Book Study · Week 1 of 6

United in Christ

1 Corinthians 1:1-31

The problem of divisions and pride

Main Point

The Corinthian church was fractured along personality lines and human wisdom. True unity comes from centering on Christ, not on charismatic leaders.

Application Ideas

What divisions exist in your church or small group? What is beneath them? Often divisions form around leaders, theology, or cultural preferences. This week, ask: Am I contributing to unity, or am I creating division? How can I point others toward Christ rather than toward a person or preference?

Discussion Questions

Why were the Corinthians dividing into factions? What does Paul mean by 'I follow Paul' or 'I follow Apollo's'? How does the message of the cross bring unity instead of division?

Detailed Sermon Outline

Primary Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-31

Supporting Texts: John 17:20-23; Isaiah 29:14; Philippians 2:1-4

Big Idea: A church fractured along personality lines is healed not by better manners but by returning to the cross, which levels everyone who stands at it.

Target Length: 35-40 minutes

Introduction

Corinth was a busy port city, proud of its speakers and its sophistication, and the church there had absorbed more of the city than it realized. Paul had heard about it from people in Chloe's household — not gossip, but a report from inside.

What strikes you first is how Paul begins. Before he names a single problem, he calls them 'sanctified in Christ Jesus' and thanks God for them. He addresses them by who they are before he addresses what they are doing.

The main point: the cure for a divided church is not a truce between camps. It is the cross, which leaves no camp standing.

I. The Church God Sees (1 Corinthians 1:1-9)

Nine verses of thanksgiving for a congregation Paul is about to correct for sixteen chapters. That is not flattery. It is the ground he will stand on.

They are 'called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord.' Their identity is shared with a church far larger than Corinth.
'You do not lack any spiritual gift.' Whatever else is wrong, they are not short of resources. Their problem is not scarcity.
'He will also keep you firm to the end.' The one holding them is God, and 'God is faithful.'

Notice the pastoral method. Paul does not soften the coming rebuke, but he refuses to let them hear it as a verdict on whether they belong. Say hard things to people who are sure you are for them.

II. What the Divisions Were Really About (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

Then the report. 'One of you says, I follow Paul; another, I follow Apollos; another, I follow Cephas; still another, I follow Christ.' Four factions, and the fourth may be the worst of them.

The names were not the point. Each group had found a leader whose style flattered its preferences and had made that preference a boundary.
Paul's questions cut through it: 'Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?' The test of any loyalty is whether it can survive that sentence.
He is relieved he baptized so few of them, because the gospel is not a recruiting operation and preachers are not the point.

Most church division works this way. It rarely announces itself as division. It calls itself discernment, or standards, or simply preferring how things used to be done.

III. A Message That Levels Everyone (1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Isaiah 29:14)

Paul's solution is not a negotiated settlement. He goes underneath the argument to the message that formed them, 'the message of the cross', which is 'foolishness to those who are perishing' but 'the power of God' to those being saved.

'God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.' The cross offends the very instincts the Corinthians were competing over.
'Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential.' He reminds them what they looked like when God called them.
'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.' Boasting is not forbidden. It is redirected.

This is why the cross unites. Everyone arrives at it the same way and leaves with nothing to compare. You cannot rank people who were all rescued.

Conclusion & Appeal

So look honestly at your own church or small group. Where are the lines drawn? They may be about music, or politics, or which family has been here longest, or who is considered serious about their faith.

Then ask the harder question: which side of the line am I holding in place? Not who started it, but what am I currently doing that makes the division easier to maintain?

This week, do one thing that costs you something small — sit with the other group, ask a genuine question, drop the phrase you use to signal which side you are on. Unity is not agreement. It is a decision, made repeatedly, to keep standing at the same cross.