When you ask certain ones, “May a Christian commit fornication?” They will answer with a definitive no. If you ask them, “May a Christian worship idols?” They will give you a definitive no as well. But if you ask them, “May Christians be divided?” They may say, “Though they are divided outwardly, they are not divided in their heart.” This is like idol worshippers saying, “We are only worshipping idols outwardly. We are not worshipping them in our hearts.” There is no excuse for this. Both idolatry and division are condemned in the eyes of God.
It is strange for some who consider themselves servants of God to write books encouraging others to remain in the sects. If a servant of God wrote a book encouraging Christians to worship idols, what would be your response? If a servant of God wrote a book encouraging Christians to commit fornication, to be lascivious, to lose their temper, and to be jealous, what would you think of this? You would feel that this person is surely not a servant of God. But there are people who say that Christians can remain in sects, and many people print their books. The only thing I can say is that men today are blind to what is abominable in the eyes of the Lord! Please bear in mind that we cannot have our own choice according to the flesh. Sectarianism, like idolatry, fornication, anger, and sorcery, is a work of the flesh; these are all on the same condemned list. We must act in a responsible way before God and not be tempted to go back to sectarianism.
The meaning of the word sect is very clear in Greek. It is translated as “divisions” in 1 Corinthians 11:18 and as “sects” in Galatians 5:20. Actually, they are the same word. Why was this word translated as “heresy” in the King James Version? In Greek the word is hairesis. The translators of the Bible probably chose not to translate the meaning of the word but instead used the word heresy. The King James Version was produced by the Anglican Church, and it had trouble with this verse because it was a state church. This reservation resulted in the use of an ambiguous word. The translators probably knew that this was not the right word, but they used it nevertheless. This same practice can be seen in the Chinese Bibles that use both Shangdi and Shen for the word God. Publishers know quite well that Shangdi is wrong. But because many denominations are familiar with this term, they continue to use it. They publish versions that use both words to cater to the needs of both sides. Another example can be found in the translation of the word baptism. This word should be translated “immersed,” but since sprinkling was a prevalent practice, the publishers were not definite in its translation. If immersed had been used, it would have aroused controversy. Those who know Greek know that the word baptism means “to immerse something into water.” Yet the translators dared not translate it this way. Instead, they invented a new English word, baptism, which does not mean anything in itself; it keeps a person in the dark as to its true meaning. It is a transliteration of a foreign word. The same principle applies to the translation of the word hairesis. Translating it as “sect” or “division” and calling sectarianism or division a work of the flesh would have aroused controversy. This was the reason the word heresy was used instead. It diverted the reader from understanding its true meaning. Actually, the word heresy is not an English word. No English-speaking person knows what it really means. I know of two brothers who worked at the Gospel Bookstore who were involved with the translation of the Bible. They simply made a transliteration of the word baptizo and put the characters ba-di-zo in its place. I am afraid that not a single soul in China knows what ba-di-zo means, whether it means immersion or sprinkling. No one knows what the word ba-di-zo means, and so both the immersion group and the sprinkling group are happy. This only goes to show man’s unfaithfulness. A casual reading of a few other translations will tell you that the word hairesis is actually sect in English. But because of reservations, the word heresy was used instead, and everyone has been kept in the dark as to the true meaning of the word. The Greek word hairesis was anglicized to become heresy in 1611, and the word heresy has been with us for the last three hundred years. By the time the Chinese translated this word, it became i-duan— heresy, a rather ambiguous word. I can give you other examples of such transliteration of English words.