The church in Corinth was so divided that you might say it was diced. There were divisions over which apostle was superior, sexual morality, lawsuits, marriage, eating meat, head-coverings for women, the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts, the resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of believers, and I’m probably missing some.
Paul, who really wanted these saints to “be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10), said something in chapter 11, verse 19 that is important for us to remember:
There must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
Factions though painful serve the church. They provide opportunity to show up the hearts of people. How?
Well through 1 Corinthians Paul tells us how. Like, exposing an unwillingness to submit to the apostles’ teaching is certainly one thing (e.g.1 Cor11:16). But a lack of love is the biggie (1 Cor 13). Paul said love is greater than faith (1 Cor 13:13). And if we have truth and not love, we’re nothing (1 Cor 13:2). Nothing.
There are people in churches who are disagreed over issues and that in itself is not altogether wrong. There will be differences. There will be disagreements. But when we disengage just because we disagree, we have violated a higher rule – the law of love. It shows up the heart. There may be truth but there is no love. And where there is no love, we are nothing. It is the bottom-line measure of discipleship.
Paul said there must be factions. Factions reveal hearts. So in our disagreements and divisions, Paul wants us to measure our motives, words, and actions by the gauge of chapter 13. The less
they look or sound like biblically defined love, the more concerned he wants us to be about the genuineness of our discipleship.
