"Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature: (1 Cor. 14:20).
Some people are merely content to be correct theologically, not availing themselves of the abundant life and relationship with Christ. But we also come across sincere believers who are wrong and need to be shown the light, as it were. I believe we should tactfully edify them and explain the Word more accurately in a gentle way, so as to be offensive. I contend that it is not sufficient to be sincere, one must also be right to please God. Should we straighten out our brothers or let them go on in error?
Priscilla and Aquilla took Apollos aside and explained the Word of God to him more accurately, though he was mighty in the Scriptures, he knew only of the baptism of John. There is more than just knowing the Scriptures, though that is vital: "Press on, press on to know the Lord," says Hosea 6:3. Jesus said to the woman at the Samaritan well that those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth. It is not enough to just be sincere if you are sincerely wrong. Paul told the Corinthians that he would rather not have them ignorant (the word ignoramus comes from this root). God places no premium on ignorance and ignorance is not bliss because God holds us responsible for the light we have the opportunity to know, whether we care to learn it or not. It is ignorance that binds us, not the truth! "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32).
Faith is not blind and ignorant and doesn't ignore our intellect, but respects the mind. We are not anti-intellectual or anti-scholastic. Learning has its place and some even have the gift of knowledge (for the edification of the body--the building up of the body of Christ). Proverbs says that the wise store up knowledge. There is a certain joy in just knowing the Word and in being in awe! The fool feeds on trash, Proverbs says, but the wise yearn for the truth. The old principle of GIGO applies (garbage in equals garbage out). "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). We are to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18). It is the "knowledge of the truth (doctrine, that is) that leads to godliness," according to Titus 1:2.
Paul exhorts us in Eph. 4:3 to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." How can you have unity if you don't have an agreement? We are to be in agreement and harmony as much as possible: Augustine's dictum that we are to maintain agreement: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials [negotiables] liberty; in all things, charity." There are some doctrines that we are to be dogmatic and intolerant of error on such as the deity of Christ and the infallibility of the Word of God.
There are also doctrines or dogma (church doctrine recognized officially) that are negotiable or room for disagreements (we agree to disagree without being disagreeable) such as interpretations of the Rapture or church government. However, the more we agree and find commonality or common ground, the more the Spirit can bless and unify us. Unity is not uniformity--we aren't all to be clones or imitations of each other, but individuals and different parts of the dependent and needing the rest of the body.
How do you think God tells you the more accurate way, but through the body of Christ and the Word itself? If we don't want to grow up in Christ and mature we balk at learning the meat of the Word or the things of God in depth we have the wrong attitude and may have not accepted the Lordship of Christ, even if we believe. God frowns upon willful ignorance and expects us to increase in our maturity and knowledge of the Word. Paul met this obstacle when he felt that they rejected him because he was dogmatic: "Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" It may cost to stand up for Jesus, or the truth--remember Jesus before Pilate saying, "For this cause I have come into the world, to bear witness of the truth." Jesus is the truth incarnate and knowing Him is the way of knowing the truth--the better we know Him, the more we know the truth and the freer we become.
The more enslaved we are in our submission to the Lordship of Christ, the freer we are paradoxically speaking. Don't resent someone telling you the truth and realize that it is for your own good and you will grow and benefit from it--God doesn't want you to remain an infant in Christ, but to mature and grow in your comprehension of doctrine or teaching. "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine..." (2 Tim. 3:16). We are to build each other up, edify each other, and admonish each other and this is done through the Word and our interaction in the body: We cannot grow by ourselves and need the body--it is a body-building program of truth, so have the right mental attitude!
The more we apply the truth, the truth God gives us, and the more we know, the more accountable we become. Knowledge in itself, the wrong kind (about God, instead of God), merely puffs up, but love (exercising the fruit of the Spirit, for instance) edifies or builds up, says 1 Cor. 8:1, and he who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know--we should never think that we have arrived: "I do not consider myself to have laid hold of it yet" (Phil 3:13) or don't need to learn anymore.
Knowledge is not to be an end in itself and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Some people know enough to be dangerous! We are not to get an exclusive mindset and think we have cornered the market on truth! We are never to be intolerant of those who disagree with us and become contentious, argumentative, or divisive. No one person has all the truth (sorry Catholics who have faith in the Pope!) and we all must learn from each other as we discover our niche or job in the body.
In summation, we are our brother's keeper in the sense of being responsible to show him his error and restore him to the light. We are responsible for the light we have, but that doesn't excuse us and give us the right to be ignorant (God frowns upon ignorance). "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32). A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and we are never to think we have all the truth or have cornered the market, being exclusive or arrogant. Soli Deo Gloria!
Some people are merely content to be correct theologically, not availing themselves of the abundant life and relationship with Christ. But we also come across sincere believers who are wrong and need to be shown the light, as it were. I believe we should tactfully edify them and explain the Word more accurately in a gentle way, so as to be offensive. I contend that it is not sufficient to be sincere, one must also be right to please God. Should we straighten out our brothers or let them go on in error?
Priscilla and Aquilla took Apollos aside and explained the Word of God to him more accurately, though he was mighty in the Scriptures, he knew only of the baptism of John. There is more than just knowing the Scriptures, though that is vital: "Press on, press on to know the Lord," says Hosea 6:3. Jesus said to the woman at the Samaritan well that those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth. It is not enough to just be sincere if you are sincerely wrong. Paul told the Corinthians that he would rather not have them ignorant (the word ignoramus comes from this root). God places no premium on ignorance and ignorance is not bliss because God holds us responsible for the light we have the opportunity to know, whether we care to learn it or not. It is ignorance that binds us, not the truth! "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32).
Faith is not blind and ignorant and doesn't ignore our intellect, but respects the mind. We are not anti-intellectual or anti-scholastic. Learning has its place and some even have the gift of knowledge (for the edification of the body--the building up of the body of Christ). Proverbs says that the wise store up knowledge. There is a certain joy in just knowing the Word and in being in awe! The fool feeds on trash, Proverbs says, but the wise yearn for the truth. The old principle of GIGO applies (garbage in equals garbage out). "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). We are to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18). It is the "knowledge of the truth (doctrine, that is) that leads to godliness," according to Titus 1:2.
Paul exhorts us in Eph. 4:3 to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." How can you have unity if you don't have an agreement? We are to be in agreement and harmony as much as possible: Augustine's dictum that we are to maintain agreement: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials [negotiables] liberty; in all things, charity." There are some doctrines that we are to be dogmatic and intolerant of error on such as the deity of Christ and the infallibility of the Word of God.
There are also doctrines or dogma (church doctrine recognized officially) that are negotiable or room for disagreements (we agree to disagree without being disagreeable) such as interpretations of the Rapture or church government. However, the more we agree and find commonality or common ground, the more the Spirit can bless and unify us. Unity is not uniformity--we aren't all to be clones or imitations of each other, but individuals and different parts of the dependent and needing the rest of the body.
How do you think God tells you the more accurate way, but through the body of Christ and the Word itself? If we don't want to grow up in Christ and mature we balk at learning the meat of the Word or the things of God in depth we have the wrong attitude and may have not accepted the Lordship of Christ, even if we believe. God frowns upon willful ignorance and expects us to increase in our maturity and knowledge of the Word. Paul met this obstacle when he felt that they rejected him because he was dogmatic: "Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" It may cost to stand up for Jesus, or the truth--remember Jesus before Pilate saying, "For this cause I have come into the world, to bear witness of the truth." Jesus is the truth incarnate and knowing Him is the way of knowing the truth--the better we know Him, the more we know the truth and the freer we become.
The more enslaved we are in our submission to the Lordship of Christ, the freer we are paradoxically speaking. Don't resent someone telling you the truth and realize that it is for your own good and you will grow and benefit from it--God doesn't want you to remain an infant in Christ, but to mature and grow in your comprehension of doctrine or teaching. "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine..." (2 Tim. 3:16). We are to build each other up, edify each other, and admonish each other and this is done through the Word and our interaction in the body: We cannot grow by ourselves and need the body--it is a body-building program of truth, so have the right mental attitude!
The more we apply the truth, the truth God gives us, and the more we know, the more accountable we become. Knowledge in itself, the wrong kind (about God, instead of God), merely puffs up, but love (exercising the fruit of the Spirit, for instance) edifies or builds up, says 1 Cor. 8:1, and he who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know--we should never think that we have arrived: "I do not consider myself to have laid hold of it yet" (Phil 3:13) or don't need to learn anymore.
Knowledge is not to be an end in itself and a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Some people know enough to be dangerous! We are not to get an exclusive mindset and think we have cornered the market on truth! We are never to be intolerant of those who disagree with us and become contentious, argumentative, or divisive. No one person has all the truth (sorry Catholics who have faith in the Pope!) and we all must learn from each other as we discover our niche or job in the body.
In summation, we are our brother's keeper in the sense of being responsible to show him his error and restore him to the light. We are responsible for the light we have, but that doesn't excuse us and give us the right to be ignorant (God frowns upon ignorance). "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32). A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and we are never to think we have all the truth or have cornered the market, being exclusive or arrogant. Soli Deo Gloria!
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