1 Corinthians 11:18-19
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
When Paul calls the people at Corinth a "church" he means they have been brought together by the Spirit and placed into the Body of Christ, hence being united as ONE. In John 17 Jesus prays specifically for our "oneness" in Him and that we would be together and united. This is why division and schism in the body of Christ is such a tragic and deplorable sin. Jesus died that we would be ONE with Him. This is what makes the above passage such an amazing couple of verses to dwell upon and to allow to adjust our view of strife in the church. In the above passage, Paul acknowledges (either he heard this or had some personal information about it) that there was, indeed, division in the church. The fact that there was division in the church is not the issue. (Most of us, after observing a church body for a relative short amount of time, would acknowledge and affirm that there are divisions within Christ's body.) The more thoughtful aspect of these two verses is that Paul, either through sarcasm, humor, or bold truth, states that the division MUS BE in order for God to acknowledge who is "genuine" and who is not. This thought should conjure up several questions in our mind. Is Paul saying that God caused conflict in the body so that we can see who is genuine in the faith? He does say that fractions "must" be among them. Is Paul teaching that conflict in the body is natural and in turn it reveals that those who are faith will respond one way and those who are not of faith will respond another way? Is Paul saying that since the Corinthian believers had some division about them (see 1 Corinthians 1:10-13) it would necessarily flow that they would also have "factions" (one person following one and one person following the other) among them? But, fit hat were the case, why is the statement "in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized" used in the passage. There are a number of great thoughts on each of these and perhaps even more interpretations of the passage. What is plan is that Paul is telling them that the divisions among them, no matter there cause, is being used, by God, to determine the genuineness of their faith. It is my personal belief that God allows conflict in our lives to chisel us to be formed into the image of His Son. I don't believe the Son would pray for unity of the body, only for the Father to create it in the church. So, I don't believe that God caused the conflict in this church for the purpose of testing them. I do believe that if God removes even an ounce of His grace from the lives of man, conflict will necessarily follow. When God removed His grace from the life of Job you can see what evil was allowed to do. When God removed His grace from the nation of Israel they went into captivity. The only thing that prevents the indwelling evilness of man from suddenly and completely annihilating all men is the intervening and common grace He shows to man. In the above passage we see that even in the church of Christ man needs to have God's grace to prevent him from separating from others, bound by the same blood. The truth that Paul seems to be telling us is that conflict is a fact that God will use in our lives to determine the genuine of our faith and commitment to unity in the body. Neither the Father or the Son want conflict in the church. But, the conflict the comes from the hostile and evil deeds of our hearts (Colossians 1:21) will continue to do its work, even in the Body, when we fail to submit to the grace of God in Faith. When that evil does, God uses it to test and affirm those that our in the faith and those who are not.
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