I’ve started re-reading back through 1 Corinthians again, and I have to stop again and think about this verse:

1 Corinthians 1:10 – Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

I understand that there must be divisions between religious faiths that differ in their teaching about Jesus. We can never be united with those who deny who He is, the Son of God, and what He did on the cross. But why are there so many different “Christian” denominations – faith families that claim allegiance to Jesus, yet preach and teach vastly different interpretations and applications of scripture?

According to Paul’s instructions to the believers in Corinth, those who are in Christ ought not to have divisions but be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

The key must be in understanding those two words: mind and judgment. If we are “made complete” in these two areas, then we will be united. Let’s look at the first one.

I found three different Greek words that are translated as “mind” in the New Testament. In this verse, Paul uses nous, a noun that is defined as:

• the mind, comprising alike the faculties of perceiving and understanding and those of feeling, judging, determining;
• the intellectual faculty, the understanding;
• reason in the narrower sense, as the capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing goodness and of hating evil.
• the power of considering and judging soberly, calmly and impartially,
• or a particular mode of thinking and judging, i.e thoughts, feelings, purposes, desires.

Looking at the use of this noun in other scriptures helps us understand the kind of unity Paul is describing.

1 Corinthians 2:16 – For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 4:17-24 – So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Luke 24:45 – Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

From these scriptures, we see that we are given the mind of Christ at salvation when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us, but we all have the responsibility of learning to use that mind. We can either set our minds on the Spirit or the flesh (Romans 8). Learning to think the thoughts of Christ requires submission, allowing Him to transform our minds. It necessitates renouncing our old thinking (the futility of our fleshly, natural mind) and surrendering to the renewing of our minds. This happens as God’s Word changes our thinking to be in line with His.

The second word, judgment, also connects to our thinking.

The Greek word is gnome. It’s connected with ginosko (to know, perceive). It’s a noun, meaning the faculty of knowledge, mind, reason – that which is thought or known, one’s mind. It is used to describe one’s view, judgment, or opinion, one’s mind concerning what ought to be done, resolve purpose, intention; judgment, advice, decree.

MacArthur observes that “mind” is internal, while “judgment” is external.

Unity among believers comes when our internal thoughts and understanding line up with scripture, thereby affecting our external judgment in every circumstance, issue, and conclusion about acceptable behavior.

A resistance or unwillingness to accept the understanding and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, but a desire to dictate to God our opinions, despite what He clearly says, reveals that we are still operating by futile, depraved thinking.

1 Timothy 6:3-5 – If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

2 Timothy 3:1-8 – But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 

Division and separation are inevitable when we revert to human thinking, setting aside the infallible authority of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s work of convicting us all of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

What does it mean to be “made complete” in the same mind and in the same judgment?

The phrase “made complete” is from the Greek word katartizō, meaning to render fit, sound, complete; to mend what has been broken; to fit out, put in order, arrange; and to strengthen, perfect, complete, make one what he ought to be. The KJV translates this word as “perfectly joined together.”

What a beautiful picture. As we all adjust our opinions and thoughts to God’s Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten us as to its application in our lives, the body of Christ will be perfectly joined together.

Unity is found only in the Holy Spirit, as He enables our redeemed hearts and minds to accept and understand the mind of Christ. If we all serve the same Savior and are all indwelled by the same Holy Spirit, there can be unity, but only in the name of Jesus, under the authority of His Word.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of denominations. The New Testament church was a lot simpler in its structure, and far more focused on its mission. Study the Word, pray for one another, spend time with each other, celebrate and remember the cross, share the gospel with everyone, and meet one another’s needs. Perhaps if we got back to the basics, we truly could be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.