1 Corinthians 1:13

“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised into the name of Paul?”

Paul now attacks their divisions at their root. There is only one Jesus Christ, and to Him, and to Him alone, should all look. It is not a question of either/or. The messenger is nothing. Christ is pre-eminent. He was the One Who was crucified for them. He was the One into Whose name they had been baptised. Let them then unite in Him and look only to Him, for from Him alone comes the grace and power to deliver. No man can give this power. Without His working men of God have no effectiveness whatsoever in things pertaining to God, and their words, while stirring men's emotions, will have no real spiritual power. Let all then proclaim and look to Christ.

‘Is Christ divided?' The Oneness of Christ should stress the need for them to be one in Him (see 1 Corinthians 10:4; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 12:12). All is centred on Him. He cannot be divided up.

‘Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised into the name of Paul?' That they should look to Paul or anyone else is the second absurdity. It was Christ Who was crucified for them. It was Christ into Whose name they were baptised. It was from Him that came all spiritual benefits. It was from Him that they had received life, and had received the Holy Spirit. How foolish then to look to Paul, or anyone else.

This is not to doubt that due respect should be paid to those who minister the word of God in their place, but the moment they seek to draw attention to themselves, or begin to think themselves as something, or to draw men away from the whole church of Christ because of the exclusivity of their message, or the moment Christians begin to fall out through loyalty to one man of God or another, or to their message, or esteem them in such a way that disunity is caused in the body of Christ, then too much respect is being paid to them, and their relatively inferior place in the scheme of salvation is being overlooked. If they are godly men it is to Christ that they direct men's thoughts. It is to Christ and Christ alone that men must look, both for salvation and in respect to their whole manner of living. It is with Him that they must be taken up. It is He that they must venerate. Christ must be all. And then they will also be at one with their fellow Christians. They must beware of hiding Christ behind themselves. In the words of John the Baptiser, every godly minister says, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30). He points away from himself to Christ.