When Unity Ceases — No. 3
(Editor's note: This is the last in a series of three articles by Bro. Campbell, analyzing the contemporary religious situation in respect to development of modernism as it affects the unity of the disciples. The two previous articles have already appeared in Gospel Guardian, and should be read in connection with this one.)
What of our situation today? What are the prospects for unity or for division within the body of Christ as of now? I am not posing as a prophet when I say that unity is again about to be sacrificed, the iniquity which will drive a new wedge into the body of Christ is at work this very moment within the church. Anyone who is acquainted with the history of past divisions, and who has read with even a casual eye the symptoms of the present, cannot but recognize the ominous and unmistakable direction of the present trend.
Charges and counter-charges are growing in intensity. Feelings and emotions are being generated to an ever increasing pitch. Generally speaking the following charges are made against those who are conservative in their thinking and approach:
Charges Against "Conservatives"
1. The Pattern Doctrine. The teaching that there is a definite plan by which one becomes a Christian; and that unless one conforms to that pattern, he is unsaved.
2. Pharisaical Legalism. This charge is made against those who give strong emphasis to the idea that we are under the law of Christ as well as under his grace.
3. Religious Dictators; Popery; Ecclesiastical Centered Preachers; Following Diotrephes. These emotion-packed phrases hurled against men who are outspoken in their condemnation of the liberals and modernists. They are charged with being self-seeking, insincere, and "heresy-hunters."
4. Keepers of Orthodoxy. This is a contemptuous phrase used to give belittling description of men who are determined to "keep the orthodoxy" at all costs. These "keepers of orthodoxy" are men who believe that soundness in doctrine must come before the developing of Christian personality; and they insist that one must be orthodox before he is sent as a missionary to some foreign land.
Charges Against "Modernists"
Definite charges and accusations are being made against the "liberals" and "modernists" within the church. These charges are made from pulpits, through gospel papers, and in other ways both publicly and privately. Generally speaking the most frequent accusations heard against the "modernists" are that:
1. They preach the "love of God" to the neglect of other basic and fundamental teachings.
2. They preach and teach with an undue emphasis on the Sermon on the Mount; Romans 12; and I Corinthians 13 These chapters form the background for by far the bulk of their teaching and preaching. Rarely, if ever, do they preach on first principles, or the identity of the church, etc.
3. They fraternize too much with sectarian and denominational groups. Specifically they (a) speak on their programs without making any distinction as to the true church and its teaching as opposed to denominationalism; (b) fellowship denominations to the degree that it would take a magnifying glass to distinguish between the two; (c) take sectarians into fellowship in the local church membership on baptism with which they (the sectarians) are "satisfied"; (d) believe (and cite Luke 9:49-50) that there are Christians in all churches.
4. They either teach premillennialism, or else encourage and tolerate those who do believe and teach this false doctrine.
5. They put undue emphasis on what they call the "spirit of Christ", meaning by that a sweet, uncritical, soft attitude.
6. They speak in vague, abstract, unintelligible terms, employing often the old Platonic phrases concerning the good, the true, the beautiful.
7. They encourage and promote an excessive use of committees and inter-church organizations to get the work done that should be handled through the local congregational organization.
8. They are great advocates of special programs, organizations, recreational ventures, etc. to "save the youth" of the church from modern society. They have almost developed a "youth cult" within many congregations.
Final Analysis
Thus the lines are being drawn. Of the two currents of thought, history speaks with an unmistakable clarity. "Liberalism" has from the very beginning, and without exception, resulted in a departure from the faith and with nothing substantial to sustain the Christian. While if there is a tendency toward undue conservatism (which I doubt is the case today) the foundation for Christian growth is always present to build upon, and there is little danger that Christ will remove the candlestick.
One test of our preaching today may be put on the basis of whatever Peter, James, John, and Paul would recognize what is being taught, should they take a seat in the church building. I fear they would leave many a church service without understanding the message of the hour, even though they had a knowledge of the English Bible. For we have many preachers in the church of Christ today using philosophical and theological terms that would have no meaning at all to the men who wrote the New Testament. They would sound to them like the language of Ashdod. Such preaching, of course, can never build up the body of Christ; it can lead only to eventual destruction not only of the unity of the body, but of the body itself.