“One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ ”
The church at Corinth has divided itself into sects as history has shown that man is wont to do. I am sure that if we could look back in time at one of their gatherings, we would see all the followers of Paul sitting in one corner, the followers of Apollos in another and so on. Each group would be discussing the doctrinal errors of the other groups.
There is nothing wrong with following a church leader. In chapter 11, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to follow his example as he follows Christ. That last clause is important. Christ is the head of the Church. Christ is the husband as the Church is the bride. We should not be holding up men in the place of Christ.
I think it is also important to consider that Paul urges the church to be united in “mind and thought.” It is one thing for a church to talk like it is united; it is another to actually be united. Sometimes discussion of minority opinions on an issue is discouraged for the appearance of unity. This is not the kind of unity that Paul wanted for the church.
Comments
I have been thinking about unity recently and I wonder whether unity is really supposed to mean agreement on issues (of minor doctrine and practice). I was recently struck that the call for unity in Romans 15:5-6 is in the middle of Paul's teaching on disputable matters. Perhaps it is unity not so much in agreeing with each other but in accepting each other.
Posted by: Jeremy Stein on Sunday, May 8, 2005
Good point. The references to unity (or being like-minded) in the NT concentrate more on living with each other in love and peace than agreeing on doctrine. Unity starts with the hearts and attitudes of the people, but is measured in how they treat each other. I think that I can disagree with someone on a point of doctrine (or what color the church should paint its building) and still maintain unity with that person.
Take a look at 1 Peter 3:8 in a few different translations. The same Greek that is translated "be of one mind" in NKJV is translated "live in harmony with one another" in the NIV. I have been able to live in harmony with my wife even though she is confused about baseball and roots for the Mets.
Posted by: CJ Costello on Sunday, May 8, 2005
It is all too simple to destroy harmony when you make base comments such as the above.
Posted by: Shannon on Sunday, May 8, 2005
At least the Mets are above .500...
Posted by: Shannon on Sunday, May 8, 2005
John H. Armstrong wrote an article that I think is related to what we are discussing. At least it is an interesting read. Here is a quote from it:
Posted by: CJ Costello on Monday, May 9, 2005
To get back to unity, unity, I believe, is possible when you think in terms of unconditional love. I think Paul had unconditional love for all the people in the churches he started. When you love a person in Christ or through Christ, it then becomes Christ's perspective and not your own.
I also think of what A.W. Tozer said about never owning anything. I think that it is when we take a very possessive attitude towards an idea of ours (i.e. like what color to paint the church), that is where the trouble begins. So, I would say, that even when we have an idea, we must let that idea be God's and not ours. Then unity is possible.
Posted by: Gram and Mom on Saturday, June 24, 2006