What Is Schism? You May Be More Schismatic Than You Think

ou Protestants are schismatics.”

Rome has been making that accusation for five hundred years. Protestants divided the Church. We broke away. We multiplied denominations. We traded the ancient unity of Christendom for a religious marketplace where everyone can start his own church.

There is enough truth in the accusation to make us uncomfortable.

Protestants have divided churches over personalities, preferences, political squabbles, and bruised egos. Men have lost an argument, gathered a few sympathetic friends, walked out the door, and called their rebellion courage. Christians sometimes treat the local church like a gym membership. If the preaching irritates you, the elders correct you, or the congregation fails to meet your preferences, you cancel your membership and shop for another one.

That spirit is schismatic.

Yet simply leaving an institution does not make a man a schismatic. A man can remain on the membership roll for twenty years while undermining his elders, gathering a faction, reviving settled controversies, and making brothers suspicious of one another. He may boast that he never left. He may talk endlessly about loyalty and unity.

He may also be the biggest schismatic in the room.

That means Christians need a better understanding of schism than “the guy who left.”

Christ Has One Church

We should begin where Paul begins. In Ephesians 4, he commands Christians to be diligent “to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father.

Christ has one Church.

The Westminster Confession distinguishes between the invisible Church, consisting of all the elect united to Christ, and the visible catholic Church, consisting of those throughout the world who profess the true religion, together with their children. That visible Church appears in actual congregations with pastors, elders, preaching, sacraments, discipline, and worship.

This keeps us from making two opposite mistakes.

We cannot pretend the visible Church does not matter. Jesus did not save us so we could sit at home with a Bible, a podcast subscription, and strong opinions about everyone else’s theology. Christians belong to the Church. We submit ourselves to lawful shepherds. We worship alongside real people, including people who occasionally irritate us.

Yet we also cannot identify the universal Church of Jesus Christ with one human institution.

Rome cannot make that claim. Neither can Constantinople, Canterbury, the PCUSA, the PCA, the CREC, the Southern Baptist Convention, or your favorite independent congregation.

The Westminster Confession says particular churches may be “more or less pure.” Some can become so corrupt that they cease to be churches of Christ. Age provides no guarantee of faithfulness. A denomination does not acquire permanent rights over the Christian conscience because its paperwork is older.

Jesus Himself warned churches that He could remove their lampstand.

Schism Is More Than Separation

Peter Martyr Vermigli, one of the important theologians of the Protestant Reformation, helps sharpen the issue.

Vermigli distinguished heresy from schism. Heresy concerns false doctrine contrary to Scripture and the Christian faith. Schism concerns division among God’s people. The two often travel together, but they are not identical.

That distinction matters because men who substantially confess the same faith can still behave like schismatics.

Vermigli described sinful schism as separation among God’s people arising from hatred between brethren through disagreements involving judgment, opinion, language, or attachment to particular leaders.

That definition gets uncomfortably practical.

You can subscribe to the right confession and still be a divisive man. You can win theological arguments while damaging the peace of Christ’s Church. You can quote Calvin while gathering your little band of loyalists to fight everybody who annoys you.

Orthodoxy does not excuse factionalism.

The Schismatic Who Never Leaves

This is where Christians need to examine themselves.

Suppose a man disagrees with his elders. He begins having private conversations with other members. Every conversation somehow returns to his grievance. He carefully collects people who sympathize with him. Old disputes that the church has already addressed suddenly need to be discussed again. Every sermon gets interpreted through the controversy. Every decision becomes evidence for his case.

Soon everyone knows which side everyone else is on.

The man might never leave.

He is still tearing at the body.

There are lawful ways to disagree with church authorities. Elders are fallible men. Pastors can sin. Church courts can make bad decisions. Christians have the right to appeal, object, ask questions, and seek correction according to biblical and ecclesiastical order.

But there is a world of difference between seeking correction and recruiting a faction.

Ask yourself what you actually want. Do you want the truth established, even if the truth exposes your own error? Are you willing to be corrected? Can you state your elders’ position fairly? Have you spoken directly to the men involved, or have you spent six months explaining their failures to everybody except them?

Those questions reveal a great deal about the heart.

Beware the Cult of the Favorite Pastor

Vermigli also identified attachment to favored leaders as a source of schism. Paul confronted the same disease in Corinth. One man said, “I am of Paul.” Another preferred Apollos. Another claimed Cephas.

We have better technology now, but the temptation has hardly changed.

Christians form tribes around pastors, podcasters, theologians, and internet personalities. Before long, loyalty to the personality becomes a test of orthodoxy. If Pastor Famous said it, his followers defend it. If his rival said something similar, they find a reason to condemn it.

Men begin inheriting other men’s enemies.

That is foolish.

Be thankful for faithful teachers. Read good books. Listen to strong preaching. Learn from men who know more than you. But no pastor deserves the kind of loyalty that belongs to Christ alone. Your favorite preacher did not die for you, and his enemies do not automatically need to become yours.

We Can Even Divide Over Words

Another form of schism is particularly common among men who love theology. Two Christians may substantially agree on a doctrine while fighting bitterly because each insists upon his preferred terminology.

We have seen this happen over labels such as “Christian nationalism,” “theonomy,” “general equity,” “abolitionist,” and “pro-life.” Real disagreements can exist behind those terms, and those disagreements deserve serious discussion. Yet sometimes two men agree on ninety percent of the substance and build their entire rivalry around the remaining terminology.

Before fighting over a label, define it.

Ask the other man what he means. State his position back to him until he says you have represented him accurately. Then identify the actual disagreement.

A man who enjoys conflict will resist that process because clarity may rob him of a fight.

When Separation Becomes Necessary

None of this means Christians must remain forever inside corrupt institutions.

Vermigli defended the Reformation precisely because some separations are necessary. When the larger body becomes corrupt and faithful Christians must separate in order to obey Christ, the mere fact of separation does not establish guilt.

Abraham left the Chaldeans. Christians left pagan idolatry. Christ and His apostles stood against the corrupt religious authorities of their day. The Reformers did not believe institutional continuity could excuse corruption of the faith.

So when should a Christian consider leaving?

Ask whether the church still confesses and teaches the essentials of the Christian faith. Consider whether biblical worship and the sacraments have been corrupted. Ask whether leaders are binding consciences where God has left men free. Consider whether open wickedness is being blessed rather than disciplined. Determine whether meaningful correction and appeal remain possible.

Then ask one especially serious question: Can I remain here faithfully without participating in sin?

That question cannot be answered by nostalgia.

Your grandfather attending a denomination does not sanctify its current rebellion. A beautiful building does not make apostasy holy. An institution can possess centuries of history and still abandon the Lord who gave it whatever authority it once possessed.

When a church commands what God forbids, forbids what God commands, corrupts the gospel, celebrates wickedness, or makes faithful obedience impossible, separation may become a duty.

Do Not Leave Lightly

The opposite warning remains necessary.

Do not leave because your pride got wounded.

Do not leave because the pastor corrected you. Do not uproot your wife and children every time another church offers a preacher you find more exciting. Do not confuse your preferences with biblical commands. Do not manufacture a crisis because somebody disagreed with your political strategy, eschatology, schooling decisions, dietary convictions, or favorite internet theologian.

Church membership requires patience because churches contain sinners, including you.

The purest church on earth still contains error. If you demand a congregation where nobody frustrates you, nobody disagrees with you, and every elder recognizes the brilliance of all your opinions, you will eventually need to start a church consisting of yourself.

Give it a few weeks and you will probably have problems there too.

How to Leave Without Becoming a Schismatic

Sometimes you will need to leave. When that day comes, leave like a Christian man.

Speak plainly with your elders. Give them an opportunity to hear your concerns from you rather than through rumors. Use legitimate processes of appeal when appropriate. Refuse the temptation to recruit half the congregation on your way out. Do not turn every friendship into a referendum on your dispute.

And guard your tongue afterward.

You may need to explain why you left. Serious errors sometimes need public exposure, especially when public teaching or public sin is involved. Yet even necessary criticism can become an excuse for bitterness. A man can make his former church the organizing principle of his entire Christian life.

Move forward.

Find a faithful church. Submit yourself to its shepherds. Serve your brothers. Raise your children in the faith. Worship Christ. Build something good.

Look for the Schismatic in the Mirror

Discussions about schism easily become discussions about everybody else.

Roman Catholics point at Protestants. Protestants point at Rome. Presbyterians point at Baptists. One denomination points at another. Conservatives blame liberals. Internet tribes spend years cataloging the treachery of rival internet tribes.

There are legitimate questions in all those debates. Truth matters. Doctrine matters. Institutions matter.

But Peter Martyr's treatment of schism forces the question closer to home.

Do you love your brothers?

Can you disagree without despising them? Can you submit when you do not get your way? Can you receive correction? Are you more interested in preserving Christ's Church than preserving your reputation? When controversy comes, are you working toward truth and peace, or quietly enjoying the opportunity to gather your side?

A man does not prove his faithfulness merely by staying. He does not prove it merely by leaving.

Faithfulness requires loving Christ, holding fast to His truth, honoring lawful authority, and refusing to tear apart His people for the sake of pride, ambition, resentment, or tribal loyalty.

Before asking, “Who’s the schismatic?”

Make sure you are willing to hear the answer.