The Priority Value

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 188]

     "In Christ Jesus there is no validity in either circumcisicn or uncircumcision, it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love" (Galatians 5:6).

     The big issue of Paul's day was circumcision. It was the subject of more debates and the cause of more bitterness than anything else. It divided the saints in every locality into "pros" and "antis." Even the big name preachers were involved. Paul and Barnabas engaged in such a heated dispute with some brethren from Jerusalem, that it was decided to call a central conference in an attempt to resolve the matter. Paul said the gathering was infiltrated by "some pseudo-Christians who wormed their way into our meeting to spy on the liberty we enjoy in Christ Jesus, and then attempted to tie us up with rules and regulations."

     Peter vacillated in the matter and split one congregation "out of sheer fear of what the Jews might think." Brethren were careful to act differently when certain ones were present lest they be branded and tagged as "soft" or compromising. When Peter was trying to straddle the fence with both feet on one side, Paul wrote, "The other Jewish Christians carried out a similar piece of deception, and the force of their bad example was so great that even Barnabas was affected by it."

     Circumcision is no longer an issue. It seems a little ridiculous to us now that it ever caused such a furore. It was displaced by other problems which were fought back and forth and which have now been relegated to the pages of history where the follies and foibles of suc-

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ceeding generaticns are recorded. Now we are confronted by new issues which have supplanted the old, and which seem as grave and important to us as did the others in days of yore. There are some things we seem never to learn.

     We are always getting caught on the "either-or" hook. "Either circumcision or uncircumcision." We say that a thing has to be either right or wrong. What we overlook is the fact that regardless of which it is, it still may be relatively unimportant, and have no effect whatsoever on our relationship to God, and should have none upon our relationship to each other. Future generations will see this and wonder at our childishness even while they fight over matters as trivial.

     All truth is equally true but not all truth is equally important. So all error is equally error, but not all error is equally important. All truth is to be desired for our wellbeing, but not all of it is essential to being. That which is required for life is more essential than that which is incidental to it, or enjoyable within it. It is not true that everything in the Bible is equally valuable to know. It is not nearly so important to know that Methuselah died at the age of 969 years as to know that Jesus died for our sins. Paul wrote that he left his overcoat with Carpus but that is not so valuable to know as that "the Lord's servant must not be a man of strife; he must be kind to all, ready and able to teach."

     There are some things which have no real validity in Christ Jesus. The essential thing is to be in Christ. A man might be circumcised, or he might not be, but whether he was or not did not affect his state in the Lord. To be in Christ is to lift us above a lot of things and place us on a wholly different plane. It is like mountain-climbers whose porters are arguing about how to build a fire at an elevation of 8,000 feet, while the main body passes upward to establish a camp at 10,000 feet, so that the contention is no longer relevant.

     It is certain that most of the things about which we have wrangled and travailed have no eternal significance. They are all transcended by our tremendous adoption into grace through the new birth. The thing which is valid is "faith which expresses itself in love." Because of the King James translation--faith which works by love--our brethren have seized upon it to answer and offset a theological concept of salvation by faith only. This is probably a grave abuse of the statement made by Paul, but it is employed because the words "faith" and "works" appear in proximity.

     The apostle was not seeking to establish a theological base, nor arguing against one which was established. He was simply showing that the big issue of the day was without any real validity in Christ Jesus, and the one thing which really counted was "faith which expresses itself in love." If that is still true, why have we allowed issues of our day to gain such importance in our thinking? If Paul were writing directly to our situation, would he say the following?

     In Christ Jesus there is no validity in either Sunday School classes, or the absence of such classes; it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love.

     In Christ Jesus there is no validity in supporting Herald of Truth, or in not supporting it, it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love.

     In Christ Jesus there is no validity in using instrumental accompaniment, or in not using it, it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love.

     Our problem lies in our mixed-up sense of values. With many of us "faith which expresses itself in love" counts for nothing unless brethren have the external marks which make for acceptability. Our priorities are out of adjustment. We spend a much greater amount of time studying how we may defend our views about the issues, than in the cultivation of that deep faith which rises to the surface and showers love upon all about us. After Paul's statement with which we have been dealing, he said, "You were making splendid progress, who put you off the course you had set for the truth?" That question comes with equal force to us today.