1 Corinthians 1:13
in 1 Corinthians 1Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
KJV
Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
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This verse in 1 Corinthians 1
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"Is Christ divided?" Why have you divided Christ? Why have you torn apart His body? A speech filled with anger. Some, however, understood the words "is Christ divided?" in this way: has Christ divided the Church from the people and taken one part for Himself, …
This site's exposition
Is Christ divided?
Three questions in a row expose the absurdity of party spirit: is Christ divided, was Paul crucified for you, were ye baptized in the name of Paul. Each question answers itself, since Christ cannot be parceled into factions, Paul was not the one nailed to the cross, and no one had been baptized into an apostle's name rather than the Lord's. The verse becomes the letter's own test for any disciple who forgets whose name he was baptized in.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Is Christ divided?" What he saith comes to this: "Ye have cut in pieces Christ, and distributed His body." Here is anger! here is chiding! here are words full of indignation! For whenever instead of arguing he interrogates only, his doing so implies a confessed absurdity. But some say that he glanced at something else, in saying, "Christ is divided:" as if he had said, "He hath distributed to men and parted the Church, and taken one share Himself, giving them the other." Then in what follows, he labors to overthrow this absurdity, saying, "Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?" Observe his Christ-loving mind; how thenceforth he brings the whole matter to a point in his own name, shewing, and more than shewing, that this honor belongs to no one. And that no one might think it was envy which moved him to say these things, therefore he is constantly putting himself forward. Observe, too, his considerate way, in that he saith not, "Did Paul make the world? did Paul from nothing produce you into being?" But only those things which belonged as choice treasures to the faithful, and were regarded with great solicitude - those he specifies, the Cross, and Baptism, and the blessings following on these. For the loving-kindness of God towards men is shewn by the creation of the world also: in nothing, however, so much as by the condescension through the Cross. And he said not, "did Paul die for you?" but, "was Paul crucified?" setting down also the kind of death. "Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?" Again, he saith not, "did Paul baptize you?" For he did baptize many: but this was not the question, by whom they had been baptized, but, into whose name they had been baptized! […]
By believing different things about Christ, the people have divided him. One person thought that Christ was a mere man, another that he was only God. One says that he was foretold by the prophets, while another denies it.Paul starts with himself, so that nobody …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, Is Christ divided, he gives the reason for this warning that there should be no schisms and contentions among them: first, on the part of baptism; secondly, on the part of doctrine (v. 17b). As to the first he does three …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Is Christ divided - Are not all the members still under one head? Was not he alone crucified for you all; and were ye not all baptized in his name? The glory of Christ then is not to be divided between him and his servants; neither is the unity of the body to be torn asunder, seeing Christ is one still.
Is Christ divided?....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Is Christ divided? - Paul, in this verse, proceeds to show the impropriety of their divisions and strifes. His general argument is, that Christ alone ought to be regarded as their head and leader, and that his claims, arising from his crucifixion, and acknowledged by their baptism, were so pre-eminent that they could not be divided, and the honors due to him should not be rendered to any other. The apostle, therefore, asks, with strong emphasis, whether Christ was to be regarded as divided?
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
This, which is true of Paul the founder of the Church of Corinth, holds equally good of Cephas and Apollos, who had not such a claim as Paul in the Corinthian Church. crucified . . . baptized--The cross claims us for Christ, as redeemed by Him; baptism, as dedicated to Him. in the name--rather, "into the name" (Ga 3:27), implying the incorporation involved in the idea of baptism.
Is Christ divided? - Can he be split into different sects and parties? Has he different and opposing systems? Or, is the Messiah to appear under different persons? Was Paul crucified for you? - As the Gospel proclaims salvation through the crucified only, has Paul poured out his blood as an atonement for you? This is impossible, and therefore your being called by my name is absurd; for his disciples you should be, alone, who has bought you by his blood. Were ye baptized in the name of Paul? - To be baptized in, or into the name of one, implied that the baptized was to be the disciple of him into whose name, religion, etc., he was baptized. As if he said: Did I ever attempt to set up a new religion, one founded on my own authority, and coming from myself? On the contrary, have I not preached Christ crucified for the sin of the world; and called upon all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, to believe on Him?
The words behind it
14 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| μεμέρισται | memeristai | Has been divided | G3307 → | 14 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| Χριστός; | christos | Christ? | G5547 → | 523 times |
| μὴ | me | Surely not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| Παῦλος | paulos | Paul | G3972 → | 158 times |
| ἐσταυρώθη | estaurothe | was crucified | G4717 → | 46 times |
| ὑπὲρ | huper | for | G5228 → | 155 times |
| ὑμῶν, | humon | you? | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἢ | e | Or | G2228 → | 342 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄνομα | onoma | name | G3686 → | 227 times |
| Παύλου | paulou | of Paul | G3972 → | 158 times |
| ἐβαπτίσθητε; | ebaptisthete | were you baptized? | G907 → | 76 times |
μεμέρισταιHas been divided
memeristaiG3307 →14 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
Χριστός;Christ?
christosG5547 →523 times
μὴSurely not
meG3361 →1066 times
ΠαῦλοςPaul
paulosG3972 →158 times
ἐσταυρώθηwas crucified
estaurotheG4717 →46 times
ὑπὲρfor
huperG5228 →155 times
ὑμῶν,you?
humonG4771 →2973 times
ἢOr
eG2228 →342 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
ὄνομαname
onomaG3686 →227 times
Παύλουof Paul
paulouG3972 →158 times
ἐβαπτίσθητε;were you baptized?
ebaptistheteG907 →76 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 2:38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
it leads to
- Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 22:16
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’
- Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
- Luke 24:47
and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Acts 10:48
So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.
- Acts 8:12
Through
Acts 10:48So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.
it leads to
- Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 2:38
Through
Ephesians 4:5one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and…
- 1 Corinthians 8:6
Through
Acts 19:5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
it leads to
- Acts 8:16
For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 8:16
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 3; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.