The
church of our Lord has met and solved many serious problems since it was
established in the city of Jerusalem on that memorable Pentecost so long
ago. The New Testament itself is replete with the record of these
struggles within and persecutions from without which occurred during the
first century. Moreover, it is a matter of revelation that such would be
the case with the church to the end of time.
No one
therefore, conversant with the sacred writings, can be surprised at the
difficulties and problems that have confronted the church through the
centuries this side of the apostolic era, including the span covered by
our own lives, though he may, at times, be greatly dismayed.
This
writer, as many of you who read these lines will know, has been actively
engaged for more than forty years in the preaching of the gospel of
Christ. He has for thirty and six years without a break in tenure
continuously engaged in regular work with local churches of Christ,
while at the same time conducting six or eight gospel meetings each year
well scattered over the entire nation. This need be recounted here only
because it is felt that surely since what, in the very nature of the
case, must be the greater part of the active years of his life has been
spent in this sacred cause, right has been earned to be heard in an
earnest plea on behalf of that cause.
Be not
deceived, my brethren, since the days of the restoration and the great
defection resulting in the birth of what is now called The First
Christian Church, with its extra biblical organizations and
institutions, its unscriptural form of worship and its human practices,
comprising as it does the whole system of redemption and
undistinguishingly blending with denominationalism, the church of our
Lord has not faced a time so fraught with real peril to its unity and
progress as the present.
I recognize
that there are many who will deny this statement, who are not cognizant
of the dangers we face; but make no mistake, what I am saying is the
truth! The church may be "On the march" but unless something is done to
resolve the difficulties within our own ranks we are marching toward
disgrace and disaster.
The great
apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus when the unity of the church
there, as throughout the world, was seriously imperiled by a
misunderstanding of the divine will on the part of many regarding the
proper relationship of Jews and Gentiles, saying, "I therefore, the
prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling
wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, FORBEARING ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE; GIVING DILIGENCE TO KEEP
THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE."
Ephesians 4:1-3.
That a
similar condition of estrangement and unrest obtains throughout the
brotherhood today, as I have already stated, no informed person would
sincerely deny. And, contrary to the opinion of some, the number on
either side of the issues involved is not inconsequential. Nor do they
belong to any particular age group or measure of experience; the old,
the young, the mature and the immature, are found on both sides.
Such a
condition as this could have but one implication to a thoughtful mind.
That is, that these issues about which the people are divided in mind at
this time have not yet been studied sufficiently by all of us that we
might understand just what the teaching of the Lord is.
This is not
to say that there are not some who have studied the questions before us
both earnestly and extensively, and whose position therefore is, with
them, a real conviction; they are definitely sure, in their own minds,
that they are right. But, let us remember, that no one knows everything
about anything; that no one is infallible in his reasoning; and that any
one of us could err in his application of the principles of divine truth
to the myriad and complex problems common to the field of Christian
service. It is possible therefore, that the most positive and fully
convinced among us on either side of these issues could have overlooked
some statement of revelation having bearing on these matters which, if
it were brought to light and properly applied, in further study and
brotherly discussion, would throw such light on the questions involved
as would readily and easily resolve them; thus bringing about a general
understanding among us all, and achieving that peace which we are
commanded of God to endeavor to maintain.
Surely it
is not too much to ask of brethren everywhere that they do with regard
to these troublesome matters just what we continually plead with the
denominational world to do regarding their religious differences with
us, and which are much less complex than these; that is, in love of the
truth to bear with one another in kindness, while we continue honestly
to study our differences in the light of revelation, believing
confidently in the power of truth to dissipate error, and ultimately to
save all but those who wilfully rebel against it.
This is not
a plea for compromise on the part of anybody, Truth can never be
compromised on vital issues regardless of consequences, apparent or
real, immediate or remote. But it is a sincere and soulful plea for that
measure of love and forbearance on the part of us all which will suspend
for the time, and because of the better understanding of truth to which
our genial studies will bring us, we hope will suspend forever, that
ultimate and final estrangement in the family of God which would
separate brother from brother, brand us all with further and greater
stigma in the eyes of the world, and cover those responsible with the
everlasting displeasure of the Father.
Further,
let us remember that the particular practices out of which these
differences have arisen did not grow up overnight, but had their small
and apparently inconsequential beginnings among churches of Christ at
least a half century ago. They will not therefore, be resolved
overnight, wished away, nor dispatched by the interdiction of any man or
set of men; Christ is the head of the church, and he alone has Lordship
over the faith of the individual and of the church. The only prerogative
any man, or group of men, may exercise without poaching upon the divine
preserves of Christ as the head of the church, essentially inheres in
that for which I am pleading, i.e. the disposition and the time for
brethren in general to study and investigate, and thus to determine what
the will of Christ is regarding the practices in question among us.
Further, we
should all realize that if there is to be any change in the practices of
brethren and the churches regarding these matters, since those changes
must depend upon teaching and deliberation, a measuring of the practices
by the divine injunctions, these changes will be gradual and all will
have need for patience and forbearance. And if, on the other hand such
study and deliberation shall show the practices in question to be
authorized and in harmony with the will of Christ, then truth will have
triumphed and peace and harmony will have been found again. Moreover,
this is the only way in which it can be found.
Any man, or
group of men, in any church, or among all the churches, undertaking to
throttle this investigation and seeking after truth, and thus to force
certain convictions on either an individual, a congregation, or on the
church in general, in the very nature of the case is arbitrary in
attitude, and is therefore, out of order. Truth has nothing to fear, and
if "Crushed to earth, will rise again." Truth is invincible; error
cannot contain it; it must be given its freedom or it will break through
to find it.
So, until
truth has been more generally ascertained and established in the field
of our present difficulties it is far too soon for ultimatums and
interdictions on the part of anybody. Let us instead, with kindness and
brotherly regard for one another, renew our studies together, avoiding
even the very mention of any eventuation other than the finding of the
peace of God in Christ, lest by even the mention the thought of ultimate
estrangement be fostered in the minds of any. -
Gospel Guardian, May 3, 1956
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