1 Corinthians 4:6

Memory Verse

Now these things, brethren, I have outwardly transferred unto myself and Apollos for your sake, in order that by us you should learn not to frame the mind above what is written, in order that one is not puffed up above another according to a different one (1 Corinthians 4:6).

Within the Corinthian assembly, the saints divided themselves according to the different men they chose to follow. Some were saying they belonged to Paul, while others were claiming to belong to Apollos (1 Corinthians 3:4). Paul calls them out for this fleshly framed mind. It is not man who adds, but God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). No one is to thoroughly deceive himself by attaching himself to a man as though what he has is from that man, for we are all Christ’s (1 Corinthians 3:23).

Divisions among Christians, especially concerning who they follow, come from a carnal frame of mind. This type of mindset cannot understand Spiritual things and thus will base its conclusion on emotions rather than what is logical (1 Corinthians 2:14). There are men who resonate with us better than others by the way they express the truth; however, that is not justification for causing divisions based upon who we follow. This type of teaching comes from false teachers who desire to exclude people to themselves (Galatians 4:16–17).

Just as Paul and Apollos are nothing, so is any other man. What makes us differ from each other? We are all in the Christ. We ought not to act as though the things we have come from ourselves (1 Corinthians 4:7). Instead, let us learn from Paul’s example to not put ourselves or any man above others in Christ.