Those who esteem the Lords requirements for holiness and righteousness as indicators of truthful and loving Christian fellowship would agree that a lack of fruit indicates little presence of the aforementioned characteristics. Lest we forget to mention that one who affirms such a thing would do well to remember that the insanity personified in the Corinthian church was a poor example of such fruit. So does right fruit and wrong doctrine nullify one or the other?
But in the opening verses of the first Corinthian letter, they are addressed as the church of God at Corinth. Not only are these saints considered the church, they too are given admonition and instruction on correcting their behaviors. So at what point to we elevate our soapbox high enough to be able to separate one believers (or group of) errors from that of another? Do we have the authority or ability to rightly divide the doctrinal discrepancies that tend to splinter Christians into formed factions of militant stature? Just what compromises must be made in order to cultivate a Christian unity that bares a testimony of life changing, life giving, regeneration of the Holy Spirit?
2 comments:
Honestly, we're still trying to hammer this one out... We know that we cannot isolate ourselves, only interacting with those who agree with us on everything (in which case the list would be pretty short!) But we also know that truth cannot be thrown aside... Fruit ceases to be real fruit when it's not actually coming from the work of the Spirit, and just the actions of people trying to be nice.... That does feel a bit like splitting hairs at times, but ultmately, we can only consider those who really KNOW Jesus as a brother or sister in Christ.
As far as how to engage people who cling to "ecclesiologies" that we see as being unbiblical and worldy, well, that's one we're still trying to figure out....
like your blog, btw... Daniel
Thanks for the comment, and I appreciate your compliment as well.
I would dare to speak boldly that the same people who accuse others of splitting hairs, are the same individuals who compromise the demand for holiness and worldly separation in scripture. The question of WHAT do we separate on remains the gnat to be strained on so many occasions. I suppose the question to be asked in this regard would be what do we not separate on?
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