Dealing with Disunity in Christ's Church (Pt. 3)

This post is the third part in a series of posts considering Four Strategies to Deal with Disunity found in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. To follow along, here is Part 1 and Part 2.

The Second Strategy is To Expose Disunity - v. 11-12

The reason for Paul’s exhortation comes out next with the word in v. 1 “for.” Paul, while at Ephesus, had heard a report from Chloe’s people. Chloe is a feminine name, and since she needed no more introduction to the Corinthians, she likely was from the church at Corinth. The people of Chloe may have been family members or servants. At the time of writing 1 Corinthians Paul was on his third missionary journey in Ephesus. Paul had founded the church at Corinth, then taught there for 18 months, then left and completed his second missionary journey returning eventually to Antioch. During Paul’s departure from Corinth, Apollos had come and preached the word to the Corinthians. Chloe’s news of fighting in the Corinthian church comes to Paul in Ephesus. The report was sufficiently believable to become one of Paul’s main concerns in this letter.

The specific rift at Corinth is exposed in v. 11, 12. There were quarrels among them. The word “quarrels” is a plural form of “eris” which means discords or contentions. It does not imply fist fights. It just stresses clear disharmony. The plural reveals that this was no small problem. It was recurrent. Many disagreements in the body of Christ can easily be worked out. But this term indicates they were not working them out. Dr. John MacArthur comments, “Quarreling is a reality in the church because selfishness and other sins are realities in the church. Because of quarreling the Father is dishonored, the Son is disgraced, His people are demoralized and discredited, and the world is turned off and confirmed in unbelief. Fractured fellowship robs Christians of joy … and robs God of glory, … A high price for an ego trip!"

The specifics of this quarrel are spelled out next. They were saying, “I am of Paul or I am of Apollos or Cephas or Christ.” The Corinthians were seeking party identification. Paul labels this in 3:3 as acting “fleshly.”

The “Paul” branded people likely banded around his name to be loyal to him in the face of criticisms. Paul was the founder and original builder of the Corinthian church. It seems from what follows, they put emphasis on being baptized by Paul. If you want to behold the humble heart of Paul, just see how he responded to his cheering section. Rather than biting onto the Devil’s lure, rather than fanning their enthusiasm for him, he singles them out first for being sectarian.

Next came the Apollos Aficionados. Acts 18:24-19:1 describes Apollos’ ministry at Corinth as being mighty in the Scriptures. He was a learned Alexandrian Jew who powerfully refuted the unbelieving Jews in Corinth. This man was used by God to build the church at Corinth and lead many to Christ. Some Corinthians heard this man of great giftedness and concluded it was more prestigious to identify with him and his ministry. Notice Paul does not correct Apollos but the peoples’ response to Apollos.

Listed third are the Cephas Cheerleaders. Cephas is the Aramaic name for Peter. We are not sure Peter ever traveled to Corinth (although in chapter 9 it mentions the Corinthians were aware Peter traveled with his wife.) These people likely did not think either Paul or Apollos were prestigious enough. They identified with a weightier apostle. Maybe they were impressed by the fact that Peter had been with Jesus from the beginning.

Lastly Paul mentions the Christ Characters. Evidently, they were thinking of themselves as the real followers of Christ, while the others were only following apostles or teachers. It may even be that they felt they had less need for the other teachers mentioned. They did not need to be taught by men, for they had Christ. They were the super-spiritual ones.

I knew a young man in college who would not come to Bible studies because he said he only needed God and his Bible as his teachers. He needed no human. Spiritual pride kept him from learning through the teachers God had provided. Besides, all believers are of Christ. Paul made that clear in the identification he gave all believers in v. 1-9. This group was acting carnally like the rest.

We learn through Paul’s example that disunity in a local church cannot be ignored. It must be exposed, not for the purpose of shaming anyone, but for the purpose of revealing the ugly character of disunity. Our people need to see how foolish, even dangerous, disunity can be. Even though it was not done to shame them, this is still a public rebuke by Paul. This is a letter written to the entire congregation from the founding pastor. It shows strong leadership at a time the church needed it.

Similarly, it is the duty of local church elders and pastors today to expose disunity when it arises. Leaders must expose the sources of disunity if they are to preserve unity. This is not an option. Pastors must not hesitate but move orderly and decisively. Every indication is that this exposure must happen rapidly. What is brewed in the dark, where Satan concocts his wily strategies, must not be allowed to fester, but be brought into the light. For when it is brought into the light, all the sin and lies can be seen for what they are.

If there are church people not interested in unity, when they are exposed, they will either fight back in a carnal manner or bolt out the door of the church or start slandering other leaders. As they go out the doors, they often slander the leaders in hopes “to draw away disciples after them,” Acts 20:29-30. It is no coincidence after they leave that other disgruntled people end up meeting with them or sympathizing with them. In some cases, that was their goal all along. They infiltrated the church, worked to gain influence and popularity, then began their criticisms of the leadership. Once caught and exposed they openly slandered the leaders. All of this was to draw disciples after them. For they are arrogant men who think their leadership is superior. Their actions prove that they truly don’t care for the sheep or for the other leaders or for the unity of the church. They want a following because they are proud men and women.

In my experience, as I have watched certain men leave our church wrongly and with unfair criticism, then “invite” others to follow them, that God was not with their fleshly efforts. Over time it was clear they bore no fruit, and their attempts to build another church or develop a following fell flat because there was no spiritual power or truth in their words. They thought too highly of themselves and their ministry experience, but God witnessed against their hearts, motives, wisdom, and character.

Though an attack upon the unity of a church can be scary, we found that God did a mighty spiritual work after cleansing the church of these disingenuous men. My Pastoral Ministries Professor at The Master’s Seminary, Pastor Alex Montoya, used to teach us that sometimes there is a thing called “A Blessed Subtraction.” Indeed, as heart-wrenching as an attack upon the unity of a church can be, the aftereffects were growth, joy, and spiritual vitality. We have found that as the Devil fights to hurt the church, Jesus fights to protect His church!

When our church’s unity was attacked, we were very glad that we took loving action against the perpetrators of disunity and exposed the source of disunity quickly. Their feeble attack was used by God to preserve our church, tighten our bonds of unity, and free the Spirit of God to work more powerfully.

We all need to help guard the unity of our church. That also means that while we appreciate our different preachers, elders, leaders, and teachers in the local body, we should never attach ourselves to one over the others. We should never even identify with one over the others. We must be willing to learn from all the men God has ordained. Our identity and ultimate allegiance is found only in Christ. Thus, our unity can only be found in Christ.

With the disunity exposed, next comes the toughest step — a step you will hope you never have to perform, but, as you will see, it too is crucial.