Division - the punch. 1 Corinthians 1.

(There's a lot of setup to get to what was, for me, the punchline in today's reading. If you just want to read the punchline, skip here.)

"I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose." (1 Corinthians 1:10)

With these words, Paul launches into a lengthy call for unity in the church at Corinth, as the first of several issues and problems he addresses in this letter. The division he's addressing seems to be rooted in a very Greek practice -- the art of rhetoric, the ability to speak and write to persuade. Rhetoric and its cousin, politics, were one of the main areas of study for most of the history of western culture, from Greece onward. Paul employs the techniques of rhetoric in his letters, including this one. By which we understand that there's nothing inherently wrong with rhetoric itself. But even in Greece, the art of rhetoric came under scrutiny and criticism when it degenerated strictly into the art of persuasion and ostentation, divorced from truth.

In the latter half of this first chapter, and on into the second, Paul exposes the division in Corinth as coming from a sense of "who's the smartest kid on the block?" Enamored of human wisdom, reasoning, argumentation, and who made the most persuasive arguments, the Corinthian church had aligned themselves as followers of various teachers. And so we have Paul writing as a follow-up to his statement urging unity: Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul? (v.1:12)

(Note: Some commentators think that Paul used the names he did, not because people were aligning under each of these leader/teachers, but as a way to describe the problem without naming the actual leaders causing the division.)

I can really relate to the idea of argumentation as a means of determining who's the smartest kid on the block. I used to think that it had to be me. And I'd argue to show it. And even when I say that using the past tense, I can't say I'm fully past that tendency. I still love to argue, especially in the sense of testing theses against other theses, when looking at God's Word and seeking to understand it better. Getting older has helped me understand that I'm not the smartest kid on the block, if for no other reason than I'm no longer a kid on the block. And so Paul's words at the end of this chapter, a quote from Jeremiah, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord," are like a good punch in the stomach.

Again, Paul doesn't say don't apply your mind in the exercise of your faith, and he doesn't shy away from the use of rhetorical techniques. But he cautions against the substitution of rhetorical tricks for genuine wisdom. He argues against valuing those who demonstrate rhetorical genius, or human wisdom, at the expense of God's wisdom, a wisdom demonstrated in the most unreasonable act imaginable - Christ's death on the cross. Because the Corinthians were placing value in the argumentation skills of different teachers, instead of the message they brought, there was division in the church. And Christ's church isn't supposed to about division, but about multiplication.

The punchline.
There's something very important in what Paul says in this chapter for the church today, and for our behavior toward one another. It hit me today as I read verse 12, quoted above. The shortcut quotation of verse 12, usually includes only Paul and Apollos, occasionally Peter. People talking about division in the church today might say something like, 'Remember how it was wrong that the Corinthians aligned themselves under Paul and Apollos.'

But Paul includes some who say, "I am with Christ." Whoa. Division in the church caused by those who say, "I am with Christ." He's not talking about the inevitable division between those who believe and those who don't that Jesus talked about in Luke 12, when He said He came to bring division, not peace. Paul's talking about division in the family of Christ.

And I recognize that. There are those who wield their Christianity, their knowledge, yes, even their prejudices, like a club, pounding the least deviation from what they consider the orthodox view, the view they hold. And pounding the people. I see that in those who hold to the King James translation as the only one correct translation. (And while I respect some of the thinking behind that viewpoint, and would never want to break fellowship with anyone over the issue, the precise point is that some are radical enough to think they should break fellowship with those who don't agree.) The same holds for many theological viewpoints that are held with such rigidity in areas that are both non-essential, and inconclusive from the Bible.

I recognize that attitude. "Well, I follow Christ." Implying the ones they disagree with don't. The most direct corollary to what Paul was talking about in Corinth are the people who attack various Christian leaders from Billy Graham to Chuck Smith (founder of Calvary Chapel) to Rick Warren, often with great venom. This is not to say that there are no false teachers, or false doctrines out there. There are all too many. But for all of them, there are thousands of sincere, upright women and men of God, serving Him, and doing so without 100% agreement amongst themselves on every issue of doctrine. And we're all capable of goofing up from time to time, in our understanding of Scripture, in our handling of relationship, in misplaced priorities, and in poor choices. Love and grace should be the defining characteristics of our relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ, and humility in our own estimation of what we know.

The correct answer, as Paul says, is that we are baptized in Christ, not Paul. We're not followers of Billy Graham, nor should we be detractors of Billy Graham. So... "I follow Christ," is the right answer, but only when that's what we really mean -- with no further divisive implications.

So act with care. As Paul said, "I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose."