The Aim of Healthy Disagreement -

I was humbled recently by a brother in Christ who provided some advice on intramural relations within the Church. A summary of the advice in just a few words would be this: we must avoid two extremes - 1) careless and lethargic ignorance and 2) inordinate and ungracious criticism.

The "live and let live" approach between differing theological positions does not result in a beautiful harmony as long as we all just love one another. Disagreements regarding who God is, what He has done, and what He requires of us will always involve several notes that are just plain out-of-tune and are rightly considered blemishes on the bride of Christ. When it comes to holiness, the Church ought to be striving toward a unison performance. As the people of God are sanctified individually and corporately, we ought not be content with the propogation of errors by those who have misunderstood God's Word. As iron sharpening iron, we ought to love our brethren enough to point out errors and call for repentance. We ought also to be quick to examine ourselves, being ready to acknowledge our own errors in the light of God's Word.

As my new friend pointed out, one of the first and major steps toward unity among Christian brethren is, "working to establish a common theological terminology ... [this] is essential for progress." An excellent example of the importance of common terminology is the disagreement between Baptistic believers and Covenantal believers within the reformed camp. Both will lay claim to the descriptor "Covenantal," but only one side has the consistent biblical understanding of what that means.

Our dialogue, with an aim toward true catholicity, should be underpinned by the desire to be open and honest and thorough in understanding one another and loving one another enough to seek complete conformity to God's revealed will for His Church. Endeavoring to leave aside all pride and selfish ambitions, our efforts should result in a healthy exchange of understandings and interpretations. The friend above provided this encouragement regarding such an exchange: We should all be "motivated by essentially the same concerns — preserving the authority of God speaking in Scripture, the thoroughly gracious and sovereign nature of God’s work in salvation, the centrality of the Person and work of Jesus Christ ... We should always try to demonstrate how our theology leads to a richer piety, provides a greater spur to holiness, brings us to a deeper humility before the cross, leads us to a stronger faith in God and His promises and elevates Christ more and more."

Through it all, we must humbly rely upon our Heavenly Father and beseech Him through prayer to work sovereignly in our own hearts and the hearts of our fellow heirs, that we might better reflect His glory.