GATES OF DIVISION

A certain missionary took the gospel to a community. He didn’t meet opposition, but he observed that people were not responding to his message because there was a certain mystical ‘prophet’ in that community that the people followed. This prophet was not saved but was one who walked in the way of Balaam.

The missionary preached and preached and many were convicted but did not come forward to receive and confess Christ. After the missionary labored in that community for weeks, the mystical ‘prophet’ was convicted and accepted the Lord Jesus and was baptized. When the people in the community heard that their ‘prophet’ had accepted the gospel and was baptized, many of them too believed in Jesus and were baptized.

When Paul first took the gospel to Corinth, he stayed there for 18 months, and many of the people in the city believed and were baptized after Crispus the leader of the synagogue believed (see Acts 18:8). Apart from Crispus and some other few people who were Paul’s first converts, Paul did not baptize but only preached. Others did the baptizing. 

This was Paul’s biggest point when he rebuked the Corinthians for their divisions. He did not baptize many of them so they couldn’t claim that he baptized them in his name. Since they were all baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, the only name that should be their tag should be Christ, not Paul, Peter or Apollos.

Go into today remembering that to be denominationally minded is a sign of spiritual immaturity (see 1 Cor 3:1-3).