:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

I’ve been thinking lately about what it looks like for Christians to live in unity. In particular, how exactly should we live in unity with those who either would ostracize us or hold beliefs that we find incompatible with scripture?

For starters, Jesus tells us to love one another, to love our neighbors, and to even love our enemies.

Raise your hand if you think anyone was left out of that.

Right, I thought that covered everyone.

So whether we’re dealing with a fellow believer, someone we meet, or an enemy, we are commanded to give them all the same treatment. Nevertheless, what should we do if they want nothing to do with us? Should we just act like they don’t exist? Is there a redemptive approach we can take?

I ran into a situation like this recently, and after initially fending off my anger at the fellow Christian who didn’t find my beliefs and practices valid, I had a moment of insight—by God’s grace for sure. I realized this person was trying to obey the Bible and really, that’s what I’m trying to do. The difference is this person didn’t trust me and my interpretation of the Bible. In fact, my different views were actually a threat to this person’s way of reading the Bible.

What I ended up seeing was a clash between literalism and contextual understanding of scripture. How do we interpret the Old Testament? Should we imitate the New Testament precisely. This is A. J. Jacobs territory so to speak.

This isn’t the time to figure out where exactly to land on interpretation, but rather, I want to explore how we deal with those who may be more literal than we are and may even think we’re in sin because of our interpretations. I’ve been on both sides of this one, and so it’s a real struggle for me. Most importantly, I’d like to look at how love can win out even when our theologies fail to line up.

I’d like to pick two hot-button issues: women in ministry and homosexuality. I have chosen them because they strain our understanding of biblical interpretation. Both are forbidden at certain points in the Bible, but I believe the Bible also permits women to lead at other points, while I can’t find a similar exception for homosexuals. There are sincere believers who hold to a variety of perspectives on these issues, but even if someone falls into a “false” doctrine, our command is always the same: love.

And so we’ll look at women in ministry first. I’m eyed with suspicion by some conservatives because I believe women are empowered by God for ministry just like men. There’s Huldah and Deborah who led men in spiritual capacities, and please spare me the line about there not being any suitable men to lead the people. That is flimsy as all get out. If God really had a problem with women leading, Paul’s bit notwithstanding, then an all-powerful deity could have figured something out. He made stuttering Moses trek back to Egypt to lead this thing called the Exodus, and so I think he could have managed a way around Huldah or Deborah if women really were an issue.

And so I pat my hands together and enjoy my neat little doctrine, but wait, there are still lots of Christians who don’t agree with me and even think I’ve made a grave error. Perhaps I’m violating the commands of scripture, perhaps I’m on a slippery slope to error, and perhaps I’ve thrown their biblical literalism out of whack by not properly regarding the words of Paul. And so I’m in a fix when I want to affirm women, to argue for their God-given role in ministry and creation in general, and to still reach out in love to those who would, in my view, downgrade women. I know they wouldn’t say it that way, but in my view, they are doing just that—contributing toward injustice.

Can love and unity coexist with a reading of scripture that I peg as unjust? Can love and unity exist with a reading of scripture they peg as unfaithful?

In a sense, I think the answer if yes, provided we qualify our sense of unity. I can still acknowledge that we all serve the same Lord no matter what we think of women in ministry, and I can still learn a lot from those who disagree with me. So there’s a sense in which I can still acknowledge and honor them. However, at the level of joining the same church, we have a rather difficult situation. I suppose we could make it work. I’ve seen it work—sort of, after a lot of mess happened first. Being part of a Sunday school class led by a Spirit-led female teacher in a rather fundamentalist church that would never have allowed a woman to teach from the pulpit was a new one for me. We kept the unity of the body, but man it was tough at times.

The issues surrounding homosexuality in the church today have also provided no shortage of difficulty for Christians as well. In fact, homosexuality could be far more divisive than the debate over women in ministry.

First of all, what’s at stake here is not only how we interpret the Bible, but how we classify sin. In addition, we face the very real possibility of conservatives being labeled as anti-gay bigots and the more liberal camp being labeled as, well, liberals who disregard the teachings of scripture. Both sides claim to be taking the Bible seriously. Both have missed out on opportunities to love one another. Both sides have people trying to tone things down a bit.

When I see the tone of the debate regarding the interpretation of scripture in this manner, it is helpful to take another look at our foundations or perhaps a better word is our center. I’m thinking of Paul’s statement that there is no other foundation than Christ Jesus. However, Stanley Grenz has offered the helpful concept of Christ as the center of our faith, something that runs throughout Christian history and matches well with the Bible’s picture.

Therefore, our mark as Christians is following Christ, our only foundation for our faith. This is the lowest common denominator so to speak, and so we have to deal with the possibility that even if we disagree about the interpretation of scripture, we have another basis for unity. Nevertheless, if homosexual practice is indeed a sin, then we need to wrestle through the implications for our Christian communities. And that is where things become rather difficult.

First of all, the majority of Bible commentators seem to agree that if anything is sinful, it is homosexual practice, not the orientation. That is a matter of interpreting the language of scripture. However, when we get into language, we also run into diverging views that classify the homosexual practice condemned in scripture as a kind of pedophilia or homosexual temple prostitution. Everyone can agree that the Bible condemns any kind of sex outside of marriage, and so we are generally trying to decide if a homosexual couple can marry. Can a homosexual couple marry without violating scripture?

The more conservative camp tends to say no.

The more liberal camp tends to say yes.

There are exceptions to both camps no doubt, but generally we are stuck in a matter of Biblical interpretation. Does the Bible really say what we think it says? And if it permits homosexual practice, then have we lost something when it comes to interpreting scripture? I believe it is this perceived slippery slope that dogs many in the conservative camp.

In the end we are faced with a difficult task. First of all, we need to keep in mind that our Christian unity is not derived from this issue that has the potential to divide us and has already done much to damage the body of Christ to say nothing of our reputation in the world. Christians are ideally Christ-centered people of the Gospel. And it’s a good thing since we unfortunately may never be able to sort this matter out. There will always be Christians who cast doubt in either direction.

So our first task is to accept that sincere followers of Jesus will indeed sometimes hold to radically different interpretations than us, trusting that they are committed to Christ, the Gospel, and even to scripture. They are trying to be faithful no matter where they land on the homosexual question. The trouble is that we often become combative and divisive when defending and arguing for our views. Sometimes Christians get wrapped up in bad theology, but in all of the discussions I’ve participated in surrounding this issue, I have seen honest, sincere Christians on both sides. However, it often doesn’t take much for the tone of the conversation to turn hateful and angry because someone feels threatened.

I still believe there is a right and wrong with this issue, I just don’t believe either side will prove one interpretation over another in a conclusive manner once and for all. We sorted out the earth orbiting the sun since the time of Galileo thankfully, but sexual sin is a bit more slippery when you start dealing with biblical languages. Am I pretty sure that the Bible bans homosexual practice? Yes, I am. However, I also recognize that a lot has been written by some pretty smart people challenging my interpretation and my understanding of the words used in the relevant passages. To that end, I feel a need to seek the higher ground of the Gospel and to figure out a way to live in Christian unity with this issue.

Much like women in ministry, it may be tough to be in the same congregation with those who affirm homosexual practice as biblically permissible. When one side says it’s a sin and the other that it isn’t, we have a tough problem to resolve. Bickering over a female pastor or leader can also cause quite a problem. I’m not sure what I would do if faced with members in my congregation who disagreed with me on these issues. Could I handle attending a church where women are not allowed to teach or a church where homosexual practice is affirmed?

I’m not sure. In both cases I would disagree with the prevailing interpretation of scripture, but in both cases I also recognize that the Gospel provides a higher point of connection and fellowship. All does not hinge on these issues, and yet we act as if all does because there are ramifications for how we interpret scripture.

And so perhaps the bigger question is, can we be united with believers who interpret the Bible more literally or more openly than we would prefer? Where do we draw the lines?

I don’t think this is the place for cookie-cutter answers, one-size fits all declarations. I think we need to approach each situation as it occurs, rather than making up our minds ahead of time and failing to deal with flesh and blood people in real-life discussions. What we can decide ahead of time is how we will pursue these discussions, what is at stake, and where we can find higher ground. In other words, we can decide to always act out of love as Jesus commanded, we can be realistic about our approaches to interpreting the Bible, and we can find our common ground in the Gospel.

Love one another.

Be aware of interpretive methods.

Find common ground in the Gospel.

These are the matters most important to believers. Therefore, when conservatives meet a practicing homosexual in a congregation, they should be ready to love them, to discuss how we interpret the Bible, and to always, always move toward the Gospel. We may disagree on how we interpret the Bible and our discussions may become intense and uncomfortable, but love is not optional and the Gospel cannot be relegated to second place.

How far we carry this is tough to say. Choosing to divide or leave a church is not for me to determine. We have to figure out how to be faithful to God’s calling on our lives while remaining committed to love, the truth of scripture, and the Gospel of reconciliation that unites us with the Father, Son, and Spirit above all else. In the pursuit of that relationship with our Triune God, our God who saves us, we just may find some semblance of unity.