Ultra-Liberalism In Churches of Christ
The Grace of God and Ultra-liberalism
In this writer's opinion the real problem with ultra-liberalism in the churches of Christ is a misunderstanding of the grace of God. Through the winter of 1999 and the spring of 2000 I spent many hours in study with a member of the congregation where I was working as an evangelist at that time. Some of those hours of study, were private, some public and some through e-mail correspondence. In these studies this brother advocated at least thirteen of the false views listed in our first article. In the spring of 2000 he loaned me a book by Cecil Hook, called Free In Christ. This was supposed to help me understand "where he was coming from." It did, and it also revealed where he wanted to take that congregation.
In chapter one of Free In Christ Hook gives a list of 100 issues over which churches of Christ have split. Among the issues listed are: baptism of the Holy Spirit, deaconesses, use of the church building for secular activities like Boy Scout meetings, eating in the church building, support of colleges from the church treasury, divorce for any cause, remarriage of a divorced person, instrumental music and abortion. Then he says, "In developing such issues we have become hair-splitters serving a God of quibbles. Sincerely, but being either ignorant or intellectually dishonest, we have twisted and misapplied Scriptures to support our contentions. We have become fixed in the tracks of dogmatism. God's purposes in His directives have been overshadowed by emphasis on lawful requirements. Binding incidental details often becomes more important than the love without which we cannot be bound together. Doctrine, instead of Savior, has become our center...God's grace has been limited to our achievement" (pg. 8).
Hook makes a distinction between "gospel" and "doctrine." According to Hook, "...the gospel is the good news of the Sonship of Jesus, His atonement, His resurrection, His glorification, His return to raise the dead. One cannot deny any element of this and be saved for that would be a denial of the saving role of Jesus, not just a denial of facts. Facts have no saving power" (page 53-54). He continues, "From the point of spiritual birth there will be diversity in disciples in knowledge, understanding, strength, ability, and maturity. Their justification is in being made right by an act of grace, not because they are right in all things. They are right because they are in Christ who is their righteousness, though they may not be right in all matters of faith. They are walking in the light, continually cleansed, and in fellowship (1 John 1:5-10). There is unity in the faith but diversity in matters of faith" (pg. 56).
The reason Hook believes we can overlook the differences in those 100 issues referred to above, is because the grace of God "continually cleanses" the sins associated with those issues. The important thing is that you obey the gospel, as he defines it, be sincere and love everybody. Everybody except those legalistic, Pharisees who have the audacity to ask for book chapter and verse.
Hook makes the same "gospel - doctrine" distinction advocated twenty-five years ago by W. Carl Ketcherside, LeRoy Garrett and Edward Fudge. As a matter of fact, on Hook's web site one can find a link to Edward Fudge and many articles and quotes from Ketcherside and Garrett. When I saw the connection between Hook and these men I realized the man I was studying with was not just a misguided young man, but a well indoctrinated member of the "grace-unity" or "unity in diversity" movement that took several promising young preachers and congregations back in the early 1970s.
We are saved by grace, Eph. 2:8. Our salvation by grace is in Christ Jesus, Eph. 1:3-14. However, the grace of God does not provide automatic or continuous cleansing for those in Christ. The Christian who sins must repent, confess his sin and in prayer ask for God's forgiveness, Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:9. The blood of Christ is continuously available, but the conditions must be met. The grace of God instructs us on how to live, Titus 2:11-15. How can we expect to be saved by grace, if we ignore or deny the instructions of grace? - Richard Sims