Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Cor. 1:12-17, Rom. 1:29, 1 Cor. 1:10, 1 Cor. 3:1-4, Phil. 2:5-8, 2 Cor. 11:23-28, Col. 1:24.

Memory Text: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10, ESV).

Opening Question: What is the best way for people who often have varying beliefs to be able to maintain unity in the church?

One of the great appeals Paul makes to the Corinthian Christians is that they find a way to maintain unity in their midst, something that was quite lacking. It had been reported to Paul that there were factions in the church, factions driven by stated loyalties to various preachers and leaders who had come through the city at one point or another. Notice Paul’s words “One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.'” All-in-all, this was a recipe for division, one that, in Corinth actually led to members suing each other! (One has to wonder if these lawsuits had anything to do with theological differences or with other things).

Paul challenged the varying loyalties on display by countering that Christ is not divided, that primary loyalties should be linked to Christ not some human agent.

• What are we to do with situations where loyalties to various leaders become divisive, a feature of modern life for sure?
• How should we interpret Paul’s advice against suing one another?
• There is space here to discuss the difference between unity and uniformity. What is it and how is one good, the other bad?
• What is the primary engine of unity in Christ?
• What role does human pride play in the enabling of conflict?
• How might humility help in situations where there is disagreement?
• Have you ever wondered why divisions in a church can be so strident and long-lasting?
• It has been said that theology divides, but mission unites. What do you think of this saying?

Below is a wonderful quote to consider. Notice it applies when a church is being true to its ideals:

“The Christian Church, when it is true to its own ideal, claims to be a group of human beings once alienated but now related to one another because they have come into a relationship with God. It is a plain fact, open to verification, that within a Christian group people of very different ages, colors, races, status, income and intelligence are able to coexist in deep mutual understanding and harmony. Anyone who has been within a genuine Christian fellowship knows that this is true.”

— T. M. Kitwood, What is Human?, (Intervarsity Press, Downer’s Grove, IL, 1970), p. 109, 110