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 I have rarely been disappointed by leaders in my church, if only because I never idolized them in the first place. Unfortunately, I’ve heard about other followers whose faith has been shaken by exposés of their leaders’ failings. Leaders are important. Leadership is a spiritual gift. But we followers need to be careful not to place our faith in leaders, rather than in Jesus Christ, their Leader and ours.

The Corinthians idolized their leaders. Some idolized Paul, others Apollos, and still others Peter (1 Cor. 1:12). They esteemed one of these men highly for his “wisdom” and “power” (two words that occur frequently in 1 Corinthians, and are likely Corinthian buzzwords). Then, they dissed the other two for their lack of the same qualities. The alternating esteem and disrespect led to division.

Paul corrected Corinthian division  by deflating Corinthian idols. In 1 Corinthians 1:13-17, he wrote:

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul deflationary strategy had three components.

First, he asked tough questions. Verse 13 asks three rhetorical questions, to which the answer is always, “No!” Christ is not divided. Paul was not crucified for you. You were not baptized into Paul’s name. These simple questions have obvious answers, which is why they’re so devastating. They reveal the heresy at the heart of Christian division.

Second, he narrowed his job description. Paul was not a savior. He was not even a baptizer, although he could do so in a pinch, as he himself admits. He was a preacher of the gospel. This was his job. Paul didn’t downplay the importance of baptism. He simply denied that it was his job. It was someone else’s job. By narrowing his job description and making room for someone else’s work, Paul helped create conditions of unity rather than division. In the church, members are peers in ministry, not competitors. They are all equal, precisely because  they have very different jobs to do.

Third, he pointed to Christ. Glorifying Christ is not one component of Paul’s strategy for replacing misplaced faith in Christian leaders. It is the entire strategy. It’s hard to idolize any Christian leader when you compare and contrast that person to Christ. Christ—especially Christ on the cross—is the locus of God’s wisdom and power. Christian leaders are either windows through which others see him, or doors that block the vision.

The more we look at Jesus Christ, the less we’ll look at leaders. The less they show us themselves, the more they’ll show us him.