Worldly Division Rejects Love

I want to venture into division with this very long post. It relates to love in that worldly division is antithetical to love. Before you jump all over that statement there is division that relates to being separated from something that is evil. That type of division is what the Bible refers to as “Holy!” This word means to be set apart or set aside for a special purpose. This type of division is good. When we allow evil to be in our hearts and in our actions then we must separate ourselves from that evil. We have a problem though. When we try to separate ourselves from this evil that we find then our flesh makes it clear that evil that is sin will not leave so quietly. There is a division then between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. These works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit is found in Galatians Chapter 5.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. ~Ga 5:19–26

These two things works of the flesh and fruit of the spirit are divided and the line is God’s holiness.

There is a second type of division that is a work of the flesh. Notice in the list of works of the flesh there is two words dissensions and factions. These two words represent types of division that are not based in the fruit of the spirit. And these are serious as the passage says, “those the practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” We can embrace holiness and as such separate ourselves from things that are unrighteous. However, if we embrace dissension and factions, we reject holiness and embrace a more worldly form of division. Given that both are presented here we can use this passage as a starting point to compare Holy separation with the works of the flesh dissensions and factions.

Holy Division

First let’s contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit. I am not going to go into depth on each of these as there are other studies that do an excellent job. My goal is to highlight the healthy division of Holiness.

Notice In Galatians 5:16-17 that it makes this distinction that the works and of the flesh and walking by the Spirit are incompatible. They simply do not mix. You are either one or the other, but not both. This is important. The division of Holiness already exists. It is a division that is defined by God. In this case the Spirit of the Holy God. When we look then into this list this is not a list to make divisions, but rather it is a list of a division that already exists.

Then why make a list you might ask. Well, I think it is to encourage followers of Christ to seriously consider what side of that division they are living their lives. When we “practice” works of the flesh we are worldly and separated from God. God’s holiness is the line of separation and when we engage in such things, we are not choosing the kingdom of God. The word practice is important here as well. We all fall short of God’s ideal for our lives. If we miss the mark (sin) then Jesus will forgive us when we confess our sin. However, if we make a practice of these things then essentially, we are saying to God that we do not care about his standards for life we are going to choose the unholy side of holiness. This negative side of holiness is an opportunity to hold up a mirror and ask the question “God am I practicing sexual immorality, am I practicing moral impurity, am I practicing promiscuity, am I practicing idolatry, am I practicing sorcery, am I practicing hatreds, am I practicing strife, am I practicing jealousy, am I practicing outbursts of anger, am I practicing selfish ambitions, am I practicing dissensions, am I practicing factions, am I practicing envy, am I practicing drunkenness, am I practicing carousing, am I doing anything similar to these things? This exercise is a hard look at your own life and heart. If those things are there then you need to repent in your heart and seek to follow Christ for your salvation and sanctification. Nothing else can save you. You can’t just stop doing some of these things for a season you have to die, stronger yet, crucify the flesh. This is initiated by your willingness to have God work in your heart and life. But the completed work is Jesus’ atoning death on the Cross. And the Spirit of God works in you to bring about sanctification.

Without the fruit of the Spirit avoidance of the works of the flesh becomes a futile attempt at change that only produces superficial and often short-lived change. Even if you discipline yourself in avoiding one or more of these then others will rear their ugly head. Further self-discipline to overcome works of the flesh leads to self-righteousness.

But the fruit of the Spirit is…

…Love. When I say that love is the premier fruit of the Spirit it is the first on the list of things that make it clear that a person is being led by the Spirit of God. Love is a devotion to the welfare and benefit of others. Love is sacrificial obedience to the teachings of God. Love is kindness and care for the suffering. What is fruit? It is the culmination of the Spirit’s work in the heart of a believer.

You can pray the same questions with the fruit of the Spirit that you have with the works of the flesh. Lord does your Spirit produce love in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce joy in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce peace in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce patience in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce kindness in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce goodness in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce faithfulness in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce gentleness in my heart and actions? Lord does your Spirit produce self-control in my heart and actions?

So, on the unholy side of holiness, we have works of the flesh and on the holy side of holiness we have the fruit of the Spirit. On the works of the flesh, we have man’s best attempt to bring satisfaction and fulfillment. On the Fruit of the Spirit side, we have God’s work in the hearts of the faithful.

Before moving on to worldly division I would like to make one more point about Holy division. Holiness creates animosity with the world.

If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. John 15:18–19

The root cause of this is the world’s hate of Christ. When we identify ourselves with the holiness of God there will be hatred toward the God’s holiness which is represented in us. Notice though who is hating who. Clearly the animosity is originating from the world and not from the believer. This is especially important. At times we can make the mistake that holiness gives us permission to hate others. This is not true! Jesus makes it clear that we are to love our enemies (Luke 6:27), bless those that persecute us (Luke 6:28), do what is good (Luke 6:35), and be merciful (Luke 6:36). We do not need to create division with the world. It already exists. It is not something we need to seek out or cultivate. In fact, we reject the fruit of the Spirit by being hateful, ill-willed, stirring conflict, impatient, bitter, mean spirited, false, harsh, and unrestrained. When we practice such things, we become part of the worldliness that we are seeking to separate ourselves from.

Worldly Division

In the works of the flesh, we see several that are creating division: hatred, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, and envy. There are three works of the flesh listed here that describe divisions: strife, dissensions, and factions. I want to zero in on the three that describe worldly division.

The word that is translated here as strife has elsewhere been translated quarrel and rivalry. In every case this word is used in the Bible we are warned to avoid strife, quarrels, and rivalries. That is the Bible is constantly against this type of action. In one case it allows for it only because it serves to advance the message of the Gospel (Philippians 1:15-19). In all other cases the Bible present these actions as something to avoid. These actions are evidence of a corrupt mind (Romans 1:29), Fleshly desire (Romans 13:13-14), Disunity (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), Immaturity and worldliness (1 Corinthians 3:1-4), carnal church life (2 Corinthians 2:19-21), works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), conceit and unhealthy interest in disputes (1 Timothy 6:4), and unprofitable and worthless debates (Titus 3:9). Strife is destructive and the Bible is clearly admonishing us to avoid it. One way to think about this is that these actions represent the way that worldly people impose their desires on others. If we as believers us worldly means to impose what we believe on others are we any different than the world at that point? Using worldly means to create division is worldly plain and simple even when you believe your desired outcome is admirable.

The word dissensions can also be translated division and sedition. The root of this word in the Greek means to stand in two. Here this type of action is a work of the flesh. In Romans 16:17-18 it is presented that people that engage in this type of behavior are likely false teachers. It strongly encourages us to “avoid them.” The devious part of this is that these false teachers can be quite compelling in their deception using “smooth talk and flattering words.”

The word factions is not so easily to see how this worldly division is different from Holy division in my estimation. The reason for this is at times factions are against God. This word is used to describe individuals who bring destructive heresies into the church. One way to think about it is that a “new teaching” is brought in and creates division. Avoiding factions would heavily lean toward tradition in most cases. This is good in that we are not swayed by cleaver teaching but rather firmly founded on truth (see Ephesians 4:14-15). However, we cannot take this to mean that traditionalism is always right. There are times with traditions reflect the doctrines of men. Jesus spoke against this with the Pharisees in Gospel of Mark.

“Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.” He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition! Mark 7:8–9

So, while people that bring heresies can be defended by tradition and teaching of sound doctrine, we must be careful that we do not set up our traditions as being superior to the commands of God. I would also say that not all things new are necessarily heretical either. We risk putting ourselves in opposition to Christ as the Pharisees did when we place tradition ahead of God’s teaching and work in people’s lives. On the other hand, if someone is bringing a divisive teaching forward, we as believers need to avoid and remove such people. Addressing this in the church must be in greatest discernment, humility, and love. We cannot allow ourselves to fight heresies in the flesh. We must always rest in the fruit of the Spirit otherwise we risk becoming the very thing we are attempting to strive against.

Division in the Church

There is one more type of division that I want to close with. This is the topic of schisms. This topic is dealt with at length in the book of 1 Corinthians. The Corinthians divided on many different fronts. Paul confronts this divisiveness and explains that Christians need to practice unity in the Church body. The root of this Greek word is to tear. Often Churches will be torn in two. This is a worldly form of division. These divisions are often rooted in rivalry (1 Corinthians 1:11). We also see division based on parties. This word factions also refers to parties. There is a faction that occurs when we place a particular teacher or movement ahead of scripture and Christ. These types of factions are also worldly. I see this happen quite regularly with favorite or popular Pastors and Bible teachers. Now don’t get me wrong I have been blessed by powerful men of God teaching His word. But there can be an unhealthy admiration and aligning with a particular teacher. Paul dealt with this in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 3) in which they were arguing about which Christian teacher to follow. They were identifying with men. Paul admonished them to identify with Christ. Outside the church we can be influenced by political parties. When it comes to division our faith should inform our politics and not the other way around. If your political party changes your expression of Christianity there is a good chance that you are participating in a worldly division.

Summary

In summary then I want to say there is a Holy division and a worldly division. The Holy division is a preexistent line between God’s people and the world. It is reserved for those that choose to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings. It is a division in which a person is marked by the Holy Spirit and that God’s Holy Spirit produces fruit in the believer’s life. This fruit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. On the other hand, there is a worldly division. This worldly division is marked by works of the flesh. These works are hatred, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, and envy. All worldly division is wholly incompatible with the fruit of the Spirit. This makes worldly division antithetical to Love. It is impossible to claim God’s love and yet engage in worldly division. But for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control there is no law against these. Further, if you live these out in fullness, then you will be holy and set apart from the world. God’s Holy Division.