Analysis of Apostasy
W. Carl Ketcherside
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It has long been a slogan of those affiliated with the "Churches of Christ" that "We speak where the Bible speaks, and remain silent where the Bible is silent." Actually this statement is more of a cliche' than a governing principle. It is apparently not taken too seriously by those who parrot it. There may be some question as to whether it is possible to literally implement the import of the statement, but in any event each faction makes it sufficiently elastic to include what it wants to include and to exclude what it wants to deny. We are treated to the ridiculous sight of two dozen parties "speaking where the Bible speaks," and all saying something different; and "remaining silent where the Bible is silent," while openly denouncing the silences of each other.
Apparently a goodly numher of the professional preachers and teachers in the various segments give more concern to speaking where the Bible speaks than they devote to speaking as the Bible speaks. If we intend to be true disciples, in the real sense of that word, we must not merely quote texts and repeat words used by the Spirit, but we must mean the same thing the Spirit meant when he used the terms. To do otherwise would be to wrest or twist the words of revelation. Words are signs or symbols of ideas and we must convey the proper ideas of the words we use or else we will confuse the hearts of men. It is obvious that we have developed a great many ideas foreign to the sacred scriptures which we try to sanctify by clothing them in scriptural verbiage. We assume that what we now have is the primitive church restored and we conclude that by applying Biblical designations we prove that these things are of divine origin. It is demonstrable that almost every scriptural term has been abused by attaching it to something, or by attaching something to it, which is foreign to the sacred writings. A few examples are bishop, presbytery, church, worship and sanctuary. One of the most critical abuses is that of the word "ministry." Whereas the Spirit applies this to every form of service compatible with the Christian ideal, our brethren now speak of "the ministry" in a specialized and exclusive sense. In the new covenant sense one enters the ministry when he comes into Christ by an act of God; in the decadent modernistic sense he "enters the ministry" by completing a curriculum outlined by men. Until we recapture the vital significance of the priesthood of all believers, and the ministry of all the saints, we will be only nibbling at the edge of restoration.
It is in the field of human relationships and attitudes toward each other, however, that we often exhibit our dearth of those qualities essential to the survival of any movement based upon common faith. Even the most casual observer can see that when the strength of a cause is dependent upon the separation of its adherents from an alien world, to apply those epithets to one which belong only to the other, will weaken those who should be strengthened, and strengthen those who should be weakened. The hope of the survival of the Christian faith lies in our ability to manifest such love toward others as will transcend all else.
When Satan can take advantage of those differences which will naturally arise and tempt us into treating each other as aliens, he has injected a venom into the blood-stream of the body which will eventually paralyze it. In spite of this, many of our brethren think they prove their loyalty to Jesus when they brand other members with designations belonging only to the unregenerate. Passages demanding that Christians be not unequally yoked with pagans are quoted to keep Christians from being yoked to each other. Those written to encourage the saints to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness are employed to keep the saints from having fellowship with others in the light. Those written to forbid a greeting to men who denied that Jesus had come in the flesh are quoted to keep apart those who firmly believe this salient truth.
I have before me, as I write, a periodical published by those brethren who oppose the method of producing and financing "Herald of Truth." This international propaganda medium is presented under direction of one congregation in Texas. The elders of this congregation solicit and receive funds for the program and it is supervised by them. This is designated "centralized control" by a large segment of the brethren in the non-instrument wing of the disciple brotherhood. They regard it as being in the same category as a missionary society and have coined the word "institutionalism" to describe the philosophy of those who support Herald of Truth and certain types of orphan homes. In the journal to which I allude is an editorial attacking those who espouse the philosophy, and three times they are referred to as "liberals and apostates."
It is not our intention here to enter the ranks of the contenders on either side, nor to attempt to determine for any of our readers the right or wrong of the thing under discussion. We do not suppose that anyone would be so foolish as to try to show that the primitive saints had anything comparable to "Herald of Truth." No one would expect to find it in what our brethren call "the pattern." Those who support it do so on the basis of deductions and inferences, that is judgmental interpretation of the scriptures. Those who oppose it do so on the same basis. All of them want to respect the authority of our Lord, but both groups confuse their interpretations with the scriptures, and argue for the authority of their opinions as scripture.
Like every other serious person who loves the Lord, I hold some views relative to the validity of the things under discussion. I suspect that both factions miss the real dangers to Christianity involved in their contentions. However, my present purpose is to point out that neither those who support or those who oppose "Herald of Truth" are apostates. The spirit which prompts brethren to so categorize and castigate each other is infinitely more harmful to the cause of our Lord than the methods they employ for implementing their work. The divinely ordained means
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The other occurrence is in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, where Paul assures the saints in Thessalonica that the return of the Lord was not imminent because it had to be preceded by a "falling away" of such magnitude as to result in the enthronement of "the man of sin, the son of perdition." The defection would be the culmination or result of the mystery of iniquity, and would be characterized by one "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
The one editorial to which I referred uses the word "apostates" more times than the Holy Spirit employed it in the whole of the new covenant scriptures. It is a striking fact that, in spite of all the problems at Corinth, not once in two letters addressed to the saints in that city did the apostle refer to any of his brethren in Christ as apostates. The truth is that the Holy Spirit never once labeled any brother in the Lord by the term so frequently bandied about today by aspirants to factional leadership and control. Our brethren who are thus stigmatized are not apostates. They have not deserted Jesus. They have not fallen away from the faith. They have not defected from the Christian walk.
One who loves the Lord Jesus Christ is not an apostate simply because he cannot conscientiously concur with the orthodox position of a party. No one becomes an apostate because of his view on cups, classes, colleges or collectives for the care of homeless children. It is a reflection against the Father to stigmatize his children who love him by accusing them of apostasy because of personal peculiarities of sentiment. It is also an indication of the deep infiltration of factional bitterness into the hearts of those who engage in such accusations. Honest disagreement about the relative value of methods and manners under controversy does not make apostates of those who are either pro or con on such things. Men can be mistaken without being malicious. They can fail to understand without falling away from Jesus.
The extreme harshness toward sincere brethren holding dissident views is working its own rebuke. It is helping to arouse brethren everywhere to the true nature of the factional spirit. There is a revolution taking place. It is making an impact upon some in even the most reactionary parties. For the first time in a century which has been marked by splits and schisms there is a notable change occurring. Brethren are becoming weary of misrepresentation by partisan leaders. They are tired of the sin of over-simplification which makes the adherents of one faction "the good guys," and everyone else "the bad guys." They are sick of silly charges and countercharges in orthodox partisan journals which specialize in challenges to debate but which contain nothing challenging to live for. There is a deadening same-
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The current revolt is strongest in the college and university group, but it is spreading to all classes and conditions of saints. Brilliant young men and women who have been trained to think are exercising their right to do so in every department of existence. In the spiritual realm they have associated with some who have been branded as "dangerous" and have even been labeled "heretics" and they have found them to be the real salt of the earth. Indeed a "heretic" in some circles is one who has not lost "his savor." Many are no longer content with a passive role where you never dare to question the interpretations of the preacher, and must swallow the party regulations related to fellowship without protest.
This gathering of the forces of reform, and the crystallization of antifactional thinking, has frightened the defenders of orthodoxy. Veiled threats are being issued. The three familiar factional weapons--innuendo, ostracism and boycott--are being unsheathed. But they are not working as effectively as they once did. A new day has come! A new generation has arisen! Those who are leading in the current reformation have been publicly assailed as posing the greatest threat to the church in a century. But the force of this is blunted when it is recognized that those who make the charge have confused the party in which they live and from which they draw their financial livelihood with the church for which Jesus died. Men will resist anything which threatens their financial standing and social prestige.
It is being said that the revolution is making capital of emotional, unsettled and unstable youth, but the truth is that the college men and women who are involved are the most serious, studious and sanctified ones on the campus. They can no longer make one's test of relationship and loyalty to the Lord Jesus hinge upon an attitude toward cups, classes, orphan homes, the pre-millennial viewpoint or instrumental music. They place the relationship in Christ Jesus ahead of the things about which the children argue. They think brethren can fall out with each other without falling away from Christ. They know the difference between an intellectual approach to a problem and apostasy from the one Lord.
I am not afraid of the spirit of challenge and adventure. The fresh breezes now blowing across the restoration movement are invigorating and healthful. We cannot lose by re-thinking our course in the light of the sacred oracles. Let the searchlight of examination be turned on in full glare against any position we have held in the past. Let the word of God be critically studied anew and every passage be analyzed afresh. We want to know the truth regardless of cost or suffering. No price is too great to pay for this "gem of purest ray serene." Only the party is endangered by such a course. The church of God will he unscathed and will reflect more brilliantly the glory belonging only to God. Let the truth be known!
(Editor's Note: This is the fourth consecutive issue in which we have dealt with scriptures wrested out of context to promote and defend division among the saints. This series will continue throughout this year and will then be gathered into a clothbound volume, fully indexed and issued under the title, "The Twisted Scriptures." Only 2000 copies will be printed. Advance orders are being taken now for delivery about March 1, 1966, at $2.49 per copy payable on delivery.)