Mutual Submission is the Key
Unity in the church arises, not from submission to a power structure, but from mutual submission to each other, seeking each other’s good above our own, in submission to Christ.
God Speaks to Us
Christ is the Head of the Church
Unity in the Church is our mutual recognition that the Church has only one Head, Jesus Christ.
Authority, Submission and Oneness
Authority and submission are important to the unity of the Church. But it does not operate based on a human chain of command. It operates based on respect for leaders under a common head.
What About Church Discipline?
The purpose of church discipline is restoration, a process that is to be initiated by a person injured or offended by a wrong behavior. The disciplinary process has no valid application to erroneous beliefs, as such. The New Testament never suggests that worldly penalties should be attached to the process.
The Traditional View of the First Timothy, Titus and Second Peter Passages
The traditional view of the heresy passages in 1 Timothy 6, Titus 3 and 2 Peter 2 actually fosters division by requiring us to shun anyone who disagrees with our denomination’s formal doctrinal statements.
The Nature of Angels–Messengers and Ministering Spirits
The place and function of angels is not often mentioned in Scripture, because they exist as messengers and ministering spirits, serving us on God’s behalf, not themselves, bringing God’s message not their own. They are never the dominant subject of any scripture.
A Disagreement Over Doctrine does Not Necessarily Lead to Heresy—Acts 15
Doctrinal disputes, even over such heavy subjects as our relationship to the Law of Moses, can be settled peacefully within the Church, as shown by the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.
The Bad Example of Korah
Korah’s rebellion was to insist on half the truth–that all in the congregation of Israel were holy, set apart to God, because the Lord was among them–but to reject the other half–that only the Lord had the right to assign each their functions. They denied this half of the truth to rebelliously assert their own authority, as false teachers today also do.
The Bad Example of Balaam
Balaam spoke with God and was given a true revelation of the way God viewed the children of Israel, but misinterpreted it. reversing its true meaning, due to his own greed. God said he saw no iniquity in Jacob because he had chosen them; Baalam thought he meant that he had chosen Jacob because he saw no iniquity in them. The result was fatal for Baalam and the Midianites.
From Early Christianity to Islam and Back–2. Negative Developments in Christianity Before Muhammad
Between the end of the First Century CE and the end of the Sixth Century, Christianity grew but also deteriorated in a number of ways. The deterioration arose mainly from the infiltration of Greek philosophy, a change in emphasis to mass evangelism and the politicization of Christianity, followed by the questionable conversion of Constantine. These changes set up many of the specific parts of Christianity that Islam either adopted, or reacted strongly against. They also set up mucj of later European history.
A God who Speaks, Church purpose versus church growth, Compulsory Christianity, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Voice, Heresy, Historical Background, Injustice and Lawsuits, Islam and Christianity, Jesus the Son, Other Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Our Oneness in Christ book revision, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Religious violence and persecution, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Social control and statecraft, Son of Man, The Bible, Through the church, Trinity, Unity, Wars as consequences, What Islam borrowed from Christianity