What do we do when we disagree with another churches theological position?
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| Christ in Gethsemane (Christus in Gethsemane), oil painting by Heinrich Ferdinand Hofmann (Heinrich Hofmann). The original is at the Riverside Church (Riverside Church, New York City). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Where do we draw the line? Does endorsement of a book entail endorsement of everything an author believes? How do we interact with those who are under church discipline?
How do we relate to their families? When should we break fellowship with a professing Christian? If we broke fellowship with someone and another person fellowships with them, should we break fellowship with the second person?
Don’t we simply need to recognize that within the church there are just different strokes for different folks? But as long as those strokes are biblical.We must pursue right association for the sake of the unity and peace of the church with as much earnestness as we pursue necessary separation for the sake of the purity of the church and the gospel.
For there cannot be true peace and unity in the church without purity. God calls us not only to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3) but to eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Both are necessary, but it takes wisdom from above to do both in a biblical way that glorifies God.
the church should practice two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of visible community. As we strive for both, God calls us to contend earnestly on our knees in prayer and to stand up and speak the truth in love for the sake of the name of Christ and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Christ.
Don’t we simply need to recognize that within the church there are just different strokes for different folks? But as long as those strokes are biblical.We must pursue right association for the sake of the unity and peace of the church with as much earnestness as we pursue necessary separation for the sake of the purity of the church and the gospel.
For there cannot be true peace and unity in the church without purity. God calls us not only to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3) but to eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). Both are necessary, but it takes wisdom from above to do both in a biblical way that glorifies God.
the church should practice two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of visible community. As we strive for both, God calls us to contend earnestly on our knees in prayer and to stand up and speak the truth in love for the sake of the name of Christ and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Christ.
