18 June 2024

Christian factions. Which shouldn’t exist.

1 Corinthians 1.10-17.

In Paul and Sosthenes’s greeting to the church of Corinth, they (but mostly Paul) states God made ’em wealthy in teaching, knowledge, and supernatural gifts. 1Co 1.5, 7 They legitimately are Christ Jesus’s church.

And then he gets into what they’re doing wrong. And it’s a lot. Corinth is not a healthy church! They got problems.

Which… actually works out to the benefit of the rest of Christendom. All our churches are gonna have problems like Corinth did. Hopefully not all of them at once!—and ideally none. But if we continue to minister to sinners (as we should!), and continue to get newbies who don’t know any better, we’re inevitably gonna have some. And when they crop up, we have Paul’s advice and instructions in 1 Corinthians to help set us straight.

So let’s get to the first of the problems: Factions. And if you’re Protestant, you know all about factions. There are thousands of Christian denominations out there. All of whom can get along, and absolutely should, because we all share the same Lord Jesus. But there are always some Christians who insist we absolutely should not, because our differences disqualify us from fellowship—from interacting with each other, ministering together, and worshiping Jesus together.

Just this morning I read a bit of a book critiquing a popular megachurch pastor who regularly insists most churches—not just a few!—are heretic, and going to hell. Plenty more Christians are just like him, and insist only their faction follows Christ correctly—and if we’re saved by our orthodoxy, only they will be saved.

I don’t know whether Corinth’s factions went this far. Hope not! But the apostles were offended that there should be any factions within Christ’s body; anybody who insisted their sect of Christianity was correct and the others not, when really we’re all wrong, and only Christ himself is right.

1 Corinthians 1.10-17 KWL
10Fellow Christians, I encourage you
in the name of our master Christ Jesus
so you all might say the same thing,
schisms might not exist among you,
and you might be joined together
with the same mind and thought process.
11For, my fellow Christians,
people from Chloe made it plain to me about you:
Fighting is among you.
12I’ll put it this way:
Each of you says, “I’m of Paul,” or “I’m of Apollos,”
“I’m of Kefa,” or “I’m of Christ.”
13Christ was divided?
Paul wasn’t crucified for you!
Or are you baptized in the name of Paul?
14I say grace to God: I baptized none of you!
—except Crispus and Gaius
15—so that no one might say I baptize in my own name.
16I also baptized the household of Stephanus;
otherwise I don’t know if I baptized anyone else.
17AFor Christ doesn’t send me to baptize,
but to evangelize.

Kefa in verse 12 is Simon Peter’s nickname in Aramaic. Jn 1.42 Apollos is a Christian evangelist with whom Paul had worked a number of times. Paul you’ve heard of. Christ you’d better know.

Following favorite saints—more so than Jesus.

Yep, the Corinthians were dividing themselves up into camps depending on which Christian teacher they were the biggest fans of. Paul fans, Apollos fans, Peter fans, Jesus fans. Which, as Paul points out, is stupid—Paul isn’t your savior! Paul didn’t die for you; you weren’t baptized in Paul’s name; in Paul’s pretty sure he only baptized two of the Corinthians! Oh wait, and a whole household. But that’s all.

The apostles go on about this subject a few times in the letter.

1 Corinthians 3.5-8 KWL
5So who is Apollos? Who is Paul? Servants!
You believe because of them,
however the Master gives faith to each person.
6I plant and Apollos waters,
but God is making you grow,
7so neither the planter nor waterer is someone vital,
but God is the grower.
8AAnd the planter and waterer are one!

—that is, Paul and Apollos are on the same side. They work for Jesus.

1 Corinthians 3.21-23 KWL
21Therefore: None of you emphasize people!
Everyone is for you—
22whether Paul, Apollos, or Kefa.
Or the world, life, death, the present, the future:
Everything is yours,
23and you are Christ’s,
and Christ is God’s.

You wanna listen to these saints? These great Christian teachers? These wise Christian sages? Okay! But no gatekeeping. They’re not your teacher; they’re everyone’s, if we wanna listen to them. I may not be Roman Catholic, but I’ll read St. Francis of Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Thomas á Kempis, Brother Lawrence, G.K. Chesterton, Thomas Merton, Pope Benedict, and all sorts of Catholic writers; they’re not just for Catholics. I may not be Lutheran, but I’ll read Martin Luther, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Helmut Thielicke, and Nadia Bolz-Weber. I may not be Anglican but I’ll definitely read Anglican stuff; may not be Baptist but I’ll definitely read Baptist stuff; may not be Foursquare but I’ll definitely read Foursquare stuff; I read Assemblies of God stuff and recommend it to anyone. Everything is available. The world is yours, the apostles said; 1Co 3.22 just, y’know, use your head! Don’t fall for everything. But so long that you’re not so spiritually weak, so non-resistant to temptation that every little thing makes you stumble and dings your relationship with Jesus: Go ahead and read it!

And likewise, never prioritize them above Jesus. They are not our masters. We have one master, Christ Jesus. Mt 23.10 These people just point us in his direction—and if they don’t, set them aside. They’re not greater than other Christian teachers—although they might be more articulate, or better storytellers, or better public speakers, or more careful about doing their homework before they make claims about the bible and God. But they equally stand before Jesus at the End, same as us, because we all stand on the same level before Jesus. They are not infallible; Jesus is. We don’t follow them; we follow Jesus.

Like Paul said, he and Apollos were servants. They helped point Corinth towards God, but who’s making them grow? God the Holy Spirit, not the Spirit’s apostles. He does all the work. He produces the fruit. We just gotta be fertile ground.

But dividing ourselves into factions, based on our favorite Christian teachers—based on whether we like Apollos’s water, or Paul’s water, or John MacArthur’s water, or Robert Barron’s water—is ridiculous. It’s all water! (Unless of course they’re offering Brawndo instead. Don’t listen to those guys.)

Paul wanted it clear: He didn’t seek worshipers. He’s an apostle of Christ Jesus; he works for that guy, and if we’re elevating him instead of his Lord, we’re doing it wrong. If we’re elevating any bible teacher, any End Times prognosticator, any multimedia ministry, any mission, any church, anything above Jesus and his rather obvious command to Christians, “Love one another,” Jn 13.34, 15.12, 15.17, 1Th 4.9, 1Jn 3.11, 2Jn 1.5 we’re doing it wrong. Jesus wants his followers to be one, and factions break this command. Factions are a work of the flesh, Ga 5.20 so we gotta fight our carnal human tendencies to form them.

Like I said, the topic comes up a few times in 1 Corinthians, so likely I’ll write more about this, same as the apostles did. Meanwhile, resist the temptation to elevate your faction. Any faction; political ones included. Don’t let that be an excuse to not love our fellow Christians. I know; that’s not easy in an election year. Do it anyway.