The Absurdity of Such Talk Exposed (1 Corinthians 1:13–16)

1 Cor. 1:13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

These questions alone were enough to demolish the gossamer web of the Corinthian wise men: “The Apostle does not prove, but only poses a question, as a sign of the obvious absurdity contained in it” (Saint Chrysostom). “Is Christ divided?” Christ is the sole head of the Church; and the Church is one body under the head Christ. How then have you made yourselves so many heads? How, by doing this, does the body of the Church remain one, when it is placed under different heads? “This means you have divided Christ and torn apart His body” (Saint Chrysostom). Saint Chrysostom adds further: “some find here also this thought: did Christ tear apart and divide the Church among men, taking one part to Himself and giving another part to them?”

By saying this, the Apostle meant that we are all united under the one Christ the Lord, and therefore it is absurd to choose a man as your head. He now wants to say that all spiritual blessings we receive directly from Him. And therefore it is absurd to cling so to men and as it were to expect everything from them. He died for us, and we, through holy baptism entering into communion with His death, receive remission of sins and exchange the old life for the new life of grace. At this very moment we become Christians. He need only have said: how have you all forgotten this? But Saint Paul expresses all this more forcefully and movingly through questions: “was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Blessed Theodoret represents the thought of the Apostle hidden here in this way: “Was it not He alone who accepted death for all of you? Was it not in His name that you received the grace of baptism? Did the calling upon human names give you the remission of sins?” But the contrast in the Apostle’s word is striking. He had to startle everyone with a contradiction to their empty opinions and the first foundations of faith in Christ the Lord. They could not afterward fail to say to themselves: how did this simple thought not occur to us in our empty disputes. Now it is clear as day how unfounded our reasoning is. The enlightenment flowing from this was meant to be complete. Saint Paul spoke no more about this. “It is clearly proven that the honor which the Corinthians paid to their teachers could belong to no one but the Lord” (Saint Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 1:14. I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius.

He thanks God that he did not baptize, not because he considered baptizing to be unimportant or esteemed the power of baptism lightly, but because by this he was saved from innocently giving any occasion for division or the strengthening of the opinions that divided the believers there. It must be supposed that among the causes why someone chose one person as their head in preference to another, was also the fact that they were baptized by him. If, even when the Apostle baptized almost no one, a party was formed that considered him their head, what would it have been if he had baptized all those he had converted. He thanks God that he did not baptize, and by doing this gave no one occasion to turn his attention away from Christ the Lord. He brought all to the Lord, and rejoiced whenever someone could say like him: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Seeing that those baptized held those who baptized them closer to themselves than the Lord in whose name they were baptized, he thanks God that he has no part in this direction of minds, which displeases the Lord. If it were so, he says as it were, then my grief and the pain of my heart would have no end, because, although without fault, I would have been the cause that someone held him closer to his attention than the Lord. The language of the Apostle is moved by his immeasurable love for the Lord. By this he gives all such a lesson: “Do not tell me who baptized you, but in whose name? It is not important who baptized, but whose name is invoked in baptism, for this One forgives sins. Baptism is important, but this importance is conveyed to it not by the one baptizing, but by the One invoked in baptism. The performance of baptism means nothing with respect to human labor; but in itself is so important that without it it is impossible to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven. But such is its power not from the one who baptizes, but in the name of Whom baptism is performed” (Saint Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 1:15. Lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name.

He anticipates an even greater misfortune. If, he says, when I baptized almost no one, you formed a party under my name, then, if I had baptized all, perhaps some would proclaim that I baptized in my own name, and out of you, having gathered yourselves under my name, a new party would be formed, those considering themselves baptized in my name. I, he says, consider this possible, and “I fear lest the sickness should reach such a degree” (Saint Chrysostom). For after those empty opinions which have divided you, anything is possible from you. To baptize in one’s own name means to set oneself up as a god and savior for someone. From the Greeks this was very much to be expected. In one place people even considered Saint Paul a god in the form of a man, and it took him great effort to convince them that he was an ordinary man. Why should we not expect something similar from the Corinthians, when they have already shown no small frivolity? And Saint Paul says: Glory to God that I baptized no one. See what else could have happened!

1 Cor. 1:16. I baptized also the household of Stephanas; otherwise, I do not know whether I baptized any other.

The Apostle enumerated by name all those he baptized. Crispus was the ruler of the synagogue and was the first to believe in the Lord with his whole household; following his example, many others believed and were baptized, as soon as Saint Paul, abandoning the Jews, began to teach in the house of Justus (Acts 18:8). In the Apostolic Constitutions it is said that this Crispus was later appointed bishop of Egypt (book 7, chapter 46). Gaius, at whose house Saint Paul stayed when, after this epistle, he came to Corinth. From his house the Apostle wrote the epistle to the Romans and sent greetings from him: “Gaius, my host and the host of the whole church, greets you” (Rom. 16:23). “The host of the whole church” suggests the thought that all believers, from whatever country they came, when they arrived in Corinth found shelter in his house. Saint Dimitry of Rostov thinks that he was later a bishop in Ephesus. Concerning the “household of Stephanas,” Saint Paul writes at the end of this epistle that this was the firstfruits of Achaia, that is, the people of this household were the first of the Achaians who devoted themselves to the service of the saints, to help forward the Gospel and to labor together with those laboring in this work. Stephanas himself was sent now together with Fortunatus and Achaicus to Saint Paul with a letter from the Corinthians, to which he answers below (1 Cor. 16:15–17). These are all, he says, those baptized by me. Whether I baptized anyone else, I do not know. The mode of speech means a complete negation. It means: I baptized no one else. I was not concerned with baptizing. “I did not strive to gain honor from the people by such a deed” (Saint Chrysostom). My helpers performed this, and even those first converted and baptized. It is certain that not all the Corinthians were carried away by the crowds of the vainly wise, and the people pointed out by the Apostle, baptized by him, did not belong to their circle. Pointing to them, he as it were says: behold, these, baptized by me, do not consider me their head; why then have you, the rest, fallen into such a disease of mind and remain in it? Come to your senses; follow in the footsteps of these. That this thought is fitting is shown by the words of the Apostle at the end of the epistle about the household of Stephanas: “obey such as these” (1 Cor. 16:16). And for thanksgiving this thought is more directly suitable: glory to God that I baptized almost no one; and those whom I baptized are well, and not only well, but they will serve to bring others to their senses.