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.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

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.

Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Dealing With a Case of Incest

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife.

And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

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.

hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

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.

Concerning Married Life

Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.

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.