Certainty in Opinions

Much discussion has welled up again on a familiar topic that deserves some serious thought and discussion.  Namely, on opinion and fact relative to scripture.  The discussion goes something like this:  There are undeniable truths in the Bible that are unquestioned and then there are things that are just our opinion, things that are not "Thou Shalt Not" in nature and therefore terms like "Christian liberty" would apply.  What are these things?  How do we know?  What kind of scripture can we say are applicable to all and what scripture are we to use our own judgment?  Even these questions seem loaded and problematic so the trouble is where to begin.  For this post I'm going to begin with a couple of comments that a visitor posted and then my response.  The visitor asked permission to posit the question and the comment would be visible by all in the comment section so I don't believe i'm taking any undue liberty posting it here.  First the comment:

A few questions, if I may... 1. You DO agree that Paul is clearly telling us in Romans 14 that there IS such a category as non-essential questions of opinion on which we ought to live and let live, yes? 2. I'm curious as to how large your list of "essential" matters on which Christians ought NOT disagree and where we OUGHT to argue with one another, calling into question someone else's (ie, God's) servant? I'd gladly suggest that my list of essential, non-disputable matters is pretty small. I'd limit it to matters that I think are exceedingly clear (and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't even create a list, but if I did, it would look something like this...) God is love. Humanity sins/humans have a sinful nature. Humanity needs salvation. Salvation comes by God's grace, through faith in Jesus. God cares for the "least of these" and expects us to do so as well. Those who don't - or those who oppress the least of these - will be held in judgment. Something like that. And even within that, I'd have the grace to allow some disputation about what that means. For instance: Sure, all of humanity has a sinful nature, but does that mean that a one day old infant sins? No, that is not a valid conclusion. Yes, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus, but what does that look like? Well, I think it could look like a lot of things and I'm not sure that I could spell them all out, nor am I interested in trying. Like that. I'd have a short, flexible list because I think that, as fallible humans, we have a finite amount of genius and perfection and are quite capable of being mistaken. Oftentimes, historically, much of what we traditionally have called "GOD'S WILL," has been more a matter of opinion, rather than God stating something as fact. Thus, my list is short and gracious. How 'bout you?

Jeremy, if I may offer a few thoughts on this old post... Judge is defined as, “to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premises.” Surely this is not the normally intended usage that is found to be so objectionable. Yes, I know that many people whip out "thou shalt not judge" as if it were the end all/be all command and do so at the risk of taking it out of context (as if to say, "Don't judge any body or anything!"). The thing is, if you ask most of them, of course they'll admit that it's okay to make judgements: To judge an oppressive tyrant as unfit to continue holding his office, for instance, or to judge a child abuser unfit to take care of children. Practically no one truly thinks that there should be NO judgment happening, even those who'll over-extend the "judge not" passage. Could we agree there? I'd posit that what folk are doing is reacting AGAINST an abusive of religious domination, and in so doing, sometimes, they may take it too far. As we have seen discussed over on Stan's recent post, Romans 14 makes it clear that we are NOT to be overly judgmental at least on matters of opinion, on "disputable matters." Based on this passage and other passages, clearly there ARE some matters where we ought not be judgmental or perhaps overly judgmental. I would posit that in Jesus' time, as today, there are many in the religious world who make a habit of "judging God's servant," in the sense that they lack in showing grace and christian liberty to other Christians to seek God's will. In Baptist circles, we speak of the Priesthood of the Believer, the notion that each believer is accountable to God and we ought not be sniping one another about their decisions/beliefs, AT LEAST on non-essential questions.

And now my response:

The question posed in the first comment is really about the length of list of items that are essential to the Christian faith, as opposed to those that are non-essential.  In essence we are trying to come to agreement on the items within Biblical teaching that are beyond debate and are applicable to everyone with condemnation as the result of disobedience, and everything else that we all make up our own minds and leave each other to it.  There are two elements to this question, the logical and the theological.  In terms of pure logic I believe it to be an impossible question to answer, or just a faulty question.  For there to be a list of non-negotiables that all have no choice but to consent to, there would have to be language exactly like the following: "The following items are beyond debate, non-negotiable, applicable to all people and will bring condemnation if violated..."  If that is not present then even the list that is formed could be considered merely the opinion of the one making the list.  We are all aware that debate over just such a list has gone on since the inception of the church and necessarily spawned the denominational seperation that currently exists.  I realize this is not the heart of the question.  The heart of the question is the theological one - namely, what do we adhere to unswervingly to be obedient to God and what do we let pass.

My response to the theological question is another question: what is the goal of the disciple of Christ?  Is our goal anything other than being Christlike?  Are we not being transformed into the likeness of Christ through the process of sanctification daily?  Are we not commanded in scripture to be perfect and Christ is perfect, to be holy and Christ is Holy?  The question that follows naturally is: How do I know what it is to be Christlike?  And here is the rub in this whole line of questioning.  The only way we know is by comparing our lives to what is Christlike, and the only thing we have to compare our lives to is the Word of God.  We must acknowledge the Bible as the litmus, the measuring stick against which we compare all we think, do and say.  Put together, what we are left with is the necessity to read the Bible as a complete system - Genesis to Revelation - for how to direct our lives to be conformed to the likeness of Christ.  Therefore every perfectly written principle in the Bible must be non-negotiable.  Please notice the distinction i'm making here, the human being who is the disciple of Christ is not perfect, the written Biblical principle is perfect.  Here is where the grace for one another comes in.  Grace for one another is not being silent except on issues that make our list of non-negotiables.  Grace for one another is recognizing that those who are disciples of Christ are at different places on their journey of sanctification and so we challenge one another with the whole council of God to better change our thoughts, actions and speech to better conform to the perfect Biblical principles.  I hope that is perfectly clear.  Now the only question that remains is: Is the questioner a disciple of Christ?  This is the list that is really important.  Does the questioner believe that Jesus is Lord and God, that He died on the cross and whose shed blood is the only thing efficacious for the remission of sin, the expunging of the wrath of God and able to reconcile our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and that He rose from the dead to defeat death and the grave and give the hope of eternal life in the presence of God?  That's a good place to start.

Now the second comment, which is a derivative of the first.  In relation to the particulars of judgments again the issue is motivation.  For the disciple of Christ we are to share the Truth in love for the sake of the Gospel.  We don't make judgments on activities and bring them to someone else's attention to prove our point, to be argumentative, or for any other reason than we love them and desire a change in a behavior whose principle is clearly laid out by the whole council of God through the entire Biblical system.  Again, we are all ultimately accountable to God but we are also commanded to make disciples - to let other believers know where their behavior does not line up with the clear principles of scripture, in love, for change.  Grace is not a matter of leaving well enough alone unless a behavior is recognized by both parties as essential, or addressing an issue as being on my list and so I suggest you think about considering a change unless you disagree and then I won't bring it up anymore because we differ in opinion.  Grace is saying you are wrong and need to change your behavior because your actions deviate from clear Biblical principles and I love you too much to back down, but I also understand you may not like it and it may take time for the Holy Spirit to cultivate the desire to repent in this area and change so I won't beat you up or resort to hateful language or actions to force your hand.  I hope you can see that difference.  The principle is not a matter of opinion, it is forever settled, we are to exhort one another to change where our lives are inconsistent with those principles in love without wavering.

I'll close with an illustration.  My boys and I are reading through the Chronicles of Narnia series again and tonight we are closing out Book 1 - The Magician's Nephew.  Consider the following passage:

"When he had come close up to them (the golden gates to the garden) he saw words written on the gold with silver letters; something like this:  Come in by the gold gates or not at all, Take of my fruit for others or forbear, For those who steal or those who climb my wall Shall find their hearts desire and find despair.  'Take of my fruit for others," said Digory to himself.  'Well, that's what i'm going to do.  It means I musn't eat any myself, I suppose...'I know what errand you have come on,' continued the Witch,...you are going to carry it back, untasted, to the Lion; for him to eat, for him to use.  You simpleton!  Do you know what that fruit is?  I will tell you...Eat it, Boy, eat it; and you and I will both live forever and be king and queen of this whole world...'And I suppose because she took it in the wrong way it won't work for her'...'Alas,' said Aslan, shaking his head.  'It will.  Things always work according to their nature.  She won her heart's desire...But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it.  All get what they want; they do not always like it...'That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple.  It is not what will happen now.  What I give you now will bring joy.  It will not, in your world, give endless life, but it will heal.  Go.  Pluck her an apple from the Tree."

What was written on the gate was the Truth.  Stolen fruit may look sweet, but will bring despair.  In the Witch's opinion stealing or receiving was all the same.  She was wrong because her opinion did not line up with the writing on the door.  She got what she wanted, but despair as well.  By way of illustration we too must keep the perfect principle at the forefront, not our opinions about it, as well as the motiviation behind all we think, do and say.  We must only partake of the apple given us, not decide for ourselves what to eat and when to eat it and let God sort it out later.