Tag: creeds

Mystery of faith

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of faith

[Bible references: Exodus 31:1-11; Isaiah 1:18; Romans 1; 3:24; 4:16; 5:2-21; 6:15; 11:5-6; 2 Corinthians 6:1; Galatians 5; Ephesians 1; 2 Hebrews 12:1-39]

Faith and grace

If we try to systemize grace and faith, we find some saying that God will only give some people a special grace that allows them (and only them) to have faith to receive God’s forgiveness and some will say everyone is given that grace. Fortunately, receiving God’s grace is not dependent on our understanding. We only need to acknowledge it is only by God’s grace that we can be forgiven, and it is by God’s grace that we can be saved through faith.

After we “make a decision” to receive grace through faith, some will have the attitude that, “I’m saved, there is nothing more to do.” This attitude is sometime characterized as getting “fire insurance” or a “get out of hell free” card or as “easy believism.” This puts emphasis on “making a decision to accept Christ as our Savior” as if that was the main point.

While acknowledging Jesus as our Savior is a good thing, we should not put to the side that our decision should also acknowledge that Jesus is also our Lord and therefore our decision includes following Him as a disciple.

Faith and reason

Scripture is full of exhortations for us to use our reasoning. In Isaiah 1:18, Yahweh invites us to reason together with Him. In Romans 1, Paul tells us that we can even discern the truth of God’s invisible qualities, that they are clearly seen in the world around us. The scriptures are full of examples of God pleading with us, appealing with us to do the right things.

Scripture also encourages us to walk and live by faith, to trust God by faith, to obey God by faith, that we need to come to him by faith, that our righteousness comes by faith – and that faith is having confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

To hold these in tension, we cannot go to either extreme of abandoning our intellect or abandoning faith, rather we must go trust God to act in the future based on what we have seen him do in the past or present.

Faith and Creeds

It would seem nice if we could make a simple statement like, “The Bible says it and I believe it,” and not be misunderstood. But it’s not so simple. That’s because the Bible is not a straightforward text of moralizing or instructions. It’s a collection of stories, poetry, bits of wisdom, letters written from one person to another or to a group, prophecy, etc.  So biblical interpretation is not a task to be done lightly. Instead, it requires that we look at every verse in the context of the passage that it’s in, who wrote it and to whom and in the context of the entirety of scripture.[1] 

To address that problem, many congregations have found it expedient to clarify what they believe by using certain creeds or statements of faith. But then we run into the problem of the creeds or statement are not saying enough about the entirety of the faith of the congregation. So other congregations avoid creedal statements altogether and simply say that the Bible as a whole describes their faith.[2]

Faith and expressions of the Gospel

Living out the Gospel can encompass all parts of our lives, but for various reasons, different parts of the church at different times have chosen to focus on different aspects of the Gospel, often creating an imbalance in how the Gospel is lived out. Overfocusing on the intellectual aspects of faith led to a movement to focus instead on internalizing one’s faith and personal walk with God. Overfocusing on one’s personal walk with God led to a movement to put more of a focus on the public aspect of faith and the need for social justice. A desire to “return” to the faith of the New Testament church led to a desire to live out the “whole Gospel,” emphasizing the power of the Spirit as expressed by miracles, healings and speaking in tongues. Of course, the “whole gospel” actually encompasses all aspects and loving God with all our hearts, minds, soul and spirit.

Faith and Art

[Bible references: Exodus 28:3; 31:1-11; 35:10-33; 1 Kings 7:13-14; Proverbs 8:30; 22:29; Isaiah 54:16; Zechariah 1:20]

Expressing our faith through art had been common since God instructed people gifted in arts and crafts to build the Tabernacle. During New Testament times, poverty and persecution limited the amount of artwork, and that artwork was largely symbolic. But after the legalization of Christianity, expressions of the faith blossomed in both art and architecture. The eastern church started to express its faith through special artwork called icons which were highly revered. However, when a volcano erupted in AD 726, superstitions within the empire created a movement to rejected artwork[3] which did not finally end until AD 834[4]. To this day, different segments of the church either accept or reject the use of artwork.

Faith and perceptions of God in the Old and New Testament

At first glance, it could seem like God in the Old Testament is different than God in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the stress seems to be on the holiness of God and his distance from us while in the New Testament the stress seems to be on the love of God and his closeness to us. God in the Old Testament seems to act violently while in the New Testament He seems to act humbly and peaceably. This apparent dichotomy has created much consternation, causing some people to reject or ignore the Old Testament and only focus on the New Testament. But God is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. God never changes. More careful reading will show that the Old and New Testaments are not so different, and the characteristics we see of God in one testament can be found in the other testament.

[1] The discipline of “hermeneutics” or “bible interpretation” gives guidance on how to properly interpret the scriptures.

[2] These congregations are called noncreedal congregations.

[3] iconoclasm

[4] Art in Context, “Early Christian Art – Christian Artwork and Biblical Paintings” Artincontext artincontext.org/christian-art/ ; Joy of Museums “Christian Art and Biblical Paintings” Joy of Museums joyofmuseums.com/most-popular/popular-christian-art/

Mystery of the church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Mystery of the church

[Bible references: Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 12:17, 27; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 2:9]

What is the church?

As commonly used in current times, the “church” is a building to go to. In biblical terms it referred to an assembly of believers (called out ones).[1] How we understand this idea can influence our behavior. There are a few biblical metaphors that describe the church.

  • The body of Christ – This metaphor brings the ideas: that Christ is the head of the church, and we are His presence in the world, that each of us has a unique role in bringing Christ’s presence in the world. Our unique roles are distinguished by the spiritual gifts imparted to each of us to enable us to build each other in our faith.
  • A holy priesthood – This metaphor brings the idea that we have a relationship with God and can act as intermediaries.
  • A temple – This metaphor describes each individual as a stone in the temple and that it is all of us together who make up the temple, that is, the place where God resides on earth.
  • Ambassadors – This metaphor highlights our role in representing God’s to those not reconciled to God.

In the beginning, the organization of the church was not given in detail but seemed to be a cohesive group that “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer … had everything in common … broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

Is the church more than a Jewish sect?

[Bible references: Romans 11:17; Ephesians 3:6]

At first the church was mainly a Jewish sect. Jesus focused his ministry within the borders of Israel and his disciples were mainly Jewish. After Jesus died, that situation did not change much until Jesus took definitive steps with Peter and Paul to reach the non-Jews (Gentiles). Until that happened, the church mainly consisted of Jews who happened to also be believers, and as Jews, kept up many Jewish practices. But when Gentiles started to be included, there was the question of whether they needed to become Jewish to belong. It took a council of the church to determine that Gentiles were not bound by the Jewish practices. But even after that council, the debate persisted.[2]

In the Old Testament, we are told that Israel will be a blessing to the rest of the world, but it was not revealed just how that would happen. In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul explains that “through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” And then in Romans 11, Paul explains that the Gentiles were “grafted” into the family of believing Jews, of whom Abraham is the root, so that the Gentiles may receive all the same blessings.

What is the visible and invisible church?

The invisible church consists of all those, past, present, and future, who have put their trust in Christ. Only God knows who they all are. The visible church is the groups of people gathered together as communities. Both believers and unbelievers may be in the visible church.

Some congregations/ denominations are very strict about how to interpret scripture and/or have a limited view of forgiveness, and so would put limits on who they would consider to be in the church.[3] Other congregations/denominations have an extreme view that all of society should be under Christian rule[4] and then misused Luke 14:23, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in,” that they would even resort to torture in order to persuade a people to make a “confession of faith.” Then there are those who think that everyone will ultimately be saved.[5]

Who has authority in the church?

As the church grew and spread throughout the Roman Empire, the natural development was to “institutionalize” the church, trying to make the church more effective with more formal organization. While the apostles were still alive, it was possible to unify the church around the apostles, but of course that was temporary.

Over time, different governance models emerged within the church as there was no model within the church except for the synagogue. In the episcopal model, there is a single leader, or bishop, who oversees a group of congregations and selects the pastors for each congregation. In the presbyterian model, there is a “plurality” of elders, who oversee a congregation or a group of congregations – the congregation may elect their pastor, but the Presbytery has to approve whoever is selected. In the congregational model, the congregation itself is its ultimate overseer and selects its pastor.

Some congregations are independent from one another, and some are affiliated with other congregations. The affiliation may be a denomination where there is strong oversight by the denomination over the individual congregations, but some affiliations are mainly an association for the purpose of sharing resources, but the association has no oversight function.

Some congregations emphasize the importance of maintaining apostolic authority by maintaining the transfer of authority of the apostles and trace the leadership of the church from one generation to the next beginning with the apostles.[6] The Roman Catholic denomination further emphasizes their authority is transferred from the apostle Peter, whom they think was given the most authority from Jesus. Other denominations will maintain that they are apostolic because of their faithfulness to scripture and therefore to the apostolic teachings.

One issue related to authority within the church is related to gender roles. Due to apparent conflicts in some Bible passages, two main views have emerged regarding the role of women in the church On one side, there is no restriction of ministry roles because of gender, but on the other side, women are restricted from any role in which they have spiritual authority over men.

What is the role of elder, bishop, deacon, priest?

The New Testament doesn’t clearly specify how to organize a congregation and that has resulted in congregations organizing themselves in a variety of ways. The New Testament does show examples of elders (aka bishops) serving as spiritual leaders of a congregation and deacons serving the physical needs of the congregation. Priests, in the Old Testament performed duties for God on behalf of the other people. The New Testament talks about Christ being the high priest for all of us but then talks about all Christians as being priests since we all have direct access to God and our role as Christians is to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God.

The first denominations that emerged did keep the title of a priest, no longer offering the Old Testament sacrifices but rather now sharing the sacrament of the Last Supper. The Orthodox and Catholic traditions consider the bishops who oversee the priests to be the elders of the denomination. The priests are chosen to serve the sacraments, although they also serve in other ways with deacons helping the priests in carrying out the liturgy in the worship service or serving in other ways as well. In this context, the spiritual leadership of bishops or priests is recognized by the use of honorific titles such as Reverend or Father.

Protestant traditions vary. Anglican and Episcopal congregations retain the title of priest, while in other Protestant traditions congregations are led by pastors or elders.[7]

In some congregations, the pastor is considered to be the elder and the lay leaders are considered to be deacons. In other congregations the pastor is considered to be a teaching elder (if that title is used) while the lay leaders are considered to be ruling elders, or just elders. Some congregations are governed primarily by the pastor, some by a group (plurality) of elders, and some by the congregation itself.

What is the function of a creed?

As explained at the beginning of this chapter, there is much of God that is beyond comprehension. So, when God revealed himself through the prophets, the revelations were more in the form of stories and the interactions of God with the world than a spelled-out theology. That type of revelation requires us to do some of amount of interpretation as we try to better understand God, and that process of interpretation has been the function of the church at large. However, some individuals in the church came up with teachings that seemed to be more than minor differences and actually opposed the more accepted teachings of the church. Those ideas were considered to be heretical. Over time, to combat the heresies that arose, the church developed abbreviated teachings of the church called creeds.

As conflicts within the church developed, different sets of creeds started to emerge. The Protestant section of the church caused even more divergence with the creation of more detailed creedal statements called “confessions of faith,” while other congregations claimed to be non-creedal, stating that the Bible as a whole was their creed because creedal statements are limited and could never present a comprehensive theology of the church.

How can broken people within broken congregations can be instruments of God?

[Bible references: Romans 7:7-25; 1 Timothy 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:21; 3:17; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 1:10; Hebrews 13:21]

In this time between the Kingdom has come and is yet to come in full, even those of us who trust in Christ have wills that are internally divided between the desire to do good and the desire to do evil. Despite our brokenness, God still desires to use us to accomplish His will on earth. He did not remove the mandates given to us back in Genesis. We may be broken instruments, but God knows how to use broken instruments.

Is the church an Organism or an Organization?

[Bible references: Matthew 28:16-20; 1 Timothy 3:1-6; Titus 1:6-9; 1 Peter 5:1-3]

When Jesus gave the command to “go into all the world” he didn’t specify how to do it, particularly how they should organize themselves to do it. They were to be his body, that is, his hands, feet, legs, eyes, ears, etc. on the earth to continue to do what he had begun. He left no instructions that we know of on how to organize themselves to complete the mission.

The apostles did have the model of synagogue that they could refer to.[8] The first people they reached out to were already in synagogues. But the Bible makes no specific mention of them using that model to organize themselves. In the apostles’ letters to churches and individuals that we have preserved in the Bible, there are some details from which various organizational models have been proposed, ranging from congregation choosing their own leaders to leaders over the congregations choosing leaders for each congregation.

What the Bible is clear on, is the qualifications for those who would lead the church. Some of those qualifications are to be blameless, even tempered, hospitable, to love what is good, to be disciplined, and to encourage others with sound doctrine. The biblical focus seems not to be on how leaders organize their congregations but on the qualifications that those leaders should have.

[1] Biblehub. “1577. Ekklesia” Bible Hub biblehub.com/Greek/1577.htm

[2] Marcos, Juan. Gutierrez, Bejarano. “The Judaisms of Jesus’ Followers” (Chapter 10, The Church Fathers and Jesus Oriented Judaisms) Yaron Publishing, 2017. Nazarenes held orthodox beliefs except in their adherence to Jewish law. Not deemed heretical until the fourth century. Ebionites, possibly a splinter group from the Nazarenes held that circumcision is necessary for salvation.

[3] This “rigorist” viewpoint was held by various people such as the “Novationists” (third century) and “Donatists” (fourth century).

[4] This idea is known as Christendom. Mere Orthodoxy mereorthodoxy.com/christendom-1200-words-give-take/

[5] Encyclopedia Britannica, “Universalism” Encyclopedia Britannia www.britannica.com/place/Universalism

[6] Encyclopedia Britannia “Apostolic succession” Encyclopedia Britannia www.britannica.com/topic/apostolic-succession

[7] Whitaker, Alexander. “The Protestant Problem with Priesthood” The North American Anglican 8 June 2020 northamanglican.com/the-protestant-problem-with-priesthood; Patheos “Leadership”

[8] Burtchaell, James Tunstead. “From Synagogue to Church: Public Services and Offices in the Earliest Christian Communities” Cambridge University Press 1992 (pp.349-352)

Reflect

The quality of church governance is more dependent on the quality of the leaders than the type of governance structure. What qualities do you think church leaders should have?

Observe

Read 1 Corinthians 12:17, 27; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 2:9. How does the different metaphors for the church help you to understand the church?

Historical issues affecting the church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

Historical issues affecting the church

[Bible references: Matthew 5:14-16; 13; 24; 26:6-13; John 15; 17; Romans 12;  1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 3-7; Ephesians 6:10-20; Colossians 2; 1 John 4]

Overcurrents – Historical issues outside the church that impact the development of the church.

The development of the church doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it happens in the midst of governments rising and falling, conflicts within and between nations, in the culture of the people around the church influencing the culture within the church, in the plagues and catastrophes and other events that happen to society. Within those events, sometimes it’s the world that impacts the church and sometimes it is the church that impacts the culture around it.

The church initially developed during the time of Pax Romana in which a stable empire and its infrastructure enabled the missionary efforts of the apostles and others. That same empire was also responsible for various persecutions of the church. However, the response of the church to those persecutions sometimes profoundly impacted not only by those who became witnesses of God’s glory displayed by the courage of the martyrs, but also the courage of those who risked their own health and well-being to give aid to the helpless and sick.

Those persecutions unfortunately created tension within the church as it had to deal with those who succumbed to the pressure of the persecution and denied Christ (a problem that would occur in future persecutions in other places and times). Some persecutions almost totally eradicated Christian populations. This happened with the Church of the East which almost entirely disappeared in the 14th century. This happened even though the church, which was established in Persia in AD 410, grew to be the largest denomination in the world and whose influence extended to the east coast of China.

In the age of our hyper-individualism, it seems strange for us to imagine that it has been common throughout history for communities to identify themselves with a single religious identity. In the time of the early church, Christianity did not conform to the Roman religion which was cause for the persecution of the church. However, when Constantine became emperor of Rome (AD 306-337) and identified himself with Christianity, the church now found itself tied to the secular power of the government which changed dynamics within the church, with people now seeking identity with the church as a way of seeking power. Later on, as kings broke away from the empire and nation-states began to form (beginning in AD 1848), the religious ties to the state were often hijacked in order to accomplish the goals of the individual secular governments.

As the church spread, the different cultural environments and different languages spoken within the church created problems. Prominently, the Latin language and culture caused different developments than within the Greek language and culture. Emperor Constantine’s decision to create a separate capitol in Constantinople (AD 324) laid the groundwork for the creation of a bifurcated (Eastern and Western) Roman Empire. The Latin/Greek language problem worsened when the Western Roman Empire was overtaken by invaders from the north (AD 410), creating further isolation between East and West, and would eventually result in the formal East/West Schism in AD 1054.

Larger cultural events impacted the church as well. The contributions of Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle impacted the development of science and philosophy for many years. The contributions of Greece and Rome would be redeveloped during the Middle Ages in the development of sciences, although the church’s attachment to Aristotle’s geocentrism would hinder the development of astronomy for a while.

The invention of the printing press in 1439 supported the spread of ideas in science and humanism and would also be central to the Protestant revolution in the 1500s. During the same period, developments in shipbuilding and technology enabled the development of European empire and contributed to the age of Enlightenment (1714-1789) with the emphasis on reason having priority over theology, liberty, and progress[1].

Undercurrents – Issues within the church that have had a wide impact throughout the church

Christianity introduced new ways of thinking of the world, but those ideas did not change all patterns of thinking all at once. They needed a chance to develop and mature and then over time would challenge the older ways of thinking as the new patterns were gradually absorbed. In our current post-Christian era, new ways of thinking are developing, but the pattern continues. The now older Christian ideas are providing some of the framework for the current post-Christian ideas to build on, although the Christian contributions may not be recognized.

In that regard, as we examine the patterns of thought in Christian history, we find that there are various classic Greek ideas which have influenced the church. One of the classic Greek contributions, Platonism, developed into what has been termed Gnosticism. Within Gnosticism, one idea was that salvation is obtained through secret knowledge; this has led to the development of “secret” societies like the Freemason’s where only those within the society have that knowledge. Another gnostic idea is known as dualism, where spiritual things are considered to be good and material things are considered to be bad. The consequences of that thinking have led to heretical teachings about the nature of Jesus, severe asceticism, unhealthy thinking about sexuality, neglecting our stewardship of creation, rejection of the arts, etc.

Many disagreements have occurred through the years about the role of faith in respect to reason and revelation. When trying to balance these ideas with one another, some espoused fideism (in which faith is independent of and hostile to reason), some espoused special revelation (i.e., prophecies) over rationalism, and some espoused rationalism over faith or prophecies. These imbalances eventually fed into the conflict of faith vs. science in the 1800s highlighted by Darwin’s contribution to the evolution of species.[2]

There have been various moments in church life where there seems to have been a loss of focus on how Christianity is supposed to be lived out in our daily lives. When religious practices were perceived to be over-intellectualized, various pietistic movements were started where attention was paid to the spiritual aspects of the faith and on the transformation of our daily lives.

As the church grew it was natural that different personalities combined with different languages and cultures would result in differing ideas the nature of God and practice of Christianity. After all the apostles had died, the church had to learn how to determine which differences were acceptable and which differences were not. When someone’s practices seemed inappropriate the council would generate rules to address those practices. When ideas were taught that seemed to conflict with core beliefs of the church, the council created creedal statements, such as the Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed. The Creeds[3] were not designed to be all-inclusive statements of belief but were rather designed to address the emerging heresies of the moment.

Church developments outside the bounds of the Roman Empire, and eventually the fracturing of the Roman Empire itself, led to the fracturing of the church as well. The difficulty and sometimes outright inability of the church to hold a single large ecumenical council representing the whole church has contributed to the many branches of the church that can be seen today.

During the era of Enlightenment, reasoning and rationality were emphasized while the supernatural was rejected. In regard to the Bible, this meant that any miraculous events described in the Bible including miracles, healings, divine revelation, or God being active in any way in the world were rejected.

There was a view which postulated that God had created the world but then let it run according to natural laws without any further interference. This same viewpoint along with the acceptance of evolution, led to an evolutionary perception of historical and social development that led to the rejection of the traditional viewpoint of biblical development. One idea that became very popular in the 1800s (and is still popular today) was the idea that the Bible was created by piecing together various texts during Israel’s time of exile.[4]

Steering Currents

We should not assume that the church is dragged helplessly by overcurrents and undercurrents. Through all those influences, the Spirit of God is at work in the church. If the church sometimes behaves badly, it is a reminder that it is not the church that is the Savior of the world, that distinction belongs to God alone. Occasionally, even the church forgets that she is in daily need of a Savior as she brings the gospel to the world. Christ is the faithful one, not the church.

Those of us who are members of the visible church don’t even know with certainty which members of the visible church truly belong to Christ and who does not. Only God knows that. Only God knows whether we have the right balance of beliefs and practices,[5] and we most likely don’t. God’s ways are higher than the ways of those who are in the church as well as outside the church. This should call us to humility. But it should also call us to assurance that God is working His plan and His church even if we are broken and sometimes failing. The hope that we bring to the world is that God still works within us despite our weakness and failures.

In our unfaithfulness, we need to remember the words of Jeremiah. After many chapters of God accusing his chosen people, Israel, of prostituting herself to the love of other gods, at the end, God said, “Return, O virgin Israel …” Again, it is our faithful Yahweh who persists in seeking and holding onto us, despite our unfaithfulness – and yet He will cleanse us and put our unfaithful ways behind us. This is the good news that the church can receive and pass on to those not yet in the church. Our faithful Yahweh has not left us or abandoned us but leads us, able to redeem us even in our rebellion.

God loves His church, and He will restore us. We are therefore in no position to not love the church that God loves. He has not abandoned us but calls us by His Spirit. I have often said, “It is a miracle that the gospel has survived the church.” It is a miracle, and the miracle continues as it already has through the centuries. God will use the church and guide the church, despite herself. And there is the promise from Jesus to His followers, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

[1] Martin, Bruce. “Science and Faith: The Enlightenment;” Encyclopedia.com “Enlightenment and Empire” Explorations in Life, Theology, and Creation rossway.net/science-and-faith-the-enlightenment

[2] Darwin, Charles. “On the Origin of Species” John Murray 1859

[3] See Appendix I – Creeds of the Church

[4] Graf-Wellhausen Documentary Hypothesis University of Maryland Department of Computer Science www.cs.umd.edu/~mvz/bible/doc-hyp.pdf

[5] orthodoxy and orthopraxy Learn Religion www.learnreligions.com/orthopraxy-vs-orthodoxy-95857

Observe

Read John 17:13-25. In His love towards us, God has created many things in the world for us to enjoy. However, the world’s hatred of the things of God is sometimes masked by the sweet enticements that lure us away the love of God towards the love of those things. How do we discern when we are being lured away from God?

The challenge of the church

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 13 – Distinctives within the body of Christ

The Challenge of the church

[Bible references: 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; Galatians 2:7; Colossians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:4-15; 1 Timothy 2:14-26; 6:11-21; 2 Timothy 1:12-14; 2:16; 3:14-16]

Mysteries and distinctives

There is an impossible task set before the believers through the world who comprise what some call the invisible, universal church: Differences have arisen which have caused different local congregations to have some disagreements about what the correct theology is. We will call these differences, distinctives. It is from these distinctives that local congregations divide from one another with some finding themselves aligned into different groups that we call denominations or associations, and some not formally aligning themselves with any other congregation at all.

Although while trying to understand God, we may find that although some things are incomprehensible, other things are knowable. The knowable things make it possible to construct a limited theological framework, despite the tensions cited in Chapter 2 that require us to hold some things in tension.

When distinctives become heresies

Trying to understand a complex, incomprehensible and paradoxical God leads naturally to some diversity of thought. The problem is trying to detect when diversity leads to heresies, ideas that are identifiably contrary to the Biblical message and ought to be rejected by all the major bodies in the church. Heresies typically develop when biblical verses are taken out of context, or when attempts are made to mesh non-Christian ideas with biblical ideas.

The following is a list of some of the most prevalent heresies. For a more comprehensive list of some of the heresies and the terms used for them, read “Appendix F – Partial Listing of Heresies”.:

  • Matter is inherently evil and only the spiritual is good,
  • being saved by grace allows us to ignore any laws or norms,
  • rejection of the Old Testament,
  • rejection of the Trinity,
  • only the Father is God,
  • Gentiles need to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws,
  • the validity of sacraments depends on the moral character of the person administering the sacraments,
  • those guilty of grave sin are permanently excluded from the church,
  • we can choose to be good apart from God’s grace,
  • Christ is not fully human and fully divine,
  • prophets who claim that they supersede the apostles,
  • all truth and knowledge of God is accessible by the human mind.,
  • all people will be saved.

Even within our limited framework, it is possible to find that sometimes someone’s theology seems so wrong that it must be corrected and dealt with more strongly. In those cases, the church must determine when some of our distinctives have crossed over from being a ‘distinctive’ to being a ‘heresy,’ teachings that are not just different but cause fundamental theological problems in the teachings of the church. The task of identifying and correcting heresies is a job that must be done but these days is complicated by the divisions within the church. This is one area where we need to recognize Dynamic Tension at work: balancing the need to deal with doctrine and practices that are deemed to be heretical with the need to, as much as possible, retain whatever unity is possible in the church.

There was a time that it was more possible to call together representatives from all parts of the church to discuss difficult issues and come to a common agreement, but that is no longer possible. Between AD325 and AD757 there were seven ecumenical councils[1], councils that were called by the Roman emperor which tried to resolve various questions, at least within the empire, which were dividing the church.

“all the doctrinal definitions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils (councils which have always, and still do, receive the unqualified acceptance of both East and West) … An Ecumenical Synod may be defined as a synod the decrees of which have found acceptance by the Church in the whole world”[2]

One of the most essential products of the councils were increasingly detailed creeds[3] for the church, statements written in response to perceived heresies that were being taught, clarifying what the orthodox teaching of the church ought to be.

Because of the complexities of the different viewpoints, the increasingly detailed creeds were never able to entirely resolve the differences between the Latin speaking and the Greek speaking parts of the church leaving the church with very intense divisions in the aftermath of each of the councils. After the seven Ecumenical Councils, the divisions in the church had become irreconcilable and it is no longer possible to call a council in which all sections of the church would be able to have an agreement on critical theological issues. There have been various ecumenical efforts through the years, including the creation of the World Council of Churches, but such efforts have not been able to overcome those disagreements on critical issues.

This division has complicated the issue of when theological differences become heresies. The inability of the visible church to resolve such issues forces us acknowledge our dependence on Christ; that the Gospel is the good news about our salvation to be found in the grace of Christ – and not in His still fractured church. In the meanwhile, despite the visible fracturing of the visible church, we need to humbly acknowledge the mystery of the unity of the church in Christ.

[1] Orthodox Church of America. “The Councils” Volume I – Doctrine and Scripture, Sources of Christian Doctrine, The Councils www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/doctrine-scripture/sources-of-christian-doctrine/the-councils; Keating, Karl. “The 21 Ecumenical Councils” Catholic Answers www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-21-ecumenical-councils. Protestants and Eastern Orthodox regard only 7 ecumenical council, while the Roman Catholic regards 21 ecumenical councils because the Roman Catholic Church regards Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches as “separated brethren”.

[2] Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor) Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, “A select library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Second Series. Volume XIV. The Seven Ecumenical Councils. For a summary of the seven ecumenical Councils, See Appendix H

[3] See Appendix I – Creeds of the Church

Observe

Read 2 Corinthians 11:1-15; 1 Timothy 4:1-4; 6:1-10; 2 Timothy 2: 14-26. What are the warning signs of “false teachers?”