by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Hands_Across_the_Divide_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_478600-300x225.jpg\")
The devil loves division and animosity among brethren. So, he does his best to keep it stirred up, and, of course, one of his best tools is sin. If he can get a Christian to sin, he can get another Christian to be convinced that that sinning brother can never rise above it.<\/p>\n
For the sinner, the key is repentance. For the others, the key is love and acceptance, regardless of how grievous the sin may have been, once repentance has been expressed.\u00a0There are times when church discipline may not end in reconciliation, but that should never be due to unforgiveness towards the brother who has sinned.<\/p>\n
“Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him<\/em>” (II Corinthians 2:6-8).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Zeke Flores The devil loves division and animosity among brethren. So, he does his best to keep it stirred up, and, of course, one of his best tools is sin. If he can get a Christian to sin, he can get another Christian to be convinced that that sinning brother can never rise above…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1200,301,231],"class_list":["post-88764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-disagreements","tag-division","tag-strife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94937,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-withdraw-from-those-who-have-admitted-their-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":0},"title":"Do we withdraw from those who have admitted their sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day Jeffery, A few months ago, in my old congregation, the preacher, a married man, was having affairs with some sisters. One became jealous and reported to the father of another sister that she was having an affair. This other sister's father was a preacher in another congregation.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46977,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-keep-finding-sins-in-my-life-do-i-need-to-get-baptized-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":1},"title":"I keep finding sins in my life. Do I need to get baptized again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Hamilton, This has been bothering me for a while, so I am going to explain my situation. I was baptized as an infant and grew up knowing all about Jesus and what is expected of a Christian. However, as a young adult, after studying the Bible, I realized\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54744,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-whether-people-are-saved-in-these-four-scenarios\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":2},"title":"Can you explain whether people are saved in these four scenarios?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The gospel was preached to four people who accepted the Word and wanted to be baptized. The first person confessed his drinking habit and asked to be baptized but will gradually stop the drinking later. Can he be baptized to become a Christian? Why or why not? The second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-die-to-sin-at-the-point-of-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":3},"title":"Do we die to sin at the point of repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: After viewing your web site, my brother and I saw the graphic on\u00a0the gospel re-enacted.\u00a0 I appreciate the way it is laid out.\u00a0 I am attaching a similar graphic that is being taught in this area and in many other areas also. In this graphic, it is taught that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60416,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/three-quotes-on-forgiving-a-brother\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":4},"title":"Three Quotes on Forgiving a Brother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"From Questions Answered, Lipscomb and Sewell, Kurfees, pg. 260 Question: If a brother in the church offends us, is it right for us to forgive him whether he comes and asks us to or not, or must we hold it against him until he comes and asks our pardon? Would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50451,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-know-i-wont-fall-into-fornication-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":88764,"position":5},"title":"How do I know I won’t fall into fornication again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I seem to be struggling with my Christian life. I keep dabbling in fornication, which is always painful for me, so I don't even know why I do it. I also noticed I don't have a lot of Christian friends around. I can't seem to actually find any friends,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}