THE SPIRIT OF DIVISION
The unity of believers in Jesus Christ is one of the most precious doctrines taught in the Bible. It is “by one Spirit” that we “were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). When we look at the picture presented in Scripture of “unity,” it is not very difficult to see that it already exists by virtue of the accomplishments of Christ.
Consider Ephesians the second chapter, for example, where Paul deals with the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ, and reveals it is an established fact (Eph. 2:14-16). Not because they got together and “worked out their differences,” but because Christ reconciled them both to God, and therefore to one another, by what he did at the cross.
All today who are in Christ have been brought together by the same precious blood that united believers in the first century church. He who is “one spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17) is “one spirit” with everyone else who is “one spirit” with him. The Bible will not uphold the proposition that believers must “work for unity” or “accomplish” unity. We are simply exhorted to recognize it. It has been here since the cross.
It is the “unity of the Spirit,” as Paul speaks of it in Ephesians chapter four: “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Ephesians 4:1-6). Notice it again: “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit.” We are already united in the Spirit. It is accomplished. We are to keep it that way by loving one another.
Unity is something, in other words, that God’s Spirit accomplishes and maintains. Our job is not to push for it or build it—it is to “keep” or “maintain” it. And even this must be done by the power of God’s Spirit. Always remember the words of Jesus: “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
The spirit of division which creates denominations and causes people to focus on anything other than Jesus, and to separate themselves from other believers over disagreements, is condemned in the Bible. It is listed as one of the “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5, and is something that those who live by the Spirit of God will not tolerate. The American Standard Version speaks of “factions, divisions and parties” (Gal. 5:20) and they are condemned. Unity is God’s gift to us, and anyone who walks in dishonor to it is walking after the flesh rather than by God’s direction through his Spirit.
What is the spirit of division? It is when we are willing to ignore the unity which God has bestowed when human differences arise. It is the failure to recognize the unity that God has already given. When we divide from others over our opinions, and build denominations around ourselves or our favorite teachers, we are manifesting a divisive, sectarian (denominational) spirit. And those who do such “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:21).
Dewayne Dunaway
