Exploring the Meaning of Schisma in Greek

σχίσμα names a “split” that can be seen in a torn garment or heard in the fractured speech of a crowd. Across its New Testament appearances, it marks both physical rupture and social separation, especially when people pull apart over Jesus’ words and works or when a church’s shared life comes apart.

Occurrences

Matthew 9:16 — “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made.”

Here σχίσμα belongs to the imagery of clothing repair. The scene turns on what happens when a new patch meets old fabric: the patch “would tear away,” producing “a worse hole.” The “split” is not a minor blemish but an aggravated rupture produced by an ill-matched attempt at fixing. The word’s force lies in the visible outcome: the garment ends up more separated than before.

Mark 2:21 — “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.”

Mark’s version spells out a process—“the patch shrinks”—and then the consequence: “the new tears away from the old.” σχίσμα names the resulting split in the cloth, but the emphasis falls on the incompatibility that produces separation. The “new” and “old” end up pulled apart, and the damage is increased (“a worse hole”). The word thus points to a failure of cohesion: what is stitched together does not remain together.

John 7:43 — “So a division arose in the multitude because of him.”

In John, σχίσμα moves from fabric to people. The “multitude” becomes the place where a split opens up, and the reason is personal and immediate: “because of him.” The word describes a crowd that no longer holds as a single unit; reaction to Jesus becomes the seam along which the multitude separates. The verse presents the split as something that “arose,” suggesting an event that becomes evident as the crowd responds.

John 9:16 — “Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them.”

This occurrence sets σχίσμα inside a direct clash of judgments. One group reasons from Sabbath-keeping to the verdict “not from God.” Another group reasons from the presence of “such signs” to a question that resists that verdict: “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” The “split” is not merely difference of opinion in the abstract; it is a separation into opposing lines of argument about the same man and the same deeds. σχίσμα names the fracture “among them”—within a defined religious group—showing that disagreement has become an internal separation.

John 10:19 — “Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words.”

Here σχίσμα is triggered “because of these words,” and it “arose again,” portraying the split as recurring in the wake of Jesus’ speech. The setting is communal (“among the Jews”), and the word highlights the effect of hearing: the audience does not move forward together but is separated in response to what has been said. The recurrence implied by “again” gives the split a patterned quality—certain words repeatedly become the point where unity gives way to separation.

1 Corinthians 1:10 — “Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Paul places σχίσμα within the problem of a church’s speech and thinking. He contrasts “divisions among you” with a unified pattern: “speak the same thing,” and be “perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” The “split” is treated as a condition that can exist “among” believers, and its opposite is not silence but a shared confession and aligned discernment. The word’s contribution is to name what disrupts the church’s togetherness: a separation that shows up in divergent speech and judgment.

1 Corinthians 11:18 — “For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.”

In this assembly setting, σχίσμα is tied to what happens “when you come together.” The split is not only a private attitude; it “exist[s] among you” in the very act of gathering. Paul presents it as a report he has “hear[d],” and the context emphasizes that communal worship and meeting can be accompanied by real separation within the group. The word thus names an observable communal fracture that can accompany, and distort, the church’s coming together.

1 Corinthians 12:25 — “that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”

Here σχίσμα is set against an organic metaphor: “the body” and its “members.” The desired outcome is stated purposefully: “that there should be no division in the body.” The alternative is a cohesive pattern of mutual attention—“the same care for one another.” In this sentence, σχίσμα denotes the kind of split that would interrupt the body’s coordinated life, a separation that would keep members from acting with shared concern. The word makes disunity tangible by placing it “in the body,” where a split would be felt as a breakdown of joined parts.

Sense and Usage

σχίσμα consistently carries the idea of a split, and the passages display how that idea works in two connected domains. In the garment sayings (Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21), the split is concrete: cloth tears, a hole worsens, and separation is visible. The action is almost mechanical—patch, shrink, tear—so that the split becomes the predictable outcome of joining things that do not hold together under strain.

John applies the same term to groups of people (John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). The “multitude,” the Pharisees, and “the Jews” do not physically tear, yet σχίσμα treats their disagreement as a real separation within a crowd. The split “arose” because of Jesus (“because of him”) and because of his speech (“because of these words”). In John 9:16 the split is dramatized by two incompatible conclusions drawn from the same situation: one side’s accusation (“not from God”) and the other side’s question grounded in “such signs.” Thus σχίσμα can name a social rupture produced by conflicting judgments, where people form distinct sides rather than a single shared response.

In 1 Corinthians the term becomes pastoral and corrective (1 Corinthians 1:10; 11:18; 12:25). Paul treats a split as something that should not characterize the church’s speech (“speak the same thing”), discernment (“the same mind and… judgment”), or shared life in assembly (“when you come together”). The word gains a communal, ethical edge: it is not simply that people differ; a split is something that exists “among you” and can be opposed by a call to be “perfected together.” The metaphor of “the body” intensifies the point: a split is abnormal within a body, and the positive counterpart is “the same care for one another,” where the members act with coordinated concern rather than separated interests.

Across these uses, the term’s imagery remains stable: whether cloth or community, a split is a separation where joinedness fails. The scenes show that such separation can be produced by stress (a shrinking patch), by disputed interpretation of deeds (“such signs”), by contested words, or by the dynamics of a gathered congregation. The word therefore serves as a precise label for rupture—either as a worsening tear or as a dividing line within a group.

Imagery

The garment image in Matthew and Mark gives σχίσμα a tactile picture: fabric pulled apart so that “a worse hole is made.” John and 1 Corinthians extend that picture into public life and church life, where a crowd or congregation can be pulled apart by competing verdicts and uneven care. In each setting, the split is not presented as harmless variety but as a separation that alters what the group—or the garment—can be as one.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).