How Do We Determine What to Separate Over

Introduction

In our study of who we are, we began with the Fundamentals of the faith because they are the foundation of our Christian faith. We saw that God’s desire for the church is unity, but it cannot be a unity at all costs. We cannot just ignore every issue and agree to disagree. Then we established biblical principles which teach us that there are somethings we must separate with other Christians over. The problem we face is deciding what is worth separating over. Historically, Fundamentalists have sometimes made the mistake that everything is a separation issue while liberals have made the error of assuming nothing is a separation issue. The truth is somewhere in between these two extremes and much of the debates among church circles today revolve around this issue.

Traditionally, doctrine has been divided up into essentials and non essentials. This idea was popularized during the reformation as the main leaders like Hubmeier, Calvin, Zwingli, Luther and Hus fought for the doctrine of justification by faith and yet they disagreed from on another on issues like church government, the Lord’s supper, baptism.

In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty in all things charity.

This framework is helpful and yet it can be deceiving. None of God’s truth is nonessential or unimportant. I believe a christian should always be studying to know what God says and how it applies to all areas of life. There should be nothing we just say well that isn’t important to me if God has revealed it. And yet we cannot fight over everything or we will never get along with anyone. Ephesians 4:13 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” Reveals that there is a future day when we will be all unified, but that day is not today. Perfect unity is a future reality.

So somehow, we must decide which fights are worth fighting; which hills are worth dying over. In theological circles, we call this process theological triage. If you have ever been in the military specifically in the medical field you know that field nurses must practice what they call triage. Basically, it is determining which issues need to be dealt with first and which can be put off for another day. If a guy comes in to the tent and his leg has been blown off by a mortar and another guy comes in with an ear wound who do you treat first? You only have so many doctors and nurses; so a decision has to be made. You prioritize the life-threatening issues first. So in our separation we must prioritize the issues that are life-threatening to the church as well.

I have taught what I am going to teach before and just explained it as an application of truth, but as I have studied it out more, I have come to believe this system of theological triage is at the very least hinted at in scripture and at least it is a direct application of biblical principles. So to start, I would like to establish five biblical principles of triage, then look at how the bible categorizes doctrine and then finally look at the practical response we should have to differing issues in the church.

Principles that determine what we separate over:

Jesus made a distinction about what was important

Paul said somethings were doubtful

The church’s response shows a distinction

There are harder things to understand

There are secret things that we will never know

Jesus made a distinction about how important something was- Matthew 23:23–24 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” In a series of condemnations of the Pharisees, Jesus lays this sin at their feet: they are so careful to tithe even their seasonings in their house. Counting every leaf of mint anise and cumin; but they have ignored the weightier matters of the law. The weightier matters of the law are defined as judgment (justice), mercy and faith. They are so focused on exact obedience, even over the top tithing that they have forgotten to pursue justice, they have forgotten to show mercy and they have forgotten to practice faith. Jesus said these ought ye to have done and not leave the other undone.

Have you ever met someone who was so focused on how long your skirt was but they never bothered to encourage you to love the Lord? They are so focused on the externals and small details of your walk with the Lord but they have forgotten to be loving, kind, merciful. This is whats going on here. But what I want to point out is that one word weightier. That word is a comparative term. Jesus was saying something weights more than something else. Interestingly one of the words for glory in the Hebrew is weighty. Their priorities are out of wack because they have prioritized less important things and minimized more important things. But the point here is that Jesus does make a comparison of importance.

The next verse Jesus gives us a proverb: they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Literally this means they strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. In the law they were forbidden to eat any insect that didn’t have legs to hop so the Jews would strain them out of their soup. What this proverb means is that they spend so much effort straining out a gnat but they ignore the camel. They focus on minors and ignore majors. They make a mountain out of a molehill.

Paul made a distinction about how important certain doctrinal disagreements were- Romans 14:1–2 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.” Paul says that there are some doubtful disputations that we could have. There are questions we could argue over. But in this text, we are to receive our brothers and not fight over these things. Now the issue in the chapter was their practice. Do we celebrate sabbath, holy days and eat certain foods? But notice in vs 2, the real issue is belief. It isn’t just differences of action, but it is differences of belief. So there are some doctrinal issues that we must agree to disagree about because they are doubtful.

Our response to different separation issues is different- As we looked at the principles of separation, there was a distinction in how we treat people in different circumstances. In Matthew 18:17 “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” The implication to a Jew of a publican and a sinner is that they are someone you stay away from completely. But in 2 Thessalonians 3:15 “Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” In this passage we are to admonish, but not count him as an enemy. So clearly some distinction has to be made between these two categories. Then in Romans 14, the passage we just looked at we are to accept them without arguments. So a third distinction has to be made in those categories. The different ways of responding show us that there has to be some sort of distinction made between different categories of disagreement.

There are somethings that are hard to be understood in the bible- In 2 Peter 3:15–16 “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” Not everything in scripture is equally clear and people have for thousands of years disagreed on some of the things found in the bible. We must be careful that we do not twist scripture and develop doctrines from unclear passages of scripture. And when there is difficulty in understanding, we must show grace. So there are clear things and unclear things in the bible. Be careful of anyone who builds and entire doctrinal system or practice on one passage that isn’t clear such as Paul’s reference to the baptism for the dead.

There are some things God has not revealed to us in the bible- Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” There are also things we may never know exactly because God just hasn’t told us; so there is no point dividing with others over matters of opinion or theological systems that try to explain the unexplainable. We must focus on God’s revealed word.

So we see an overview that there are more important things in the bible, there are questionable things in the bible, there are different responses to different circumstances, there are harder things to understand in the bible and there are things we will never understand. All of that must be taken into account when we develop a proper theology of separation.

How does scripture categorize itself?

The bible also uses different terms to describe its doctrine and we must understand those distinctions when we develop our theology of separation.

Heretical Teaching

Sound Doctrine

Unsound Doctrine

Disputable Matters

Heretical doctrine (false teaching that divides the church) 1 Tim 1:3-20, 1 Tim 4, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 2 Peter 2:12- 2 Peter 2:1–3 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.” These doctrines are called damnable heresies- why is it that they are damnable? It is because belief in these things damns the soul to hell- the one example of a damnable heresy in these verses is denying the Lord. This is a rejection of the cross of Christ and his death for them. They reject all authority of Christ and his teaching in their lives the end result is judgment and damnation.

Sound Doctrine 1 Tim 1:3-20, 1 Tim 4:6-10, 1 Tim 6:2-5, 2 Tim 2:14-19, 2 Tim 4:1-5, Titus 1:9, Titus 2:1 “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:” The word sound includes the concepts of accurate, but also healthy. The book of Titus is all about the lifestyle and teaching that is consistent with the gospel. Immediately after this verse, Paul teaches how different people in different age brackets are to live and interact with one another in the church. These are doctrines that are consistently, clearly taught in scripture and they are the natural outflow of our salvation.

Unsound doctrine 1 Tim 1, 1 Tim 4:1-5, 2 Tim 4: 2-4, Titus 1:9- 1 Timothy 1:3–4 “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” 1 Timothy 1:10 “For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;” This category is different than the damnable heresies and yet it is still important to deal with false doctrine. Paul’s focus throughout the book of 1 Timothy is that this type of doctrine promotes a lifestyle contrary to the gospel. In vs 20, Paul has placed two men hymanaeus and Alexander under church discipline for such teaching. The implication is they are part of the church and they are believers teaching things that aren’t sound doctrine. It is contrary to sound doctrine.

Disputable matters Romans 14, 1 Cor 8-11:6- Paul adds a fourth category of doctrine in both Romans 14 and 1 Cor 8 which deal with disputable issues or issues of liberty. I already pointed out that these are not merely practice, they are beliefs. Paul’s concern in all of these areas is the benefit of the church. We are not to spend our time arguing uncharitably about these issues, we aren’t to tear down the church in the process and we should be willing to give up even questionable things of liberty for the benefit of our brothers in Christ if necessary. But this is clearly another category: disputable matters of liberty.

The Practice of theological triage

Insert slides and explain as you go along.

Conclusion

Navigating these issues can be difficult and churches have different things they put in different categories. I found the following suggestion of tests to ask and I want to pass them on to you because I realized they are the tests I already use in my own thinking.

Helpful Tests to determine:

The hermeneutical test: the clearer the Bible teaches a doctrine, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.

The gospel test: the more central a doctrine is to the gospel, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.

The praxis test: the more a doctrine affects the practice of a church, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.

So in our pursuit of holiness, we must navigate the balance of unity and separation. Not everything is a separation issue and some issues require a different response. Faithfulness to God’s word means we must also make such distinctions in the way we interact with other believers.