Biblical Separation: Guarding the Gospel for the Glory of Christ

By Pooyan Mehrshahi - Posted at Substack:

Published May 26, 2026

There is a kind of separation that is sinful. Proud men separate because they love party spirit. Narrow men separate because they cannot bear brethren who differ from them in smaller matters. Suspicious men separate because they imagine danger everywhere. Scripture condemns such a spirit. Jude speaks of those who “separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit” (Jude 19). Thomas Manton, preaching on that text, warned that sinful dividing from the church is a work of the flesh, not the fruit of grace.¹

But there is also a separation that is commanded by God. It is not the separation of pride, but of faithfulness. It is not the separation of bitterness, but of obedience. It is not a departure from love, but a defence of love, because true love rejoices “in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). The doctrine of biblical separation teaches that God’s people must not join hands in religious fellowship with those who deny the fundamental truths of the Christian faith.

C. H. Spurgeon saw this in his day, as he and the Metropolitan Tabernacle seceded from the Baptist Union of Great Britain. He said, “Separation from such as connive at fundamental error, or withhold the ‘Bread of life’ from perishing souls, is not schism, but only what truth, and conscience, and God require of all who would be found faithful.” 7

This is not a small matter. A church without separation is like a city without walls, a shepherd without a staff, a house without a door. Anyone may enter, anything may be taught, and the sheep are left exposed. The question is not whether Christians should be loving. Of course they should. The question is this: can love to Christ ever require us to appear indifferent to error about Christ?

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