Tuesday, May 06, 2014

The Danger of Compromise for Unity

   

       (family photo of Puritan Bibles (above left) and Foxes' Book of Martyrs ( right), exhibition of Truth Matters)

Compromise with sin inevitably leads to forsaking the truth. Forsaking the truth demonstrates despising the truth and to insulting the one who is Truth (John 
14:6). 

The theological Puritans trusted the method, Messenger, and message of the biblical Gospel. They possessed a fear of the Lord, which caused them to come out from among those who were adversaries of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. They separated themselves for the purpose of evangelistic zeal, and godliness. They came out from among the sinners in order to win them. 

Prominence is not an excuse for compromise. Effectiveness in ministry is not a reason to allow flirtations with error.

Matthew Mead confronts us in the present hour, “There are many who delight in the Word because of the eloquence of the preacher: they delight not so much in the truths delivered, as in the dress in which they are delivered.” (Mead, 50) Namely, there are those who defend compromise because the compromisers speak eloquently. Truth remains, not merely because of the men who proclaim it; rather, because of the One who has revealed the truth to men. If this is our belief concerning the truth, then unity will only be upheld when we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. His voice is heard exclusively through the Scriptures, rightly divided,proclaimed, and applied (Heb. 1:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:15).

~Excerpts,  "A Puritan View of Compromise and Unity In the Church", Doron Gladden, Biblical Christ Research Institute


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