No Schisms in the Church

 1 Corinth 12:25
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

In an ideal world, all Christians should all get along with each other. There should be no schism (a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief) in the church. No schisms would imply that if you don’t agree on something that splitting apart is not the solution. Based on the context that Paul was addressing, it does appear that there was disagreement among believers that was causing strife and division. The admonition was to work together for a solution. The church does not function on the opinion of just one person. The church is made up of people with different gifts and talents. We all need each other, and we are not able to do it alone, so we must compromise to keep the unity of the church. But the history of the physical church has demonstrated that there have been hundreds of schisms within churches. Some schisms were caused by differences of opinion on Bible interpretation, and other causes are because someone did not get their way. Judging the legitimacy of a church split is not always easy to determine. We can see an example in the Bible where there were times that a schism was necessary. When false teaching turns the truth of God’s word into a lie, it is a good reason to leave the fellowship of those who have turned from Bible truth and are living a lie. The acceptance of lifestyles that promote immoral behavior and perversion should be a no-brainer (Eph. 5:11)—"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Such schism is understood. But we also read in scripture where Paul and Barnabas had a schism, and they departed ways not coming to an agreement. “And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other” (Act 15:39). We understand that this was not a church split, but by two people who chose to disagree, agreeably. It appears that humanity is still part of who we are and how we make decisions. It would be wonderful if we could always agree, but that is not the case. We can agree we all want the will of God to be done, but how that is done may look different for each person. Let there be no schism in regard to who Jesus is, for He is the truth, life, and the way, and any man who rejects this, will not see heaven.