1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV): For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body...

1 Corinthians 12:13 (KJV): "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

Unity is something God made, not something we achieve. Paul says it is "by one Spirit" that believers are baptized into one body. Membership in the body of Christ rests on the Spirit's work and on faith in Christ, not on which translation someone reads. When a church splits over a Bible version, it risks drawing a boundary God never drew. Paul's two examples, Jew or Gentile and bond or free, were the sharpest divisions of his day, and he says they do not define the body. A believer who loves Christ from the NIV, ESV, or a Spanish Reina-Valera is just as much "baptized into one body."

"We all" includes people you disagree with. If you affirm that the Spirit indwells a brother or sister who reads a different translation, you cannot also treat them as an outsider or a threat to the church. The same Spirit "made to drink" is in them. Dividing from them means dividing from someone the Spirit has joined to Christ, and to you.

Preference is not the same as division. Loving the KJV is not the problem. Its beauty, its history, and its place in many believers' spiritual lives are real gifts. The problem comes when a preference becomes a test of fellowship. Scripture itself never says the English language of 1611 is the standard of orthodoxy. Paul wrote in Greek, and the New Testament writers often quoted the Greek Septuagint rather than the Hebrew, which shows the apostles were not anxious about a single "only" text. The KJV translators themselves wrote in their preface that even the meanest translation of the Bible contains the word of God.

What I'd say to those who caused the division:

1. Hold your conviction humbly. You can keep reading and preaching from the KJV while acknowledging that godly people reach different conclusions.
2. Remember the context of the chapter. Paul writes 1 Corinthians 12 to a church fractured by pride and rivalry. Verses 21 to 26 say the eye cannot tell the hand "I have no need of thee." Needing one another is the point.
3. Repair what was broken. If members were pushed out, called unsaved, or made to feel unwelcome over a translation, consider apologizing and reopening the door. Ephesians 4:3 calls us to keep "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," and keeping it is our work even though the unity itself is God's gift.
4. Put the main thing first. Let the church's shared confession be Christ crucified and risen, the gospel, and love for one another. Translation questions can be discussed as a family conversation, not a condition of belonging.

I should say that KJV-Only convictions are held sincerely, often out of reverence for Scripture, so the most persuasive approach is probably a gentle one that appeals to shared love of God's Word rather than one that accuses. Those who hold the view would say they are defending the purity of the text, and a good conversation will take that concern seriously while still insisting that the body of Christ is bigger than any one translation.