Christians are not united by…
- Homeschooling, public school, or private school.
- Republicanism or liberalism.
- Capitalism, environmentalism, or socialism.
- Continuation of the gifts of the spirit or cessation of the gifts of the spirit.
- Infant baptism or believer’s baptism.
- Calvinist theology or Arminian theology.
- Drinking alcohol or not drinking alcohol.
- Praise choruses or hymns.
- Being artsy or being intellectual.
- Vaccinating or not vaccinating your kids.
We are united by…
- Jesus Christ and him crucified.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.(Galatians 3:28)
–
If you found this post helpful would you mind sharing it on Facebook or Twitter? Thanks!
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Fantastic reminder…Really like your blog. Good stuff
I'm united with you in this perspective.
I agree…..but those other things on your list vary in importance….and some are very important.
While I unite with someone who doesnt believe in election, its not "okay" with me that he doesnt believe in it. I love him, but we need to be careful not to be content with error or wrong thinking. While it may appear humble, it could just be cowardly. Jesus wasn't "okay" with bad theology.
I agree with you that sound doctrine is crucial. I'm a huge fan of sound doctrine, and think it's absolutely necessary. However, I believe that being united around the gospel always trumps divisions we may encounter because of theology. I am friends with people who are not reformed. I will try to show them from scripture why I believe in election. But, I need to remind myself that even if we differ over election, we are both bought with the blood of Christ and united by the blood of Christ. That's the main point I was trying to get across here.
Thanks for posting this. I think I need reminded of this every day.
Why do you think it is that we allow ourselves to get divided over all these issues?
"Jesus wasn't "okay" with bad theology. "
I am not Jesus. His theology is perfect. None of the rest of us, including John Calvin, can claim that.
Jesus was very big on me being right before I pick on somebody else.
So we can't stand firm on anything? – since everything is our interpretation anyway?
And I agree we need to look at ourselves first and never to "pick on" anybody. But if are to look atourselves until we are perfect, no correction or reprove will ever happen.
So if no correction nor reprove will ever happen because we agree we will never achieve perfection on earth then what would be the point of even looking at ourselves? Just curious.
There is a big difference between standing firm in love and understanding of our own human frailty versus standing firm in arrogance and insisting that our theology is flawless.
I've not yet encountered a "theology" that is flawless. There are always presuppositions necessary, and some presuppositions are easier for me than they are for "you", and vice versa.
There is absolute truth. It is not interpretive. Our belief or acceptance does not change truth. However, when a key part of "our" theology causes us to presume our own correctness without giving everyone else the same right , we presume the shoes of Jesus as our own. We insist that we are interpreting correctly but deny others the right to interpret for themselves. This is very dangerous. I think we all have to admit that our theology changes as we grow older. Hopefully the change is from "less correct" to "more correct", but to presume that we are 100% correct about everything we believe at any given point in time is problematic for me.
Was I censored or just hung up in spam?
Sorry, for some reason it got tagged as spam. I'll try to restore it.
Don't forget resurrected.
Thank you very much for the reminder.