1:11 For it
hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the
house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I say,
that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas;
and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided?
was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
The house of Chloe, based on other references to church bodies which
met in houses, is most likely a reference to a church that met in Chloe’s
house.
Apollos is mentioned in Acts 18
and 19. He is a Jew from Alexandria who, after he got his doctrine straight,
was very influential.
Acts 18:28 For
he mightily convinced the Jews, and
that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
Besides John, only Paul refers to
Peter as Cephas, several times.
John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus
beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A
stone.
1Corinthians 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or
death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Corinthians 9:5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a
wife, as well as other apostles, and as
the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
1Corinthians 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
Galatians 2:9
And when James, Cephas,
and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me,
they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they
unto the circumcision.
He did refer to him as Peter
several times in Galatians, as well.
Apparently, there were some folks
in the Corinthian church that followed a cult-like mentality and aligned
themselves with different preachers, referring to themselves as disciples of
them. Paul speaks against this hero or celebrity-worship mentality which is so
prevalent in Protestant fundamentalism today. Whereas in the Roman Catholic
Church it is institutionalized in the form of priest, bishop, or pope in
fundamentalism it is based more on influence and following without a title of
any more than the, “man o’ God.”
But, we are Christ’s. A church is
the church of Christ, not Pastor Joe’s or Brother Bill’s, as a reflection of
their personality and socially dominant alpha-male attitude, if I can borrow a
terrible Discovery Channel analogy. Celebrity preacher worship is one of the
many errors of Protestant fundamentalism in America.
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