We often hear people bemoaning all of the “division” in the church. Usually these folks refer to the concept that two churches do not engage in “fellowship” with one another: for example, one congregation does not announce events such as gospel meetings when sponsored by the other. Sometimes we even hear of a “split” in the church between congregations that differ over various doctrinal issues.

Comments such as these betray a lack of understanding about the true nature of the church. Indeed, they suggest a denominational view of the church on the part of the speaker.

The church, in the sense of the body to which all of those who belong to Christ have been added, is not divided. Let’s take that one step further—the church of Christ is indivisible. It cannot be divided. We can say this assuredly because Jesus did: “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

On the night the Lord was betrayed, He prayed to the Father concerning His apostles, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they may also be one in Us” (John 17:20-21). Since Jesus always spoke in accord with the Father’s will (John 5:19, 30; 6:38; 10:30), we can be certain that what He prayed was in harmony with God’s will and was therefore granted to Him.

The key to our understanding of the indivisibility of the church is the fact that the church (in the general sense) is not—contrary to popular thought—composed of congregations (churches in the specific sense), but of individual Christians. We see this principle illustrated at the very dawn of the church, in the second chapter of Acts: “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Individuals were being saved (by obeying the command given in verse 38 to “repent and be baptized”) and the Lord added each one to the number of those already in that same condition. Nowhere do we find God adding a congregation to the number of the saved.

A congregation—a local assembly of Christians, a local church—may contain both saved and unsaved individuals. The letters of Jesus to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2 and 3 demonstrate this. With a single exception (the church at Philadelphia), we are told that each of the churches mentioned comprised both faithful and unfaithful people. Even the church at Sardis, which the Lord described as “dead” (Revelation 3:2) had within it a few “who have not defiled their garments”; who were counted as “worthy” (Revelation 3:5).

Membership in the Lord’s church is determined by Him alone. He alone knows the hearts of men and women (Psalm 139:1-4; Isaiah 66:18) and can judge those who have truly obeyed His will. Those whom the Lord has added to the church cannot be divided by human agency, because their fellowship is divinely determined (1 John 1:7). Conversely, membership in the local church is approved or disapproved by human judgment. We may accept, on the basis of our limited perspective, some whom we should not (1 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:14-15, 20), or refuse to accept, as Diotrephes did, some whom we should (3 John 9-10).

Someone may note that the Scriptures discuss and condemn division among Christians. Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth about this very issue: “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you” (1 Corinthians 1:10). However, we must note that the divisions to which Paul refers are divisions “among you,” that is, among the Christians at Corinth. He is not addressing their collective relationship with bodies of disciples elsewhere. He makes this point again later in the letter: “When you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you…for there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (1 Corinthians 11:18-19). Three times the apostle makes specific reference to division “among you.” He also makes a clear distinction between their membership at large and “those who are approved” — approved, that is, of God.

Make no mistake about it—the church of Christ is indivisible. Our purpose, therefore, as individual Christians should be always to examine ourselves as to whether we are “in the faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5) and to seek association with “those who have obtained like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1).