---
title: 1 Corinthians 1:12
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-1-12/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-1-12.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 1:12
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 1:12

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "What I mean is this, that each one of you says: 'I belong to Paul,' 'But I to Apollos,' 'But I to Cephas,' 'But I to Christ.'"

## JW Usage

JWs do not feature 1 Corinthians 1:12 prominently; when they do, it is typically as a warning against personal favouritism among congregational figures (do not become a follower of any particular brother). The verse is read against the JW's own institutional unity — the worldwide brotherhood under one Governing Body is presented as the antidote to the kind of factionalism Paul rebukes here. The sting of Paul's "I belong to Christ" group, however — which Paul also rebukes — is rarely addressed.

## Protestant Usage

Paul's rebuke is sharper than it first appears: he condemns even the party that says "I belong to Christ" — because that group was using Christ's name as a tribal banner, not as the universal allegiance every believer owes. Paul follows up at verse 17 by saying he was glad he had baptised almost no one, precisely so that no one could claim baptism into his name. On the doorstep, this verse is the pickaxe under the 1985 baptism question change. Paul refused to let baptism become a tribal marker for himself; the 1985 Watchtower added a question that explicitly identifies the candidate "as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organisation". Paul's instinct ran the opposite direction. Pair with Acts 8:36-38 (the Ethiopian's baptism — one question, about Christ), Romans 6:3 (baptised into Christ Jesus), and Galatians 3:27 (put on Christ). Christian baptism is into a person, not a corporation.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Baptism Vow to the Organisation — The 1985 Question Change](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/baptism-vow-to-organisation.md) — Watchtower 1985 June 1 vs Acts 8:36-38 [Authority]