"I Follow Cephas. I follow Apollos. I follow Christ. "

[MrMacSon]

And the verses preceding 1 Cor 1:12 show indications of 'divisions' among them: Paul is appealing for them to toe the line -

If you think of Paul's letters as a collection of beg letters from some itinerant peddler in religion, where he basically solicits donations for "the poor" (when I read "the poor" I always have to think of a story in my first English textbook, which had the title "the blind"), then you can imagine that he wants to try and keep his flock and the connected funds to himself and not lose them to some competing apostle. However, when the infighting gets too strong, the community (and the attached funds) is in danger of imploding, and in this case it's better to plead for unity.

I agree with you. I think there are competing belief systems involved.

[MrMacSon]

The sense is not that they all follow the same belief, Ulan, because it says there is division and that one person follows Peter, one follow, Apollos, and one follows Christ.

They are all part of the same community, so the general message is similar. There are divisions about details, and each apostle has their own pet theory. Anyway, the text is clear in one point, namely that they all follow Christ. They just differ about details.

I don't think that it's clear that they do follow the same Christ

[earlydude]

That's not clear at all, Ulan, because it says one follows one and another follows another. Surely, you at least recognise the earliest churchgoers could easily have got their gospels mixed up. Even if Jesus/Christ was the original one.

[Ulan]

The sense is not that they all follow the same belief, Ulan, because it says there is division and that one person follows Peter, one follow, Apollos, and one follows Christ.

They are all part of the same community, so the general message is similar. There are divisions about details, and each apostle has their own pet theory. Anyway, the text is clear in one point, namely that they all follow Christ. They just differ about details.

I don't think that it's clear that they do follow the same Christ

I think you have to separate your own theories about these things here from what the text says. You can speculate all you want about who Paul was, when he lived and what his real message was all day long, and I don't think you will find too many people who vehemently object to many of these thoughts here. However, I understood the question with regard to the text as written, and there I have to disagree, as the text in its current form implies that they all follow the same Christ. Otherwise the whole passage makes no sense.

[earlydude]

How does it imply that? The text says one person follows Cephas and still another person follows Christ.

If text said something like "One follow's Christ through Peter, one through Paul" etc. then it would imply they all follow the same Christ. But it doesn't.

[Ulan]

That's not clear at all, Ulan, because it says one follows one and another follows another. Surely, you at least recognise the earliest churchgoers could easily have got their gospels mixed up. Even if Jesus/Christ was the original one.

Please, read again my first post, which explains what these communities were all about and why you had about as many pet theories in these communities as there were people who dared to stand up during the meeting and utter them. At least that's what this letter (1Cor) says. They all had "Christ" speak through themselves. Those people who are said to "follow Christ" just listen to their own inner voice and not what one of the other big shots in the community wants to impress on them.That's all this text implies.

[earlydude]

And by that same token, some listen to the inner voice of "Cephas" or "Paul", no? Even if the Jesus/Christ message was the original one they heard.

[Ulan]

And by that same token, some listen to the inner voice of "Cephas" or "Paul", no? Even if the Jesus/Christ message was the original one they heard.

Paul says Christ lives in himself and speaks through him, in real-time. So does pretty much everyone else. For this to work, there has to be some implicit agreement about what this "Christ" is. Fortunately, the text makes this very clear.

[MrMacSon]

earlydude asked about

• 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

I think it means follow different preachers, and they represent different beliefs; or different preachers of different beliefs, possibly their own cults.

I also suggested it is worth considering that verse in light of preceding and following verses: that does not change my view - I think it strengthens it.

And I think these texts represent a time when there were different notions of Christ

[earlydude]

WEll, these Corinthians don't seem to say that. They seem to be saying that they listen to Paul/Apollos/Cephas instead. Compared to others in the Church who do have the correct (and original?) message of following Christ.