One purpose of division and conflict is to reveal those who have God’s heart, those who are genuinely his. It also reveals those who will one day stand under his judgment. Division in the church is undesirable, but God uses it to reveal who truly belongs to Him.

I’ve studied this passage many times before, but this time, a verse that’s easy to overlook jumped out at me: “…for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Corinthians 11:19).

Paul is addressing the way the Corinthian church observed the Lord’s Supper. As you probably know, it was a mess. Divisions were rampant in that church. They were divided by personality cults and beliefs over food offered to idols. When it came to the Lord’s Supper, they experienced divisions according to socio-economic class.

The more well-off in the congregation left the poorer members out of parts of the meal, and they didn’t seem to care. Some were even getting drunk by the time that others in the church showed up. It seems that each person was more concerned with satisfying their own hunger and thirst than coming together as one to celebrate. The divisions at the meal celebrating the Lord’s Supper made a mockery of its purpose, and Paul wasn’t happy.

In the middle of this, Paul says something that I haven’t paid much attention to in the past. Their division at the Lord’s Supper had one benefit, he wrote. It revealed the genuine believers in the congregation.

This teaches us something important. Divisions in the church can be part of God’s sifting process.

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