Is Disunity in the Church Good or Bad?

[Roughsoul1991]

Is Disunity in the Church Good or Bad?

Galatians 5:15
New International Version
15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Nothing can destroy a movement of God faster than division and strife. Conflict between the will of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17
New International Version
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Conflict can either be of evil as fueled by the flesh or of good if fueled by the Spirit.

CONFLICT OF GOOD:

Galatians 5:9 NIV
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

Righteousness and sinfulness will never mix. The flesh is always at odds with the Spirit. It is unavoidable for this conflict to arise but the will of the Spirit must be the primary focus.

John 6:60-71 NIV
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Jesus at one point in His ministry had many of His followers turn away. Their excuse was that the teachings of Jesus were too difficult but in reality, they weren't ready to surrender the old self and be reborn in Christ. They wanted to hang on to the status quo, traditions, religious rituals, their OLD way, and did not have the desire to follow THE way.

And Jesus let them go. They weren't ready and Jesus respected their choice.

CONFLICT OF EVIL:

Ephesians 4:3
New International Version
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

The opposite of unity of the Spirit is to be unified in the flesh where hedonism and relativity turn the God of the Bible into a universal all ways lead to Him. He loses His identity and becomes simply an unknown higher power who just wants you to have your best life ever.

Conflict arises when the flesh wants the opposite of the Spirit and you only have two choices. To walk away in the flesh or to walk after Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:10
New International Version
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Sometimes evil in leadership doesn't want to be criticized and will accuse others of disunity. When in reality it is the Spirit trying to preserve the church.

If the yeast has risen into leadership, if not handled quickly, a risen loaf can never go back to its unleavened state without starting over. At some point, corruption becomes so embedded that it must be uprooted.

Evil wants disunity because a non-unified church is like a vehicle stuck in the mud spinning its tires but going nowhere.

But instead of surgically removing the problem we treat only the symptoms as if we would rather ignore the cancer and only manage the illness. For the sake of unity and love, we end up unified in the flesh through either omission or apathetic choices.

Saying, “it is easier to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't". Easier to deal with a familiar but difficult situation or person rather than risk encountering the more difficult narrow road being unified in the Spirit.

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

Disunity can identify different groups:

1 Corinthians 11:19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

 

[Dino246]

Like I said in the 'Theology' thread, unity around the wrong thing is deadly. Disunity over important matters is appropriate. Paul kicked people out of the fellowship on occasion, and we should be prepared to do the same thing.

However, we need to restrict the use of exclusion to the core issues. That's why it's worthwhile having a "Statement of Faith" or something similar which establishes the standards of common belief. Otherwise, anyone can make any tertiary issue the focus of a dispute, and call it legitimate.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Is Disunity in the Church Good or Bad?

It's bad. "Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them." Romans 16:17 It's interesting here that Paul says to avoid those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which you learned. You can't have unity apart from sound doctrine.

 

[GWH]

Like I said in the 'Theology' thread, unity around the wrong thing is deadly. Disunity over important matters is appropriate. Paul kicked people out of the fellowship on occasion, and we should be prepared to do the same thing.

However, we need to restrict the use of exclusion to the core issues. That's why it's worthwhile having a "Statement of Faith" or something similar which establishes the standards of common belief. Otherwise, anyone can make any tertiary issue the focus of a dispute, and call it legitimate.

Variety is the spice of life, but quarrelling kills spiritual life (Titus 3:9-11).

I agree about the need for agreement regarding God's requirement for salvation (GRFS/the kerygma/the Christian creed),
which is why I have proposed the following:

The kerygma/GRFS should be every Christian’s creed, and only belief in this crucial truth should be viewed as a test for orthodoxy or heresy. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Conversely, judgments concerning a person’s spiritual orientation or ultimate destiny should not be made on the basis of didachaic or secondary doctrines. (If any judgment is made, it should begin with a self-examination per Matt. 7:1&5, 2Cor. 13:5-8).

A major reason many Christians throughout history have not manifested the love and unity of God’s Spirit (Eph. 4:3) as well as they should is because of failure to realize this truth. If they did, it would free them to speak honestly and fellowship without becoming unduly upset about relatively minor issues. They would receive God’s blessing as peacemakers, who draw inclusive circles around people based on the kerygma rather than denominational lines between them due to didachaic differences. Jesus prayed for spiritual unity (cf. John 17:20-23, “May they be one…”). Thus, unity regarding the Gospel is more important than accuracy regarding doctrinal details.

The normative way of stating the kerygma/GRFS in the NT is “Accept Christ Jesus as Lord” (as in 2Cor. 4:5 & Col. 2:6). The main points of Christian orthodoxy implicit in this statement can be explained or elaborated as follows:

1. There is a/one all-loving and just Lord or Creator God (Deut. 6:4, John 3:16, 2Thes. 1:6), who is both able (2Tim. 1:12) and willing (1Tim. 2:3-4, Ezek. 33:11) to provide all morally accountable human beings salvation or heaven—a wonderful life full of love, joy and peace forever.
2. Human beings are selfish or sinful (Rom. 3:23, 2Tim. 3:2-4, Col. 3:5), miserable (Gal. 5:19-21), and hopeless (Eph. 2:12) or hell-bound at the judgment (Matt. 23:33 & 25:46) when they reject God’s salvation (John 3:18, Rom. 2:5-11).
3. Jesus is God’s Messiah/Christ and incarnate Son, the way that God has chosen (John 3:16, Acts 16:30-31, Phil. 2:9-11) of providing salvation by means of his atoning death on the cross for the payment of the penalty for the sins of humanity (Rom. 3:22-25 & 5:9-11), followed by his resurrection to reign in heaven (1Cor. 15:14-28).
4. Thus, every person who hears the NT Gospel needs to repent and accept God’s grace or justification in Jesus as Christ/Messiah the Lord or Supreme Commander (Luke 2:11, John 14:6, Acts 16:31), which means trying to obey His commandment to love one another (Matt. 22:37-40, John 13:35, Rom. 13:9)—forever (Matt. 10:22, Psa. 113:2).
5. Then God’s Holy Spirit will establish a saving relationship with all who truly accept/love Him (Rev. 3:20) that will eventually achieve heaven after Christ returns at God’s resurrection of all saved souls when everyone cooperates fully with His will (John 14:6, 17&26, Rom. 8:6-17, Gal. 6:7-9, Eph. 1:13-14, Heb. 10:36, 12:1, Jam. 1:2-4).

 

[homwardbound]

Is Disunity in the Church Good or Bad?

Galatians 5:15
New International Version
15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Nothing can destroy a movement of God faster than division and strife. Conflict between the will of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17
New International Version
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Conflict can either be of evil as fueled by the flesh or of good if fueled by the Spirit.

CONFLICT OF GOOD:

Galatians 5:9 NIV
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

Righteousness and sinfulness will never mix. The flesh is always at odds with the Spirit. It is unavoidable for this conflict to arise but the will of the Spirit must be the primary focus.

John 6:60-71 NIV
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Jesus at one point in His ministry had many of His followers turn away. Their excuse was that the teachings of Jesus were too difficult but in reality, they weren't ready to surrender the old self and be reborn in Christ. They wanted to hang on to the status quo, traditions, religious rituals, their OLD way, and did not have the desire to follow THE way.

And Jesus let them go. They weren't ready and Jesus respected their choice.

CONFLICT OF EVIL:

Ephesians 4:3
New International Version
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

The opposite of unity of the Spirit is to be unified in the flesh where hedonism and relativity turn the God of the Bible into a universal all ways lead to Him. He loses His identity and becomes simply an unknown higher power who just wants you to have your best life ever.

Conflict arises when the flesh wants the opposite of the Spirit and you only have two choices. To walk away in the flesh or to walk after Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:10
New International Version
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Sometimes evil in leadership doesn't want to be criticized and will accuse others of disunity. When in reality it is the Spirit trying to preserve the church.

If the yeast has risen into leadership, if not handled quickly, a risen loaf can never go back to its unleavened state without starting over. At some point, corruption becomes so embedded that it must be uprooted.

Evil wants disunity because a non-unified church is like a vehicle stuck in the mud spinning its tires but going nowhere.

But instead of surgically removing the problem we treat only the symptoms as if we would rather ignore the cancer and only manage the illness. For the sake of unity and love, we end up unified in the flesh through either omission or apathetic choices.

Saying, “it is easier to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't". Easier to deal with a familiar but difficult situation or person rather than risk encountering the more difficult narrow road being unified in the Spirit.

The storm is real, time to face and maybe quit looking up and down. yet, be aware and how to remain harmless, yet not
I see that depends on who is leading you or me or anyone else
Luke 21:14-15, best for me to learn and stand on trust, to Father in risen Son. I see, we are to face it in Love given from God through Son to us. that sometimes will not appear as love to others. Telling one, how the Cow eats the cabbage, can cause wars and has caused many of them. Yet as I said this depends on a person's thought belief as in Proverbs 23:1-7, teaches us each and seeing Ecclesiastes, There is a time for everything. So discern truth trust God to teach you 1 John 2:27 and all will work out to the best fro us all, not ever understanding how, yet seeing it, eventually, not quitting and learning Proverbs 15

 

[studentoftheword]

Disunity among the Church ==(People) is definitely not good ----and today nothing is done to quash it ---or correct it ----there is a lot of disunity among the True Believers today because you have unrighteous people entwined with the True Church --Satan is alive and active among True Believers in all Church Buildings today ----even most of the Ministers are unsaved ---so Satan who causes disunity --chaos and division is having a hay day -----

A little leaven --spoils the whole batch -----and they should be weeded out ----like Paul told his Corinthian Church -----

Today --if you weeded out all the leaven among the True Holy Spirit indwelled Church (people )----there wouldn't be many Ministers --or Priests standing in the pulpits --nor many True Holy Spirit indwelled People setting in the pews ----there are a lot of False Christians parading as Children of light in Churches today ----


AI


AI Overview

Yes, Paul instructs the Corinthian church to "get rid of" a church member engaging in incest by excluding him from their community and fellowship in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, stating that the entire church was becoming “soiled” by this sin and must remove it to prevent its spread. He compares the unrepentant individual to a "leaven" that must be taken out of the bread of the church to ensure its spiritual purity.

Context in 1 Corinthians 5

The Problem:
The church was aware of a man who was sinning

The Command:
Paul commanded the church to assemble and to remove the man from their midst.

He uses the analogy of Passover to emphasize the need to remove the "leaven" of sin to purify the community, similar to how a craftsman would remove any rotten part of a dough to prevent its spread.

The Purpose:
The purpose was not just punishment but also the hope that the man's "spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord".

The Principle:
Paul establishes the principle that a professing Christian who continues in blatant, unrepentant sin should not be fellowshiped, even going so far as to say they should not even eat with such a person.
Paul's Reasoning

A Higher Standard:
He argues that those who identify as believers are held to a higher standard than non-believers.

Unity of the Church:
The sin of one member threatened to corrupt the entire church, and the Corinthian church was responsible for acting collectively to address it.

 

[GWH]

It's bad. "Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them." Romans 16:17 It's interesting here that Paul says to avoid those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which you learned. You can't have unity apart from sound doctrine.

Yes, and the bad dividers will be separated from the good unifiers on Judgment Day
per the parable about the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-30).

The sound doctrine believed by the unifiers is called the creed, such as what I posted in #5,

 

[homwardbound]

Disunity among the Church ==(People) is definitely not good ----and today nothing is done to quash it ---or correct it ----there is a lot of disunity among the True Believers today because you have unrighteous people entwined with the True Church --Satan is alive and active among True Believers in all Church Buildings today ----even most of the Ministers are unsaved ---so Satan who causes disunity --chaos and division is having a hay day -----

A little leaven --spoils the whole batch -----and they should be weeded out ----like Paul told his Corinthian Church -----

Today --if you weeded out all the leaven among the True Holy Spirit indwelled Church (people )----there wouldn't be many Ministers --or Priests standing in the pulpits --nor many True Holy Spirit indwelled People setting in the pews ----there are a lot of False Christians parading as Children of light in Churches today ----


AI


AI Overview

Yes, Paul instructs the Corinthian church to "get rid of" a church member engaging in incest by excluding him from their community and fellowship in 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, stating that the entire church was becoming “soiled” by this sin and must remove it to prevent its spread. He compares the unrepentant individual to a "leaven" that must be taken out of the bread of the church to ensure its spiritual purity.

Context in 1 Corinthians 5

The Problem:
The church was aware of a man who was sinning

The Command:
Paul commanded the church to assemble and to remove the man from their midst.

He uses the analogy of Passover to emphasize the need to remove the "leaven" of sin to purify the community, similar to how a craftsman would remove any rotten part of a dough to prevent its spread.

The Purpose:
The purpose was not just punishment but also the hope that the man's "spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord".

The Principle:
Paul establishes the principle that a professing Christian who continues in blatant, unrepentant sin should not be fellowshiped, even going so far as to say they should not even eat with such a person.
Paul's Reasoning

A Higher Standard:
He argues that those who identify as believers are held to a higher standard than non-believers.

Unity of the Church:
The sin of one member threatened to corrupt the entire church, and the Corinthian church was responsible for acting collectively to address it.

Then Paul regretted writing 1 Cor to them, Said in 2 Cor 7 about this. Hearing the true repentant, that saw to not take God for granted in being forgiven, even if, when they continued in sin, they stopped, not of self, of God now living new through them. Born again by God, no one else. By Risen Son Jesus for them. time to turn to God in belief Son is risen for them too, thank you God
Seeing, as Christ said to the disciples before his crucifixion, when they wanted Christ to call down fire from Heaven to those over there, preaching Jesus, and were not part of the ministry.

Jesus, replied:
Can Satan fight Satan and win? If Satan is casting out evil, then will he stand being evil? any divided kingdom can't stand! Yet Son is still preached, glory in that alone.
Trust to Father of Son Jesus is the call, always from Son. Son never gave any credit to his self ever. Always pointed to Father to trust.
Today after he took away sin, (Not from flesh people) From Father's sight for us to be given new life in Father's Spirit and Truth (The Holy Spirit) to love all, not a few as so many do, and yet not seeing this truth and justify why they hate or dislike others over stuff they do not like or want in their life
It seems as evil is winning, yet is not, God knows us all mysterious to us all, time to trust God, all in all I think anyone else?

 

[God-fearing]

A kingdom divided, a house, a people will not stand.
God is all about unity...but when division comes in the form of evil it must be delt with.
We are not to lower the standards of God. To compromise is to weaken the whole church causing enmity with God.

 

[homwardbound]

A kingdom divided, a house, a people will not stand.
God is all about unity...but when division comes in the form of evil it must be delt with.
We are not to lower the standards of God. To compromise is to weaken the whole church causing enmity with God.

A divided Kingdom, cannot stand, will not stand. Evil eats up evil. Cannot harm God ever
Look up to the sky, have you ever seen the sky ever get harmed in explosions, thunderstorms. or anything else ever?
Where is the Heavens? Where did Jesus as risen go? What is his Kingdom give him to share with us all? Is there any impatience in Heaven?
So sit still, watch, be aware and not in fear anymore, stand in trust God has taken care of sin for us to be new in his love and mercy Col 1:21-23
We are made new from God through Son's done work in his resurrection for us to be in love and mercy to all too
John 13:34
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

 

[Karlon]

Is Disunity in the Church Good or Bad?

Galatians 5:15
New International Version
15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Nothing can destroy a movement of God faster than division and strife. Conflict between the will of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17
New International Version
17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.

Conflict can either be of evil as fueled by the flesh or of good if fueled by the Spirit.

CONFLICT OF GOOD:

Galatians 5:9 NIV
“A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.”

Righteousness and sinfulness will never mix. The flesh is always at odds with the Spirit. It is unavoidable for this conflict to arise but the will of the Spirit must be the primary focus.

John 6:60-71 NIV
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Jesus at one point in His ministry had many of His followers turn away. Their excuse was that the teachings of Jesus were too difficult but in reality, they weren't ready to surrender the old self and be reborn in Christ. They wanted to hang on to the status quo, traditions, religious rituals, their OLD way, and did not have the desire to follow THE way.

And Jesus let them go. They weren't ready and Jesus respected their choice.

CONFLICT OF EVIL:

Ephesians 4:3
New International Version
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

The opposite of unity of the Spirit is to be unified in the flesh where hedonism and relativity turn the God of the Bible into a universal all ways lead to Him. He loses His identity and becomes simply an unknown higher power who just wants you to have your best life ever.

Conflict arises when the flesh wants the opposite of the Spirit and you only have two choices. To walk away in the flesh or to walk after Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:10
New International Version
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Sometimes evil in leadership doesn't want to be criticized and will accuse others of disunity. When in reality it is the Spirit trying to preserve the church.

If the yeast has risen into leadership, if not handled quickly, a risen loaf can never go back to its unleavened state without starting over. At some point, corruption becomes so embedded that it must be uprooted.

Evil wants disunity because a non-unified church is like a vehicle stuck in the mud spinning its tires but going nowhere.

But instead of surgically removing the problem we treat only the symptoms as if we would rather ignore the cancer and only manage the illness. For the sake of unity and love, we end up unified in the flesh through either omission or apathetic choices.

Saying, “it is easier to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't". Easier to deal with a familiar but difficult situation or person rather than risk encountering the more difficult narrow road being unified in the Spirit.

it's good only when the disunity is resolved into "community-unity" infinitely.