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What should we believe?: Difference between revisions
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Any subject on which equally devout, equally humble, equally Bible-believing and Bible-studying Christians or churches reach different conclusions, must be considered secondary not primary. We must not insist on these as fundamentals but instead respect each other’s integrity and acknowledge the legitimacy of each other’s interpretations. The best guidance came from Rupert Meldenius at the beginning of the seventeenth century: ‘In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.’<Ref>John Stott, “But I Say to You …”: Christ the Controversialist (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), 39.</ref> | Any subject on which equally devout, equally humble, equally Bible-believing and Bible-studying Christians or churches reach different conclusions, must be considered secondary not primary. We must not insist on these as fundamentals but instead respect each other’s integrity and acknowledge the legitimacy of each other’s interpretations. The best guidance came from Rupert Meldenius at the beginning of the seventeenth century: ‘In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.’<Ref>John Stott, “But I Say to You …”: Christ the Controversialist (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), 39.</ref> | ||
Charles Simeon was an evangelical minister at the beginning of the nineteenth century who was a firm champion of truth despite opposition which was fanatical at times. He lived in days when the Calvinist—Arminian controversy raged fiercely, but he consistently refused to take sides. He stated his position by saying that '''‘the truth is not in the middle, and not in one extreme, but in both extremes … Sometimes I am a high Calvinist, at other times a low Arminian, so that if extremes will please you, I am your man; only remember, it is not one extreme that we are to go to, but both extremes.’''' | |||
Charles Simeon warns us against choosing either one or other extreme. Instead, his advice is to hold on to both extremes, as long as they are equally biblical — even if our human minds cannot reconcile or systematize them. For biblical truth is often stated paradoxically. The attempt to resolve everything which looks like a contradiction in the Bible’s teaching is misguided because it is impossible. | |||
And so, when apparent opposites are encountered in the Bible, ''‘it is possible that the truly scriptural statement will be found, not in an exclusive adoption of either, nor yet in a confused mixture of both, but in the proper and seasonable application of them both.’''<ref>John Stott, “But I Say to You …”: Christ the Controversialist (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2013), 39–40.</ref> | |||
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