“If divisions are made, it is easy to see who causes them. He that excludes, and not he that is excluded, is the schismatic.” (Alexander Campbell, January 2, 1832).

The church of Christ was never meant to be a fractured body. Jesus prayed that His disciples “may all be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). Unity was not presented as a luxury, but as a witness to the watching world. When divisions arise, the temptation is to cast blame on those who differ from us. Yet the heart of division is not disagreement itself, but the act of exclusion. The one who closes the door, who draws the line to push others out, bears the weight of the schism.

The apostle Paul faced this often. In Corinth, factions had developed, each attaching themselves to different teachers (1 Corinthians 1:12). His rebuke was not directed at those who loved one leader more, but at the spirit that separated brethren into camps. He urged them to be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). Division was not born from differences in background or personality, it came from the arrogance of some who cut others off.

To exclude a fellow believer is no small matter. Paul warns the Galatians that those who bite and devour one another will be consumed by one another (Galatians 5:15). Such behavior is not the fruit of the Spirit but the evidence of pride, selfishness, and fear. The excluded, on the other hand, often find themselves standing where Christ once stood. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22; quoted in Acts 4:11). Those cast aside by men may be honored by God.

In every generation, the church must wrestle with this tension. Do we create circles so small that even faithful servants of Christ are pushed to the margins? Or do we recognize that true unity is not about uniformity of opinion, but about fellowship in the gospel? The Lord Himself gathers His people, and He warns against scattering them. “Whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30).

When division comes, we should ask: Am I excluding, or am I excluded? The one who severs the bond of fellowship is the one who tears the garment of Christ. May we be found among those who hold fast and who refuse to fracture the body that our Savior purchased with His blood.

By: Justin Odom