Explaining My Position

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     We want you to read a letter we received recently. It is typical of many which cross our desk these days. It will serve as an explanation and apology for rehearsal of what many of you have heard so often in the past.

"I am a young preacher who has been greatly worried about the divisions among our brethren. Our position seems so inconsistent in a lot of respects. We draw the line against people who are so much better than some we fellowship. Several months ago I started receiving MISSION MESSENGER. I do not know who sent my name to you but the paper has given me renewed hope. I can see that you have written a great deal in the past which I have missed. Can you briefly explain your position on fellowship? One of the brethren told me that you feel there is a difference between fellowship and endorsement. Is this true?"

     Fellowship is a state or condition like partnership, companionship or sonship. We enter this state by response to the call of God. "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9). That call is issued through the gospel. "To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2:14). The gospel is the Good News concerning Jesus of Nazareth. It is the message that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). Paul, who was set apart for the gospel of God, identifies this as "the gospel concerning his Son" and declares he was "designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:1-4).

     The gospel does not consist of abstract propositions. It is not a code of laws, a compilation of letters by inspired or uninspired men, nor the history of an institution. It is news. It has to do with relation of certain facts pertaining to a person, intended to prove that person to be the Son of God. The prime condition in this proof is that "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses" (Acts 2:32). By their enemies these witnesses were accused of "proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (Acts 4:2). The purpose of witnesses is to testify to facts and facts have to do with things. Accordingly, when Jesus expounded the old covenant scriptures to those who were to testify, he "said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day," and he added, "And you are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:48).

     The proper response to the testimony of credible witnesses is belief of their testimony. Since the witnesses in this instance are concerned only with creating

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belief that Jesus is the Messiah and God's Son they have limited their testimony to facts which support that conviction. All testimony must be confirmed to be credible. Supernatural testimony must be confirmed by supernatural demonstrations. The witnesses of the Sonship have been selective, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, in recounting a sufficient number of mighty works to induce faith in Jesus. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30, 31).

     It is obvious that belief of the testimony that Jesus is the Messiah will entail a reformation of life and surrender to his will in loving obedience. He must be coronated Lord as well as Christ in every believing heart as well as in heaven. To this the first public proclamation of the witnesses gives strength. "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified" (Acts 2:36). While it is true that news is either believed or disbelieved, it is also true that there is an element of obedience growing out of the very nature of the news concerning Jesus. Mere intellectual assent is not enough. The acceptance of such testimony demands a transformation of life and character. One of the witnesses thus testifies, "To him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ...according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about obedience to the faith" (Romans 16:25, 26). He further asserts that the witnesses "received grace and apostleship to bring about obedience to the faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:5, 6).

     It is evident that those who are the called belong to Jesus Christ and those who belong to him are those who have become obedient to the faith. These have been called by the gospel and that gospel is summed up in one great fundamental fact, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. One who believes that fact believes the gospel. One who acts in obedience to that faith obeys the gospel. This one fact is the foundation upon which the community of Christ is planted (Matt. 16:18). One who believes that fact is built into that community upon implementation of his faith.

     Just as there is but one fact that must be believed in order to respond to the call of God, so there is just one act essential to demonstration of that faith in order to establish covenant relationship. Jesus said to the witnesses, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:15, 16). Preaching the gospel is issuing the call. Believing the news that Jesus is God's Son and being baptized on the basis of that belief is responding to the call. One accepts testimony by belief but he can only acknowledge Lordship by obedience.

     It is an arrangement of divine beneficence that we "belong to Jesus Christ" upon belief of one simple fact and obedience to one simple act. "God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). This includes the unlearned as well as the learned, the foolish as well as the wise. It embraces the ignorant, illiterate and unschooled. If we came into the fellowship with God through complex explanations of doctrine or by interpretation of difficult portions of divine revelation, then only a few wise men would be among the called. Yet the apostle writes, "For consider your call, brethren, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth" (1 Cor. 1:26). We become sons of God by faith that Jesus is His Son. We enter into Christ, that is, into the state of fellowship with him, through baptism "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3: 26-27).

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     Every sincere immersed believer in Jesus Christ is in the fellowship. He enters that fellowship by belief of one concrete proposition and obedience of one concrete act. He may know little of the new covenant scriptures and may be wrong about much of what he does know, but this does not debar him from the fellowship for access to it is not based upon knowledge of a book but upon faith in a person. Certainly an acknowledgment of the lordship of that person will entail a constant effort to know his will and a sincere attempt to obey it as learned, but learning and knowledge are the result of study and study is a slow, methodical process. To be in the fellowship is to be in the family of God and one enters that family by birth. Fellowship as respects God is based upon sonship; as respects other members of the family it is brotherhood.

     The suffixes "ship" and "hood" indicate a state into which persons enter. Fellowship is a mutual relation between "fellows" or comrades, just as companionship is a mutual state enjoyed by companions and partnership is a relation between partners. We are called into this state by the gospel. We enter it by being born again. Just as the physical birth makes all who are born to the same father and mother brethren to each other, so does the spiritual birth. Every person on this earth who has been born again is God's child and my brother. A person may be ignorant about many things but this does not affect brotherhood or fellowship, which are one and the same. Brotherhood is based upon common fatherhood and fraternity is based on common paternity.

     In 1 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul shows the futility of basing fellowship on knowledge because of three factors. While it is true that "all of us possess knowledge" it is equally true that "If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know" (verses 1, 2). All knowledge is relative but when we accept knowledge as the ground of fellowship we always use our own knowledge as the criterion. This means that we always have an imperfect standard to which we demand perfect adherence of others. This actually amounts to "playing God" with our fellows.

     In verse 7 the apostle shows that there are varied degrees of knowledge in the church, even with reference to behavior connected with "eating meat offered to idols." "However, not all possess this knowledge." In verse 10 he designates one member as a "man of knowledge" but in verse 11 he refers to another as a "weak man." It is such a weak man who would not even be regarded as a brother today, or if so regarded, would be called "a hobbyist." Yet Paul refers to him as "the brother for whom Christ died" and implies that to sin against him is to sin against Christ (verse 12). Instead of ousting one from the fellowship whose knowledge was inferior every attempt was to be made to avoid "causing my brother to fall" (verse 13).

     The third reason why knowledge can never become the basis of community existence is because it is always conditioned on past teaching and even if such teaching were correct, the inferences we draw from it might not be so. "There are some who have been so accustomed to idolatry that even now they eat this food with a sense of its heathen consecration, and their conscience being weak, is polluted by the eating" (verse 7). All of us are creatures of environment. Our teachers have been human and we are human. They have passed on their imperfections in knowledge and we have imperfectly understood much of what we have read

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and studied for ourselves. This need not discourage us because freedom from error is not a condition of reaching heaven. If it were, heaven would have no population. Entrance to the eternal abode is conditioned upon our attitude toward error, upon our willingness to correct our concepts when we become aware of truth. Regardless of our attitude all of us will die with mistaken ideas about many things. Certainly this chapter (1 Corinthians 8) effectively eliminates equality in knowledge as the foundation for fellowship.

     We should be reluctant to predicate fellowship with our brothers on a condition which would make it impossible for us to be in the fellowship with God and Christ (1 John 1:3). It is an established truth that "with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get" (Matt. 7:2). If we demand that our brothers be our equals in knowledge and in grasp of truth to be in our fellowship, then God will demand that we have perfect and infinite knowledge to be in his fellowship. We thus damn ourselves by the law we devise to exclude others. It is clearly taught that when we judge others while we are inconsistent we "presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience" (Rom. 2:4). Instead of excluding our brethren who do not see things as we do we should, "Be humble always and gentle, and patient too. Be forbearing with one another and charitable" (Ephesians 4:2).

     We have no right to make anything a test of entrance into the fellowship which God has not made a condition of entrance into salvation. It is not our business or our right to catechize one concerning his view on the millennium, the manner of the Lord's coming, the security of the believers, or anything else which he may hold as an opinion. There is room in Christ for differences of opinion. The apostle forever precludes debates over such matters with the words, "As for the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over opinions" (Romans 14:1). Our brethren do not stand or fall before us but before the Master. They do not belong to us and we have no right to pass judgment upon them (verse 10). We are to "pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding" (verse 19). Experience will teach us that arguments about opinions do not produce faith and tend to tear down. "Your personal convictions are a matter of faith between yourself and God, and you are happy if you have no qualms of conscience about what you allow yourself to eat" (verse 22).

     Just here we are reminded that some are disturbed by the passage which says, "No prophecy of scripture is a matter of private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20). This has nothing to do with expounding the meaning of the scriptures, for Peter himself explained the prophecies to the Jews who had studied them for years (Acts 2:16, 25, 34). At Thessalonica Paul spent three weeks during which "he argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead" (Acts 17: 2, 3). The expression in 2 Peter 1:20 has to do with the origin of the prophecies contained in the sacred scriptures and not with an explanation of them. This is shown by the immediate context. "No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

     The prophets did not see events which occurred and then interpret them. The prophecies do not represent their personal judgment about matters. Prophecy did not come as a result of private observation. Instead, men under the direction of the Holy Spirit predicted in advance the things that would transpire. Of course prophecy has to be interpreted as our Lord himself demonstrated in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21), and as Philip showed on the road through the Gaza Strip (Act5 8:35). It is generally true that those who insist the scriptures require no interpretation are the most arbitrary in binding their interpretation upon others. They confuse their interpretation with the word of God.

     Another false impression is left by some who teach that the word of God is so plain that it requires little effort and no research to understand. The truth is that there are many difficult and challenging things in the scope of the sacred volume. One of the most common faults of our day is that of over-simplification. We need to be somewhat wary of those who know all of the answers. One of the inspired writers said of Paul, "There are, of course, some things in his letters which are difficult to understand" (2 Peter 3:16). Our own limited study bears out this observation. Fortunately those things which are central to salvation are simplest, while those things which are peripheral are increasingly obscure. It is not necessary that one be able to correctly interpret every passage of divine writ to come into Christ. It is necessary that he accept the testimony of the qualified witnesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

     Those who acknowledge the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:5) must recognize the sacred right of each individual to approach the scriptures for himself. To take that right from others is to lay the foundation by which it may be taken from ourselves. In the exercise of that right one must judge for himself what the implications of scripture must be. To do this demands the use of reason. All men acknowledge the place of reason in form-

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ing spiritual convictions because they all produce evidence by which they hope to influence reason. Yet many deny the right of an individual to arrive at a conclusion different than the one they have reached. In a final analysis this amounts to saying that those who thus act feel they are infallible interpreters.

     To forbid a man to change his view or opinion under threat of excommunication may make a hypocrite out of him but it can never make an honest believer. A congregation composed of such persons is not a tribute to God and truth but is a monument of deceit and spiritual dissatisfaction. No one can authoritatively interpret the word of God for another person. If he could interpret it for one he could for ten, if for ten then a hundred, and if for that many he could do it for all. It is of such fiber the fabric of papacy is woven. For this reason God did not condition the fellowship of the saints upon conformity but upon community, the sharing together of the divine life in spite of individual differences.

     Even those who deny the unity in diversity are forced to practice it. There is not a faction on earth whose members all concur in the meaning of every scriptural passage. Many of them are at odds over a multitude of scriptures. Their class periods are frequently given over to warm discussion of varied views. They respect these differences in every area except the one which the faction arbitrarily regards as the test of fellowship. On this one matter every person must agree or be thrust out. On every other they may differ seriously. Often the area of their disagreement is more vital to the spiritual welfare than that upon which uniformity is required. No two preachers agree upon explanation of every scripture, not even those who proclaim loudest that the members must see everything alike or be damned.

     It is true that fellowship in Christ is not to be equated with endorsement. We are in the fellowship with many who do things we cannot endorse; we endorse many things done by those with whom we are not in the fellowship. Fellowship is from koinonia and relates to the state into which we are called by God. It is brotherhood and is entered by proper response to the good news, that is, by being born again. Endorse is from the Latin en, on, and dorsa, back. It means literally "to sign on the back," and thus to sanction. Of course those in the fellowship hold views that are divergent about many things, but this does not affect their fellowship.

     Paul and Peter were not out of the fellowship when Paul withstood his fellow-apostle to the face (Gal. 2:11), although Paul certainly did not condone his actions or endorse his "not walking uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:14).

     Paul was not out of the fellowship as related to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:9) although they were guilty of many things he could not endorse. He did not once hint that any of them should come out and start "a faithful church" nor did he threaten to do so if he came. Instead, he said, "The rest will I set in order when I come" (1 Cor 11:34). We need to face up to the fact that the congregation at Corinth was in much worse state than most of those which have divided in these days. Paul demonstrates the attitude we should manifest toward congregations which engage in some practices we cannot endorse. We should not re-

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gard them as wholly right or completely in error. In 1 Corinthians 11:2, he writes, "I must give you credit for remembering what I taught you and adhering to the traditions which I passed on to you," but in verse 11 he says, "But in giving you the following rules, I cannot commend your conduct."

     If we had been members at Corinth we would probably have split the congregation over the matters which we could not commend. It is astounding that we have developed a theory about fellowship (which means joint participation) that always results in unjointed separation. Our problem is that we have completely missed the basis of our fellowship. We are not partakers of mutual opinions but sharers together in the promise made in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:6). Diversity of opinion does not cause division. It is dogmatism which produces schism. There is room in Christ for men to work together who have divergent views, but there is not room enough on earth for men to work together who have a factional spirit. We must either develop a healthy love for our brethren or continue to shatter the fabric of brotherhood by an unwholesome love of opinion.

     So that there will be no mistake about my personal position I shall be as plain and explicit as possible. I regard as my brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ all sincere immersed believers in Him on this whole earth. Since fellowship is brotherhood these are in the fellowship of which I am a partaker. The brotherhood which I recognize is limited only by the new birth. I am in the fellowship with all who are in Christ Jesus. I do not agree fully with a single one of these. I do not give a blanket endorsement to the ideas, interpretations, or spiritual ideologies, of any of them. I endorse a universal brotherhood of all of God's children but I do not endorse fully any brother who is in it, nor do I demand that any fully endorse my views and opinions. I am bound to all of them by love and not by conformity.

     I do not regard the restoration movement as the church of God. I have no doubt that God has children on this earth, and I have brethren in Christ, who have never heard of this American phenomenon. But I do regard as in the fellowship those who are heirs of this movement regardless of their current views about instrumental music, orphan homes, colleges, classes, individual cups, fermented wine in the Lord's Supper, and all the host of other things which became controversial and were elevated to divisive status. Brotherhood is not based upon an attitude toward any of these. It results from the fatherhood of God. I shall love and respect all of His children as my brothers. I will go among them, speak to any of them, and show love and forbearance to all of them. When they come where I am, I will recognize them, call upon them and allow them the full right of sharing in the fellowship of which I am a part. I shall simply ignore the walls and barriers erected by factional men. I shall see my brothers on both sides of these walls.

     I must retain my integrity before God and thus refuse to sanction or condone what I personally conceive to be contrary to His design or purpose for my life. But I shall neither seek to lord it over my brethren nor to constitute myself as their judge. I shall allow them to answer to the Master to whom they are amenable as well as myself. I am sick and tired of the warring and jangling of party strife. I shall have no part in it. Instead, it shall be my aim to labor that the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

     These are my views on fellowship and endorsement and for them I must answer unto God in the last great day. "It is a prime requisite in a trustee that he should prove worthy of his trust. But, as a matter of fact, it matters very little to me what you or any man, thinks of me--I don't even value my opinion of myself. For I might be quite ignorant of any fault in myself--but that doesn't justify me before God. My only true judge is the Lord" (1 Cor. 4:2-4). It is in his glorious fellowship I have learned the true meaning of fellowship.