Note: This is a handout for a systematic theology class I teach. |
| Theology - An Introduction | |
| By Pastor Brett Peterson |
PowerPoint's for the class:
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten
|
|
Theology. A
word most Christians consider to be simply the academic ramblings of grey headed
men from antiquity. They think of
debate and division. Yet, as we grow
in our knowledge of the Lord, our hearts yearn for more.
To know God. Further, to be
known by Him! The systematic study
of Theology is something every believer must do.
I believe this book will serve as a compass for your own study of God’s
Word, and the great doctrines that form your belief system.
This is truly a Biblical-Systematic Theology!
Strong said, “I believe these truths are science as
well as truths of revelation; that the supernatural will yet be seen to be most
truly natural; and that not the open-minded theologian, but the narrow-minded
scientist will be obliged to hide his head at Christ
’s coming.”
Augustus Hopkins Strong, D.D., LL. D.
Through exegetical study of God
’s Word, we will
develope the framework for a systematic theology that will be your foundation
for a Biblical
belief system.
If you are
reading this, today begins your season of discovering God in a deeper, richer
way. The study of Theology can be
the most rewarding study you will ever do.
The
steps you take today and the decisions you make set the course for the rest of
your life. We have all heard advice
like this since the time we started grade school.
“This will go on your permanent record.”
The good news is that you can change the course of the rest of your life
today – you can start right now. You
can drift with the tide or raise your sails and start living the life God
created you to live! Unfortunatly,
many Christians are still drifting. The
study of theology will help them recognize sound doctrine.
Eph
4:14
says, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and
there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of
men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming”
This
study will build your faith. We are
told in Ephesians
2:19-20
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow
citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,
(20)
having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus Himself being the corner stone,”
There are no guarantees in life, but there is faith.
You have a choice as to what course you will take.
This book will help you discover the narrow path that leads
to abundant life in Jesus Christ, and the absolute truth you can
find in His Word.
Many have diverted from sound doctrine, so it is imparitive that a new
generation of Bible scholars arise and contend for the faith!
We are told in Timothy;
2Ti
4:3
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting
to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in
accordance to their own desires”
We need good theologians, who study God’s Word, and stay on
the narrow road of discovering truth! I
pray that this will be just the beginning of a lifetime of study, and that
through it all you learn how to ‘Stay the course’.
“When
I talk about ‘staying the course’, I’m talking about living life to its
fullest – celebrating each moment as the wind of God’s Spirit drives you on
– it is adventure – it is discovery, it is experiencing the joy that God
created you to live in. This book
will help you trim your sails, get your life on course, and discover the
contentment of living in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ!”
There is nothing more awesome than a fine tuned sailing yacht
traversing the stormy ocean, driven by the wind, able to withstand the perils of
the sea. I lived on a sailboat for
two years and raced sailboats for over 8 years.
During that time, out there on the unforgiving ocean,
I learned the importance of staying on course.
Your have to constantly check your compass and trim your sails in order
to keep moving in the right direction. Inevitably,
the ocean currents and the swells slowly take you off course – so you trim
your sails and adjust the helm to compensate.
Are you on course today? Or
is it time to adjust your sails and get yourself back on track?
The systematic study of Biblical Theology is the best way to become
grounded in your beliefs and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
God.
Life is a lot like a sailboat race.
You do your best with the boat and the sails, but ultimately you rely on
the wind to bring you home. The word
in the Bible for ‘Spirit’ is the
same word for ‘wind’. In life
you do your best, but only God’s Spirit can bring you home.
Without Jesus in your life, you simply drift with the current of popular
thought, going no where fast. When
you allow Jesus to take the helm of your life, and His Spirit fills your sails,
you begin to sail through life on a course destined to bring you contentment and
peace.
Many people today have everything they need, and yet they
still do not have peace. Their
marriage is on the rocks, their children are in trouble, and the stress of their
job is too much to bear. Even more
devestating than that, their Theology is based upon church tradition or man’s
ideas rather than the Word of God. The
Bible contains the keys to turning your life around and getting your theology in
line with what God intended us to know.
“…fight the good
fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and
suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.” I Timothy 1:18b
& 19
God taught me what it means to keep the faith (in Jesus) and
a good conscience (by doing your best with what God has given you).
If you have all faith but your life is not on the course, you will suffer
shipwreck. If you do all these great
religious works and have a clear conscience, but lack faith, you will end up on
the rocks. We need both to be
successful and experience abundant life in Christ.
Jesus said
in John 10:10
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and
destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly.
It is in knowing God that you truly
become ‘born again’ and experience life.
The best place to get to know God is by studying His revelation of
Himself – the Bible & creation.
The Bible is the
only religious book that has been authenticated by over 20,000 manuscripts and
prophecy that was WORD for WORD fulfilled! It
is a foundation for the only true belief system.
2 Timothy
As
we ‘keep the faith’ we must consider our task – it is beyond simply
‘having’ faith. It suggests that
we ‘guard the faith’.
1Ti
6:20
“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and
empty chatter and the opposing arguments
of what is falsely called "knowledge"—
How
can we guard what we don’t understand? How
can we understand if we don’t study? We
are compelled to study God’s Word. We
are driven to study theology!
The study of Theology is the
scientific process of experiencing God through the written revelation in His
Word, and the natural expression of Himself in the universe.
It is a great journey, and I pray this book will establish the absolute
Truth revealed in scripture in your heart and mind so powerfully that you begin
to make a stand for that truth. That
you begin to make an impact on the world through your diligence to know God and
make Him known!
Be blessed as you seek and serve
our Lord,
Pastor Brett Peterson
President,
Senior Pastor, Living Water
Fellowship
http://living-water-fellowship.org
Theology then is the study of God and how He relates to the
universe. It is the scientific
pursuit of understanding God. It is
the exploration of God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible (divine) and our
experience (natural). Theology has been referred to as "fides quaerens
intellectum" or "faith seeking understanding."
The foundation for developing a sound theology is the
absolute truth contained in the Bible. It
requires a hermeneutic that allows the theologian to extract Biblical truth
without inserting his own feeling/beliefs into that truth.
‘Hermeneutics’ can be defined as a scientific method of interpreting
scripture. It leads to ‘rightly
dividing’ or ‘dissecting’ the truths in scripture.
I will give you a method of hermeneutical study near the end of the
introduction.
OUR APRIORI:
Our ‘apriori’ is what we believe before we study something.
It is the filter we use to analyze any new truth.
A presupposition is to suppose beforehand.
Something which you presume to be true before you begin a study.
For example, the evolutionist presupposes that the Biblical
account
of creation is false. His apriori is
that man has evolved through countless adaptations and slow genetic changes. He
looks at creation as myth.
Our presupisition is that the Bible
is God
’s Inspired Word.
We will discuss this at length in the chapter on ‘Bibliology’.
Our apriori becomes our dogma – something held as established fact we
can hold to with certainty. Within
the Christian ‘dogma’ is the facts that God is manifest in the Father, the
Son (who is also the Messiah), and the Holy Spirit.
To study theology we must believe
that the human mind can comprehend the truths about God revealed in scripture.
We can never know God in His infinite totality, but we can know what He
has revealed about Himself. As we
understand the truth, it gives us
the tools to recognize falsehood and contend against it.
Theology
will
provide you the tools to combat the two biggest enemies of truth:
First being human philosophy, and second, false religion.
Col 2:8 - Beware lest any one cheat you through
philosophy or empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the
basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ
.
Human Philosophy and humanistic / postmodern
thought. We must remember;
“Finitum non capax infiniti.” That is to say, the
finite is not capable of the infinite.
Finite man is incapable of understanding God without God first revealing
Himself.
Every attempt to understand God that grows from man’s
limited intellect leads to humanistic philosophy or false religion.
It leads to a man made belief system that lacks any real insight.
2 Tim 3:5 - having the form of Godliness, but
denying it's power, from such people turn away.
False religions. We
need to know the truth to recogognize error!
When we know the truth, we are set free to worship God
in
Spirit
and
in truth!
1 John 5:6 ¶ This is he that came by water and blood, even
Jesus
Christ
; not by water only, but by
water and blood. And it is the Spirit
that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
Theology
is
discovering truth - true scientific method is discovering truth.
Here are some verses relating to Spirit and Truth;
John 14:6 Jesus
saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me.
John
John
John 16:7 ¶ Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is
expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Theology is the science of studying
God and how He relates to His creation. Some
feel that calling theology ‘science’ is an oxymoron; however, they are
unaware that modern science is the child of theologians.
Yes, science began as the endeavor to discover God in His creation.
Science is a wonderful thing – in
studying science one get a glimpse of the very finger print of God
as
He established universal laws governing the physical universe, and
spiritual laws controling the spiritual realm.
In the study of science we can see the wonderfully complex mechanisms of
creation. Theology
used
to be one of the sciences – but,
even as the 2nd law of thermodynamics states everything goes from
order to disorder, so science has gone from embracing the truth to believing a
lie. The study of Theology is the
study of God and His revelation of Himself.
Thiessen states, "Until rather
recent times Theology
was
considered the queen of the sciences and Systematic Theology the crown of the
queen. But today the generality of
so-called theological scholarship denies that it is a science and certainly the
idea that it is the queen of the sciences."[1]
When we think of science, what
comes to mind? Physics, experiments,
astronomy, chemestry, biology, etc. Science
discovers principals that can be repeated and thus proven as fact.
Science is the study of established
laws and provable facts. It also is
the seeking of new laws and facts that can help mankind progress.
Absolute truth in Science, at
it’s core, is God
.
The God who created all things and holds them together by His mighty
hand! This is the study we are about
to embark on!
Mankind has left this truth to
embrace secular humanism and foolish ideas.
Galilio, the faither of modern
science called God
the
‘divine geometer of the universe, the mathematizing source and goal of all
relationships.’[2]
Galilio once
developed a theory of relativity based upon this example:
A boat is sailing
at 10 knotts, and the captain is walking on the deck walking in the direction
the boat is traveling at 2 knotts. Galilio
used this to establish his theory of relativity.
You must have a fixed point of reference to establish any truth.
I add this to this
example: The boat is the world, the ocean is the universe, and the captain is a
man. If another man is sitting on the deck of the boat, his perception is that
the captain is walking by him at 2 knotts an hour. From shore, the captain is
walking 12 knotts - the 10 the boat is going and the 2 he is going.
From a boat
drifting in the current flowing 2 knotts in the same direction of the other
boat, the captain appears to be traveling 10 knotts and the boat 8 knotts. Which
one is right? In mans thinking all are right, but from an absolute fixed point
of reference all are wrong. From this absolute fixed point of reference the boat
is actually traveling 12 knotts (10 plus the 2 knotts for the current), and the
captain is actually traveling 14 knotts (10 + 2 +2).
Therefore, as
individuals on the boat, we need a perspective outside our own space and time
domain to give us ultimate truth - this is where God steps in and inspires 40
scribes to write the Bible - it is God's revelation of ultimate truth from His
fixed point of reference - it is the only truth - and it is completely accurate.
(I could have included the rotation of the earth and the spin of our Galaxy but
there is no need to do that for this example).
Other religions
say we are only going 10 knotts, science says we are only traveling 2 knotts,
and absolute truth says we are going 14 knotts.
Which one is right? Of course the fixed point of
reference has the only ability to measure truth. God did this in the Bible –
our source of absolute Truth and the basis of any systematic theology.
An exert from my personal log while
I lived on the sailing yacht ‘Salvation II’…
“There is nothing more exciting than the start of a Regatta (a
sailboat race). You have 30 or more
boats all maneuvering for position – to cross the starting line right as the
gun goes off. You are pushing your
boat to the limit – and so is everyone else.
This is my first race, and the start was totally extreme!
I almost hit several boats – and several almost hit me.
I was tacking at full speed every 30 seconds – the time was counting
down for the start. I started for
the line, adjusting the sails to slow down and speed up – trying to get there
in perfect harmony with the starters gun. This
was an e-ticket ride – 5 seconds left, I trimmed for speed and went for the
line. If I was even a split second
early I would have to do a complete circle before starting the race.
I heard the gun, and to my surprise we crossed the line just after it
sounded – a perfect start!”
You can’t start this study
without knowing Jesus Christ as Lord. Without
believing in the absolute truth contained in the Bible!
–
The premise is simple: Reason is subordinated to Scripture,
yet faith is reasonable.
1Co
–
Truth is ascertained through the enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit.
When you believe in Jesus, and your
eyes are opened to the wonderful truth about who He is, you are filled with
excitement and anticipation. You
then realize that there is a God who loves you and desires to know you – that
He protected you your whole life, and knew you would choose to follow Him on
this day. However, many people are
not open to this truth. They refuse
to examine the Bible or consider the existence of God.
They have embraced an apriori based on two philosophical systems of
thought that, when you consider them, are almost intellectual suicide.
The two philosophies that have
influenced thought and religion today are postmodernism (the idea that there is
no absolute truth) and the idea that order can evolve from chaos.
This new philosophical system of
thought actually goes beyond postmodernism and the theory of evolution – it is
now based mainly on your experience. It
is a merging of science and self directed thought.
It is a neo-experientialism. What
is experientialism? The thought that
experience, either that of ourselves or of others, is the test or criterion of
general knowledge or truth.
Neo-experientialism is what I
am
calling the post-postmodern philosophy or postdecostructionalism.
This philosophy believes there are no absolutes nor are there any laws
except logic. Nothing beyond
personal experience is knowable. It
has the idea that everything is conceptual and fabricated according to your own
experience – and reality is only the experience of the moment.
Even past experience is beyond the knowable and is to be questioned
because it exists only in the imagination and is therefore not reality.
This philosophical thought is
influenced heavily by what I
will
call the ‘internet
generation’.
The idea is that everything on the Internet is conceptual and not real.
It is a cyber world made up in the minds of the users – a basic
assumption in neo-experientialism.
I’ve always been a thrill seeker
– an adventurer. But there is no
greater adventure that being a Christian and becoming a Theologian!
You may be thinking, how do you know?
Well, I have had my share of adventure.
I used to be an extreme backpacker. Every chance we had, my two best
friends and I would drive to the Sierras and pack in to some secluded lake or
pristine river. I would drink in the thrill of being alone in God's country,
most of the time at least a three day's walk to the nearest road.
When you're out there so far from
everything you have learned to depend on, like a store to buy whatever you need,
or the knowledge that if you broke a leg or hurt yourself you could be at a
hospital within a few minutes, you begin to understand what it is like to be
totally self dependent for everything you need to survive. A very wise man once
said there are no atheists at sea, and I finally understood what he meant - when
you have to be self reliant to survive, you realize how limited you really are
and how much you need God at the helm of your life leading, guiding, and
providing for you all things pertaining to life and Godliness. The realization
that I was a three day journey from the nearest road, and then at least an hour
drive to the nearest small mountain community would overwhelm me at times,
usually late in the afternoon after a day filled with fishing, rock climbing,
carving a walking stick, or just laying in the sun allowing the balm of the
wilderness to free my mind. As the sun would begin to hide itself behind a
distant ridge, I would realize I wasn't in a camp ground, I was in the untamed
wilderness, far away from anything remotely resembling life in modernized
My favorite day dreams were those
concerning the great wilderness I was in, for even though time goes on and
people change, the wilderness does not. That big sequoia tree over there could
be the same one a mountain man rested under 100 years ago. Oh yes, out there I
could as well have been a Knight in some enchanted forest, 3 days walk from the
castle, or a mountain man in the mid 1800's out tracking bear, the only
difference at that moment in that place was the cloths on my back and the tent I
would sleep in. This is when a boy truly becomes a man - when a philosopher
truly understands mans place in the ecosystem of this world - when a poet
experiences the most glorious beauty and sense of wonder and contrasts that to
the sometimes hostile and bleak environment in which he dwells - and when a
theologian looks God in the face, through the majesty of His creation, and
praises Him for His workmanship. Up there, my mind assumed the role of each of
the afore mentioned individuals, and in each role I would come to the same
conclusion - God created man in a universe that seems to be endless, and God
created in man an imagination that is equally as immense, along with the
rational to know that and see Gods signature right there in our own thought
process and creativity as well as in the universe.
Romans 1:18-25 “for
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness
of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since that which is known
about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the
creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so
men are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as
God, or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their speculations and
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. “Professing to be wise, they
became fools, and exchanged the Glory of the incorruptible God, for images made
in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling
creatures. Because of this God gave them over to the sinful desires of their
hearts to sexual impurity, degrading their bodies with one another. They
exchanged the truth for a lie - and worshiped and served created things rather
than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.”
As part of the introduction to the
study of theology, we must talk about two things – true Christianity and
science. True Christianity to have a
starting point for our discussion. Science
to give us the roots of theology itself – for good theology is science.
There are many ideas about Christianity.
From being born in
Barna did a survey last year (2001), and found that on 152
items of lifestyle – there was no difference between those claiming to be
Christians and the society in general. More
recently, in a survey done early 2002, Barna found out that 86% of Americans
claim to be Christian. Of those, 76%
believe there are many ways to God. (no absolute truth).
Only 8% of those who claim to be Christian consider themselves
evangelical!
How are Christians depicted in the media?
Most often as unthinking, mystical, and socially inept.
Despite this, we need to;
(1Pe 2:12a)
“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles”
How do people know you’re a Christian?
Peter here tells us that our ‘behavior’, ultimately is what they
observe and judge. The word
‘behavior’, in the Greek, lit. means ‘way of living’.
It is much more than simply the way you behave. – It is your lifestyle.
I have an 9 year old son, who, when needed to, can behave very well.
He attends a college level class I teach, and he behaves
very appropriately in the class – he listens, takes notes, and even asks
relevant questions. However, this is
a learned behavior for him – it is
not his lifestyle.
He normally acts much like any other nine year old.
The point is, many people act
like Christians at church, but their way
of life is anything but Christian.
In order to define what a Christian is, we must first examine
what a Christian is not.
Many have a misunderstanding of what it means to be a
Christian’; I surveyed many people, and here are the top five categories of
stereotypical Christians:
1. A pious legalist
“Don’t drink,
don’t smoke, don’t dance, and keep away from all romance”
These are the somber, earning God’s blessings, judgmental,
type of Christians. They proclaim a
religion of do’s and don’ts.
They love to tell others about their piety.
They are very self righteous.
What does
the Bible say about them?
Mat 6:1-11 "Beware of
practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you
have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
(2) "So when you give to
the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say
to you, they have their reward in full. (3)
"But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, (4)
so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what
is done in secret will reward you.
Galatians 2: 16nevertheless
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in
Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified
by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the
Law no flesh will be justified.
Jesus talked about this
in a parable…
Luke 18:10-14 "Two
men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. (11)
"The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank
You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like
this tax collector. (12)
'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
(13) "But the tax
collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes
to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the
sinner!' (14)
"I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the
other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles
himself will be exalted."
True Christianity is not about rules or self righteous deeds.
It is about the grace and mercy of God.
It’s not about what you do, it’s all about what Jesus Christ did.
However, I should note that saving faith will produce a person who lives
a Godly life and practices righteous deeds.
The second stereotype:
2. The humble
introvert
These Christians seem to always hang their head, they never smile, often appear
weak, proclaiming “I’m humble &
proud of it!” Or “the battle is
hard, but I’m trying to perservere”. I
think we have some clear direction against this type of Christianity in
scripture. If you practice the
discipline of ‘fasting’, you know this would be the most likely time to hang
your head and appear pious. But we
are given this instruction;
Mat
We need to be humbe,
but not timid or pathetic.*True
humility is strength!
Jam
2Ti 1:7 For God
has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
True Humility is
meekness - -
Now that cuts against our grain.
We are raised learning pride, not meekness.
However, God blesses those who are meek:
(Mat
5:5)"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
(Jam 4:5&6)Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to
no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in
us"?(6)But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS
OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
So lets define meekness;
Meekness,
is a word (prah – oose) in the Greek, used for a wild horse which has been
tamed. ‘energy under control’
or focused living!
It is allowing God to direct your life!
Being ‘meek’ then is being entirely submitted to God.
(Jam 4:7)Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he
will flee from you.
The more meek we are,
the stronger we are!
Pride would say – “I did this – look at how great I am”
God does not bless this. And He will not use this person.
Humility/meekness
would say
– “God did this – look at how Great He is” – God will
Bless this, and will
use this person to do great things for His kingdom!
Humility then is submitting yourself totally to God, so that He receives the
glory for what He does in and through you! Macarthur
said, ‘If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all’
Let’s read these verses and instead of ‘humility’,
let’s say ‘submission to God’:
(Pro
(Pro
(Pro 22:4) The
reward of humility (submitting yourself to God) and the fear of the LORD
Are riches, honor and life.
(
As we submit to God, His plans and blessings are released in
our lives. His plans are better than
ours!
Jer 29:11 'For I
know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and
not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Isa 25:1 O LORD,
You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have
worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
(1Co 2:9)
but just as it is written, "THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT
SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."
The third stereotype;
3.
The zealous – ‘Street preacher’ type
These Christians are
fiery, loud, condemning, focusing on the bad news rather than the good.
They try to tell people about
Jesus like it’s bad news.
They have zeal, but lack love.
I Corinthians 13:
1If I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become
a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
We need to talk about
the Gospel – in love! ‘Gospel’
- literally means ‘good news’.
Act 13: (32) "And
we preach to you the good news of the
promise made to the fathers,
Gospel = John
Rom
We need to have zeal – but it needs to be tempered with
love.
The 4th
group is the most commen:
4. Someone who is a
church member
I’m a Christian – of course – I am a member of the
_____________Church.
I am of Luther, I am of the Baptist, John, I am of the Pope,
I am of Chuck Smith, etc.
1Co 1:10-13 Now I
exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree
and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the
same mind and in the same judgment. (11)
For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people,
that there are quarrels among you. (12)
Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of
Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and
"I of Christ." (13)
Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were
you baptized in the name of Paul?