Bible Dictionaries
Faction

　　Among the works of the flesh are ἐριθεία is selfish intriguing for office (Aristotle, Pol. v. 2, 3), partisanship, party-spirit.

　　(1) Faction was rampant in the free cities of Greece. Personalities were frequently exalted above principles, and the public good was sacrificed to private ends. Men were partisans before they were patriots. The same spirit penetrated the Church. While St. Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, differing only in personal idiosyncrasies, preached essentially the same gospel, their names quickly became the party-cries of wrangling sects in the Corinthian Church. ‘There are contentions (διʼ έξ ἐριθείας), not purely or sincerely (