Causing Divisions
(An analysis of Romans 16:17)
W. Carl Ketcherside
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The revelation of heaven was not given to be the private or exclusive possession of any sect or party. It is not a factional handbook. No uninspired man is an official interpreter of revelation. No group of men can advance themselves as the authorized expositors of sacred writ. God's word is authoritative. The interpretations placed upon it, or the opinions of men about it, are not. It is here the party spirit reveals its true nature. It interprets God's word in justification of the partisan position, substitutes the interpretation for revelation, then demands acquiescence in the arbitrary interpretation as the word of God, and disfellowships all who refuse to do obeisance to such tyranny of mind and thought.
The eternal purpose of God was "set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him" (Eph. 1:9, 10). Schism and division are condemned. Disciples are to forbear one another in love. They are to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:3). The saints have been called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9), and this is the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1) because "by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body and all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13). But the flesh wars against the Spirit, and the party spirit, being a work of the flesh, is opposed to the unity of the Spirit. Instead of being eager to maintain such, it is zealous to destroy it.
I have watched with amazement as men have taken the word of the Spirit, revealed to secure and maintain unity, and used it to sanction and defend division and disunity. It has been screened to find some scriptural reference to justify perpetuation of a partisan alliance, and erection of human standards and opinions as tests of fellowship. One would think the chief aim of the Christian was to proclaim division and practice disfellowship, and the highest moral attainment is reached when one is the most forward
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I propose an examination of one frequently used passage. I shall demonstrate how it has been perverted. I shall show that it has been made to imply exactly opposite to what it says. Attention is called to Romans 16:17. "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; and avoid them." This is the rallying ground of every faction in the disciple brotherhood. Upon the basis of this passage humble saints have been hounded out and driven forth when they refused to surrender their God-given liberties and freedom to some despotic clique. Honest, sincere, God-fearing men and women, have been "marked" and branded, stigmatized and calumniated, for no other crime than daring to think for themselves. This is the one "sin" no party can tolerate, for the party spirit thrives on suppression and boycott, on ostracism and exclusion.
What is "the doctrine which you have learned"? In each instance, it is the shibboleth of the party, the password to the inner circle. In one case it is opposition to Bible classes; in another to individual cups; in still others, opposition to instrumental music, colleges, orphan homes, tuning forks, missionary societies, charitable organizations, or pre-millennialism. The vital doctrine is different with each party. If you are baptized in Texas and "your hap is to light" in a congregation which uses only fermented wine in the Lord's Supper, and if you mature in your thinking until you express the opinion that it makes no difference whether the fruit of the vine is fermented or not, such an opinion will be construed as "causing division and offence contrary to the doctrine you have learned" and you will be castigated publicly with no chance for reply, marked and avoided. You are dangerous to the peace and safety of "the fermented wine party."
If you find yourself in a congregation which makes an opinion about teaching classes a test of fellowship, you should cease to study or reason, for if you come to the conclusion that an opinion about Bible classes is not God's eternal criterion of acceptability or rejection, and so express yourself, you will be marked and avoided. If you hold a secret notion that instrumental music in public worship is not necessarily a sign of rank apostasy, and that those who use it may be your brethren, you had better keep it secret in a lot of places, for if you state it merely as an opinion, and with no thought of changing the existing practice, that will be all for you, except marking and avoiding you as a moral leper, or a contagious criminal.
Did the apostle have reference to such an unspiritual hodgepodge when he wrote the Romans? Of course not! Then what did he mean? Read the passage again! "Mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned." The doctrine they had learned was to not cause divisions and offences. In chapter 12:5, they had learned they were one body, and members one of another. In 12:10 they had learned to love one another with brotherly affection, and outdo one another in showing honor. In 12:16 they had learned to live in harmony with one another. In 13:13 they had learned to conduct themselves becomingly, and not in quarreling and jealousy.
In 14:1 they had learned they should welcome one who was weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. In 14:13 they had learned not to pass judgment on a brother, and never to place a stumblingblock or occasion to fall in a brother's way. In 14:19 they had learned to follow after peace and things wherewith one might edify another. In the face of all this doctrine, or teaching, about love, unity, forbearance, and mercy, if someone still caused division or offence by refusing to receive a brother, or by intolerance for one whose opinion differed, such a person was to be marked and avoided. It was not the holding of an opinion that was contrary to the doctrine, for the doctrine was,
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It was contrary to the doctrine to cause divisions and offences. Brethren were to be welcomed in spite of opinions, not driven out because of them. Who was to be marked and avoided? It was the schismatic who caused division by refusing to accept as brethren those whose opinions differed, for such division was contrary to the doctrine which said to receive them and not sit in judgment upon their opinions. There are two kinds of schismatics. One injects his opinion about a thing and seeks to build a party around it; the other sets up an unwritten law in which he makes opposition to such an opinion his test of fellowship. Either of these will cause division contrary to the doctrine which says to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
The apostle was not talking about classes, containers for the fruit of the vine, baptisteries, tuning forks, colleges, orphan homes, missionary societies, fermented wine, unleavened bread, a special way of breaking the loaf, instrumental music, the pre-millennial theory, and all that host of things used as the occasion for splitting, shivering and riving the churches of the saints into splinters and fragments. These may, or may not, be wrong, but the apostle has no reference to them here. The doctrine we have learned is that it is sinful to hate, judge, despise and divide the brethren. Without realizing it, every partisan who has used Romans 16:17, to justify his pet division, and condone his unwritten creed, has pronounced his own condemnation by quoting this verse.
"Take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them." We have lived to see a day in which men bitterly oppose those who plead for unity of all believers in Jesus, and blindly follow party leaders who teach division and schism as if such were a cardinal doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The most popular man in many pulpits is the one who will breathe out venom and spite against those who seek to draw all men unto Him. We are filled with fears and frustrations, bred by the party spirit. We are afraid to call men brethren, lest we forfeit our partisan standing. Our hearts are shriveled and dried up. We build walls because we feel safe behind them. We cannot face the full glare of the sunlight of love. We are dwellers in the shadows. No one is more obnoxious to the partisan forces in Christendom than he who truly seeks to answer the prayer of God's Son. The person who most disturbs any sectarian is the man who refuses to be one.
Fellowship is not endorsement of another's views. It is not agreement with opinions of another, but love for the person which transcends his views and yours. It is a state or relationship in Jesus. We are called into fellowship by the gospel. Nothing should ever be made a test of fellowship which God has not made a condition of salvation. We do not come into the fellowship by agreement upon opinions; we should not disrupt it because of disagreement over such. If fellowship in Christ was conditioned upon perfect agreement, there would be no place for forbearance, and the instruction to "forbear one another in love" would be useless. Forbearance is never exercised toward those who see everything as you do.
We do not arrive at fellowship because we agree on things, but being in fellowship we seek to arrive at agreement on things. The unity of the Spirit is the oneness produced by the fact that the Spirit dwells in each of us. We are thus linked to each other because we are linked with God. The Spirit is not the word of God. The unity of the Spirit is not based upon perfect understanding of the words of the Spirit. It is not a unity maintained by those who have arrived, but it is God dwelling in those who are striving upward. It is maintained by a love for God and all of His children which transcends any opinion or partisan view.