Dealing with Divisions in the Church
Winter 2022
First Corinthians Chapter One
Summary: A congregation of Christians growing in happy fellowship with one another is an ongoing miracle! It is the fruit of Christ’s redemption at work in the hearts and minds of His people. But it is not always well among the ranks of even the busiest or brightest congregation. When Paul wrote this first letter to the church at Corinth the people had a long way to go to enjoy blessed fellowship, for they were glorying in their divisions, and such deep-seated divisions that we wonder how they kept going. It was almost certain that without the apostle Paul’s intervention, the church would have imploded. Through the fallout of unresolved contentions, the light of the gospel in Corinth would have been greatly dimmed or put out, and souls may have made shipwreck of their testimonies.
So, with pen in hand and with godly concern for the church’s testimony in Corinth, Paul addressed the issues of divisions. He called each brother and sister at Corinth to reset their priorities as a church. He called them to the true basis of unity that they might avoid schism—rending the body of Christ to become little sects, as pieces of a garment torn off.
Observations on Paul’s Remedies for Division
Everyone must work for unity in the church. That is to be the constant mindset of every worshipper within any church family. Each one must seek to avoid offence and endeavor to maintain the unity of the saints. How can this be done?
Unity in the Lord’s church comes through growing in our personal fellowship with Christ.
After calling the Corinthian believers to live blameless in this world, waiting for the coming again of the Lord Jesus, the apostle Paul reminded them that they “. . . were called unto the fellowship of his [God’s] Son…” (1 Corinthians 1:9).
Using the Greek term koinonia, which means partnership, Paul wanted them to know they were much more than adherents, or hearers of the gospel. They were much more than followers of Christ’s example. They were participants with Him in all the riches of His grace. Their inner strength would not come from sheer mental resolve. Paul contended that by virtue of their “fellowship” in Christ, they would personally aspire to brotherly fellowship in the church:
“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” (1 Corinthians 1:10).
Note the apostle’s use of “same” three times. They were to be the same in mind, the same in judgment, and the same in speech. To accomplish this oneness within any congregation, God’s people must give themselves to sound doctrine. Worship and ministry in the church are not to be taken up with little tidbits of carnal thinking. They are founded on the essential truths of the believer’s fellowship with Christ, which in turn will lead to fellowship with our brothers and sisters. Inner fellowship with Christ will give birth to strong desires for outer fellowship with his or her fellow Christians. So, each one in the church must grow in partnership with Christ living in the power of union and communion with Him.
Unity in the Lord’s church comes by focusing on the preeminence of Christ.
The church at Corinth was personality driven. Contentions came through claims of loyalty to different personalities, to ministers, who had labored among them. Some contended that they were blessed through the name of Paul, others through the name of Apollos, some through Cephas (Peter), and others through Christ.
This dividing of leaders in the church at Corinth was very damaging. It pitted God’s ministers against each other. It was also blasphemous for it pitted their ministers against Christ. The terseness of the apostle’s rebuke shows that this focus on personalities distressed him. And rightly so, for it robbed Christ of His rightful role as the fountain-head of all blessing in the church. Paul asked, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?” He would have none of this clamoring after names. He renounced the very idea of baptizing anyone in his own name. He had baptized Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanus. These were exceptions, and none of them were baptized in Paul’s name. How degrading to the honor of Christ for an apostle or minister to use his own name in baptism.
This outrage is a warning to every brother and sister in the church. Harm is done when we make ourselves foremost in any aspect of ministry in the church. The true servant of God will always, always, put the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. Are you doing that? Whether you are praying in the church prayer meeting or preaching at a church conference, are you making Christ preeminent, or are you promoting self? To promote self will divide. To promote the Lord Jesus and His grace to sinners will unite.
Unity in the Lord’s church comes by focusing on the wisdom of the cross.
The city of Corinth had been deeply infected by Greek philosophers. These were the worldly-wise men, who were wise in their own eyes, but in God’s eyes they were fools. To Paul, the cross of Christ was God’s rebuke to all worldly wisdom – wisdom based on human reasoning.
Paul cited from the book of Isaiah, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (1 Corinthians 1:19). To the Bible reader, one look at God’s revelation of the cross is worth more than the endless, foolish reasonings of worldly-minded men.
God’s wisdom is revealed in the cross for it cuts through all the false notions of men. Men would trust in human works for salvation, but at the cross Christ did all the work required. Men would make salvation an ongoing process all the days of their lives, never knowing if they have done enough. At the cross Christ died once to put away sin for all time, for there He cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30). On the cross, Christ offered up to God an all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and it was enough for God. Likewise, the believer who trusts in Christ’s death for salvation says, “It is enough for me.” Just to know that Christ died in my place to pay all the debt of my sin so that they are gone forever, is true peace based on true wisdom.
The preaching of the cross, then, will rally every Christian in the church. It is what unites men and women from all walks of life as worshippers of the Lamb. When the cross is regularly set before God’s blood-washed people there is no turning back to the reasoning of the world. With the cross-work of Christ before us as the object of our faith there can be no interest in the petty things that divide carnal men. The cross of Christ, then, was Paul’s remedy to heal the divisions of the church at Corinth, to end all glorying in men. As Paul closed the first chapter with this revelation of the cross, he wrote:
“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30–31).
Application
If you hate the sin of schism which divides the body of Christ, you must actively work for unity in your church.
Every Christian must ask himself or herself, What am I doing to promote this fellowship within my church? If you are not actively seeking to promote unity, your guard will be down, and you will sooner or later cause division. Scripture commands us to promote unity in the church with all our energy.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring [keeping on working at it] to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3).
The church must not be personality driven.
In presbyterian church government, followed in the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, personality-following is greatly avoided by the proper function of the church session. There is an equality among the church’s ruling elders and its minister, or ministers, who are elected by the local congregation to care for the flock. No elder or minister will make decisions, or make announcements, that have not been discussed, decided upon, and recorded in a duly-held session meeting. When elders and ministers work together with the unity of the church constantly in mind, guiding the committee of deacons, Sunday School teachers, and each ministry within the church, divisions in the church should never arise. When they do, the checks and balances of a session’s God-honoring work will act as a remedy to heal hurts and unite hearts. This is God’s own provision for the happy fellowship of His people in His church.