Was christ divided?

1 Corinthians 1:13–17 (NIV) — 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul continues his discourse on the divisions with a series of rhetorical questions in verse 13. At first glance this paragraph seems to be nothing more than a simple refutation of the divisions. But there’s more here. Paul points to deep theological reasons why divisions over preachers are not only wrong but opposed to the very heart of the gospel.

Was Paul crucified for you? The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the very heart of the gospel. No one else could have paid for our sins. No one else could have redeemed us. And he could not have done that in any other way. Anything that draws our attention away from the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is foolishness.

Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Baptism marks our acceptance into the family of God. Whether you believe it is a symbol or something more, baptism is crucial to our personal acceptance of Jesus’ crucifixion for each of us. We are baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “In the name of” means by their power and into their fellowship.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Preaching is to share, explain, and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not with wisdom and eloquence. The power of preaching lies not with how clever the speaker is, but with the message of the gospel itself. Sometimes I wish I could tell stories as well as this preacher, or that I sounded more like that preacher, or that I could come up with 5 points that are all memorable and started with the letter “p” like that other preacher. But each of us is gifted in different ways. And more importantly, stories, turns of phrases, and multiple alliterative points are worthless if they don’t point to the gospel.

Lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. All the power of Christianity is centered in the cross of Christ. Anything that seeks to take away from that power is divisive. Anything that points to the cross is unifying.

Think about the three elements Paul mentioned: Crucifixion of Jesus, your baptism, and preaching the gospel. How have those helped you to grow in Christ?