Romans 16:17?20 (17)
I knew a man who said that his calling in life was to spot people in the church who were teaching false doctrine. What he was good at was spotting people in the church who disagreed with him. Too often his conflicts were over matters of semantics or concerns that had no eternal value. Unfortunately there were not very many Christians who believed just like he did. As a result, he often caused dissension in a “righteous” manner. People in that church either didn’t like him or avoided him.
This is what Paul is talking about. The people who cause divisions and offences in the church may not be people who want to divide the church. They may be people who love the Lord. They quite often are good people who have firm beliefs which they feel must be defended at any cost. Whether their motive is good or bad they are divisive which in itself is contrary to the instruction of the Scriptures. We are never called to condemn. There is to be peace and unity in the body of Christ. Whenever the body is infected by a divisive spirit it suffers and is not able to function as it should for Christ.
By Dr. Gayle Woods