Division! #1

Monday, July 25, 2022

“So there was a division among the people because of him” (John 7:43 KJV).

As it was then, so it is today!

The Greek word rendered “division” in today’s Scripture is “schisma.” As you might have guessed, this is the source of our English term “schism.” In the Greek New Testament, the word appears eight times overall. Twice it is rendered “rent.” “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent [schisma] is made worse”(Matthew 9:16). “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent [schisma] is made worse” (Mark 2:21). This is a literal tearing, the garment ripped apart because of the different natures of the types of cloth involved.

It is translated “division” five times. The first is today’s Scripture, John 7:43: “So there was a division [schisma] among the people because of him.” Secondly, John 9:16: “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division [schisma] among them.” Thirdly, John 10:19: “There was a division [schisma] therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.” Fourthly, 1 Corinthians 1:10: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions [schisma] among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Lastly, 1 Corinthians 11:18: “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions [schisma] among you; and I partly believe it.”

Finally, the word was transliterated (Greek letters replaced with their English equivalents) in 1 Corinthians 12:25: “That there should be no schism [schisma] in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.” Now, we concentrate on these last six occurrences (the three in John, and the three in 1 Corinthians)….