Why are we told to let there be no divisions among you (1 Corinthians 1:10)?

The evidence that they walked not according to the Spirit and the wisdom of God, was the strife and factions which existed among them. They were carnal and walked according to man. This party spirit among them had its source not in the Spirit Of God, but in the flesh. In it, not the Lord was glorified, but man was exalted. They were more occupied with Paul and Apollos, their persons and talents, than with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way sectarianism began, as the fruit of the flesh. And the remedy for it is "seeing no man but Jesus only." If the Lord Jesus Christ is owned in His glory, and union with Him is enjoyed, then the carnal condition ends and the believer walks in the Spirit and glories no longer in man. Paul and Apollos were but servants by whom they had believed. It is true Paul planted; Apollos coming after him, watered, but God gave the increase. God is all. And any man, whether he planteth or watereth, shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. They were God's fellow-workmen and the Saints are God's husbandry (tillage), God's building. And so all true servants of the Lord, though differing in gifts, are one in this that they are instruments in God's hand.

These Corinthian saints pandered to this spirit of emulation by attaching themselves to certain gifted teachers, and by closely following and accepting all they said, not necessarily because it was the truth according to the word of God, but because it was advanced by a favourite teacher. One said, “I am of Paul”; another said, “I am of Apollos”. Each seeking to defend his favourite teacher naturally led to strife, and strife to divisions. Thus men were followed, individuals were exalted, and divisions resulted. Two evils followed: one was sectarianism, which set aside the truth of the assembly, the other clericalism, which set aside Christ as the Head of the assembly.

As the introduction to the epistle reveals, all believers have one Lord to whom they belong, and God has called all into the one fellowship, the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. No other name is to be owned by His people, but all must be united in that blessed name, and obedience yielded to Him. He therefore beseeches them in that name to present a united confession and testimony "that ye all speak the same thing"; an unmarred fellowship in the Spirit "that there be no divisions among you"; and such a oneness of mind and judgment which becomes those who are one in Christ "that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." And why this exhortation? Because those of the house of Chloe had given to Paul the information that contentions had arisen among them. He mentioned the source without giving the names of the individuals. Those of the house of Chloe were no doubt deeply spiritual and much exercised over these contentions and the dishonor done to the name of the Lord Jesus. And these contentions, which threatened serious schisms in the one body were connected with teachers, the chosen instruments of the Lord. Some said, "I am of Paul"; others, "I of Apollos"; another party, "I of Cephas." Instead of sitting at the feet of the One, who alone is worthy and is the teacher of His people, they scattered and divided themselves among the different teachers, given by the Lord to the church. It was the beginning of sectarianism, which has been such a curse to the people of God. It did not begin in the blessed assembly of Philippi, nor among the Saints in Ephesus, but among the puffed up, worldly-minded Corinthians. Partyism, sectarianism, is the fruit of the flesh (Galatians 5:20). How it has multiplied in Christendom, the evil fruit it has borne, the apostasy which is fostered by it, we need not point out, for all spiritually minded Christians are acquainted with it.

Apostle though he was, and the one who had not only instructed them in Christ but begotten them through the gospel, he appeals to them here by that name which most intimately deals with the believer, and most solemnly even with the professor, the centre of unity, as the Holy Spirit is its bond. By that name, if by any means, would his exhortation come home to their souls. He is jealous of the honour of Him, their Lord, whom their discords compromised. Where was the witness, of men in these rival schools with their misguided chiefs, to the fellowship of God's Son? He exhorts them therefore that they should "all say the same thing." For the Philippian saints he earnestly desired that they might "think the same thing," and this by thinking one thing; of whom, as being more experienced and in a more spiritual state, he could not but expect more. Nor is it the like-mindedness one toward another pressed on the Roman saints?

Would the apostle then have been satisfied with the same uniform confession outwardly? By no means. With this he begins, according to the wisdom of the Spirit which directed him; for it is surely unbecoming, in reformers, or men who can easily follow reformers in what was wrong, to criticise an inspired writer or presume that they can draw nicer distinctions or arrange the truth better, than Paul. Then he adds "that there be no divisions among you," of which, their party-cries were the expression; and lastly he beseeches that they may be "made perfect" (see Eph. 4:12 as well as 2 Cor. 13:9) or "wholly united," in the same mind and in the same judgment." Not that he means by this exactly the will, so that there should be a complete division of the soul, the first referring to faith and the second to love, however important all this may be in its place; for vous signifies mind viewed as intelligent faculty, as γνώμη is the opinion or judgment it forms. He wanted them to have a nicety of intelligent thought. They were defective where they were proud or vain, as men generally are.

In the first chapter we find divisions denounced in the most solemn and energetic way. The apostle beseeches the believers to "speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions [or schisms] among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (vv. 10‑13.) Now what do we find here? Just the same thing as in modern Christendom. Different sects had already begun to exist in principle, different human teachers or schools of theology to be regarded as rallying‑points. True, they had not yet gone the length of separating from one another, and they still, as to outward form, recognized no centre of gathering but Christ. But what does the apostle say about it? He asks, "Is Christ divided?" These words can have but one meaning. They show that the division of Christians into different schools or sects, even in the mild form which it had then assumed, was a contradiction of the oneness of the Church as the body of Christ. To set up Paul as a rallying‑point was like saying that Paul, rather than Christ, had been crucified for them.

If they used Paul's name as a party cry, they should, in consistency, be baptized in Paul's name too. Every Christian must be shocked at the thought of Christ being divided, of Paul being crucified for him, or of being baptized in the name of Paul. But the Holy Ghost declares that the divisions of the Corinthians are just as shocking as these suggestions; nay, that nothing but the truth of these suggestions could justify their divisions. Surely a more emphatic condemnation of sects, even in the mildest and least offensive form, it would be difficult to conceive.

But the powers of the human mind are illimitable in escaping unpleasant conclusions. Thus it has been urged that though the divisions of the Corinthians were doubtless wrong, what the apostle condemns was not the divisions themselves, but the spirit in which they were carried out; that the rival schools were probably very bitter, and that it was this bitterness which the apostle censures; whereas modern sects are so loving and amiable, that had he lived in our days he would have commended their spirit, and sanctioned their separate organizations. Now, nothing is more dangerous than seeking to blunt the edge of Scripture so as to escape the wound to our own consciences. The apostle does not say, "I beseech you that ye all speak different things in a friendly way;" but he does say, "I beseech you that ye all speak the same thing." He does not say, "Let the divisions among you be amiably conducted;" but he does say, "Let there be no divisions among you." He does not say, "Let there be peace among those of different minds and of different judgments;" but he does say, "Be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

The evil here is the converse of that of which the Apostle speaks in Acts 20:30. There he warned the Ephesian elders that trouble would arise from leaders; here he states that it arises from disciples. There he speaks of what would occur after his decease, here of what was taking place in his lifetime. One evil leads to the other. The evil that commences with Christians forming parties round leaders ends with the leaders teaching perverse things. This solemn principle, which showed itself at Corinth, has been at work throughout the history of the church with like disastrous results. People have ranged themselves round favourite teachers, and the leaders, allowing themselves to be placed in this false position, have eventually taught perverse things and brought division amongst the people of God by drawing away disciples after themselves.

(Vv. 13-16). The Apostle condemns their sectarianism by asking, “Is Christ divided?”. We are called into a fellowship of which Christ is the bond. We may, alas, form other fellowships with some other bond, but we cannot divide Christ. Then he condemns their clericalism by asking, “Was Paul crucified for you?”. Paul refused to be exalted into a false position as a centre of gathering for God's people. The only true centre of gathering for the people of God is the One Who has proved His claim over them by being crucified for them. Paul, however much he loved the people of God, had not been crucified for them. He will not usurp the place in the affections of God's people that alone belongs to the crucified One. His one object, as with every true servant, was, as he says, to espouse them to one husband that he might present them as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). Nor had Paul made himself a centre of gathering by baptizing to the name of Paul. In fact he had only baptized Crispus and Gaius, and also the household of Stephanas; as for the rest of these Corinthian saints, he had refrained from baptizing them lest any should say that he was baptizing to his own name and so seeking to form a party round himself. In thus exalting their favourite teachers, and seeking to gain distinction for themselves by following them, they were glorying in men rather than in the Lord, in the gifts rather than the Giver.

At Corinth these factions and parties were crystallised around men, and thus it has ever been. In the light of 1 Cor. 4:6, we may assume that the real transgressors were local leaders and that delicacy of Christian feeling 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 quite significant, for in regard to the Corinthians Paul had been the evangelist, Apollos the teacher, and Cephas was called to a pastoral ministry, as John 21 shows. It is almost inevitable that some will prefer the earnest evangelist, some the eloquent, clear-headed teacher, and others the kindly pastor. The trouble comes when the men who possess these gifts become so magnified in people's eyes that they are made into leaders of parties. Hence the powerful ministry of the truth as to the cross of Christ, which fills the latter part of 1 Cor. 1, and the equally powerful ministry of truth concerning the Spirit which fills 1 Cor. 2. The cross of Christ demonstrates the folly and nothingness of man, and puts him out. The Holy Spirit brings in Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God.

But what about those who were saying, "and I of Christ"? Were they the approved ones of 1 Cor. 11:19 — those who were refusing men's ways, and walking in the Spirit? Clearly they were not, for the Apostle censures them with the others. Further, he immediately asks, "Is Christ divided?" — which infers that this is just what they were doing. They were dividing Christ, for their "I" was only the "I" of a faction. Now it is quite true that all the saints are "of Christ," or "Christ's." The last verse of 1 Cor. 3 says so, for the same expression is used there; only it is "ye," and that meant the whole church at Corinth, and not a faction merely. This saying, "I of Christ" was really worse than saying, I of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas.

In the first chapter we find divisions denounced in the most solemn and energetic way. The apostle beseeches the believers to "speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions [or schisms] among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (vv. 10-13.) Now what do we find here? Just the same thing as in modern Christendom. Different sects had already begun to exist in principle, different human teachers or schools of theology to be regarded as rallying-points. True, they had not yet gone the length of separating from one another, and they still, as to outward form, recognized no centre of gathering but Christ. But what does the apostle say about it? He asks, "Is Christ divided?" These words can have but one meaning. They show that the division of Christians into different schools or sects, even in the mild form which it had then assumed, was a contradiction of the oneness of the Church as the body of Christ. To set up Paul as a rallying-point was like saying that Paul, rather than Christ, had been crucified for them.

Three things are here specified as objects of the apostle's desire on his brethren's behalf: Unity of confession and testimony-"That ye all speak the same thing;" Unbroken fellowship in the Spirit — "That there be no divisions [or schisms5] among you;" and Such a general oneness of judgment and feeling as might naturally be looked for in those who were partakers in common of the one Spirit of Christ6 — "That ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." The fervency of his desire, and the urgency of hie entreaty, with respect to those things, are justified by what immediately follows.

After so exalted and precious an introduction, it is humbling to consider in verse 10 the necessity of the urgent appeal to these dear saints "by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" that there should be practical unity among them. When considering the greatness of the grace that has been showered upon the Church of God unitedly, how can we dare to act in discord and division? But such is the sad tendency in an evil world, and while having still within us a fleshly nature that responds to selfish and self-centered attractions. It was true in Corinth, and how true in the Church at large through all the years! Who is there today who does not deeply need this challenging Epistle?

First, it is urged that they "all speak the same thing." For it is wrong speaking that is the beginning of division. If we are inclined to "speak our mind," let us remember first that "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16); and be watchful that it is His mind that moves our tongues. If this is true, we shall "all speak the same thing;" our speaking will all have the same concerted objective, moving in the same stedfast direction.