GRACIOUSLY AND PATIENTLY DRAWING THE LINE

 

I love the idea that God is sovereign over my life - my salvation (John 15:16), my decisions (Ephesians 2:10), and even all the events of my life (Romans 8:28). I cannot imagine life without trusting in such a trustworthy God.

I teach my students according to this Biblical revelation of my God. Many see its extensive Biblical support. Others do not, at least not yet. However, I try to maintain the unity of the Spirit:

·       eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:3-6)

I also deeply value, fully embrace, and strongly promote the doctrine of the Trinity among my students even though several come from churches that deny this essential doctrine. However, for the first several years in the Lord, I too didn’t believe in the Trinity until I thoroughly studied it. Was I not saved until I embraced all the important theological beliefs? I don’t think so. Instead, God had made the Good News so accessible that even children could savingly receive it in faith.

While there occasionally arises a need to draw a line between those who are in the faith and those who aren’t, I think we need to be very gracious about this. However, in a FB post entitled “CALVINISTS AND ARMINIANS CANNOT WORK TOGETHER FOR GOD’S GLORY,” MichaelJeshurun.wordpress.com has written:

·       We cannot join hands and serve the Lord with those who DENY the Absolute Sovereignty of God in all things . . . especially in the salvation of men!

·       God’s Elect march to a different drummer and they [Arminians] CANNOT serve the Lord with those who deny His Absolute Sovereignty!

This hardline position needlessly creates division where there should be unity. For one thing, it should be also understood that Calvinists have divisions within their own ranks about the “Sovereignty of God” and man’s freewill. Some believe that God’s sovereignty means that God causes everything, while others believe that He simply ordains everything (Ephesians 1:11) in the sense that He either allows and/or causes everything. In either case, He hardens hearts (Romans 1:24-28). However, some believe that this hardening is merely a matter of allowing the rebel to reap the consequences of their choices.

When it comes to the question of freewill, some hardline Calvinists believe that we are born incapable of choosing what is right, while others believe that we become hardened and lose our freedom of choice as we harden our heart against God.

These observations return us to Yeshurun’s insistence that we separate from those who do not share our understanding of God’s sovereignty. Where do the divisions end? Even though my wife and I agree on 98% percent of the teachings of the Bible, there remain areas where we disagree – for example, about “Limited Atonement.” Are we to separate and refuse to work together over our differences? Can any church then survive its differences? And how will we effectively demonstrate our love and unity to an unbelieving world (John 13:34-35; 17:20-23)!

I am not saying that these differences are unimportant or that we should merely ignore them. Nor am I suggesting that a church should provide a platform to teach against the Trinity. Instead, theological truth is so important that we need to learn to endure our differences as we try to work through them in love, instead of dividing the Body of Christ over them.

Admittedly, there are some differences which would lead us to leave our church. However, there isn’t a single verse that instructs us to dis-fellowship a brother over the question of the Sovereignty of God. Instead, Scripture counsels us against many forms of division:

·       As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. (Romans 14:1)

Is Yeshurun claiming that the Arminians aren’t our brothers? I hope not. We should not be quick to dis-fellowship those who do not believe as we do. Jesus told a parable against those who wanted to separate the wheat from the tares (weeds):

·       He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this [sowing weeds among the wheat].’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:28-30)

Besides, we often cannot distinguish between true and false believers. We cannot see into the heart, as God had informed His faithful Prophet Samuel:

·       But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

There is much that we do not see or understand. Consequently, our humble status should cause us to cling tenaciously to the Light of the Word.