When Loyalty Is Wrong

“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 Corinthians 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, in the church.
Today, they are still one of the major causes of divisions. 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.