1 Corinthians 11:18-19
In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval.
Believers and churches are to be united because they worship one God. Our faith in Jesus and the love He plants and grows in our hearts should bring us together in purpose. We will have different perspectives because we come from different backgrounds, families, and cultures, and we have different talents and gifts (a topic of 1 Corinthians 12). But these only enrich our fellowship and help us to spur one another on to growth.
There is only one legitimate reason for believers to be divided and that is when there is false teaching or outright sin, such as the case of the immoral man described in chapter 5. The holiness and orthodoxy of the church must be preserved. When people refuse to be corrected, they must separate from the church lest they lead the church astray. They can always be welcomed back into the fellowship if they repent and change their views. Compromise is a poison that will spread and destroy churches and people. This is a hard message to hear. Paul gives the Corinthians the answer to this challenge in the following passage.
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