Agree on Everything?

by Jonathan Lichtenwalter

As I have written elsewhere, I believe scripture is best viewed as a guide that leads us Christ, rather than as a rulebook to be uncritically applied to any and every context. I also am convinced that even the best of Christian traditions are full of failures and missteps. I believe that one of the core strengths of Christianity is the ability to change and adapt to ever-changing situations. If I am correct in these assumptions, then what do we do with this passage from Paul?

Now I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing and there not be divisions among you, and that you be made complete in the same mind and with the same purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10, LEB)

How can Paul say that we ought to all say "the same thing" and have no divisions if Christianity is able to tolerate and even thrive with difference? How can both be true? Does this passage prohibit variations of doctrine and practice in Christianity? As always, we should start with an exposition of the scripture in its context.

First, let's take a look at the context of 1 Corinthians 1:10. First Corinthians is a letter, a letter to a specific church, addressing specific problems in that church. Paul does mention things that perhaps ought to be taken in an objective or universal way, but when this happens it is incidental to the purpose of the book. The purpose is to address particular subjective problems in the Corinthian church, and this is how we ought to read it. Another aspect of reading First Corinthians as a letter is the acknowledgement that we are reading one side of the conversation, not both sides. In the NAB study Bible, it offers this description of 1 Corinthians and the problems Paul is addressing therein:

While Paul was in Ephesus on his third journey (1 Cor. 16:8; Acts 19:1-20), he received disquieting news about Corinth. The community there was displaying open factionalism, as certain members were identifying themselves exclusively with individual Christian leaders and interpreting Christian teaching as a superior wisdom for the initiated few (1:10, 4-21)... In the celebration of the Eucharist certain members discriminated against others, drank too freely at the agape, or fellowship, meal, and denied Christian social courtesies to the poor among the membership. (Notes on 1 Cor 11:17-22, NAB)

So the reason for Paul's statement that the Corinthian church "agree with another" is about division through following various personalities instead of uniting around discipleship to Christ. Ironically, taking this statement in a woodenly literal fashion leads us to do exactly the opposite of what Paul is insisting. When we must literally "agree on everything" we inevitably end up gathering around one leader's interpretation of Jesus' words rather than moving towards Jesus as a community with our different strengths and weaknesses.

Paul speaks to this same issue later in 1 Corinthians when he talks about food sacrificed to idols in chapter eight.  When it comes to eating the food in the meat market, Paul does not say that everyone must "agree" on whether eating meat sacrificed to idols is good or bad. Rather, he brings it back to the question of whether one is putting themselves first or last, if the optics of eating food sacrificed to idols will lead someone else to sin (1 Cor 8:4-13).

Later, he speaks to the importance of prioritizing love above being right. (1 Cor. 10:23-33). Paul lays out his own position that everything in the meat market can be eaten without raising questions of conscience (10:25), but he then says that if someone brings up that the meat was offered in sacrifice don't eat it for the sake of the other person's conscience (10:28-29).

In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul states that he considers the differences of those he interacts with and tailors his way of being to each situation. The statement "Agree on everything" then cannot be made to fit everyone into certain personalities, leanings, or uniformity. Unity is not the same thing as uniformity to Paul! And in 9:24-27, Paul uses sports images to talk about self-renunciation, and disciplining himself to consider the needs of others before himself. Paul's self-discipline is always others-centered, always for the sake of others and putting himself last.
In all this, it is the Corinthians’ self-centeredness that, in Paul's view, makes them overconfident about their own salvation (I Cor 10:1-13). Paul then brings his point back to how wide the "permissiveness" of the law is for Christians (10:23), but everyone should seek his brother's good.

In other words, the law of love is a better guide to Christian conduct than universal laws that are binding on all Christians for all time. So the goal of unity from 1 Corinthians 1:10 is unity-in-diversity rather than uniformity as we all aim towards the image of Christ.