A TREATISE ON CONFLICT, CRISIS AND CHURCH
Rev. Bud Elliott
From time to time, issues arise in every Christian community that can serve to divide, by seeking to impose standards of belief or behavior on others in the fellowship. And it seems that this year 2020 has been particularly productive in creating a plethora of such issues. So it is perhaps both timely and appropriate that we examine this ever evolving agenda from a truly biblical perspective: All such issues in the life and history of the church fall into two basic categories; those issues that are essential to the faith and those that are not.
Those essential to the faith include such tenets as the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the victory of the Cross, the efficacy of the Atonement and the reality of the Judgement. Over the years, such issues have always been properly addressed through primary reliance on the Bible as the inspired and authoritative Word of God. Supporting documents such as the Apostle’s Creed and the Augsburg Confession seek to summarize those beliefs and remind us of the essentials.
The other broad category includes all other matters on which Christians may differ without falling into either apostasy or heresy. But then, the Apostle Paul, recognizing even in these more mundane issues, the potential for disunity within the faith, advises the necessity of resolving such differences peaceably to safeguard the discipleship of everyone. And in this endeavor he specifically cautions those who would elevate such issues to a test of fellowship.
Paul begins his admonitions in this regard with a great analogy that seems to cover well all such non-essential issues, including any we may be having currently; Romans 14:1-3; “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgement on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him.”
The key to understanding this passage is found in the concluding words of v.3, “. . . for God has accepted him,” meaning that this passage speaks only to situations where sin is understood to not be an issue: Where sin is an issue, Paul is direct and specific. For example, I Cor. 6:9-10; “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate by perversion, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.” (See also, Gal. 5:19-20; Eph. 5:3-6; Col. 3:5-6)
Be that as it may, there are any number of areas where differences will defy resolution, unless and until we are prepared to act always in faith. We may be right, we may be wrong; but Paul says, it doesn’t really matter; all that really matters is if we are willing to let go of all such non-essentials for the sake of the gospel. Romans 14:5-6; “One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”
Paul says in I Corinthians 9:22-23; “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.” Now let’s be very clear here; and remaining within the context of the example that Paul has provided, he is not saying that he is willing to become a vegetarian, simply for an opportunity to present the gospel to vegetarians. What he is saying, however, is that for the sake of the gospel, quibbling over non-essential issues, dietary or otherwise, can have no place in our walk of faith. We must respect such differences, with or without agreement. Ironically, being right can sometimes be wrong; and in the eyes of God, absolutely and eternally wrong.
But what if the difference involved is so serious as to be a matter of life or death? Paul even acknowledges that for some a given issue may indeed be a matter of life or death; or at least they will frame it as such. But even if that be true, says Paul, it changes nothing: I like the perspective the Apostle provides in Rom. 6:11, saying, in effect, that if we are now alive in Christ, we’re already dead, “dead to sin,” and our understanding that, changes everything; Romans 14:7-9; “For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”
So what must our course as Christians then be? It seems like in this day and age, and perhaps in every day and age, knowledge in the secular arena is at best, conflicting, confusing, contentious and subject to change. So, Paul is mandating, that while we need not adopt for ourselves the non-essential variant positions of others; with regard to the church, we do need to honor and respect the views of others and thereby continue in the fellowship of the body of Christ, practicing neither criticism nor coercion. In such we will be keeping the faith and preserving the fellowship just as Christ Jesus intends. And the Apostle concludes his remarks on the topic with these words, Romans 14:22; “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” Amen and Amen.
