1 Corinthians 1:11–12

Paul learned of the divided state of the Corinthians through a report that reached him. When he charged them with it, he plainly said who had told him, and he was quite specific about the charge. How often do fellow believers bring reports about the low state or the wrongdoing of God's people! They pour out their tale, then at once try to bind the listener to absolute silence about their names. They want to bring the charge, but not to put their name to it. Then, if it proves unfounded, or only partly right, the responsibility never comes home to them. It was not like this with these believers "of the house of Chloe."

False reports have done great harm among Christians! We all admit that it is wrong to raise them. Do we all realise the wrong of receiving them? An argument or dispute arises among Christians. Someone brings an evil or belittling report about the person on the other side. How tempting it is to accept it at once as certainly true, when after all it is a false report. Examine any evil report with care and check it before you accept it. We do well to note the care Paul took over reports of evil at Corinth — see 1 Corinthians 1:11 and 11:18.

The apostle does not hesitate to write on the information he had received. It was too plain and precise for him to doubt that it was accurate. Nor does he hesitate to tell them where it came from — a trustworthy source. A godly woman's household might be a very good way of learning the truth, then and in our own day too.

We read nothing further in Scripture about the house of Chloe. Like Joseph, some of them brought their brothers' bad report to their spiritual father. It is to their lasting honour that they are noticed here. They told the apostle what had spoiled their own fellowship with these divided and quarrelsome people who claimed the name of Christ. The very nature of their report shows their own better state. What grieved them was one of the commonest of natural principles at work: carnal rivalry. They kept clear of it, and condemned it as something completely at odds with the new and holy calling they had received.

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, the divisions among them were only beginning. They were not yet open, declared breaks. They were forming parties or schools of opinion — that is what the word "heresies" means — and those, of course, gave rise to contentions and divisions. Yet the divisions showed up when they came together "in the church" or "in assembly". So they clearly kept up outward unity, even though these sad splits or tears were there.

No conclusion could be less well founded than this: that splitting into denominations is lawful, and that only an evil spirit within is the sin. This schismatic working is evil most of all because it leads the headstrong and unsubmissive to that worst result. … At Corinth the believers seem to have been largely infected with party spirit. The wrong was not in any of the men whose names they used, but in those who set up those names out of their own vanity and love of opposition. And the worst party of all, I have no doubt, was the one that prided itself on being more spiritual than the rest.

They had encouraged schools of teaching, and these produced divisions. Pupils lined themselves up under different teachers and called themselves by those teachers' names. But who were the teachers they ran after, who allowed this and, worse, encouraged it? We ask in vain. Their names were as familiar then as household words, and they have perished. The names of God's faithful servants of the same period — Paul, Apollos and Cephas — remain to this day.

Paul himself avoided all vague and indefinite charges. He was explicit and definite, as the words show: "What I mean is that …" It would be good if people always took such care when they have to bring a charge.

They had encouraged schools of teaching, and these produced divisions. Pupils lined themselves up under different teachers and called themselves by those teachers' names. But who were the teachers they ran after, who allowed this and, worse, encouraged it? We may ask, but we ask in vain. Their names were once as familiar as household words, and they have perished. The names of God's faithful servants from the same time — Paul, Apollos and Cephas — remain to this day.

The apostle goes on to expose the root from which divisions spring. On one side they were lifting gifted servants of the Lord into a false position as centres of gathering. That is the evil principle of clericalism. On the other side they were forming themselves into parties around these servants, and so starting the evil of sectarianism.

In the light of 1 Corinthians 4:6, we may assume that the real offenders were local leaders, and that Christian delicacy led the apostle to use his own name, together with those of Apollos and Cephas, instead of the names of the actual men. The names he does use are significant. For the Corinthians, Paul had been the evangelist and Apollos the teacher, and the Lord called Cephas to a pastoral ministry, as John 21 shows. It is almost certain that some will prefer the earnest evangelist, some the eloquent, clear-headed teacher, and others the kind pastor. The trouble comes when people magnify the men who have these gifts and turn them into leaders of parties.

Those who said, "I follow Paul," lost Apollos and Cephas. Those who said, "I follow Cephas," lost Paul and Apollos. Why not benefit by all the gifts that an ascended Lord has seen fit to give to His church? The church is a whole.

Someone may ask, what about those who disowned all men as leaders and said, "I follow Christ"? These were really worse than the others. They were trying to make Christ the leader of a party and to ignore the gifts that Christ had given. They assumed they were more spiritual than everyone else. They claimed they could do without the ministry of others, and they pretended to own Christ for themselves alone.

Anyone who truly loves and bows to the Lord will, for that very reason, honour His servants for their work's sake, and according to the place He has given them. People rightly say that the corruption of the best thing is the worst. So it was here. The church in Corinth was divided, and the plausible plea of those who disowned everyone but Christ could look like the only right and spiritual thing there. How important it is, now as then, to judge rightly, and not by appearances!

God calls all of us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Once we understand that clearly, we will reject every sect and party. No one will then say, "I follow Christ," and shut out other saints, for all are of Him; and Christ is not divided.