A Purpose in Division

This may sound strange to you, but the division that exists within the Church is not necessarily bad. A certain degree of division is inevitable and even beneficial. Although divisive people are worthless, division itself is useful because it allows God to demonstrate who he approves!

… there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval (1 Corinthians 11:17-19).

You’ll notice God’s favor is stronger on certain groups than it is on others. That’s him showing his approval of the groups that please him. Just as Judah and Israel became two nations in the Old Testament, and God showed preference for Judah, so he shows his preference on certain groups today.

In particular, you can see how churches that preach the Bible grow and evangelize. Churches that do not stick to the Bible or allow for the movement of the Holy Spirit do not grow.

The Test of Time

As the Christian Church first caught the attention of Jewish leaders, it appeared to the Jewish leaders to be a splinter group, a sect. Observing the Christians, a wise Jewish leader named Gamaliel declared that the Jewish leaders, his colleagues, should allow the Christians to separate. He told them not to resist the new Christian movement. Gamaliel reminded the Jewish leaders who were distressed about the Christians that many other Jewish splinter groups had come and gone. Two he mentioned were Theudas and Judas the Galilean. Another famous sect was led by Simon Bar Kochba against the Romans in 132 AD.

Gamaliel also pointed out the testimony of time. He argued that God’s litmus test for the validity of a new religious group is the test of time. If the Christian sect were to pass the test of time, it would be proof that they had God’s backing—God’s support. Gamaliel addressed the Sanhedrin this way:

Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men [Peter and John]. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God (Acts 5:35-39).

Christianity started as a small Jewish sect, but it still exists to the present day. It has passed the test of time. Two thousand years is nothing to scoff at. According to the wisdom of Gamaliel, a wise sage of the Jewish people, that means that the Christian faith is from God.

Division Started Early

Christians became a new religion and they started to follow their own leaders, the Apostles. The Sanhedrin, priests, Levites, teachers of the Law, Pharisees, and Sadducees lost importance for the Christians.

Christians unified in the Faith, but when did division start to manifest itself in the Church? When did people start to turn against the teachings and leadership of the apostles? Believe it or not, it happened very early, even while the Apostles were still ministering. The passage below proves that there was a pastor who would not welcome the apostle John in his congregation.

I [John] wrote to the church, but Diotrephes [a pastor in the Early Church], who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church (3 John 1:9-10).

If there were pastors who refused Christ’s Apostles access to their congregations, don’t you think that (if they were still among us) the Apostles would be rejected in many congregations today as well? Of course they would. In fact, they are being rejected!

To prove to you that the apostles are being rejected in many of today’s congregations even now, here’s a test you can perform: Use expositional preaching for a month in your church.

John Not Welcome

Read one of the epistles of John verse-by-verse, explaining the verses in simple terms—do some straight forward preaching of the Scriptures. Give the simple meaning, and don’t skip over anything. You’ll see how many people stay for the end of the preaching series, and how many decide to find another place to worship.

Try going through the Gospel of John without skipping over verses that demand repentance, or the one where Jesus said ‘By myself I can do nothing’ (John 5:30). Preach it exactly as it appears. Let John speak. Preach everything that John wrote down in his Gospel.

Or you could go through the Book of Revelation—John wrote that book too, and he wrote it precisely for it to be read in churches. Do churchgoers really want to hear John speak about Great Babylon and the Two Witnesses? Let them hear John, and you’ll find out.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia (Revelation 1:3-4).

Paul Not Welcome

John wasn’t the only apostle that met strong opposition among the churches; Paul also had to deal with enemies in churches, even in the churches he founded! He had to warn the believers in Corinth that he would have to confront and even punish some of them:

… in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the Gospel… But some have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I am coming to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk of the ones who have become arrogant, but the power… What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? (1 Corinthians 2:15, 18-19, 21; LEB)

I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people… We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God... And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:2, 5-6).