Question. Is it right to say that division between saints is a sign of the energy of the Holy Spirit?
With the fact that the blessed Lord died “to gather in one the children of God” (John 11:52), and His prayer in John 17 before us, we can but view division in that family with the profoundest sorrow and shame. The blame is ours whenever it occurs, nor can dis-unity be the work, or energy of Him whose unity we are enjoined to keep in the uniting bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Far otherwise! Hence we read in Romans 16:17, that they who cause division are to be avoided; in 1 Corinthians 3:3, that they are a mark of carnality; that in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “there be no divisions among you”; that in 1 Corinthians 11, their coming together was for the worse, because of their divisions; that in 1 Corinthians 14 the same care for one another, as members of the one body, would effectually obviate division; and finally that, in Galatians 5:20, seditions (divisions) and heresies (schools of opinion) instead of being the fruit of the Spirit, are the works of the flesh.
We learn from the Word then that divisions in the flock of God, which is also His family and assembly are the work of the wolf (John 10), or of the energy of the flesh (1 Cor. 3), and are the product of wisdom which is earthly, sensual, and devilish (James 3). A serious consideration indeed for all the servants of Christ today, whose business it is to gather with Him, as the one only centre, and not to scatter abroad to any other name or centre but Himself alone.