Romans 14 gives timely advice for our day. It starts out telling us “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.” Of course, when we disagree with other believers, we most always see the other as the one whose “faith is weak”! But we are all at different levels of maturity in regards to our understanding of different aspects of our faith.
Two outreach conversations recently challenged my deeply
held beliefs over “disputable matters” – both of which I had considered beyond “disputable”. As a protestant, the Catholic position on
purgatory has always been indisputably mistaken to me, as was a position by
some believers that baptism is necessary for salvation. Both issues to me seemed to violate the core
belief that makes Christianity different from all other religions – that Jesus’
sacrifice on our behalf completely cleanses us from our sin and guilt, and that
we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, not by our good or religious
actions. Now, however, I wonder if these
beliefs might belong to a different category, one that Paul discussed in Romans
14.
Romans 14 discusses religious tolerance toward disputable
matters between Roman Christians. He
discussed in particular their beliefs about abstaining from particular foods,
or observing certain religious holidays.
Many from a Jewish background felt compelled by conscience to do so, to
the point that it would be sinful for them not to observe these practices. Paul wrote that we must not flaunt our
beliefs or compel less mature believers to violate their conscience in such
cases: “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and
God.”
So do purgatory and baptism fall under the same category as
disputable matters? My conversation with
Sheila, a Catholic who believes in purgatory, and Scott, a protestant with a
more rigid view on baptism than mine, touched on these matters but didn’t dwell
on them. We discovered our differences
through dialogue and moved on without trying to change one another’s position
in a short conversation. When I meet
other believers in outreach conversations, my goal is “…not to put any
stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.” as Paul
advised. He wrote “Let us therefore make
every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
As I did some further research on the Catholic position on purgatory,
and on the pairing of baptism with the forgiveness of sins in Acts 2:38, it
seemed to me that believers can have different positions on these matters as a
matter of conscience. I am learning not
to pursue them to the point of causing division with a fellow believer. Better to focus on our many commonalities and
the basic principles that underly our views on disputable matters such as a
commitment to God’s Word, on Christ’s death and resurrection, and on our call
to make disciples.
Many people might see evangelists as opinionated and
argumentative, and many are. But I would
maintain that evangelism gives regular believers not in leadership roles the opportunity
to focus on the basic Gospel without needing to be rigid about disputable
details. Pastors, on the other hand, often
do need to take a position on relatively minor issues as they lead their
congregations through the turbulent waters of disputable matters.
Many will disagree with me that these could be minor issues,
or “disputable matters”. If so, I would
ask that you see me as a well-intentioned fellow believer, just at a lower
level of maturity or understanding about them.
But as these are issues that can be very divisive, I believe I can and
should go on bearing witness to the Gospel without having to be sure.
PS – see my conversation with Sheila HERE and with
Scott HERE (although Scott and I talked much more about baptism after I turned off the camera)
No comments:
Post a Comment