As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
Titus 3:10-11
Christ’s church is not to be a place of divisive quarrel and constant agitation. Divisive people who will not repent of their selfish and petty arguments are not to be allowed to disrupt the unity of the Body. Paul places divisiveness on the list of sins for which loving confrontation and church discipline must be practiced. A divisive individual is lovingly admonished, first by one, then by a group of concerned believers seeking to restore the person. If they remain divisive, they are disfellowshipped in their lack of repentance.
What constitutes this divisive sin? Paul tells Titus such a person “stirs up division”. They appear to delight in getting to “stir the stick”, in trolling other believers to get a negative reaction, in creating fights among believers in churches. This can be over doctrinal or practical issues. The sad results of such divisiveness is that these troublemaking people create even more people who become divisive, and the church boils with controversy if it is allowed to continue uncorrected. And a church full of bitter, fighting, divisive people is not a taste of heaven on earth making the gospel message appealing. It is quite the opposite, a caldron of hellfire for any who will not take sides in the divisions.
The counterbalance to this scenario is found in Titus 3:8 — Christians doing good work in the world that is excellent and profitable to the good of the gospel and the people who know them. Divisions are just the opposite of this desired impact. No wonder Jesus prayed that unity would mark the gathered experiences of His disciples (see John 17:11). Jesus brings people together. The devil divides.
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