The Bible has much to say about causing discord among people. Most is found in Proverbs. It can be causing strife, contentions, brawling, discord or divisions among people. Let us look at what causes these problems among groups of people and what we can do about it. This will work in any area of life.
1. In Proverbs 6:12-19 we have a description of a person who causes discord followed by seven things God hates. Verse 15 tells what happens to people who live this kind of a lifestyle.
2. We find in Proverbs 15:18a that “A wrathful man stirs up strife.”
3. In Proverbs 16:28a we are told “A froward man sows strife.”
4. Proverbs 22:10 says “Cast out the scorner, and contentions shall go out; yes, strife and reproach shall cease.”
5. Proverbs 26:20 tells us a “talebearer” causes strife.
6. Proverbs 28:25a says a proud-hearted person stirs up strife.
7. Proverbs 29:22a says an angry man stirs up strife.
So we can see a person who causes discord through strife and divisions has a spiritual problem. Such a person is a scorner, a talebearer, angry, proud, froward, wrathful, wicked, hateful spirited. This person is not happy if people are getting along. He/she is constantly causing people to fight with one another.
This goes on in all walks of life. You see it in community gatherings, churches, businesses, schools. There are some people who have a spirit of divisiveness that drives them to bring discord to people groups. Perhaps you have seen people like this. They are not happy when everything is running smoothly. If these people have a hidden agenda, they are bad news to the social order.
God wants us to have an orderly society. He wants this for us in all areas of our life. By nature we are sinful. We are selfish. Our carnal spirit is warring against God. God could have just destroyed the whole human race in the great Genesis flood. He saved one family of eight to repopulate the earth. It was not long before the human race was again rebelling against God at the tower of Babel. Right to this very hour most of the people on this planet are warring against God. This warring against God has brought chaos to many.
In Proverbs 6:19 we read two things God hates. It says, “A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.” In Luke 22:24 we find the disciples striving over who is going to be the greatest in God’s kingdom. Romans 13:13 tells us we are to walk “honestly.” We are not to walk in “rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” 1 Corinthians 3:3 tells us that “envying, strife and division” is a sign we are carnal. Galatians 5:20 lists strife as one of the works of the flesh. In Philippians 2:3 we are exhorted to do nothing through “strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better then themselves.” In 1 Timothy 6:3-6 we are shown the reason strife is in the Christian fellowship and what to do about it. James tells us in James 3:14 that if we have “bitter envying and strife” in our “heart” we “should not lie against the truth.” Then he tells us in verse 16 that “where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
There is a solution to all of this. When we have the peace of God in our hearts, the thing that caused us to be contentious is taken away. The only way this is going to happen is salvation from sin and sinning through the Lord Jesus Christ.