I just finished reading an article on Christianity Today’s website about yet another controversy within the Evangelical church. In considering whether a Christian should attend an LGBTQ wedding of a family member, a well-known pastor and radio Bible teacher – who holds to a traditional view of marriage – urged his congregation to show love and grace by their attending. The backlash he received shouldn’t have been a surprise.
This controversy raises several important questions. There’s the issue itself: is attending such a wedding a condoning of same-sex marriage? Or is attending an act of love that mirrors Jesus’ own gracious feasting with “tax collectors and sinners”? But there’s a more fundamental question: on what basis does a Christian – or an entire congregation – decide such issues?
My aim in writing is not to give a definitive answer to this or any other controversy challenging Christian unity today. Instead, I wish to explore the guidance Paul gives to his young church-plants on how they should respond to the challenges, both internal and external, that jeopardized their essential unity in Christ.
While Paul certainly gave “dos and don’ts” guidance in his epistles, especially in responding to specific questions or pressing needs, I believe his overarching aim was that his churches mature in their thinking as they pursued a life of holiness and unity. But what practical guidance did he provide to “work out (their) salvation with fear and trembling” and therefore “shine like stars…amidst a crooked and perverse generation”? Philippians 2:12,15 (ESV).
Unity in “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Unity in the Holy Spirit
During the 18 months that Paul had spent planting the Corinthian church he “decided to know nothing among (them) except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” I Corinthians 2:2 (ESV). How might this be the basis for Christian unity?
First, the phrase is not merely a statement pertaining to salvation of individuals. Rather it is also an understanding that all of God’s faithful promises to Israel for the rescue and renewal of all creation had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and specifically in His death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus was now King over all. “New Creation” had been launched. Second, this “New Creation” project was to continue through the Holy Spirit within the Church. Inner squabbles and jockeying for power – attributes and values of the sinful world – were to have no place within the church. United allegiance to Christ as LORD was paramount. Achieving unity through the Holy Spirit was the goal.
Moral Essentials and “Things Indifferent”
In I Corinthians 7:19, Paul writes, “For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.” Think about it! Paul urges “keeping the commandments of God” while knowing full well that circumcision was one of those commandments. Jewish-Christians were likely inclined to hold fast to their views on circumcision, dietary restrictions, and Jewish feasts. Were these convictions to be embraced by gentile believers? Paul writes, in Galatians 6:15 (ESV),
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
Likewise, in Romans 14:1-2 (ESV), Paul writes,
“As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.”
Paul understood that in Jesus’ death, the “identifying markers” of God’s one family – such as circumcision, the observances of dietary restrictions, and the celebration of certain feast days – have been replaced by faith in Messiah Jesus. These aspects of the Torah have now become, according to Paul, adiaphora – “things indifferent”. This means that Jewish believers, through continuing to adhere to their traditions, did not have a superior standing within the church. Uncircumcised gentile believers were equal members of God’s one family.
But what about sexual ethics? Are these also adiaphora – “things indifferent”? Could gentile Christians in Corinth continue their pagan practices of unrestricted sexual behavior? Not at all! For Paul, the moral and ethical aspects of the Torah remain mandatory as they pertain to God’s divine intention to renew all of creation. Of course, the keeping of these commands – for Jews as well as for gentiles, is now realized through faith in Jesus and reliance upon the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:3-4 (ESV) Paul writes:
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, (God) condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Perhaps it’s easy to see how early believers could come to agreement on how Jesus brings unity in their thinking about dietary issues and sexual standards. But what about “eating meat that had been sacrificed at pagan temples”? Here we have a controversy that is perhaps as perplexing and knotty as those that face the church today. On one hand, the Council at Jerusalem urged Paul and the gentile churches to “abstain… from things polluted by idols” (Acts 15:20). On the other hand, Paul writes in I Corinthians 8:7-9 (ESV):
“But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”
Paul prefaces these comments with a “Messiah-shaped” restating of the Jewish Shema (I Corinthians 8:6): “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” One God. One Lord. One allegiance. Rival “gods” do not exist and demons have no true authority. So how should Christians untangle this controversy? There was certainly going to be a wide range of opinions.
For those whose faith was “strong”, Paul wrote that they were free to eat meat bought from pagan temples. For those whose consciences were bothered by such activity, they were to abstain. The gordian knot of this controversy was to be untied through…love. Each believer was to prioritize their fellow believer’s conscience.
Finding Agreement on the “Essential”
What might Paul’s admonitions mean for today’s controversies within the church? Certainly, we must begin by agreeing on that which is essential. “Jesus is Lord” or the “Icthus” symbol (“Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”) were just a few early church confessions or “creeds”. Throughout the centuries, the Christian church has continued to confess and teach these essentials through the “shorthand” statements of the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. Beyond these core essentials, the Church is called to discern prayerfully and biblically what is and is not… adiaphora – “things indifferent”. Regarding eating meat sacrificed to idols, the distinction was messy.
This process of prayerful and biblical discernment takes time and patience. In fact, it takes the entire “Fruit of the Spirit”. It also requires that we pray with the global church and with the “church throughout the ages”, allowing godly Christians of an earlier age to share how they read Scripture in addressing the controversies and heresies of their day. No, they weren’t always right. But if we presume that we are wiser or more enlightened, we delude ourselves and risk damage to the Name of Christ and to the health of the Church.
It’s natural to assume that our challenges are uniquely dire – and some may be. But each generation is called to “work out (their) salvation with fear and trembling” – to cling to what is essential and to seek both unity and love as we wrestle with our differences. And yes, leaders of the church are called to reject those teachings that are contrary to essential Christianity. This task will continue until the day Christ returns to judge our work.
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.” (I Corinthians 3:16-18, NIV)
