Who Do You Follow?

As 1 Corinthians 1:10 recounts, the apostle Paul wanted the Christians in Corinth to be perfectly united.  This wasn’t uniformity (since other parts of this letter to the church in Corinth describe God-given differences among Christians), but rather unity “in mind and thought”.

Let’s learn about something that was dividing people in the church of Corinth…

My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
1 Corinthians 1:11‭-‬12 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.1.11-12.NIV

Some might say that there was a “snitch” from the church, ratting out those who were quarreling.  Looking back to 1 Corinthians 1:1, perhaps someone in Chloe’s household was talking with Sosthenes (if he was indeed the former or current synagogue leader from Acts 18:17), catching him up with him on what was going on in Corinth.  However, not everyone who brings up a problem is being a tattletale.  If we give the source of this report the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they were seeking Paul’s guidance in addressing a real problem in the church, and were genuinely hoping that Paul could help.

Conversely, while not every sharing of a problem is meant for evil, but we must still be discerning when sharing someone else’s deeds.  The line between trying to help and gossip is an easy one to step over.

Regardless, we learn that some individuals are claiming allegiance to individual teachers of the good news, like Paul, Apollos (another teacher), or Cephas (i.e., Simon Peter).  Others state that they follow Jesus (the Christ)…which is a good thing, unless it becomes a source of arrogance for them

A commentator [Oster, p.50] pointed out that various social structures created significant pressure for this sort of “party loyalty” in first-century Corinth.  And, people haven’t changed in 2000 years, since our current world of divisions and identity politics pushes us towards the same sort of “siloing”.

In fact, this allegiance to teachers in the Corinthians church sounds like – at least on the surface –  the church’s current situation with denominations.  When a congregation is named after an individual preacher, like a Lutheran, Wesleyan, or Calvinist, we might be predisposed to think that its members are following another member of the body of Christ, rather than Jesus themselves.  The same might be said of those who stake their claim of holiness on having membership in the church of a modern preacher like Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, or Rick Warren.

However, to be clear, I’m not condemning individuals from either of those two “types” of congregations, for at least a couple of key reasons (listed below).  I’m just inviting us to think about whether we (as individuals), in light of this message to the Corinthian church, are placing too much emphasis in the sign in front of our church building,    I’m only suggesting introspection here, though, and not inviting you (or myself) to judge others, though, for two reasons:

1. You can be a member of any church, even one that is in a denomination named after a person or whose pastor is popular, and still put your faith in (and focus on) Jesus Christ.  The evangelists, reformers, and preachers whose names have been associated with modern denominations often made a significant positive impact in the history of the church, and there’s nothing wrong with reading, listening to, and learning from them, as long as we measure their words in light of what the Bible and the Holy Spirit tell us.
2. You can be a member of any church, even one that professes to be “Christians only” (which happens to be a hallmark of the congregation that I’m a part of), and still be attached to an individual.  Just watch how many people leave a church when a popular preacher moves or retires.  While it’s not our place to judge them as individuals (after all, some may have been ready to move for other reasons), it seems unlikely that none of them are following the person in the pulpit, rather than the Christ who is the head of the body?

Let’s take a look at Paul’s response in the next article, but in the meantime, let’s just perform a quick self-check to ensure that – regardless of the name of the church where we worship with others, or the name of the pastor who we listen to – our primary and sole allegiance in the spiritual realm is to Jesus Christ, the actual head of the church.  At the same time, let’s evaluate others in light of the fruit that their lives are producing for the Kingdom of God, too, rather than the name on their church building.

From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 3, 2024

References:

• The Lookout, March 3, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 Corinthians, by Richard E. Oster, Jr.  © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.