A Church Divided Over Leaders

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

so that no one may boast before him.

Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.

For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this.

But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.

Concerning the Unmarried

Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.”

yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

Paul’s Use of His Freedom

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.