Handling differing discernments
I believe that my own thought process when reading or interacting with someone who thinks differently in interpreting the Bible and how we should respond in living our lives should be:
1. God
loves you. And we are called to love each other.
2. I
am not your judge—God is
3. The
law is a guide (for our good, which is what God seeks and desires—and
understands best) but various interpretations have been accepted over church
history from the beginning—consider the Council of Jerusalem as just one of
these. You are justified by faith and not by the law. But Jesus said not one
iota of the law would pass away, and so the law remains an important guide and
it’s our job to try to live up to that, knowing that we will not be able to,
but trying to nonetheless as outpouring and manifestation of our faith and
trust in, and thankfulness to, God. We should not celebrate ways in which we
have been led to believe we don’t need to observe the law, lest we confuse and
make others fall, just as Paul advised people who felt they could eat certain
meat not to cause the ruin of those who felt they could not. Each person must
follow the Spirit in understanding what the Bible is telling them at any given
time, but only understanding truly led by the Spirit will be true and leading
you towards God. Different people may be understanding and emphasizing
different things at different times (e.g. Paul talking about some on milk, some
on whole food) and there may be other legitimate reasons for differences in
discernment and focus. But it is critical
that we all heed Justo González’s warning not to confuse our “own words with
the Word of God.” We are responsible to engage with and even question other
believers who seem to be following different interpretations and paths,
especially if they seem dangerous—think about what you would do if
somebody were about to cross a bridge that you knew was out: you would feel
responsible to tell them. Sharing your sense/information with them is important
(in fact the Bible says we are responsible to do that) and then they must be
left to do whatever they do. After all, all of us “see dimly now.” And in all
of this we should be careful to heed Paul’s advice to Timothy, (2 Timothy 2:
23-25) “Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that
only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to
everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.” Especially
if they are fellow believers.
4. And,
through all of that and ultimately, I’m not your judge—God is. (If I fall into
judging I am playing God.)
5. God loves you! And we are called to love each other too!
Again, all of this is in the context
of the commandment to love one another and for unity. God loves everyone (and
everything) in creation. Not fighting over interpretation of truth that may be
unclear prioritizes the very clear commandment to each other.
And we must be careful about judging others
historically, too. Origen, for instance was a brilliant Christian writer in the
second and third centuries, whose seminal writings collected and systematically
laid out the teachings and beliefs of the church (and were critical in creation
of the creeds—see his work, On First
Principles), and also refuted Greek contention that Christianity had no
intellectual basis by using Greek philosophy to establish the truth of the
Bible (see Against Celsus). His
writings are still foundational today and his devotion to God was never
questioned. Despite all of that, in 543, almost 300 years after he died, Origen
was condemned as a heretic and almost all of his writings burned because the
church by then rejected some of his teachings and those of his followers.
As is true with the reporting of news, people focus on things that are most important or interesting to them and/or their audiences. Professor and black scholar Anthony Bradley has written,
The core of preaching in the black church tradition is that Jesus came to give his people victory over sin, death, and the devil. This is why I’ve never seen the evangelical revivalist/pietist/Edwards/Spurgeon substitutionary atonement reduction ever grow a large black church….
Both ideas—that Christ triumphed over sin, death, and the devil, and that Christ died for our sins (substitutionary atonement) are found in the Bible and the early church, but it seems that one is more valued by some believers and the other is more valued by other believers.
Michael Keller makes the importance
of context clear in his article, Contextualization
in the Late-Modern West, arguing that it is critical to, “relate, bridge,
present, communicate, and make the truth of the gospel not just clear but real”
in the context of the culture of the audience.
He adds, “what’s presented well in one context doesn’t work in
another. There’s no universal,
decontextualized form or expression of Christianity.” This echoes Paul’s words
and modeling in 1 Corinthians 9: “I have become all things to all people so
that by all possible means I might save some.”
He became a Jew when talking to Jews, a gentile when talking to
gentiles, and weak when talking to the weak. A wonderful example of presentation in context
is the movie Man Up by 116, which was
created for young urban males—the message is faithfully presented in a story
designed to relate to that audience.
But it is
important to remember that different interpretation at different points in life
and for different people refers to priorities and emphasis, not that truth is
changing. Again, I believe there is ultimate truth, but only God knows it and
reveals it to us by his plan. And it is possible—in fact a regular
occurrence—that we choose to confuse our “own words with the Word of God.”
Sections in this chapter:
- The heart of faith
- The core message and goal for your life
- Seeking to trust God and become more like Jesus
- Knowing your role—and God’s
- Fruit of the Spirit
- Managing our priorities and our praise
- Identity, the creeds, and unity
- The struggle of finding and holding faith
- Faith must be our own
- Levels and types of faith
- Faith vs. knowledge
- Faith and the Law and Works
- Free Will and The Fall
- Seeking to understand the Bible and life through discernment
- The challenge of discernment
- Handling different discernments
- "Our own words"
- Exploring challenging passages and ideas
- The importance of prayer
- Personal reflections
- The importance of living the life
- It’s not too late
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