Of Christ Or Men?

October 13th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

1 Corinthians 1:11-12 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”

The information Paul had received about the Corinthian church from Chloe’s household while he was away from Corinth was that they were divided, apparently disagreeing on matters of doctrine related to the gospel of Christ. As a result, there were “quarrels” (eris)—a term that speaks of “strife; bitter conflict; heated and often violent dissension.” The term is among the vices in Galatians 5:19-21, in the same list as immorality, idolatry, and drunkenness. To the Galatians, Paul said that “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (5:21). Quarreling was thus an extremely severe spiritual vice. In churches where it exists, it is the beginning of the end for that church, or any organization for that matter.

In v. 12, Paul apparently heard from Chloe’s household that the divisions centered around loyalty to certain preachers and the tendency of Christians to favor one preacher over another. Per v. 12, some in the church at Corinth favored their founding pastor and apostle, Paul, for they were saying, “I am of Paul.” Paul, after all, had brought the first wave of converts to faith when he visited the city in AD 51 and remained there for 18 months (Acts 18:1-17).

Others, however, were gathering around the second pastor of Corinth, Apollos, saying, “I am of Apollos.” Apollos was sent to Corinth sometime in AD 53 by Paul’s friends, Aquila and Priscilla after Paul departed. This event is described by Luke in Acts 18:24-28. While Aquila and Priscilla were in Ephesus, they met Apollos who was an Alexandrian Jew, a Jewish man raised and educated in Alexandria, Egypt. After helping him better understand the gospel of Christ, they sent him to Corinth with their commendation as Corinth’s next pastor. When Apollos arrived, “he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 18:27-28).

Others in Corinth were saying, “I am of Cephas,” namely Peter. Although there is no record in the Book of Acts that Peter was ever in Corinth, there are four references to Cephas in Paul’s first epistle to Corinth that reveal many there knew him and may imply that he was there for a time. Here in 1:12 Cephas is mentioned, along with Paul and Apollos, indicating that he and Apollos may have taken part in baptizing some believers there. He is mentioned again in 3:22, along with Paul and Apollos, suggesting that he was also a respected teacher by some in Corinth. Then in 9:5, Paul mentions the right of Cephas and others not only to be married but to receive financial support from the church. Finally, in 15:5 Cephas is highlighted as one of the apostolic eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection. Perhaps all of these references to Cephas point to the possibility that he spent some time in Corinth? Whether he did or not, some in Corinth were separating themselves from the Paul group and the Apollos group, saying, “I am of Cephas.”

Perhaps the last group Paul mentions, the “I am of Christ” group, was nothing more than a purist group who wanted no part of following mere men. They, maybe self-righteously, only cared what Christ spoke and taught. Gordon Fee says, “Here are some people who form no distinct group at all, but who in their own attempt to rise above the rest, those boasting in mere men, have fallen into their own brand of spiritual elitism that makes them no better than others.”

Mark A. Taylor says, “What is crystal clear is that a party spirit plagued the church in Corinth, and their boasting in men contradicted the very essence of the gospel. The root problem was pride, the worst of sins, especially for those identified with a crucified Christ.”

Food For Thought
It is quite common today for folks in local churches to draw lines in the sand and divide with others based on the teachings and influences of mere men, with little and in some cases no regard for Christ. Though today it seems there are more Christian organizations, podcasts, writers, and wanna-be preachers than ever before, in some sense this is good. But Satan uses all this to divide us. Even some of the purists who believe only the words of Christ in the Bible are part of the problem, at times being self-righteous and divisive. If anyone is to disregard or hate us, let it not be because we are Calvinists, Lutherans, Baptists, Wesleyans, or Dispensationalists; let it be because we love Jesus Christ and follow His teachings found in Scripture in all the Gospels and through all His chosen apostles—the men God inspired when they wrote the New Testament. Let them shun and hate us for our love of Christ through the Scriptures. That, and that, alone.