Vv. 10-25.a.a

Sunday Morning Sermon

1 Corinthians 1:10-25

Section 1: Bible Text

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.

11        For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.

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.”

13        Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? 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 would say you were baptized in my name.

16        Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

17        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.

18        For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19        For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”

20        Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21        For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well‑pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

22        For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;

23        but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,

24        but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25        Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Section 2: Word Study

Exhort:

Agree:

Divisions:

Mind:

Judgement:

Quarrels:

Foolishness:

Perishing:

Are being saved:

Power:

Save:

Believe:

Called:

Section 3: Commentaries

Wiersbe

Is Christ divided? (vv. 10‑13a)

The verb means, “Has Christ been divided and different parts handed out to different people?” The very idea is grotesque and must be rejected. Paul did not preach one Christ, Apollos another, and Peter another. There is but one Saviour and one Gospel (Gal. 1:6‑9). How, then, did the Corinthians create this four‑way division? Why were there quarrels (“contentions”) among them?

One answer is that they were looking at the Gospel from a philosophical point of view. Corinth was a city filled with teachers and philosophers, all of whom wanted to share their “wisdom.”

Another answer is that human nature enjoys following human leaders. We tend to identify more with spiritual leaders who help us and whose ministry we understand and enjoy. Instead of emphasizing the message of the Word, the Corinthians emphasized the messenger. They got their eyes off the Lord and on the Lord’s servants, and this led to competition.

Paul will point out in 1 Corinthians 3 that there can be no competition among true servants of God. It is sinful for church members to compare pastors, or for believers to follow human leaders as disciples of men and not disciples of Jesus Christ. The “personality cults” in the church today are in direct disobedience to the Word of God. Only Jesus Christ should have the place of preeminence (Col. 1:18).

Paul used several key words in this section to emphasize the unity of the saints in Christ. He called his readers brethren, reminding them that they belonged to one family. The phrase “perfectly joined together” is a medical term that describes the unity of the human body knit together. So, they had a loving union as members of the body. They were also identified by the name of Jesus Christ. This was probably a reference to their baptism.

We do not know who the people were who belonged to “the house of Chloe,” but we commend them for their courage and devotion. They did not try to hide the problems. They were burdened about them; they went to the right person with them; and they were not afraid to be mentioned by Paul. This was not the kind of “cloak and dagger” affair that we often see in churches—activities that usually make the problem worse and not better.

Paul was the minister who founded the church, so most of the members would have been converted through his ministry. Apollos followed Paul (Acts 18:24‑28) and had an effective ministry. We have no record that Peter (Cephas) ever visited Corinth, unless 1 Corinthians 9:5 records it. Each of these men had a different personality and a different approach to the ministry of the Word; yet they were one (1 Cor. 3:3‑8; 4:6).

Wiersbe

II. Accusation: Their Sinful State as Christians (1:10‑16)

Now that he has tactfully commended them, Paul launches into his discussion of their sins, dealing first with the matter of church divisions. The sad news of their “splits” had come to him from the household of Chloe, and also from the friends who visited him (16:17‑18). Why is it that bad news of church troubles spreads so rapidly, while the good news of the Gospel never seems to spread quickly at all? There were divisions and contentions in the church (3:3, 11:18, 12:25), even at the Lord’s Table (11:20‑34)! Paul begs them to be “perfectly joined together” (v. 10), which in the Gk. is a medical term that refers to the setting of a bone that was broken or out of joint. Whenever Christians cannot get along, the body of Christ suffers.

Paul explains why they were divided: they had their eyes on men instead of on Christ. They were trusting in the wisdom of men (2:5); they were glorying in the works of men (3:21); and they were comparing one servant with another and boasting about men (4:6). In chapter 3, Paul proves that this infatuation with men was a mark of carnal living, evidence that these “spiritual Corinthians” were actually babes in Christ.

There were four factions in the church. One group followed Paul, and they may have been predominantly Gentiles, because he was the apostle to the Gentiles. Another group followed Apollos, the learned orator (Acts 18:24‑28), probably because they enjoyed his wonderful speaking. The third group, probably Jews, leaned toward Peter, the apostle to the Jews (Gal. 2:7), and the fourth group tried to prove it was more spiritual than the rest by following “Christ alone” and rejecting human leaders. Paul explains that Christ is not divided; we are all part of the one body (12:12‑31). Christ, not human leaders, died for us; and we are baptized in the name of Christ, not the names of human leaders! Paul goes on to say that he is happy he did not baptize more believers in Corinth than he did, lest the division be even worse. Paul’s associates in the ministry did the baptizing, since Paul’s special commission was to evangelize. This fact does not minimize baptism in any way. Imagine how difficult it would be for an evangelist today to take time to examine candidates and baptize them. (The word “sent” in 1:17 is the Gk. word that means “sent with a special commission.”) Acts 18:8 informs us that many of the Corinthians believed and were baptized, so Paul did practice water baptism.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary

1:10. 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.

1:11‑12. Instead of this unity, however, the fabric was coming apart at the seams, or so Chloe’s servants said. While the divisions were certainly real, it is possible, on the basis of Paul’s remark in 4:6, that he made adaptations with regard to party heads so that the names cited—Paul, Apollos, Cephas—were illustrative, in order to avoid worsening an already deplorable situation.

1:13. The three questions in this verse were rhetorical and expected a definite no. The universal body of Christ is not divided, and neither should its local expression be. No man won salvation for the Corinthians, nor did any of them owe their allegiance to anybody except Christ.

1:14‑17. Paul’s imitation of Christ apparently touched every aspect of his ministry. According to John 4:2, Jesus did not baptize, but left it to His disciples. This was usually Paul’s practice too. Could Paul then have believed baptism was necessary for salvation? Such is impossible (cf. 1 Cor. 4:15; 9:1, 22; 15:1‑2). Not that baptism is pointless. It was commanded by Christ (Matt. 28:19) and practiced by the early church (Acts 2:41), which makes it, with the Lord’s Supper, an ordinance of the church. But it is what an ordinance gives testimony to, not what it effects, that is more important.

Paul’s primary charge was to preach the gospel (9:16) not with words of human wisdom. Brilliantly persuasive eloquence may win a person’s mind but not his heart, whereas the unadorned words of the gospel, though seemingly foolish by human standards, are made effective by the Spirit of God (2:4‑5).