Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Church leadership is hard. Pastors balance several competing demands. They direct people with purpose and vision without creating a cult of personality. They honor past leadership while guiding a congregation into the future. They bring groups with different loyalties and values together, promoting unity without forcing uniformity.

The trouble in Corinth

Such challenges are not new: Paul faces them in his work at Corinth. Differences in class, religious background, and styles of leadership divide the Corinthian Christians. Paul establishes the congregation, but after his departure, Apollos leads them (1 Corinthians 3:6). After Apollos departs, the congregation’s bickering worsens, prompting one group, “Chloe’s people” (1:11), to report their divisiveness to Paul. Others—Stephanus, Fortunatus, and Achaicus—bring him a letter from the Corinthians detailing their concerns (16:17).

In the face of these challenges, Paul writes back, hoping to bring the Corinthians together, reminding them of their primary loyalty to Christ. After his greeting and thanksgiving (1 Corinthians 1:1-9), he first encourages them to find common ground with one another. This theme, the need for the Corinthians to come together, provides the central emphasis of the letter’s first section. Using language drawn from familiar proverbs about friendship and from discussions about civic harmony, Paul urges them to seek agreement in what they affirm and think and resolve (1:10). 

Such counsel is needed because he has heard about their quarrels (1 Corinthians 1:11) and their division into rival groups: the partisans of Paul, of Apollos, of Cephas, and of Christ (1:12). Some claim to belong to Paul, the founder of the congregation. Others are partisans of Apollos, their second pastor, known for his eloquence, his fervor, his knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures, and his skill in argumentation (Acts 18:24–28). A third group favors one of the original disciples of Jesus, Cephas, the Aramaic equivalent of the Greek name Peter that Paul uses for Simon Peter (John 1:42; 1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Galatians 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14). 

A final group claims membership in the party of Christ. Paul will later insist that all the Corinthians belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 3:23), but here he objects to the divisiveness of those who claim to be “the real followers of Christ” as opposed to others. Of these divisions, the most significant appears to be the one between the partisans of Paul and those of Apollos (3:3–9, 21–23; 4:6).

Paul’s response

In response to this partisan spirit, Paul poses three rhetorical questions in 1 Corinthians 1:13. The answers repeatedly guide the Corinthians to affirm their unity in Christ. He first asks, “Has Christ been divided?,” envisioning Christ broken into parts and parcels, a commodity split between the rival groups. Surely Christ is not up for grabs. 

The next two questions strike the same note: “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” In Greek, both these questions expect the unequivocal answer, “No!” Christ has died for them, and they have been baptized into his name. That baptism incorporates them into the body of Christ (12:12–13). Their unity finds its ground in Christ, not in allegiance to a specific leader, and least of all to Paul. 

It is natural to be loyal to the leader who baptizes us or introduces us to faith. Paul understands that form of spiritual lineage (1 Corinthians 4:17; Philemon 10, 19; 1 Timothy 1:2). But baptism does not focus on a connection to the person who baptizes us. Baptism centers on Christ, the one to whom we are united. In baptism, we experience union with Christ so that we share both his death and his resurrection life (Romans 6:4–6).  

Reinforcing that point, Paul gives thanks that he did not baptize many in Corinth. He provides a brief list—Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanus. The individuals Paul names are all founding members of the congregation. Crispus was the leader of the synagogue who became a believer in Jesus (Acts 18:8). Gaius was Paul’s and the congregation’s host in Corinth (Romans 16:23), and the members of the household of Stephanas were the first converts—the first fruits—of his work there (1 Corinthians 16:15). But beyond this brief list, Paul asserts, he does not recall the names of those he baptized (1:16).

Paul minimizes his role in baptizing converts because his primary mission is to proclaim the gospel. Even as he accomplishes that goal, he downplays the role of individual personality and rhetorical skill to focus on the message of the cross, which “is the power of God” (1:18). That message becomes the heart of the letter’s next section.

Paul’s concerns about division speak directly to the situation of many of our congregations today. We see the contentious spirit of division in the church universal—across and within denominations—as well as within our congregations. The cult of personality, the attachment of parishioners to particular ministers, continues to hold sway, now driven as well by media personalities. Political alignments become the test of Christian fellowship.

In the face of these challenges, we and our congregations need to hear the counsel of Paul afresh. Our divisions weaken our witness, pulling us inward to jockey for position and prestige, turning our sisters and brothers in Christ into opponents and enemies. Unity strengthens our witness, sending us outward as ministers of reconciliation who bear the good news of the cross to a world in need of healing and hope.

Effective pastoral preaching will identify the pressing sources of division in a congregation, craft a skillful response to those challenges, and offer an encouraging and unifying word. The sermon will then accomplish its work so that those who listen may, like Paul’s congregation in Corinth, “be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose” (1:10).