Romans 16:17
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."
Years ago my wife and I drove to a meeting in the Midwest. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and were supposed to meet the pastor at the church. When we arrived, across the street from the church were some youth partying in their front yard. My wife and I had not been there long when we heard a gun shot ring throughout the neighborhood. I happened to see at the sound of the shot a young man fall to the ground. I quickly ran over after looking to be sure the shooter was not around to find the young man had been killed.
Within a few minutes the police arrived to secure the crime scene and to begin their investigation. They quickly divided up the witnesses of the crime so that they could get their uncorroborated stories. Their purpose was to find out who was the bad guy. They didn't know who the shooter was, so they had to do their diligence to find this bad guy.
This story is certainly tragic because a young man lost his life, but I find many people are spiritually condemning the wrong person as the bad guy. Paul said, "...brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." Even in Paul's time there were divisions among the brethren. It is evident in his time that those who stood for truth were being classified as the bad guys and the one's causing the problems among the brethren. So, to help stop this problem he gave the church the guidelines of determining the bad guy and what they should do.
Let me first point out that the division was caused by other Christian brethren. It's very interesting that Paul was not pointing out the heathen causing divisions, but he pointed out the brethren. In other words, at times in your Christian life you are going to have to discern from which brethren you are going to have to separate.
Second, doctrine is the measuring stick by which we choose to separate. In other words, if you stand for God's Word, you will find that It will cause a division. Truth always causes division. Whenever you are trying to discern from whom to separate, always use the Word of God as the standard.
Third, the one's who are causing the division are those who stray from truth. You will always find that the compromiser will always point to the one who defends truth as the bad guy; however, the one standing for truth has not caused the division, rather it is the one who strayed from truth who caused the division. If you are not careful, you will call the one who stands for truth the bad guy because it seemingly looks as if they are being divisive when they are not, they are simply defending truth. The one who caused the division is the one who strayed from truth.
When you are trying to determine who the "bad guy" is in divisions, always watch out for the one who is trying to get people to do less. You would be safer to stand with those trying to do right than with those who are trying to do less. Always remember that the "bad guy" is the one who strayed from truth. Don't point your spiritual guns at the person defending truth, for truth always reveals the compromiser. Always stand with the defender of truth and remember they are the good guy. Separate from those who have left truth and never let their criticisms cause you to stop defending truth.