Thematic Bible: Dissensions in
Thematic Bible
Church » Dissensions in
For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may not find you to be what I desire, and that you may find me to be what you do not desire; that perhaps there may be contention, jealousy, bitter feeling, party spirit, ill-natured talk, backbiting, undue eulogy, unrest; and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.
For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you. What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ." Is the Christ in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized to be Paul's adherents?
you are still unspiritual. For so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world? For when some one says, "I belong to Paul," and another says, "I belong to Apollos," is not this the way men of the world speak?
for, in the first place, when you meet as a Church, there are divisions among you. This is what I am told, and I believe that there is some truth in it. For there must of necessity be differences of opinion among you, in order that it may be plainly seen who are the men of sterling worth among you.