In more recent years some have
responded in this way with increasing frequency to our insistence upon
adherence to the Scriptural pattern: “Well, it’s not a salvation
issue.” It might be a matter of the organization of the local church,
the use of women in roles of leadership, or the use of instrumental
music which they relegate to the area of the unimportant, the
non-essential, or matters about which we can differ and still please
God. The blinding pace of change noted among some in regard to such
issues convinces us that some are truly headed to a stance where nothing
will be viewed as a salvation issue except some general belief in God or
Christ. In recent weeks this writer learned from a mutual friend about
a former brother in the Lord who had gone so far in his departure that
he was meeting with the Episcopalians; when confronted by a faithful
disciple about his vacillation, he insisted that the Episcopalians would
be saved because “they believe in God.” He obviously had gone this far
because he now thinks that all of the issues formerly separating him
from his eventual Episcopal brothers are not matters of
salvation. Though they might not agree on all of these issues, they are
matters of indifference to all of them. I wonder whether he thinks the
appointment of a practicing sodomite as one of their bishops is such an
issue. It would be interesting to know, would it not? It so happens that
the particular Episcopal congregation which he attends has a female
rector/priest. I also wonder how he views this issue, in view of his
once steadfast insistence upon such matters. In his years of weakening
and departing, he once said concerning Scriptural teaching on the issue
of instrumental music, “It’s truth for you but it’s not truth not for
them,” as if truth is individually and existentially determined by each
one’s own experiences. Imagine this kind of language being spoken by one
of the Lord’s apostles or first-century preachers, in view of their
insistence on hearing Christ, obeying Him, and not even thinking beyond
what is written (Mt. 17:5; 1 Jn. 4:6; Heb. 5:9; 1 Cor. 4:6).
It is certainly relevant for us to
consider this matter from a Biblical perspective. The relevance is made
even more pertinent by our learning that prominent ones among our more
liberal brethren have spoken to this effect and by the statement of an
elder in a conservative church that the use of the church treasury is a
minor matter. I wonder whether many whom we know might also have such
feelings which they have thus far silenced. There is probably a greater
need for this study than we have thought. My friends, if God is God, if
the Bible is His Word, if truth and error are distinct from each other,
if right is right and wrong is wrong, and if each shall face Christ in
judgment, then we dare not permit ourselves to drift into such unbelief
without the clarion warnings of God’s Word.
Who/What
Determines This?
To whom has the Lord delegated such a
role? Who among men has the wisdom of Deity to speak for God on such
matters? Is revelation still operating in certain ones so they can speak
for God? The Lord has taught us that man’s thoughts and ways are not His
and man cannot guide his own steps (Isa. 55:8-9; Jer,
10:23).
It is human arrogance to speak thus for the Lord—an arrogance that
manifests major disdain for what God has spoken.
O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and
his ways past tracing out!
For who hath known the mind of the
Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
or who hath first given to him, and it
shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and unto
him, are all things. To him (be) the glory for ever. Amen (Rom
11:33-36, ASV).
When human beings become as wise as
God, they will then be qualified to serve as His advisors in the
expectation that He will have to hear them. Until they have advanced
that far up the ladder, they will have to be content to listen to Him
or, in the words of Habakkuk to a similarly arrogant people of his time,
“keep silence before Him” (2:20). We
need to learn to be quiet and hear Him! That lesson is often impressed
on children in a family at an early age, but it seems than some of the
more mature ones in God’s family have forgotten their raisin’ in that
they thought themselves capable of charting their own course. The major
problem now affecting the Episcopal Church in America is the result of
the same attitudes that we here examine among our own; it did not
develop overnight.
Is there really anybody to whom the
Lord has passed this grave responsibility of declaring for Him what is a
salvation issue? Of course not, not even a group of distinguished
scholars who know the language or have thought much about such matters
or been selected by their brethren to serve in this capacity. Whoever
presumes to speak in this fashion must remember that he, too, will
answer to Christ for his lack of faith in Christ and confidence in His
Word (Jn. 12:48). Furthermore,
there is no revealed basis for making such a determination, no question
that must be asked, or no qualities that men can identify as marking an
issue as one necessary or unnecessary to salvation. It is a task that
nobody knows anything about, for God has not instructed us on this
matter. It is in his jurisdiction, not ours. If He makes a difference
in the Day of Judgment, at least He will know what He is doing and will
have the divine right to do it. We don’t know and need to be quiet
before Him (1 Pet.
4:11)!
Any Non-essential
Commands?
A question often asked by gospel
preachers in debating denominationalists, who protested the need to be
baptized to be saved, was “Did God give any non-essential commands?”
God clearly commanded baptism in passages like Acts
2:38 and 10:48. Did
He command something not necessary? The same question applies to the
Lord’s commands not to add to His words or to subtract from them. Is it
necessary for us to observe them? If it is, then we have no right to
venture into the arena of innovation where modern religion delights to
operate.
Paul’s Spirit-directed commands that
restrict women from leading roles in the church were not matters
culturally driven and thus unneeded in later cultures. We observe in
their contexts that other factors prompted the Lord to legislate as He
did (1 Cor. 14:34; 1
Tim. 2:12-14). In every
matter that has come before the current “divine counselors” for their
official declaration of wisdom, not one convincing point has been made
that would remove any of the Lord’s commands. They stand as He gave
them—essential to our right standing before Him and to our eternal
salvation. God made no provision for a new group of apostles or
latter-day prophets to bless the world with up-to-date changes.
Old
Gospel-Doctrine Distinction
Once upon a time in the distant past,
the wise ones of that age also thought there is a difference between
things essential and things non-essential. Men like Leroy Garrett and
Carl Ketcherside borrowed from the writing of denominationalists (who
expounded more about the Greek than the English but still failed to
prove their point) to be among the first to speak about such matters
among brethren. They distinguished matters necessary to becoming a
Christian (styled “gospel” by them) from matters related to growth in
Christ (styled “doctrine” by them). Actually they were making a
distinction without a difference, for the Bible fails to bear out their
use of the terms in such fashion as they alleged. In the New Testament
there is really no difference between the gospel of Christ and the
doctrine of Christ.
As this writer thought about the
present situation, he saw a parallel between the old distinction and the
new one. In both cases some matters/issues are seen as necessary to
salvation, while others are seen as unrelated. In the area of the
unrelated/unnecessary issues, they said there can be
unity-in-diversity. One of the major problems attaching itself to this
human distinction was identifying who decides which issues belong
where. It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? In case the reader has so soon
forgotten, he needs to re-read the second section of this article.
Willing to Take
the Risk?
Are you willing to risk your soul to
the meanderings of human wisdom? “Meanderings” is the proper term to
describe the uncertain wandering course of one refusing to follow Christ
as his guiding star and the Bible as his divinely given chart. All
religious history bears witness to the tendency of man thus to
wander. The sole solution to this tendency is to heed the Master’s
instruction in Matthew 7:13-15:
Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for
wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many are they that enter in thereby.
For narrow is the gate, and straitened
the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it.
Beware of false prophets, who come to
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
The gate by which one enters into
Christ is narrow, and the way by which he persists in service to God is
straitened (difficult). It become more difficult when one loses sight of
the truth taught by the Lord and hearkens to the error of false
prophets, people falsely claiming to speak for the Lord. The principle
of respecting (not relaxing) God’s commands, stated under the Mosaic
arrangement by Jesus in Matthew
5:19,
also prefaces the new dispensation under Christ with a similar warning,
which is abundantly stated there as well.
You do not need to meander! You do not
need to shift about on the quicksand of human opinion and
speculation! There is solid ground where you can stand on the revealed
truth of God’s Word! Plant your feet there and refuse to be moved. You
can be that tree planted by the water—fruitful, successful, and unfading
in God’s service (Psa. 1:3).
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