Reflections on 1 Corinthians 1:10–17
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another… and that there be no divisions among you… Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:10, 13, NIV)
The church in Corinth was splitting into camps. “I follow Paul.” “I follow Apollos.” “I follow Cephas.” Paul’s answer is a single question: “Is Christ divided?”
Love does not bring division but unity. When all hearts are joined in love for the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us, there can be no division. It is when ego and pride poke up in the heart that we become self-seeking, wanting to be better or to understand more than the others. This is not the heart of Christ. His Love never pushes self forward. He draws us to Himself with Love and caring for who we are.
Ego and pride slip easily into our thinking, and standing against them can be very difficult. Our human nature wants to be known, to be better accepted. We set up our comfort zones, and those who are like us fit easily into our world. But in the character of Jesus, our comfort zones expand to include everyone who has a heart for truth. No one is above another. All should be accepted, understood, and cared for as loved children of Christ.
The heart of God sees the truth in us all. His Love and wisdom understand exactly where each of us still needs to grow up into the image of Christ. So any faction or discomfort in the church is not from God. It is the pride and immaturity of people not yet grown up into His image. We need to learn to recognize the Jesus in each other, allowing that each of us is still becoming what we will be. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2).
Some believers are still babes in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), crass and difficult to know. But our loving example, our quiet, calm, understanding responses to their inappropriate comments and actions, gives them a living example to aim for, a place to grow up to. Christ brings the unlovely ones to us to find acceptance, and to be lifted up by our example. They are a gift to us too. We learn patience. We learn to look past the surface to the struggling soul beneath: the heart that never learned how to love, that was never loved, that never saw or felt this thing called love, care, and compassion.
And through it all, Paul says, we hold up Christ, “not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (1:17). Hold Christ up in the best light, the light of love. What He did on the Cross will stand on its own; we need not embellish it with fancy words. His Love is enough. It speaks to anyone open and willing to know the truth as it is revealed at the Cross.
