There are more than a few
Christians today who tend to be quite suspicious of any believer who isn’t a
member of their own denomination.
These Christians will
usually accept that there are genuine, born-of-the-Spirit believers outside
their denomination. But they see them as kind of Christian half-brothers and
half-sisters. It is only the few within their own denomination that they regard
as full brothers and sisters in Christ.
Not everything about the mindset of
these Christians is wrong.
For a start, those who take this
attitude usually understand clearly that there are such things as absolute
truth and error. They rightly see that when Christians disagree, God doesn’t
sit on the fence saying that each side has a right to its opinion.
These Christians are also often well
aware that false believers exist, and that we should usually avoid closely
associating with them.
Nevertheless, they are at fault for
being too intolerant of other Christians who disagree with them on minor or
moderately important matters. And they are wrong to view some Christians as
partial brothers and sisters. We should either regard people as brothers and
sisters in Christ or as non-believers. There is no halfway house.
DISAGREEMENTS BETWEEN CHRISTIANS IN THE
BIBLE
Importantly, the Bible
itself at times portrays early Christians disagreeing on significant matters
without suggesting that they would ever have been right to view each other as less
than full brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Romans 14
We see this, for example,
in what Paul says in Romans 14.
This chapter makes it clear
that early Christians sometimes took different views on moral issues.
In verses 2-3 Paul states:
“2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.”
(Scripture readings in this
article are from the English Standard Version.)
Similarly, in verses 5-6
Paul says:
“5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”
These passages, and others
in the same chapter, show that early Christians sometimes disagreed on moral
issues. And the fact that Paul spends so much time on this topic in this
chapter suggests that this kind of disagreement was common.
However, there is not the
slightest hint in what Paul says that disagreeing on the moral issues he refers
to would ever have made it right to view another believer as less than a full
brother or sister in Christ. Instead, we see diversity of views among early
Christians but full acceptance and love of each other.
Galatians 2
Galatians 2:11-12 is
another passage that refers to disagreement between early Christians.
Here Paul writes:
“11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.”
When they met in Antioch
It is also very unlikely
that, by the time Galatians was written, Paul had managed to persuade Peter to
change his view:
One of Paul’s main purposes
in the first two chapters of this letter is to defend his apostleship and
ministry. He therefore stresses that he has received his commission directly
from God (Galatians 1:11-24). And he also refers to an important argument he
won, when James, Peter and John agreed with him against those who were saying
that Gentile converts to the Christian faith needed to be circumcised (Galatians
2:1-10).
If, by the time Galatians
was written, Paul had also been able to persuade Peter that his view on eating
with Gentiles was mistaken, it would have helped the case he was trying to make
in this letter. So it seems very likely that he would have mentioned that fact.
It is therefore highly
probable that Paul and Peter continued to disagree on this issue. Whether they
ever resolved their differences is unclear. (The fact that Galatians is
inspired Scripture surely means that Paul was in the right.)
Paul is very critical of
Peter in Galatians 2:11-12. However, it would be wrong to think that he ever
viewed Peter as anything other than a full brother in Christ. It is worth
noting that a few years later, when writing 1 Corinthians, he implicitly
endorses Peter’s ministry (1 Corinthians 9:5).
Similarly, there is no good
reason for believing that Peter ever thought of Paul as anything less than a
full Christian brother.
Summing up
It is clear, then, that there
were times in the early church when genuine Christians disagreed about
important things without viewing each other as less than full brothers and
sisters in Jesus.
Of course, we mustn’t think
that when this happened, God was somehow neutral on the matter in question. In
some cases of disagreement, one side would have been completely right and the
other side completely wrong in God’s sight. In other cases, one side would have
been more in the right than the other.
Nevertheless, it is clear
that sometimes in the first century Christians disagreed on matters of real
importance without regarding each other as less than full
brothers and sisters in Christ.
CHRISTIANS ARE BOUND TO DISAGREE ON
THINGS TODAY
Just as sincere Christians
in the first century sometimes disagreed on important things, so there has
surely never been a time since, when all genuine believers have agreed on
everything of importance.
It is also very unrealistic
to think that we will ever reach a point of anything close to perfect agreement
before Jesus returns. Instead, as long as this age lasts, sincere Christians
will continue to disagree about some quite important matters.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul
contrasts present Christian experience with our future, eternal state:
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Mirrors in the first
century were made of polished metal and gave a rather hazy image. Paul is
saying that in this life we struggle to understand things properly.
This verse should help us
to realise even more clearly that differences among sincere Christians are to
be expected.
WE MUSTN’T BE TOO INTOLERANT
It is therefore wrong for
us to be too intolerant of the views of other Christians. There are times when we
can be sure that fellow believers are making quite a serious error without that
causing us to view them as anything less than full brothers and sisters in
Christ.
An example
Let me give an example of
how I put this principle into practice myself.
I am fully convinced that
the gifts of the Holy Spirit referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are used by
God today and that they are very important, especially prophecy and healing. I
have seen these gifts used powerfully by Him.
There are, however, some
Christians who deny that God gives or uses these gifts today. I have no doubt
that those who take this view are making a serious mistake. Yet I wouldn’t regard
anyone as less than a full brother or sister in Christ because they do this. I
am sure that doing that would be a big overreaction, despite the seriousness of
the error.
Intolerable views
It is true that there are times
when people claiming to be Christians hold views that are so seriously wrong
that we should typically regard them as false believers.
For instance, if someone
denies the full deity or full humanity of Christ, that is intolerable. Similarly,
if someone says that sex is ever acceptable outside the marriage relationship
between a man and a woman, that too is beyond the pale.
I do think it is possible
that people who hold even very seriously wrong views like these ones may, in
the mercy of God, occasionally be saved. But as a general rule we should regard
professing Christians who take such views as false brothers and sisters.
How we treat people who claim
to be Christians
Of course, it is not
possible for us to see clearly into people’s hearts. So we will often be unsure
whether someone who claims to be a Christian is genuinely saved or not.
In such cases, I would suggest that we should
always treat people who profess Christian faith as genuine unless we have a
good reason not to. In other words, we should treat them as full brothers and
sisters in Christ, unless they do or say something intolerable, in which case
we should treat them as false brothers and sisters.
What we must never do is
regard or treat anyone as a half-brother or half-sister in Christ. There is no
such thing.
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