordingly.1

1 Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 1

Recognize Contentions

1 Corinthians 1:11–12 KJV

For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

1 cor 1 11-12

(1) There were those who claimed to belong to Paul. No doubt this was mainly a Gentile party. Paul had always preached the gospel of Christian freedom and the end of the law. It is most likely that this party was attempting to turn liberty into licence and was using their new-found Christianity as an excuse to do as they liked. The German theologian Rudolf Bultmann has said that the Christian indicative always brings the Christian imperative. They had forgotten that the fact, the indicative, of the good news brought the obligation, the imperative, of the Christian ethic. They had forgotten that they were saved not to be free to sin, but to be free not to sin.

(2) There was the party who claimed to belong to Apollos. There is a brief character sketch of Apollos in . He was a Jew from Alexandria, an eloquent man and well versed in the Scriptures. Alexandria was the centre of intellectual activity. It was there that scholars had made a science of allegorizing the Scriptures and finding the most obscure meanings in the simplest passages. Here is an example of the kind of thing they did. The Epistle of Barnabas, an Alexandrian work, argues from a comparison of and 18:23 that Abraham had a household of 318 people whom he circumcised. The Greek for 18—the Greeks used letters as symbols for numbers—is iota followed by eta, which are the first two letters of the name Jesus; and the Greek for 300 is the letter tau, which is the shape of the cross; therefore this old incident is a foretelling of the crucifixion of Jesus on his cross! Alexandrian learning was full of that kind of thing. Furthermore, the Alexandrians were enthusiasts for literary graces. They were in fact the people who intellectualized Christianity. Those who claimed to belong to Apollos were, no doubt, the intellectuals who were fast turning Christianity into a philosophy rather than a religion.

(3) There were those who claimed to belong to Cephas. Cephas is the Jewish form of Peter’s name. These were most probably Jews, and they sought to teach that Christians must still observe the Jewish law. They were legalists who exalted law, and, by so doing, belittled grace.

(4) There were those who claimed to belong to Christ. This may be one of two things. (a) There was absolutely no punctuation in Greek manuscripts and no space whatever between the words. This statement may well not describe a party at all. It may be the comment of Paul himself. Perhaps we ought to punctuate like this: ‘I am of Paul; I am of Apollos; I am of Cephas—but I belong to Christ.’ It may well be that this is Paul’s own comment on the whole wretched situation. (b) If that is not so and this does describe a party, they must have been a small and rigid sect who claimed that they were the only true Christians in Corinth. Their real fault was not in saying that they belonged to Christ, but in acting as if Christ belonged to them. It may well describe a little, intolerant, self-righteous group.1

1 William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 3rd ed., The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 17–19.

Answer These Questions:

Is Christ Divided?

Was Paul Crucified For You?

Were You Baptized in the Name of Paul?

1 Corinthians 1:13–17 KJV

Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1 cor