John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 3:4

"For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men?" — 1 Corinthians 3:4 (ASV)

For while one saith He now specifies the particular kind of contentions, and he does this by speaking as the Corinthians, so that his description may have more force—that each one took pride in his particular master, as though Christ were not the one Master of all (Matthew 23:8). Now, where such ambition still prevails, the gospel has little or no success. You are not, however, to understand that they declared this openly in express words, but the Apostle rebukes those depraved dispositions to which they had yielded. At the same time, it is likely that, since a predilection arising from ambition is usually accompanied by empty talkativeness, they openly revealed through their words the absurd bias of their minds, extolling their teachers to the skies in magnificent terms while simultaneously showing contempt for Paul and those like him.