Quarrelsomeness

The evil of quarrelling

James 4:1–2 See also Exodus 21:18–19; Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 13:10, Proverbs 15:18, Proverbs 20:3, Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 22:10, Proverbs 26:20–21, Proverbs 27:15–16, Proverbs 30:33; 2 Timothy 2:23

What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.

Quarrelsomeness is unfitting for God's people

1 Corinthians 3:3; 1 Timothy 3:2–3 See also Proverbs 17:19; Isaiah 58:4; Romans 13:12–14; 2 Corinthians 12:20; 1 Timothy 6:3–5; 2 Timothy 2:14, 2 Timothy 2:23–24

for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not dependent on wine, not violent but gentle, peaceable, and free of the love of money.

Examples of quarrelsomeness

1 Corinthians 1:10–12 See also Genesis 13:7–8, Genesis 26:20–22; Exodus 17:1–7 NIV footnote at verse 7; Numbers 20:1–13 NIV footnote at verse 13; Deuteronomy 33:8; Psalm 95:8, Psalm 106:32; Mark 9:33–34 parallel Luke 9:46; Luke 22:24; Philippians 4:2–3

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.”