Fidelity to the Truths vs Maintaining Christian Unity in the Church
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Fidelity to the truth (Defending the Faith)
I grew up in a denomination that thought of itself as a group of Christians committed to maintaining the Faith and defending the Faith against all attacks from every direction. We were people committed to remaining purity in our doctrine. We tried to be faithful at all costs to the deposit of truth as we have it in the word of God.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians (and we turned to Paul a great deal as I was growing up), uses the strongest conceivable language to abominate, to curse, those who temper with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He says in Galatians 1:8-9, "Let them be accursed", which means, "Let them go to Hell".
And there should be no misunderstanding, the Apostle Paul was condemning so urgently and so strikingly views that have for a long time circulated as the teaching of official Christian churches. Or if he was not condemning the official teaching, then it is most likely that he was condemning the actual views that were held by a great number of ministers and a great number of people.
In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul not only requires Christians to separate from entangling alliances with unbelievers, but he also tells them not to associate with professing Christians who are unfaithful in their doctrine or in their life.
In many texts in the New Testament as Jude has it, we are "to contend" or to fight for the Faith. And this means in one place, driving out or giving no entrance to false teachers. In 2 John verse 10, we are actually commanded not even to greet a false teacher who comes our way. We are to be impolite to them.
In another place, we are to discipline and to punish in the church those who have entertained false doctrine; in another place, we are supposed to publicize the errors of those whose teaching of wrong doctrine is troubling or was troubling the Church.
Everywhere, we have warnings against false teaching, and false living; and we are put on guard lest these should find some kind of foothold in our church. "Do you not know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?", Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 5:6.
Throughout the history of Israel, we read page after page and book after book of the prophets of God condemning the people of God for their accommodation in doctrine, in life, in worship and for allowing the truth of God's word, of His revelation, of His covenant to be minimized and replaced by ideas that have come from somewhere else.
Later on, we see Paul actually shaking the dust of his feet off against members of the church (and they were in that moment), Jews who would not embrace the true teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. But at the same time, opposite that pole, we have another set of equally emphatic texts that create a tension with that emphasis of purity in doctrine and standing up and contending for the Faith and being loyal to the truth as God has revealed it to us.
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Fidelity to the truth (Defending the Faith)
I grew up in a denomination that thought of itself as a group of Christians committed to maintaining the Faith and defending the Faith against all attacks from every direction. We were people committed to remaining purity in our doctrine. We tried to be faithful at all costs to the deposit of truth as we have it in the word of God.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians (and we turned to Paul a great deal as I was growing up), uses the strongest conceivable language to abominate, to curse, those who temper with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He says in Galatians 1:8-9, "Let them be accursed", which means, "Let them go to Hell".
And there should be no misunderstanding, the Apostle Paul was condemning so urgently and so strikingly views that have for a long time circulated as the teaching of official Christian churches. Or if he was not condemning the official teaching, then it is most likely that he was condemning the actual views that were held by a great number of ministers and a great number of people.
In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul not only requires Christians to separate from entangling alliances with unbelievers, but he also tells them not to associate with professing Christians who are unfaithful in their doctrine or in their life.
In many texts in the New Testament as Jude has it, we are "to contend" or to fight for the Faith. And this means in one place, driving out or giving no entrance to false teachers. In 2 John verse 10, we are actually commanded not even to greet a false teacher who comes our way. We are to be impolite to them.
In another place, we are to discipline and to punish in the church those who have entertained false doctrine; in another place, we are supposed to publicize the errors of those whose teaching of wrong doctrine is troubling or was troubling the Church.
Everywhere, we have warnings against false teaching, and false living; and we are put on guard lest these should find some kind of foothold in our church. "Do you not know a little leaven leavens the whole lump?", Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 5:6.
Throughout the history of Israel, we read page after page and book after book of the prophets of God condemning the people of God for their accommodation in doctrine, in life, in worship and for allowing the truth of God's word, of His revelation, of His covenant to be minimized and replaced by ideas that have come from somewhere else.
Later on, we see Paul actually shaking the dust of his feet off against members of the church (and they were in that moment), Jews who would not embrace the true teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. But at the same time, opposite that pole, we have another set of equally emphatic texts that create a tension with that emphasis of purity in doctrine and standing up and contending for the Faith and being loyal to the truth as God has revealed it to us.
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