1 Corinthians 1:16

These verses open the body of the letter. After his greeting and his thanksgiving for the grace God has given the Corinthians, Paul turns straight to the problem that troubles him most. The appeal he makes in verse 10 sets the course for much of what follows, from the factions of the first four chapters to his later teaching on worship, spiritual gifts, moral conduct and the resurrection. A church torn into parties would be poorly placed to hear any of it together.

“I beseech you” translates parakaléō, a verb that means to call near, to invite, to exhort or to comfort. Paul has an apostle’s authority, and here he uses it to plead earnestly with the church he founded. He calls them “brethren” (adelphós, a brother), and the family name makes their quarrels all the sadder.

He makes the appeal “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. That name carries Christ’s authority, his character and all he has done to redeem them, and every one of them bears it. So the call to unity rests on Christ himself and on the loyalty all of them owe him, and Paul’s own preference has no part in it.

Paul asks three things. First, that they “all speak the same thing”, which means one confession of the one gospel, so that the church proclaims the same Christ with one voice, free of rival slogans that contradict each other before a watching city. Second, that there be “no divisions” among them. The word is schísma, from schízō, to split or tear. It means a tear, as in cloth, and so a division or schism, and the picture is of the fabric of the church being ripped apart. Third, that they be “perfectly joined together”. The verb katartízō means to complete thoroughly, to repair, to adjust or to restore. It was used for mending fishing nets, setting a broken bone and fitting out a ship for its voyage. Where the factions tear, Christ’s people are to be mended, made whole and fitted again for the work God gave them.

That mending reaches the inner life, “in the same mind and in the same judgment”. The mind, noûs, is the understanding and the inner disposition. Judgment, gnṓmē, is an opinion, a purpose or a resolve. Together they describe believers who see the great truths of the faith alike and set themselves to the same ends. Paul asks the same of the Philippians, that they be of one mind and look to one another’s good (Philippians 2:1–4), and he names the mind he means: the mind of Christ, who humbled himself and became obedient unto death (Philippians 2:5–8).

Verse 11 opens with “For” and gives the reason for the appeal. Paul has had news. “It hath been declared” translates dēlóō, to make plain by words, so what reached him was a clear report from people who knew. He calls them “my brethren” again, tenderly, just before he names the trouble.

The report came from “them which are of the house of Chloe”. Chloe was most likely a Christian woman at the head of a household, either in Corinth itself or in Ephesus, where Paul was writing, with close ties to the Corinthian church. The people of her house, who may have been family, servants or freedmen, had travelled and told Paul what they had seen. By naming them, Paul lets the church know that he is acting on firsthand testimony from people it trusts. The verse also gives us a glimpse of how the early churches kept in touch and cared for one another, and of a real concern for a church carried to the apostle who could help, where gossip would only have widened the rift.

What they reported was “contentions”, éris: a quarrel, wrangling, debate, strife or variance. It is a strong word for rivalry and active quarrelling, and Paul lists it among the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20), set against the life of the Spirit. He tells the Romans to mark those who cause divisions and avoid them (Romans 16:17), and he urges the Ephesians to walk worthy of their calling, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3).

Paul deals with this first because so much else depends on it. A church split into parties is poorly placed to live out its calling or to show the world the reconciling power of the gospel, and the moral, practical and doctrinal questions he takes up later all need a church willing to listen to Christ together.

Paul now says exactly what he means: “every one of you saith”. The verb légō means to lay forth or relate in words, and here it marks a declaration, a slogan said aloud. The word hékastos means each or every, each one of the whole, and it tells us the party spirit ran right through the congregation.

The names are those of real servants of Christ: Paul, who founded the church, Apollos, and Cephas. Cephas is Kēphâs, the Aramaic form of the name Peter, and both mean rock. Including him shows that the factions reached even the most prominent apostles, and that they were built around men, whatever their standing.

The city explains a good deal. Corinth was a wealthy Roman colony and a busy port, with a mixed population and a love of rhetoric, philosophy and social standing. Followers of a philosopher would proudly name their master, and the Corinthians had started to treat Christian teachers in the same way, as heads of rival schools, admired for their eloquence. The church drew together Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, rich and poor, and each brought habits from the world outside. Paul’s answer runs through the chapters that follow. He sets out God’s wisdom in the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18–31), calls this partisanship the mark of carnal believers, babes in Christ, describes himself and Apollos as ministers by whom the Corinthians believed (1 Corinthians 3:1–7), and insists that the one foundation of the church is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).

Verse 13 puts three questions, each with an answer so plain that the factions fall apart as soon as it is given.

“Is Christ divided?” The verb is merízō, to part or apportion, and figuratively to disunite. Paul uses the perfect passive, memeristai, which speaks of a finished act with a lasting result: has Christ been split up and parcelled out? Christ is one, whole and undivided, so a church that splits into rival parties under his name is acting against who he is. His body, the church, is to show the same oneness. “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). As Paul writes to the Ephesians, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).

“Was Paul crucified for you?” The verb stauróō means to crucify. Paul names himself, the leader one party had chosen, and the question shows how far below Christ he stands. Christ alone died for them. He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and God showed his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Salvation is Christ’s work alone, so our loyalty belongs to the one who died for us, and the one who preached to us was his instrument. Paul later reminds the Corinthians that he determined to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

“Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” The verb baptízō means to dip, immerse, wash or baptize, and in the New Testament it is used of Christian baptism. The word for “name”, ónoma, stands for a person’s authority and character. To be baptized in someone’s name was to be identified with that person, to come under his authority and to belong to him. Every believer in Corinth had been baptized into Christ. Paul tells the Romans that “so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death”, to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3–4), and the Galatians that “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ”, so that there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for they are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:27–28).

These questions also bear on the many churches and movements among believers today. Paul was writing to one local church, and his principle reaches further. Our first loyalty is to Christ. A denomination, tradition or movement may serve good purposes, guarding particular teachings or a heritage, and it serves well while it keeps that loyalty first. Every one who truly confesses Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9) is a fellow member of his one body.

“I thank God” is eucharistéō, to be grateful or to give thanks. Paul thanks God, who ordered things so that he personally baptized none of them (oudeís, not even one) except Crispus and Gaius. Crispus was the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, who believed on the Lord with all his house (Acts 18:8). Gaius was a generous believer whom Paul later calls his host and the host of the whole church (Romans 16:23). Paul names them because accuracy matters to him, and the shortness of the list makes his point.

Verse 15 gives the reason. “Lest” is hína mḗ, “in order that not”, a phrase of purpose. Paul held back from baptizing on purpose, so that nobody, in the church or outside it, could say that he baptized in his own name and gathered a following loyal to himself. Here again ónoma means the whole authority and person behind a name. Christian baptism is “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19), and Acts speaks of believers baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38) and in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16). Each way of saying it places the believer under Christ as Lord and Saviour, so that believers are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Paul’s whole ministry kept this rule: “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Verse 16 adds a name he had passed over, “the household of Stephanas”. The word is oîkos, a dwelling and so a family, the whole household of relatives, servants and dependents. In the early church, when the head of a household believed, the household often believed and was baptized with him, as with Lydia (Acts 16:15) and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:33). Stephanas’s household was the firstfruits of Achaia, among the very first believers in that province, and they gave themselves to serving the saints (1 Corinthians 16:15).

Then Paul adds, “besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.” “Besides” is loipón, “furthermore” or “as for the rest”. “Know” is eídō, which properly means to see and, in the tense used here, to know, and ouk oida, “I know not”, is a plain admission that his memory fails him on the point. The correction shows his honesty, and the uncertainty makes his point for him: the one who performs a baptism matters little beside the Christ into whom we are baptized. Others, perhaps his fellow workers or leaders of the local church, will have baptized the rest of the Corinthians while Paul gave himself to preaching.

Verse 17 explains all of this: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel”. Paul is describing the particular commission Christ gave him. The verb is euangelízō, formed from the words for “well” and “messenger”, and it means to announce good news, in the New Testament especially the good news, the euangelion, about Jesus. Paul was the pioneer, sent to proclaim Christ where he was unknown and so to plant churches, and he often left baptizing to others. The power lies in the message, and the Corinthians who rallied round whoever had baptized them had missed that.

Then he says how he preaches: “not with wisdom of words”. The word sophía covers wisdom of every kind, higher or lower, worldly or spiritual, and here, in “wisdom of words” (sophia logou), it means human wisdom in speech: the polish of rhetoric, the subtlety of philosophy and the arts of persuasion. In Corinth these were highly prized. Public speaking was a competitive art, skilled orators won fame and influence, and people attached themselves to teachers whose speaking pleased them. Paul’s refusal to preach that way would have struck many Corinthians as strange, even scandalous, and it went to the root of their factions.

His reason is “lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect”. The verb kenóō means to make empty, to neutralize, to make void. If people credited the gospel’s power to eloquence, they would empty the cross of its own power, as though Christ’s sacrifice needed human persuasion or polish to do its work. “The cross of Christ” stands for the whole of his saving work, his death and resurrection and all they won for us. There Jesus bore the sins of the world, and there God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This verse opens Paul’s next argument. To those who perish the preaching of the cross is foolishness, and to us who are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23), and to those who are called, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). Paul reminds them that he came to Corinth without excellency of speech, so that their faith would stand in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1–5), and the whole of 1 Corinthians 2 sets God’s wisdom against the wisdom of this world. He calls the gospel “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16), and the cross is the one thing he will glory in (Galatians 6:14). Since the power belongs to God, so does the glory, and nobody may boast in a preacher.

The cure Paul gives for the factions is Christ himself. On the night before he died, Jesus prayed for all who would believe through the apostles’ word, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20–23). The oneness of his people reflects the oneness of the Father and the Son, and it is part of their witness to the world.

At the cross Christ “hath broken down the middle wall of partition” between Jew and Gentile, made of the two one new man, and reconciled both unto God in one body (Ephesians 2:14–16). He is the chief corner stone of the house God is building (Ephesians 2:20), the head over all things to the church, which is his body (Ephesians 1:22–23), the one by whom all things consist (Colossians 1:17), who made peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). Paul tells the Corinthians that they are the body of Christ and members in particular, many members sharing one life (1 Corinthians 12:12–27).

So the answer to a quarrel like the one in Corinth is a firmer hold on the crucified and risen Christ, the one source and keeper of his church’s unity. A better leader or a finer philosophy would leave the quarrel where it was.

These verses give the church a single centre. Every believer was bought by the same crucifixion, baptized into the same name and called into the same family, so the ground of our unity was laid by Christ before any of us arrived. The leaders God gives are real gifts, and Paul names Apollos and Cephas with respect, yet they are ministers through whom we believed, and the glory for every work of grace goes to God.

The passage also shows us how Paul cares for a troubled church. He names the fault plainly, he names his source, he still calls the quarrellers “brethren”, and he points them to Christ crucified. He trusts the cross to do its own work by the power of God, without the help of clever speech. Whenever believers are drawn to rally round a name, a style or a camp, these verses bring us back to the questions Paul asked in Corinth, and to the Lord who prayed that his people would be one.