(10) Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (11) For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. (12) Now this I say, that everyone of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (13) Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (14) I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; (15) Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. (16) And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. (17) For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
I would rather seek for grace from God the Spirit, to improve what the Apostle here observed on the contentions which brake out in the Corinthian Church, in relation to the present infirmities of the Lord's people, than enter into an enquiry of what nature those contentions were. Certain it is, that the purest Churches have their spots, and too often, from the imperfection of all things here below, the Lord's children fall out by the way. Instead of entering into the discussion, whether those divisions are about infant or adult baptism, kneeling or sitting in services, partiality to ministers, or forms of worship; I would beg the Reader to observe with me, the method Paul took to heal those quarrels. Paul did I say? not so, it is not Paul but God the Holy Ghost who speaks by Paul. His is the office to glorify Christ, and here he hath done it most blessedly. All that is done, or can be done to bless the Church, to heal divisions, and to unite the whole body in love, can only be in Christ, the glorious Head from whom all grace flows, and in whom all blessings are found. And where faith in Christ is in true lively actings upon his Person, blood, and righteousness, there will be found a common principle knitting and uniting the whole body together. It is worthy our closest observation, that in that sweet recommendatory prayer of the Lord Jesus, in which before his death, the Lord committed the whole body the Church into his Father's hands to keep, and from whom Jesus had received it; this formed a most earnest part, and for which the Lord again and again repeated his desire, that his Church might be kept in sweet concord and union. Holy Father, (said Jesus), keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. And the Lord puts up again the same request three times more in the after part of the same chapter, Joh_17:11; Joh_17:21-23. And it is truly blessed to observe, how the Apostles of this divine Lord, followed the same steps in praying for, and earnestly studying to accomplish the unity of the Church. See Romans 15:5-6; Philippians 2:1-2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 3:8; 1 John 4:7-12.