Turn away from divisive people.

Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. After giving the Roman believers clear instruction as to how they ought to receive one another in Christ and serve the Lord by loving one another, Paul felt it was necessary to emphasize how important his teaching was to them. They were offering to God living, holy, sacrifices which were acceptable to God as expressions of their worship (Rom. 12:1). Chapters 12-15 show us what such worship looks like in the fellowship of believers. In this verse, we see how serious it was to Paul that they put these things into practice and that they not tolerate anyone who didn’t live to love with Jesus. They were to keep an eye out for anyone who caused dissension or hindered their accepting one another as Jesus had accepted them. If anyone didn’t apply what Paul taught, they were to be shunned and avoided. I think we ought to see such discipline within the body as an expression of loving with Jesus. It’s not loving to enable or tolerate someone who destroys the body of Christ, which is exactly what Paul called it in Romans 14:15. “For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.” I don’t think Paul was suggesting that they not call the divisive person to repentance. I think it is assumed that they do that. If the person refused to listen, then they were to turn away. That’s what Jesus taught His disciples to do in Matthew 18:17 when two brothers confront someone about their sin. “If he (the one confronted) refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Hopefully, today such destructive, selfish people won’t cross our paths, but if they do, Paul’s advice is for us to turn away from them. Living to love with Jesus sometimes requires a tough love. In such cases, we do what is in their highest good, which glorifies God by preserving the unity of the body of Christ.