Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Schisms
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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1 Corinthians 11:18-19
Contrasting the unity that Christ died to establish is the division sown by the Adversary as part of his “divide and conquer” strategy. Paul writes of factions (or divisions) in relation to the members of the Corinthian church of God: For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions [schisma] among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions [hairesis] among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. (I Corinthians 11:18-19) In general, the nouns schisma and (to a lesser extent) hairesis receive pejorative treatment in the New Testament. The thrust of the apostle's comments on the topic of church factions is that they showcase the presence of human nature at work in Christians. Schisms are the result of carnality alive-and-kicking in the church. They emerge where God's people are not fully committed to living His way of life, where they deny God His rightful place as Sovereign Ruler of their lives. Axiomatically, the lack of unity in a congregation reflects a proportional lack of repentance on the part of its members. Paul introduces the concept of division, using the same Greek word as he does in I Corinthians 11:18, schisma, in the book's first chapter: I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions [schisma] among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. (I Corinthians 1:10-11) Quarreling is a manifestation of the unity-dissolving “friction or competition.”
Charles Whitaker
Unity and Division: The Blessing and the Curse (Part One)
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Ephesians 2:14-22
Paul is speaking about Jew and Gentile—two different ways of life—being brought together under the auspices of the work of reconciliation Jesus Christ Himself did. God and Christ began the process of reconciliation through Christ's sacrifice. They actually laid the groundwork a long time before that, but Christ's sacrifice got the ball rolling for the whole process. That sacrifice destroyed the enmity between God and man. It also destroyed the wall, division, or partition that separated men from other men. In Ephesians 2, Paul focuses on the division between Jew and Gentile, but it could also be black and white, man and woman, or slave and free. It could be whatever separates one person from another. Christ's sacrifice did the work to break down all those walls. Once we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, those human divisions—those demographics—mean nothing spiritually. Our demographic is now "Christian," follower of Christ, and the way of life that we live is Christian. It is not Jewish, not Gentile, not male, not female, not black, not white. Our life is Christ's life. Our identification is as His disciples or as God's children or His elect. So, those physical differences between us should fade into the background. They should fade away for all time once the resurrection comes—because we will then be fully spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ, all part of the same God Family. The way Paul phrases it in Ephesians 2:21-22 is that we are now part of the same building—"a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." God wants to live in us. We are now being built into one Temple, each of us a brick in its wall, so to speak. We are now all one Body. We are all cells in that one Body, that is, Jesus Christ's Body. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4, "There is one body." If there are disagreements between the cells of that one Body, then the Body is in danger of becoming divided. But the Body cannot be divided because it is one Body. That is why reconciliation between brethren is so essential! If reconciliation does not occur, then something will happen in that Body—and it is not good. One or the other, or both, will be ejected from the Body if it does not get resolved—because the Body cannot function properly with internal strife. The Body must grow together into unity! The middle section of Ephesians 4 speaks to this: "The whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies . . ." (verse 16). Thus, there cannot be schisms between true members of the true church. This is why it is so vital for brethren to be reconciled to one another: because it is crucial to the growth of the church that we learn to get along and to put these "things that offend" behind us. Perhaps now these often-read verses will have more meaning: John 15:11-13 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one that this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:17 "These things I command you, that you love one another."
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Cost of Reconciliation
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Ephesians 4:13
Perfect unity will not occur until we all believe and know, and therefore act, like our elder brother, Jesus Christ. This is why the ministry goes over the same territory Sabbath after Sabbath—because we have not reached perfect unity yet. We have by no means "come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God." We have not come "to a perfect man." We have not come "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," so the ministry keeps on preaching. It is its job, and if the preaching of it becomes trite, repetitive, boring—sorry, that is the ministry's job. Ministers have to keep going over it until the perfect man is produced in the body of Christ. We will probably never reach it in this life, so church members should get used to hearing the same old sermons every week. It is hoped that ministers can come at it from new angles, provide deeper knowledge, explain things in a little bit better way each time, and make it seem fresh and interesting. But God, who gave the ministry this goal, desires that we strive to attain it, and so the ministry, if it is going to be faithful, will keep on preaching because it is in everyone's best interest that it do so. We all want to be in God's Kingdom. It is obvious that the church has not reached perfect unity, and in fact, some of us have regressed in recent years. We can easily see this because, though Christ is not divided, the church is. We have schisms, and schisms are there to prove who is on His side. Paul says there must be schisms, factions, heresies, in the church because they expose, make manifest, those who are really following Christ (I Corinthians 11:19). The goal is that there be no divisions (I Corinthians 12:25), but Paul tells us that there will be, and that is the way God set up the church.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
It Takes a Church
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