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The Back Page In the first century, brethren had disagreements. (1) "...Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation..." with those who "...taught the brethren...except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Ac. 15:1,2). (2) In Corinth, brethren disagreed about whom they should follow. Some said, "I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ" (I Cor. 1:12). In such conflict, you never read where Paul said, "Brethren, let's stop this debating and just preach the truth." No, in such conflict, Paul dealt with the error. (1) In Gal. 2, Paul said, "...neither Titus...was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren...who came in...to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." (2) To Corinth Paul said, "...there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions...one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed...I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase...neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase...therefore, let no man glory in men..." (I Cor. 3:3-6, 21). In recent times, we have been advised to preach what the Bible says about the Deity and humanity of Christ and quit debating and discussing the details. That advice might be good, if someone had never said, "While on earth, Jesus was just a man." or "While on earth, Jesus was Deity, but never used any Divine attributes." Once such statements were made, faithful brethren saw the need to deal with them. We are to "...preach the word..." (II TM 4:2) and "...contend for the faith..." (Ju 3), but we are also "...to stand against the wiles of the devil...for we wrestle...against spiritual wickedness..." (Eph. 6:11f). "...how good...it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Ps 133:1) Let us love unity. When it is disrupted: blame the devil and those who preach his deceits, but uphold the hands of those who defend the truth. Let us not say, "Peace, peace; when there is no peace" (Jer. 6:14b). Study Carefully. - Editor | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | This web site is designed and maintained by Last Revised: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 |
