9/13/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
It is very common for Christians to make doctrinal demands on one another. We insist on certain commonalities at particular times. For instance, to receive communion in a church body it is normally important that you be in agreement with that church body about the nature of communion. There are certain doctrines we will fight for. The Trinity, the fact of Jesus as truly God and truly man, salvation by grace through faith, the sufficiency of Scripture, those all rise to the level of teachings which define a Christian.
What about some of the other issues we may hold dear? Romans 14:1-12 mentions some of them which were apparently controversial in the time of the apostle Paul. Some people said you had to be willing to eat meat, or certain meats. Some people said you should be a vegetarian. Some people said you had to recognize the first day of the week as the day of resurrection and gather for worship then. Some said it was appropriate to worship on other days.
What was Paul’s attitude? He taught that we should be willing to accomodate those differences which were not critical to the nature of the Christian faith. He never said that it was not necessary for a Christian to believe the bodily resurrection of Christ. Quite the opposite. However, he said it was fine to eat vegetables or to eat meats, it was fine to observe the first day or another day. We can have charity in these matters.
Within the body of Christ there is some diversity of opinion. But there should be consistency of critical doctrine. Finding the difference is a challenge. But at least it’s a challenge Christians have faced at least since the middle of the first century. We can continue to work with it. I think I’ll go eat some meat.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
It is very common for Christians to make doctrinal demands on one another. We insist on certain commonalities at particular times. For instance, to receive communion in a church body it is normally important that you be in agreement with that church body about the nature of communion. There are certain doctrines we will fight for. The Trinity, the fact of Jesus as truly God and truly man, salvation by grace through faith, the sufficiency of Scripture, those all rise to the level of teachings which define a Christian.
What about some of the other issues we may hold dear? Romans 14:1-12 mentions some of them which were apparently controversial in the time of the apostle Paul. Some people said you had to be willing to eat meat, or certain meats. Some people said you should be a vegetarian. Some people said you had to recognize the first day of the week as the day of resurrection and gather for worship then. Some said it was appropriate to worship on other days.
What was Paul’s attitude? He taught that we should be willing to accomodate those differences which were not critical to the nature of the Christian faith. He never said that it was not necessary for a Christian to believe the bodily resurrection of Christ. Quite the opposite. However, he said it was fine to eat vegetables or to eat meats, it was fine to observe the first day or another day. We can have charity in these matters.
Within the body of Christ there is some diversity of opinion. But there should be consistency of critical doctrine. Finding the difference is a challenge. But at least it’s a challenge Christians have faced at least since the middle of the first century. We can continue to work with it. I think I’ll go eat some meat.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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