Why, then, were the people divided? They were divided because they began to have different worships and because they had different goals, interests, and purposes. Genesis 10:31 reveals four ways in which the people were divided: according to their families; according to their languages, that is, according to their different words, concepts, understandings, and utterances; according to their different lands; and according to their different nations. Let me say a little about each of these four items.
What does a family signify? It signifies a relationship in the flesh. Many people do not care for God, for His purpose, or for His interests. They only care for their family. Why are they one with their family? Simply because their family is composed of their relatives. The principle is the same among the Lord's people today. Many divisions have been caused by relationships in the flesh. Every fleshly relationship is the start of a division. Although we may not be in the same family according to the flesh, we may have a fleshly relationship nonetheless. Perhaps you love a certain brother because he is the kind of person that you love, yet you may not love other kinds of people. If you love certain people because they are the kind of people that you love, you are a fleshly family, forming relationships according to your fleshly taste. Thus, in order to maintain genuine unity, we must overcome the fleshly relationships.
Another cause of division is language. Language not only means speech; it means the utterance of your understanding. Language is the expression of your concept. Divisions may be caused by our differing understandings and concepts. You hold one concept, I hold another, and a third person holds still another. Eventually, the three of us will speak different languages. Although we all may speak English, we each speak in our own way, talking in our own language. This will result in fighting and division. We have families because of our fleshly interests and we have languages because of different concepts and utterances. These different utterances cause fighting, and fighting brings in division. Look at Christian history. At the beginning, many dear saints were absolutely one. However, at a certain time some of those saints took in different concepts and began to speak differently; they began to talk a different language. That caused trouble. This is the history of the division in Christianity throughout the centuries. Language truly is a factor of division.
What do the lands signify? They signify territories. When I was young, I learned that the missionaries who went to my province preaching the same Lord and the same gospel held a conference in which they divided a part of that province among themselves. They said that a certain territory belonged to the Southern Baptists and that other territories belonged to the Presbyterians, Open Brethren, etc. They divided that part of the country into four or five territories. They were strict about this, saying to those who encroached upon their territory, "Why do you come to our territory to preach? Don't you know that we have agreed to divide this part of the country into territories?"
The Lord has led us to release the matter of the church ground of locality in the United States. Ten years ago the church ground of locality was strongly opposed. Now it has become a hot item on the market. People are talking about the local church, and many are proclaiming that they are the local church in their locality. However, so many groups have not become local churches but local sects. Some have said to us, "We are the local church here. Don't come to bother us." Others say, "We are the local church here and we have the autonomy." What is this autonomy? It is the dividing of the land for the sake of the self. When people say, "Don't bother us—we are the local church in this locality," in God's sight they are a local sect, not a local church. Today the divisive people will use any excuse to be divisive. Yes, all the local churches are locally independent, yet universally they are one Body. We may say that there are many local churches, but we can never say that there are many bodies. Although there may be a thousand local churches, the Body of Christ universally is still one. Christ does not have more than one Body. If the brothers here in Anaheim would proclaim that they are the church in Anaheim and that others should not bother them, they immediately become a local sect. They have divided the land.
Let us take the example of the United States, a nation composed of fifty states. These fifty states are not divided lands. We can travel from one state to another. You may be a citizen in California today and a citizen in Oregon tomorrow. A short while later you may move to Arizona and become a citizen there. Although the United States is composed of fifty states, it is not divided into fifty lands.
Once you have become a fleshly family, you will have an opinionated language and a divisive way of dividing the land. Eventually, you will become a nation. It is meaningful that in English the word denomination includes the word nation. In typology, it is a nation; in Christianity, it is a denomination. A denomination means that which is denominated. In typology there are the nations, such as Ethiopia, Egypt, Sheba, etc.; in Christianity there are the denominations, such as Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, etc. All of these are nations or denominations. All are divided.