The Number and Nature of Parties In 1 Corinthians 1-4

The Corinthian church had many issues, among which the dissensions, as can be seen from 1 Corinthians 1-4. There are several theories concerning these dissensions. Some say that there are clearly four parties in the church, according to the slogans in 1 Corinthians 1:12. Others, go to the other extreme and talk about just disagreements among the members of the church, but no real schisms. Between these two extremes are those who seek to make sense of the slogan of allegiance to Christ, the role of Apollos in the dissensions, and ultimately the issue that the Corinthians had with Paul. There is probably some truth in all these theories and most likely the reality was that the Corinthians had preferences among their teachers, of whom the centre of attention were Paul and Apollos, the distinction made between the two were most presumably based on who played better into Corinthians’ social expectations.