Human Wrong in Church Disunion
UNDER this head the Continent (Presbyterian) of August 21 discusses editorially the question of the separation of Christian believers into denominations. As to the origin of these denominational divisions, the editor says:— The denominational divisions of the church have all come out of human failings, errors, and misdeeds. If all followers of Jesus Christ from the time of the apostles until now had understood his message in perfect simplicity and had followed his will with perfect devotion, there would still today be just one undivided Christian church in the world as there was on the day of Pentecost. So every cleavage in the church and separation between brethren that has happened among Christians from their Lord’s departure until this day has been the fruit of somebody’s sin or somebody’s blunder. Denominational differences and distinctions are badges of human frailty, signifying always somebody’s fault somewhere of either insufficient understanding or insufficient consecration, and therefore as the church goes on to perfection in knowledge and grace, these badges of frailty must gradually disappear. Commenting upon this editorial, the Word and Way (Baptist) of September 18 makes the following pertinent remarks:— The Continent editor is unquestionably right in charging that division of Christian people into denominations is due to “somebody’s sin or somebody’s blunder.” This is the only reverent and rational position to take on this question. God is not the author of confusion. The Bible is not an ambiguous oracle. The message of the New Testament is one. There is absolute unity in its teaching. Otherwise it could not claim or hold the position of authority. A self-contradictory revelation cannot be a revelation in fact. The Scriptures do not teach—cannot and hold the place of a divine revelation—that a sinner is saved by grace, saved by works, and saved by grace and works. . . . Then men have misinterpreted the Scriptures. And for this misinterpretation they are wholly responsible. They have handled the Word of God deceitfully. They have been prejudiced, ambitious, and self-willed. They have not sought with absolute devotion to know and do the will of Christ. They have not been guided by the Spirit. Where the Spirit interprets and leads, the same lesson is learned and the same practise adopted. So it may be affirmed that the existence of a multitude of different and distinct religious bodies is due solely to the sins and blunders of men. Denominationalism is a monument to persistent and insidious perversion of the Scriptures. The apostle Paul declares that there is “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” The prayer of Christ for his disciples was that they might be one, even as he and his Father were one. This unity can be maintained only by recognizing Christ as the divine teacher and by a return to the pure, unadulterated teaching of the Word of Truth.