“For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” 1 Corinthians 11:19

Why does God allow heresies and controversies over doctrine to arise in Christian congregations? We might wonder what good could come of such things — especially when they result in divisions in a congregation or church body and some even leave.

First of all, we shouldn’t be surprised when such things happen. When Jesus, in John 6, referred to Himself as the bread which came down from heaven and said that to have life and be saved it was necessary to partake of Him in faith, “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (v. 66).

So also today, because the true doctrine of God’s Word is contrary to the popular and appealing opinions of the world and our own sinful flesh, people murmur against the truth and turn away from it, often leading others away with them by their failure to submit to God’s Word.

But what good can come of controversies and heresies arising among us? The Bible answers that for us when it says: “There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”

God allows heresies and doctrinal controversies to arise among us because they force His children back into His Word in search of the truth, and it becomes apparent who is holding to the teaching of God’s Word and who is rejecting it in favor of the ways and opinions of this world.

In this way, God purifies His visible church, revealing its laxity, its sins and its errors and calling His people to repentance and a return to the truth. And God also purifies His church by separating from it those who would compromise His Word and reject it. As Jesus did in His letters to the churches in Asia (Revelations 2-3), He also calls upon us to repent or our sins and errors and hold fast to Him and His Word.

And, will we join those who turn aside and go back? When we consider that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work that we can be saved and receive eternal life instead of the everlasting torments of hell, we respond with Simon Peter (and Jesus’ true disciples): “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Oh, for a faith that will not shrink tho’ pressed by many a foe; that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe … that bears unmoved the world’s dread frown nor heeds its scornful smile; that sin’s wild ocean cannot drown nor Satan’s arts beguile … Lord, give us such a faith as this; and then, whate’er may come, we’ll taste e’en now the hallowed bliss of an eternal home. Amen. — William H. Bathurst “Oh, for a Faith That Will Not Shrink,” TLH #396

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]