In previous messages we have covered the general advices and warnings. Before we turn in the next message to the section of Deuteronomy dealing with the rehearsing of the general statutes and judgments (14:1—26:19), I would like to give a further word concerning division and apostasy.
The general advices and warnings in Deuteronomy 5:32—11:32 are rather general, but in chapters twelve and thirteen they are very specific and definite. According to Moses' word in Deuteronomy 12 and 13, we must avoid division and reject apostasy. In chapter twelve he charges us to keep the ground of oneness among God's people, and in chapter thirteen he is very definite in the condemnation of apostasy. The children of Israel were not allowed to tolerate apostasy even in someone as close as a brother, son, daughter, or wife (13:6-9). Instead of loving the apostates, they were to deal with them severely. God does not tolerate apostasy, and they likewise were not to tolerate it. God hates apostasy and He condemns division.
Regarding apostasy and division, the Old Testament and the New Testament are the same. The New Testament term for apostasy is heresy. Apostasy and heresy are an insult to the person of God. In the Old Testament the apostates turned away from God and followed idols. That was an insult to God, and He could not tolerate it. In the New Testament the heretics denied that Jesus Christ is God incarnated to become a man. Such a denial is heresy, New Testament apostasy. This heresy damages the person of Christ. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God does not tolerate apostasy or heresy.
The Lord also will not tolerate division. The Lord hates division because it destroys His people as His expression. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were God's people for His corporate expression. In the New Testament the corporate expression of the Lord is the Body of Christ. Whereas heresy insults and damages the person of Christ, division damages the Body of Christ. Division kills the Body of Christ and cuts it into pieces. Because heresy damages the Head and because division kills the Body, the Lord, in both the New Testament and the Old Testament, will never tolerate heresy and division.