THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE – 42 Should Christians Oppose One Another?
“15 And certain men which came down from Judæa taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. 5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:1-5). KJV
Loved ones, in our Spiritual Battle against false teaching, Christians are sometimes labeled as argumentative and divisive. We therefore will begin answering the subject question by using our above text.
Here we see that some Jewish Christians were declaring that it was necessary for Gentile Christians to be circumcised in order to be saved. Whether these teachers were honest and sincere is beside the point! The teaching was false and must be stopped.
Who was to blame for this problem at Antioch? Were Paul and Barnabas to blame due to their strong opposition to this doctrine, or were those to blame who promoted the doctrine in the first place?
Since time immemorial it has been the claim of innovators and leaders of all kinds of divisive "isms" that it was not their teaching that caused the division, but it was the opposition to their teaching that caused the division.
Ahab asserted that Elijah was a "troubler of Israel," but Elijah showed him that the real “troubler” was the one who made changes in God's commandments (see 1 Kings 18:17-18), so, in fact, it was Ahab, not Elijah, who was guilty!
There has never been a false teacher who did not feel like the people should accept his teaching, or, at least, go on and not oppose him in it!
In regard to the example of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15, surely we can agree that their example is worthy of imitation. Hence, it is not only our privilege as teachers, but also our duty as Christians to (with love – Ephesians 4:15) OPPOSE all false teaching, even though some of the teachers be among our closest friends, brethren, and nearest relatives!
No one is worthy of Christ who would allow some personal feeling to prevent him from condemning the false teaching in anyone.
The answer to the above subject question is "yes," for any deviation from the scriptures causes one to not "have God" (2 John 9; Galatians 1:6-9; Colossians 3:17; etc.).
Many fall back on the argument, "well, our church or preacher teaches...,” which is countered by the truth that anything any church or preacher teaches that differs from what the Bible teaches is to be rejected! May we all be able to make that distinction. Have a Bible question? Send it to us by replying to this post. We will try to give you a Bible answer.
Shared with you by Samuel A. Matthews, preaching with the Liberty NW church of Christ, meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA. The God of Heaven and Earth is so good, and His love reaches all. He is in control, so trust Him. We love you with the love of the Lord (John 13:34-35).