Evangelical, I am grateful that we can start to go back to the Bible to dig out some truth together.
I would like to share one viewpoint first. In the Bible, there are different types of "languages". Some are plain descriptive ones on events and opinions as in Acts and the epistles. The other uses lots of symbols and types as in Revelation. Understanding the later is more difficult because it depends on how we interpret the symbols and types. Hope you agree that there is an element of guessing so we oftenly cannot be 100% sure.
So I started to first put away those preconceptions we learned from others on what the symbols and types mean, and go back to the texts themselves. Sometimes I find the messages are actually plain clear even without interpreting the symbols. May be there are further spiritual depths hidden in the symbols, but we should not ignore what is there in the plain text.
So let's try this with your verses...
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Originally Posted by Evangelical
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
This describes a group of God's people coming out of Babylon.
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Let's firstly not care about what Babylon means. In Rev 18:4, who did the voice from heaven call upon? It was calling "my people", God's people. (Have to admit that I have interpreted the voice from heaven as God's voice though) The voice was calling all God's people not to be partaker of Babylon's sins. It did not intend to have any God's people being left behind. So this is not a call for division of God's people or the body of Christ. It is instead a call for oneness to walk away from the sins of Babylon, whatever it represents. If somehow because of that Babylon we part with our fellow brothers and sisters, then probably we are failing God's call.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
This verse describes separation from evil brethren:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
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Who were the evil persons that Paul mentioned? They are "anyone who bears the name of brother" but "is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler".
Firstly, He might not be talking about true brothers - could be just people who claimed to be a brother. I think we have no issue purging false brothers and definitely this is not a division of the body of Christ.
And even in the very unlikely case some true brothers had sinned (and probably refused to repent after fellowship), Paul named the sins very specifically. The evil persons were to be purged, isolated, or even quarantined if you like this word. There was no mention of splitting up the Corinthian Church. He was definitely not asking the true brothers who had not sinned to walk away to set up a new Church. And there is no mention of having different opinions of what a Church should be as a sin and reason for the purging.
Brother, those two verses did not convince me there are right divisions. They told me the importance of oneness. Please continue to seek.