Perfectly Joined

by Derek Gitsham

"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all speak the same thing, and that there
be no divisions among you, but that you be
perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment." --- 1 Corinthians 1:10


Upon first glance at this verse one would
question Paul. Could it be possible for any
group of believers to live and dwell together
without contentions and divisions? To Paul the
answer is definitely in the affirmative. It is
possible. However, there were divisions in existence
in the Corinthian church, and because of them,
erroneous teachings were beginning
to creep in.

Later in the first Epistle, Paul addresses the
issue and goes straight to the point in chapter 3:1-3.
He tells them they are not spiritual but carnal, even
babes in Christ. He says of them, in verse three, that
they were carnal, because there was envying, and strife,
and divisions, “Are you not carnal and walk as men?”

Paul talks of carnality in the Romans Epistle calling
it, “enmity against God.” In other words it was against
God. Divisiveness is a spiritual thing. Paul says we
have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Ministry
is a life not a pulpit function. Every one of us is
ministering something. It is either divisiveness or
reconciliation, depending on what God has been able to
do in our hearts. Carnality is a fleshy thing.

Again Paul says that if we ‘live after the flesh we shall
die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify (destroy by
neglect) the deeds of the body, you shall live’ (Romans 8:13).
We need to be conscious of things in ourselves that are
divisive, take them to the Lord and pray that we might be
perfectly joined to those we are not naturally one with.
Paul believed it, God expects us to work it out in ourselves.
Whatever is separating us from our brethren we must lay on
the altar, and see God change us in the process. The fault
is not in my brother, it is in me. Be perfectly joined
together.