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Mention various factors which caused disunity in the early church and what possible solutions were offered by Paul.

      

Mention various factors which caused disunity in the early church and what possible solutions were
offered by Paul.

  

Answers


joseph
i. Distribution of food: Greek speaking Jews (Hellemst) complained that during
distribution of food their widows were being discriminated because they were not pure Jews.
Solution: Paul appointed seven deacons to be responsible for the distribution of food so that
everybody was cartered for.

ii. Leadership: Some claimed to be followers of Apollos who was a theologian, others followers
of Peter, others followed Paul because he was the founder of the church at Corrinth.
Paul was unhappy with these divisions and he adviced them to be united since the church is led by the
power of the holy spirit. It was not the cleverness of the preacher that mattered, but all preached
about Jesus who suffered and had been crucified. The personalities they rallied behind were
messengers of God. Christ died for everybody. The should avoid dividing Christ into groups.

iii. Idolatry: Some Christians were eating meat offered to idols. These were the ones who had strong
faith and knew idols were powerless such actions misled others who were weak in faith. Paul that
enlightened Christians were free to buy and eat meat offered to idols but for the sake of weak
Christians they were to refrain from the practice lest they led the weak ones astray.
- He advised Christians to keep away from idol worship so as to avoid being joined to the actual idol.

iv Spiritual gifts: Some Christians thought speaking in tongues was great gift and started boasting about
it, this made other believers with other gifts to dry and prove there was the best and this created
disunity among the Christians.
Solution: Paul discouraged them from boasting and reminded them that all these gifts come from
God and were to be used for strengthening the church and the common good of believers. He urged
them to aspire for the greatest gift of all which is love.

v. Lords Supper:
Christians in corinth grouped themselves according to their status in society hence an abuse to the
Lords supper.
- The rich ate plenty of food and got drunk while the poor watched. This made the Lords supper
loose its meaning and were concentrating more on social status.
- Purpose of Lords supper was for all to come together as believers to share the Lords supper.
- It reminded them of great love Jesus had for them by dying on the cross.
Solution: They were to approach Lords supper with honour and respect in order to avoid Gods
judgement.

vi. Resurrection of the body: Some believed in resurrection of the body while others doubted it and it
created different feelings among them.
- Paul confirmed the resurrection of the body as proved by the fact that Jesus rose from the dead and
appeared to his disciples.
joseph rimiru answered the question on January 10, 2018 at 19:46


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