Sinful Loyalties

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no
divisions among you and that you may 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 Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul
crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:10,
12-13).

This appeal is followed by information on the divisions in
the church. These divisions were not on theology or ecclesiology. The quarrels
simply were about loyalties to teachers. To our knowledge, the teachers
were even in fellowship with each other. These loyalties were sins and were to
be repented of and forsaken. They were the cause of the divisions, the
disunity.

Today, such loyalties are still one of the major causes of
division in the church. However, today loyalty is a good word; it is considered
a virtue. When it comes to following teachers, however, loyalty is not a
virtue. It is a sin; and it is hard to confess something as sin when we think
it is a virtue. Nevertheless, confession of this sin must happen.

This post coordinates with today’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.