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.”

We might be tempted to think that the party who said, “I follow Christ” got it right. After all, this is the believer’s true standing. We belong first and foremost to the Lord – to the Christ who bought us (see the next verse, and the end of chapter 6). We do not belong to any human leaders.

But commentators tend to see here a ‘super-spiritual’ group, who in their pride looked down on everyone else. Such super-spiritual thinking is a constant danger for Christians, local churches, movements and denominations: we believe we are better than others; that we have got it all right and correct, while others are wrong in so many ways. This is an ugly weed that can easily grow in the garden of a soul, and if we see it may God give us the grace to pluck it out before it spreads and chokes many other lovely flowers. We should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought, but with sober judgment (see Romans 12).

‘They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves, cannot be proud.’ John Flavel

Prayer: Lord, let me see my true self that I may repent of every manifestation of sinful pride. Help me pull those weeds out by the roots as soon as I see them.