Whose Side Are We On?

Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.  

- Romans 15:7

When the apostle Paul wrote these words to the Christians in Rome, Jew and Gentile believers were spiritually united as one, but they were all over the map theologically. 

Baptism did level the playing field.  They were of one heart, sinners saved by grace, equal heirs of the kingdom, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Baptism did not wash away their human weaknesses or erase their religious, cultural and familial memories.  They brought those with them into communion with each other and disagreed on how to be a “church.”   

Paul’s letter is addressed to “All in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.”  When his letter was read in the house churches, they understood better than we can that Paul was not taking sides where they were concerned.  The last thing those beloved ones needed was divisive language!

[James Walters’ Chapter on Romans in The Transforming Word, ACU Press, 2009, is an excellent resource for further study]. 

A “zinger” comes in Chapter 15 verse 7 where Paul tells them whose side to be on collectively and how to do it.  “Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”   In other words, each member of the body is to be on the side of God. 

One of my favorite resources is a small yet highly informative book by Stanley J. Grenz & Roger E. Olson entitled Who Needs Theology? An Invitation to the Study of God (Intervarsity Press Academic (1996).  In it they describe three categories of Christian beliefs and how those categories evolved over the centuries.  (Due to limited space I must summarize more simply than I wish but the book is well worth reading.) 

The first category is dogma – beliefs considered essential to the gospel.  Dogma was first determined by Christian church leaders at Nicea I in 325 AD.  Denial of these beliefs was considered denial of Jesus the Christ and, hence, apostasy. 

The second category is doctrine - beliefs considered important but not essential to the gospel.  A Christian church or denomination may consider doctrinal beliefs “a test of fellowship without claiming that its denial is necessarily outright apostasy.”

The third category is opinion – beliefs that are, “interesting, but relatively unimportant to the faith of the church.”

The question I invite you to ponder with me is this:  When we find ourselves disagreeing over how to be a “church,” could it be that we have accepted opinions as doctrine, and doctrine for dogma?    

Father, give us a spirit of unity through Christ, amen.   

Sandra Milholland
Abilene, Texas