When I speak to the issue of liberty, people tell me it sounds like a loss of unity in the midst of diverse convictions. It is not.
Paul tells the church to be "of one mind," to be "likeminded." How it is translated all depends on the version. But the notion could be the equivalent of our contemporary, "get on the same page."
Indeed, "getting on the same page" can be used as a bludgeon against liberty. "Getting on the same page" can be used to hamstring fellowship and coerce total agreement.
The person who is ruled by the notion that "getting on the same page" means full agreement on everything is hard to work with. They are a temptation to others to be diverted to side issues, to spending large amounts of time reviewing and re-considering exact agreement in all things. All this is done in the name of "being like-minded."
It is also exactly the oppositive of what Paul is talking about.
So, let's take this set of verses:
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6 ESV)
Surely, this means we must come to agreement? Not at all, these verses are near the conclusion of an argument which begins in Romans 14:1.
From Romans 14:1 through an entire chapter, Paul argues that "getting on the same page" means NOT agreeing in all the details. He refuses to take sides in advocating one or another position as binding. How simple that would have made this debate: One eats meat, one eats only vegetables; Paul weighs in -- its the vegetable eaters who have it right; End of discussion. Christians would have been vegetarians since. And the Gospel would have been impaired in its power, and the church distracted with being identified by a side issue.
NO, Paul insists that what matters is not agreement on every issue. He insists we remember to respect each other's conscience, serve each other in love, and consider that God's interest is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul, in the verse after to the ones cited above, asks them to receive each other, despite differences, as Christ has received them.
Being of one mind is not agreement in all things. It is agreement on the main thing -- the Gospel and its intended purpose and fruit in our lives. Getting on the same page means keeping the focus on main things and not petty things.
So, we may be in agreement that men are responsible as heads of their family -- and disagree on what that looks like in the details. One man makes sure his wife finishes her PhD, another finds she floruishes in the home, and still another makes a way for her to use her nursing training part-time, even in the child rearing years. Being on the same page is rejoicing in a Gospel that makes selfish men into faithful husbands who love their wives as Christ loves the church.
So, we may be on the same page that parents are responsible for the influences that are brought to bear on their childern -- and disagree in the context for that, whether public, private, or home-school. But we rejoice in the Gospel and its power to shape parents into men and women who raise their children in the nurture and admonition of Christ.
So, we may be on the same page that we are not to love the world, and not be conformed to this world -- and disagree in what music we listen to, but rejoice in the Gospel which shapes us into new creatures in Christ.
And, we may be on the same page that the second commandment applies today -- but disagree on whether we can have nativity scenes. And rejoice in the Savior who for us and for our sins was made man, in the womb of the virgin Mary.
Getting on the same page in the right way is what God desires. Getting on the same page in every detail is a club used to bludgeon people into submission and creates a diversion from the main thing. We all know the temptation to want agreement, often to support our own uncertainty. But there are some who live with the belief that being of the same mind means agreement in all things. I have actually come to see those advocates as worthy of opposition!
We need to help each other. We all see our application with great clarity. What we do not see is that it is a personal application. It sure looks like a universal rule! That is why we need each other to see that it is not so.
The list is endless. The temptation to uniformity is powerful. The temptation to superiority of position (more consistent than thou, more Gospel-centered than thou) is very strong. But Christ will be obscured and the Gospel sidelined if we become people who are known for our applications more than our principles. Christ is most glorified when God's people in Christ are on the same page that the Gospel matters most of all, and where he is at work, and there is Gospel fruit in someone's life, we are to receive them without judgment, even though we differ in the details.
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