2. Well, we cannot altogether prevent inharmony in the Church. Paul says (1 Corinthians 11:19), “For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you.” Wherever the Word of God has a foothold, there the devil will be. By the agency of his factions he will always build his taverns and kitchens beside God’s house. So he did at first, in Paradise. In the family of Adam he entrenched himself, establishing there his church. And such has been his practice ever since, and doubtless will ever be. He who takes offense at differences in the Church, who when he sees any inharmony at once concludes there is no Church there, will in the end miss both the Church and Christ. You will never find any congregation of such purity that all its members are unanimous on every point of belief and teaching and all live in perfect harmony.
Luther's Sermons, Volume 8, Tenth Sunday after Trinity
