DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed: It's Time for a Formula of Disagreement
Interesting discussion going on at Kevin DeYoung's blog regarding the state of "full communion" between the RCA and denominations that promote error, more specifically the ELCA and it's recent decision to embrace sin.
This whole conversation got me thinking yet again about the issue of unity in the Body and believe me that is a hot topic among many, many brothers right now. 2 Cor 6: 14-18 tells us to not be yoked with unbelievers, but it seems that many are content to be yoked with unbelievers as long as they are the right flavor of unbeliever but refuse to be yoked for the work of Christ with other believers that we disagree with. My father in law has draft horses and when he has them harnessed to pull a wagon, if one of them is not pulling his weight, the wagon doesn’t run properly and one horse has to do more work. Many Christians have yoked themselves with the spiritual equivalent of a dead horse and then complain that the work is really hard. Duh!
I have a serious problem with this idea of “full communion” between brothers. In saying that you are in communion with these certain communities, it implies that you are not in communion with any others. You may recognize them as brothers and part of the family of God, but you also are estranged from them in part and that simply is not OK. The ELCA has abandoned the Gospel. You cannot say to sinners that their sin is OK because that negates the need for a Savior from their sins. So it is not possible to be “in full communion” with them as a group. As individuals or even as individual congregations, sure. As a whole they are a group of people who need to have the Gospel proclaimed to them as those who are lost.
A man is an unbeliever or he is a brother. I don’t see a middle ground. Ephesians 2:19 says that we are no longer strangers and aliens (speaking of Gentile believers) but instead are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. Last time I checked, it was God’s house and as the Father He gets to make the rules. Putting a line down the center of the room to differentiate between “my side” and “your side” is not OK for believers. Galatians 5: 19-21 lists “divisions” in the same category as idolatry, sexual immorality, drunkenness and orgies. Those who preach separation among brothers while preaching against drinking or immorality are double-minded. Paul spends a lot of effort to speak out against divisions but I don't see him spilling much ink on defending our doctrinal distinctions.
That doesn’t mean that there are not brothers who misunderstand Scripture. That doesn’t mean that there are not brothers who hold incorrect beliefs about ancillary issues or who have church practices and traditions that are not up to snuff. Given our variety of positions, it is inevitable that someone is wrong. I just know it isn't me. There is Biblical warrant to gently teach others “ a better way” (Acts 18: 24-26). But the only Biblical divisions I can see are from those who are in gross, unrepentant sin and those who preach a false Gospel. Those folks are to be treated as unbelievers. Everyone else is a brother. If the basis for your “full communion” with one another is not your common salvation in Christ and instead is based on denominational affiliation, you have a problem. I understand, believe me I understand, how hard that is to live that out in the “real world” but our own prideful inability to get along is not license for us to practice unbiblical separation from one another.
Interesting discussion going on at Kevin DeYoung's blog regarding the state of "full communion" between the RCA and denominations that promote error, more specifically the ELCA and it's recent decision to embrace sin.
This whole conversation got me thinking yet again about the issue of unity in the Body and believe me that is a hot topic among many, many brothers right now. 2 Cor 6: 14-18 tells us to not be yoked with unbelievers, but it seems that many are content to be yoked with unbelievers as long as they are the right flavor of unbeliever but refuse to be yoked for the work of Christ with other believers that we disagree with. My father in law has draft horses and when he has them harnessed to pull a wagon, if one of them is not pulling his weight, the wagon doesn’t run properly and one horse has to do more work. Many Christians have yoked themselves with the spiritual equivalent of a dead horse and then complain that the work is really hard. Duh!
I have a serious problem with this idea of “full communion” between brothers. In saying that you are in communion with these certain communities, it implies that you are not in communion with any others. You may recognize them as brothers and part of the family of God, but you also are estranged from them in part and that simply is not OK. The ELCA has abandoned the Gospel. You cannot say to sinners that their sin is OK because that negates the need for a Savior from their sins. So it is not possible to be “in full communion” with them as a group. As individuals or even as individual congregations, sure. As a whole they are a group of people who need to have the Gospel proclaimed to them as those who are lost.
A man is an unbeliever or he is a brother. I don’t see a middle ground. Ephesians 2:19 says that we are no longer strangers and aliens (speaking of Gentile believers) but instead are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. Last time I checked, it was God’s house and as the Father He gets to make the rules. Putting a line down the center of the room to differentiate between “my side” and “your side” is not OK for believers. Galatians 5: 19-21 lists “divisions” in the same category as idolatry, sexual immorality, drunkenness and orgies. Those who preach separation among brothers while preaching against drinking or immorality are double-minded. Paul spends a lot of effort to speak out against divisions but I don't see him spilling much ink on defending our doctrinal distinctions.
That doesn’t mean that there are not brothers who misunderstand Scripture. That doesn’t mean that there are not brothers who hold incorrect beliefs about ancillary issues or who have church practices and traditions that are not up to snuff. Given our variety of positions, it is inevitable that someone is wrong. I just know it isn't me. There is Biblical warrant to gently teach others “ a better way” (Acts 18: 24-26). But the only Biblical divisions I can see are from those who are in gross, unrepentant sin and those who preach a false Gospel. Those folks are to be treated as unbelievers. Everyone else is a brother. If the basis for your “full communion” with one another is not your common salvation in Christ and instead is based on denominational affiliation, you have a problem. I understand, believe me I understand, how hard that is to live that out in the “real world” but our own prideful inability to get along is not license for us to practice unbiblical separation from one another.
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