Three Reasons Why Conflict is Harmful to the Church

By Robb Brunansky

Published January 21, 2025

In the first major section of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul addresses the unfortunate, but inevitable, problem of conflict within the church.

At the outset, we should recognize that conflict in the church is unavoidable. No church has ever existed where there were not conflicts among its members. Sometimes we may have the wrong idea that a good church is a one without any problems, but the only churches without any problems are those without any people. Conflict certainly occurs in the church, and in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul explains why conflict happens in the church and what to do about it.

Christians should not be overwhelmed by the inevitability of conflict in the church, nor should they be disillusioned by its existence. Rather, they should expect conflict. This is why a sizable portion of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is taken up in addressing church conflict – 25% of the letter!

I emphasize this point because it is easy for newer believers to become discouraged when they first encounter church conflict. Many have the idea that all will be peaceful and there will be no substantive disagreements when they step foot into a solid church. However, it doesn’t take long before these people realize that their idealistic view of the church does not match the reality. When that crossroads appears, it is tempting to become cynical; or if the conflict or criticism was directed at them, to become embittered or deeply hurt.

One way to protect ourselves against such cynicism and bitterness is to recognize that we will encounter conflict in the church; we will be sinned against; we will run up against people who differ from us, and there will be disagreements. As sinners within the church, we sin, and our sin is sometimes directed toward other people (knowingly or unknowingly), creating conflict. Since we cannot avoid church conflict, we need to know how to handle it biblically in order to resolve it in a way that honors Christ and preserves the unity of His body. That is exactly what Paul gives us in this passage: the cure for church conflict.

Before we jump into the solution, we should first highlight the importance of resolving conflict in the church and preserving the unity of the body of Christ.

The Corinthian church was riddled with many problems – one we would be hesitant to attend, let alone join as members, given the seriousness and extensiveness of their issues.

• They had someone in the church who was practicing sexual immorality and having sexual relationships with his stepmother;
• They had some members who were visiting prostitutes;
• They had members in the church actively involved in lawsuits against each other;
• They had problems with divorce and remarriage;
• They had members living with no love or care for other members of the church;
• They had members participating, perhaps unwittingly, in demonic worship;
• Their worship service was marked by disorder and partiality;
• Some in the church were saying there was no such thing as the resurrection from the dead;
• Some members of the church were being rebellious against its leadership.

When we think about this list of issues and problems in that church, in addition to the disunity among believers there, which issue would we first address if we were writing this letter? In our modern way of prioritizing things in the church, we likely would not start with conflicts, devoting four full chapters to this topic before getting into the other issues. Yet Paul begins here, with the life of the church together, with a focus and an emphasis on the unity of the church, dealing with conflict within the body of Christ.

Paul understood he could not deal with the other issues if the church itself was fractured. There was no path forward to deal with the sins and problems in Corinth if its believers were not unified. All the division would only deepen and intensify if they tried to confront sin as a fractured fellowship. So, Paul must begin his letter with unity because it is foundational to everything in the church.

Why does Paul spend significant time addressing church unity amid conflict? There are three reasons why preserving unity is foundational to the church.

First, disunity in the church disables fruitful service.

When the church is divided and where conflict rules rather than Christ, believers become spiritually disabled from being fruitful in their service to the Lord. This is a real problem because, as we saw in Paul’s opening, Christians are equipped by the Spirit of God for fruitful service. We are called to use our giftedness to build up the body of Christ and to evangelize unbelievers and to pray for their salvation through faith in Jesus. When we are embroiled in conflict, though, we become spiritually disabled, crippled, and hindered from using our giftedness to serve others in the church and reach the world with the gospel of Christ.

Second, disunity damages gospel witness.

In verse six, Paul told the Corinthians that the testimony of Christ had been confirmed in them through the giving of the Spirit in their midst. Now that they were experiencing disunity, though, conflict was compromising their gospel witness. When believers do not love one another, when we do not walk in unity, when we allow conflict to dominate, when conflict sets the tone for the church and is the air we breathe, then our gospel witness is damaged, making us look just like the world.

On the other hand, church unity confirms that the gospel is true and that we collectively belong to Christ as His disciples because as the church, collectively, we really have nothing worldly that binds us as one. What fashions us together as a church and compels us to love one another is that we are disciples of Jesus, and that we follow and love Christ – and because we love Christ, we love His people even with all their differences. It is this love for one another, amid differences the world prizes so highly but that we disregard entirely, that confirms we have come to know and love Jesus Christ. Our unity in love for Christ and one another is designed by God to be a powerful tool that proclaims gospel witness.

Third, disunity dishonors Christ’s name.

When professing Christians say they have called upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ but allow conflict to rule in the church, they make a mockery of His name. Jesus is Lord of the members of His church, meaning that what believers say and do and how we treat one another in the body of Christ reflects upon His name. When we have divisions, factions, quarrels, and strife among us, we dishonor the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This the greatest reason we should want to understand and apply the cure for church conflict, because nothing should cause us greater grief than to dishonor the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. It should grieve our hearts that conflict disables fruitful service. It is distressing to our souls that disunity damages gospel witness. Above all that, however, we desire to honor and glorify the name of Christ, and it should break our hearts to think we might act in such a way to publicly shame the name of Jesus our Lord by fracturing the unity of His church.

Unity is such a central issue for Paul, and he begins his letter here, because of its importance for the church, the world, and the glory of God. Next time, we will start to consider Paul’s cure for church conflict.