Continuing on my with my series on refuting women leadership in the church, today I’m dealing with another passage of the New Testament which advocates of female leadership misuse to promote their ideas.

Liberals and revisionists use 1 Corinthians 1: 11 to claim that a 1st century woman named Chloe was a leader of a church that met in her house.

Paul writes,

“For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.” (NKJV)

That’s it! This tiny verse is used by revisionists as another pawn in their chess game to promote the tiny claims that women can be leaders and ministers in the Christian church. No such thing. This verse does not say that Chloe was in any kind of leadership. Let me show you why.

Paul is writing to the 1st century church at Corinth, this is an ancient city in Greece. Corinth was a place bustling with worldwide commerce and cultures. Religion played a huge role in that place and the church was full of problems, divisions and the difficulties of living in a pagan society. Chloe (or her family) had informed apostle Paul that things in church were not going so well. Immorality, and abuse of the Lord’s supper had been going on and people were mixing the practices of Corinthian culture with church practices. Paul sets them straight in this letter and he admonishes them and pleads that they “speak the same thing” and “that there be no divisions among” them (verse 10).

People had become proud and claimed that they were worthy of note because they were of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas or Christ (verse 12). These claims however were not related to doctrinal distinctions, since our Lord Jesus Christ, and saints Peter, Paul and Apollos all taught the same doctrines. No, the issue here was that people were claiming that they themselves were special because they were with Jesus during His lifetime or they personally knew Peter, or Paul, or Apollos. In verse 13 Paul refutes these claims and asked them a series of questions;

“Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you?

Or were you baptised in the name of Paul?”

Note that Paul does not bring Peter or Apollos into this section where he refers to crucifixion and baptism. This is because Paul himself rarely baptised anyone even though there were exceptions.

In verse 14 he says he did baptise “Crispus” and “Gaius” and didn’t baptise the others lest any of them claim that Paul baptised in his own name. Yet in verse 17 Paul makes it clear that Christ did not call him to baptise but to preach. Then in verse 16 he refers to his baptising of those from “the household of Stephanas” so he did baptise people on occasions. This brings us to an important section of the passage. By claiming that he baptised those of “the household of Stephanas” Paul is referencing a family here. The Greek refers to a family, a home. See (G3624). This sets the passage and verse 11 in the context of a family and brings us back to the verse in question, “For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.”

Here Paul is in no way referencing Chloe being a leader of any church. Paul is merely stating that either Chloe or her family have reported to him that arguments and contentions have been going on at church and Paul wants this to stop. Prideful contentions, worldly practices and divisions have no place in Christianity. The church should be a place of purity and holiness, not a place where people behave like the world and the culture around them. The people of God are supposed to be different. God in Christ has given His people righteousness and redemption, and for those who know the Scripture, we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2: 16). Because of this we do not need to conform ourselves to the culture of the day.

Once again we see another Scripture twisted and misused by preachers and pastors who manipulate the Scriptures to suit their own agendas and lead the masses away into false teaching and errors.

Please don’t listen to them, they will lead you astray.