Separation from unbelievers is clearly taught in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:2.
It is common for Christians to apply Paul’s instruction here to marriages and close business associations between believers and unbelievers. Paul taught against marrying outside the faith, and wisdom should be exercised in all business relationships. Yet, in this passage Paul focused on all associations with unbelievers that led to infidelity to Christ, particularly by involvement with pagan rituals and idol worship. Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to separate themselves from these practices.3
Paul instructed the Corinthians not to be heterozugeo (“unequally yoked” which is literally, “harnessed to another of a different kind”). This may be a reference to Deuteronomy 22:10, where the Jews were commanded not to plow with both an ox and a donkey or to Leviticus 19:19 where the same Greek word is used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) to prohibit the mating of different kinds of livestock. Elsewhere Paul spoke of a true yokefellow (suzugos, someone who shares the same yoke) as a person who has joined Paul in his ministry (Phil 4:3). “Those who harness themselves together with unbelievers will soon find themselves plowing Satan’s fields. One can only be a true yokefellow (Phil 4:3) with a fellow Christian.”4 In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul realized that eliminating all contact with the world is an impossibility (1 Cor 5:10). The “unequal yoke,” therefore, does not refer to casual contacts with the lost. It has to do with serving together in church and ministry activities. The warning is against compromising the integrity of one’s faith. The idea of the “unequal yoke” implies a relationship which will do damage to the Christian’s testimony.
The Corinthians were not to be yoked with unbelievers, those who do not accept the truth of Scripture. The ἄπιστος (“unbeliever”) is Paul’s opposer, whether saved or lost, although the context would focus this primarily on the unregenerate (see 1 Cor 6:6; 7:12, 13, 14 (2x), 15; 10:27; 14:22 (2x), 23, 24; 2 Cor 4:4). Paul argued against fellowship and in favor of separation from the lost by using a string of similar questions to emphasize the importance of separation.
Paul’s first question is, What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteous¬ness? Fellowship here is metoche, a “joining together.” The two elements to be kept apart are righteousness and unrighteousness. “The Corinthian Christians were sur¬rounded by pagan values and practices. Just because they have been sealed by the Spirit does not mean that they can be careless about their relationships and associations with the world.”5 The unrighteousness that Paul speaks of is actually “lawless¬ness,” the absence of law or lawful works. Righteous activity cannot join together with unlawful activity.
One reason righteousness and unrighteousness cannot be joined is that there is a difference in how believers and unbelievers think (v 14). What communion does light have with dark¬ness? “Communion” in this verse is κοινωνία – doctrinal agreement and a resultant partnership in ministry. Believers are called out of darkness when they are saved; they should not go back into darkness in order to participate in some kind of ministry.
There is a difference concerning whom believers serve (v 15). What concord does Christ have with Belial? Christ is the head of the forces of righteousness. Belial (a name for Satan) is the head of the forces of evil. “Concord” is the word sumphonesis, from which comes the English “symphony.”6 Paul is writing to those for whom Christ had died. He has emphasized that God had reconciled the world to himself. He spoke of the hardships he had suffered to further the gospel (see 2 Cor 5:14–15, 20; 6:3–10). “Now he wanted them to choose for Christ and follow him but to reject Belial and everything that he represents. In parallel terms, the Corinthians must choose faith instead of unbelief, the Christian life instead of worldly ways.”7
There is also a difference in how believers approach God (v 15). What part does the believer have with the unbeliever? μερίς refers to receiving part of the gain of an operation or business venture. Here Paul emphasizes the distinction between the believer (pistos) and the unbeliever (apistos). The unbeliever is someone who does not accept the faith. When Paul began this section, he used “unbelievers.” Now he uses the singular, moving from a general statement to a more specific personal application.
There is a difference in the worship of believers and unbelievers (v 16). This is the final question that Paul asks and is the only question that focuses on a specific area of separation. What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? Sugkatathesis(“agreement”), used only here in the New Testament, “refers to some kind of consensual affiliation, such as a pact joining persons together in common cause.”8 It is used for an approval “by putting together the votes.”9 Paul had already defined the “temple of God” as the church in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. Plural pronouns are used here, similar to 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 refers to the individual believer as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Here in 2 Corinthians Paul is drawing a comparison between the church and the pagan temples where the gentile Corinthians practiced their idolatry. Idolatry in Corinth was especially wicked. There is no room for idolatry among the church membership because Christians are the temple of God.
Paul concludes this passage with an argument for the practice of separation (v 17a) with quotations from Exodus 25:8, Exodus 29:45 and Leviticus 26:12. Here Paul begins a string of quotations from the Old Testament. The conclusion is for believers to come out from their presence. The tense indicates Paul wanted them to do it now. Failure to separate in moral holiness causes believers to cease being a valid temple of God.
The purpose of separation is seen in vv 17b–18. God will receive or welcome believers into his company; this is the idea of the temple again. God will be a father to the righteous and the righteous will be children to him.
The conclusion is clear. Believers who seek to be obedient to Scripture are to have no fellowship (no spiritual partnering or associating in worship or service) with unbelievers.
Separation from Believers
Separation from unbelievers is not the only instruction given concerning fellowship and separation. There are also instructions given to separate from believers who engage in specific kinds of actions. In fact, there is more specific instruction concerning separation from believers than from unbelievers.
Separation from Those who Sin Blatantly
Paul gives instructions in 1 Corinthians 5:1–5 that the church is to separate from an immoral church member who is obviously unrepentant. From the language Paul uses, speaking of the wife of the individual’s father, rather than simply referring to her as the individual’s mother, it appears that the church member was having an immoral relationship with his step-mother. The sin was known to the church. Paul accused the church of pride (they were apparently congratulating themselves on their tolerance of diverse life–styles), a lack of mourning (which would indicate a tolerance of gross sin, a sin which even the Romans would not commit), and a failure to do anything about the sin. There are, therefore, two problems in this section: the sin of one individual and the sin of the congregation as a whole.
Paul commanded the church to remove the sinning brother from the membership of the church. The individual Paul was referring to is obviously a member of the church, and Paul apparently assumed that he was a believer. There are numerous interpretations concerning being “delivered to Satan” and the “destruction of the flesh,” but for the sake of this article, none of them makes a difference. The key point to take away from this part of 1 Cor 5 is that the church has an obligation to separate itself from unrepentant sinners whose sins damage the testimony and character of the church.
In the section following this discussion (1 Cor 5:6ff), Paul does not advocate this same kind of separation from unsaved fornicators and a whole list of other kinds of sinners. One implication of Paul’s addition of this section is that here is a list of sinful activities which are cause for church discipline, not just living with one’s stepmother. A second implication is that biblical fellowship and separation does not refer to friendships and interactions with unsaved neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends. Otherwise, Paul could not advocate separation in the first half of this chapter and association with the same kind of people in the last half. Paul clearly describes the biblical doctrine of fellowship; believers cannot be spiritual partners in ministry with someone who lives in willful sin and rebellion against God’s teachings. Similarly, believers can associate with unbelievers who practice these same sins, but they cannot fellowship with them.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
In 2 Thessalonians 3:6, Paul commanded his readers in a forceful way to separate. This was not a simple suggestion. This was a command made “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” to stay away or separate from a brother who is walking disorderly. Paul is clearly speaking of a saved person.
The problem with this brother is not doctrinal. He is walking ataktos(“disorderly”). This refers to walking “in defiance of good order, disorderly . . . apparently without respect for established custom or received instruction.”10 This would mean a lifestyle that does not match up with the requirements of Scripture. Paul repeats this word in verse 11. Paul focuses on the problem of not working to support oneself. “Although the context of the idle is definitely in mind, this encouragement and the instructions that follow (vv. 14–15) could apply to a multitude of situations in the early church and today. What could be more Christ-like than persisting in well-doing even when the beneficiaries of love in action do not deserve or appreciate the sacrifice made on their behalf?”11
The believer’s first requirement in verse 14 is σημειόω, “to take special notice of, mark.”12 The church is to publicly identify the man who refuses to obey God’s Word. Second, the church is not to sunanamignumi, to “mingle, associate with.”13 The fellowship of the church is to be removed from such a person. In verse 15, the church is not to regard him as an enemy, for he is a brother in Christ. Nevertheless, the church is to noutheteo, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct, admonish, warn, instruct.”14 The church is to warn this type of person concerning his error. The use of plural verbs and the plural “brothers” indicates that this is a corporate instruction, not a commandment given to an individual Christian. This instruction is predicated on the biblical concept of fellowship and separation; the church cannot partner with this kind of person in activities that are founded on the Spirit and seek to result in spiritual benefits.
Separation from Those who Advocate Divisive Doctrine
There are several passages of Scripture which instruct New Testament believers to separate from those who teach and promote false doctrine. This article will look only at two of these passages.
Romans 16:17-18
In Romans 16:17-18, Paul instructed the church in Rome to skopeo (“mark”) andekklino (“avoid”) those who advocated divisive doctrine. “Mark” means “to pay careful attention to, look (out) for, notice.”15 Paul uses the word in Phil 3:17 to instruct the Philippians to mark those who were following him and imitate them. The term is used here to instruct the Romans to look out for those who cause divisions for the purpose of avoiding them. “Avoid” means “to keep away from, steer clear of.”16
Paul teaches that church members are to “mark” and “avoid” those who create dichostasia “divisions” or “dissen¬sions” and skandalon“stumblingblocks” by means of wrong doctrine. Dissension is listed as one of the works of the flesh in Gal 5:20. “There is an article with divisions (and another with obstacles); it is ‘the well-known divisions’ and not some hypothetical danger of which Paul warns.”17 These individuals were teaching lies to those who had learned the truth. Paul had not yet been to Rome, but the Romans were well aware of the truth. “Thus a departure from the Pauline teaching is a departure from the very tradition vouchsafed to the Romans when they believed. Paul did not believe that he was introducing novel doctrines to the Roman community.”18
There is nothing in the text that clearly declares whether these false teachers were saved or lost. Either way, they were creating factions and strife in the church. Instead of serving the Lord, they taught false doctrine for the sake of their own good. If these individuals were not part of the church at Rome, they were at least individuals known to the church; in that time it would have been difficult for non-Christians to advocate divisive doctrine among the church members. Everyone would have understood that the Roman pagans were not believers and their teachings unbiblical. The false teachers could have been Jewish unbelievers, but there was enough tension between the Jewish community and the church to keep unsaved Jews from teaching in the church. If these false teachers were Judaizers, it would appear that since Paul confronted them in the context of the church at Jerusalem, that the Judaizers at the very least claimed to be believers. Since Paul did not identify who these teachers were, it is best to focus attention on the teaching that the church is to defend itself against false teachers, saved or lost.
1 Timothy 6:3-5
Three times in Paul’s first letter to Timothy he addressed false teachers. In 1 Tim 1:3 he instructed Timothy to com¬mand unnamed individuals to stop teaching false doctrines, particularly regarding myths and genealogies. Paul has apparently created a new verb, heterodidaskalein, literally “to teach a doctrine of a different kind.”19 This word comes into the English as “heterodoxy.” In 6:3 Paul defines “heterodoxy” as that which is contrary to “sound words” (which came from Jesus Christ) and contrary to the doctrine which conforms to godliness. “The standard for truth was the Old Testament, the words of Christ, and the teaching of the apostles. All else was wrong, false, untrue.” 20
Who were these false teachers? In 1:3 Paul used the indefinite pronoun “certain ones.” In 1:19 Paul again referred to “certain ones.” In v 20, however, he named two of the false teachers—Hymenaeus and Alexander. These two men appear then to be the worst representatives or the ring-leaders of this group of false teachers.21 While Paul was not afraid to identify specific individuals in some contexts, in other places he hid identi¬ties. The implication is that in some specific cases it is appropriate to identify false teachers, while in other cases it is best to hide the identities. It would seem to be appropriate to identify leaders of the false teachers; it also seems to be appropriate to identify those who affect the local church the most. It also appears that where there is hope to correct the false teacher, his identity is kept hidden.
What were these men teaching? The first-century myths were not merely fairy tales; they were legends and stories used to promote immoral lifestyles. These stories were used as justification for behavior which was contrary to righteousness. Because these were apparently being accepted in the church at Ephesus, the teachers may have been using Old Testament stories, along with allegories developed out of those stories. The false teachers had “proof texts” for their own ideas, biases, and desires.22 The reference to endless genealogies “refers to histories and prophetic speculations rising out of guesswork and the desire to be different. Such people became the special interpreters of Scripture; they claimed special knowledge.”23 Paul rejected these false teachers and their stories because they promoted controversies within the church rather than God’s work.
The teaching of these false teachers produces envy, disagreement, defamation, conjectures, and continuous arguing, everything that should not take place in a church. The faithful Christian is to withdraw from such a person.24 The word is aphistemiwhich means “to distance oneself from some pers. or thing.”25
Titus 3:10, 11
Paul did not treat unbelievers and believers in the same way. Unbelievers are ignorant of who God is; they do not know his goodness, power, or holiness. Christians, on the other hand “know God’s goodness, have experienced his grace and love, and are indwelt by his Holy Spirit. Paul recognized that arguing with false teachers pulled a person into their convoluted dialogues, accomplishing nothing. Therefore, he told Titus: Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time.”26 Paul sought to offer an opportunity for the αἱρετικός (“heretic” or divisive person) to repent. The goal of the warning is the repentance of the divisive person. If, however, he does not repent, then the church is to have nothing more to do with him.
Here is a warning for everyone. Those who dabble in false ideas and theological oddities or those who sin and refuse to come to terms with their disobedience follow a dangerous path that leads to self-deception. It happens slowly as a person permits himself self-apportioned leniency, ignoring the warning signs, the rebukes, the sinful habits that engulf him. Through negligence and unbelief, these Christians become self-condemned. By willfully rejecting the truth, they pronounce judgment on themselves.27
There are several other similar passages. The reader is directed to Galatians 1:8, 9; 2 Timothy 3:5; 1 John 4:1-6; 2 John 7-11; and Revelation 2:14.
Conclusion
Ecclesiastical separation is the flipside of fellowship. A refusal to fellowship (in the sense of theological agreement and ministry which flows out of that agreement) reflects the lifestyle, positions, and values of a church and its members. Separation of a church as a body from individuals who are lost, who teach and advocate false doctrine, or who refuse to obey Paul’s teaching is clearly taught. It is a logical conclusion (and this author acknowledges that is logical, not a clearly declared conclusion) that if a church is to separate from one individual who practices one of these sins, then it should separate from a body—church, association, or denomination—that practices or advocates such belief or action.
Separation from churches or denominations which do not hold to orthodox theology is biblical. Luther separated from Rome. Calvin departed from Rome: “It is sufficient for me that it was necessary for us to withdraw from them, in order to approach to Christ.”28 J. Gresham Machen withdrew from the liberal Presbyterian church. Baptists abandoned the Northern Baptist Convention. This kind of separation does not violate the unity of the church, but instead preserves it.
The basis of church unity is doctrine. Unity presupposes a membership with one another in agreement on the basics of Scripture. “The faith that avoids theological argument on behalf of Christianity’s distinctive doctrines is not the faith of the New Testament.” 29
[churchpack_divider style=”solid” margin_top=”20″ margin_bottom=”20″] [1] Dr. Oats is the Dean of Maranatha Baptist Seminary and Professor of Systematic Theology.[2] Larry Dean Sharp, Carl Henry: Neo-Evangelical Theologian (D.Min. thesis, Vanderbilt University, 1972), 21–22. [3] Richard L. Pratt, Jr., I & II Corinthians, Holman New Testament Commentary 7 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 375.[4] David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians, The New American Commentary 29 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), 331.[5] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 332.[6] Sumphonesis is used only here in the New Testament, but a related noun is used in Luke 15:25 and is translated “music.”[7] Simon J. Kistemaker and William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, New Testament Commentary 19 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 230.[8] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 336.[9] A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1931), 4: 237.[10] BDAG, 148.[11] D. Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, The New American Commentary 33 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 285.[12] BDAG, 921.[13] BDAG, 965.[14] BDAG, 679.[15] BDAG, 931.[16] BDAG, 304.[17] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 539.[18] Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament 6 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 802.[19] George W. Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: a Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 72.[20] Knute Larson, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Holman New Testament Commentary 9 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 145.[21] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, New Testament Commentary 4 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001), 57.[22] Larson, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 145–146.[23] Ibid.[24] There is a textual problem with the end of verse 6. The instruction to withdraw is not found in the United Bible Society or the Nestle Aland New Testaments, but is found in the traditional text and the Pierpont and Robinson Majority New Testament.[25] BAGD, 157.[26] Larson, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 386.[27] Ibid, 386–387.[28] Calvin, Institutes, iv.2.5-6.[29] Gordon Lewis and Bruce A. Demarest, Integrative Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 3: 294.In the Old Testament, an important example of separation from ungodly practices is found in Daniel 1. In this chapter, Daniel and his three friends refused to defile themselves by eating the king's food and drinking the king's wine. Instead, they requested to eat vegetables and drink water for ten days as a test. God honored their decision. After ten days they appeared healthier than the other men and the diet of all was switched to the same one observed by Daniel and his friends.
Individuals, churches, and organizations apply biblical separation in a variety of ways today. Decisions must be made regarding whether one person or group will affiliate in a particular way with another person or group based on whether the decision would honor God or compromise integrity.
Biblical separation is often important. However, it is also important to continue reaching out to those who do not know Christ. For example, regarding sexual immorality, Paul wrote, "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world" (2 Corinthians 5:9-10). Contact with those who sin is unavoidable. The biblical goal is to avoid close association with those who claim to follow Christ yet believe or live in ways that clearly contradict key Christian teachings.
When Jesus prayed for His followers, He said, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16). Believers are not of the world, yet live in a fallen world filled with sin.
We are called to share Christ's message and to live it out, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20). As Jesus taught in Matthew 5:16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
Separation
The basis of separation is found
in the very nature and character of God Himself.
The seraphim Isaiah saw in his vision were overawed by one attribute of the Lord: “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). The Hebrew word for “holy” (Kadesh) and the Greek word for “holy” (Hagios) both have the same basic, root meaning--namely, “set apart, separated.” The word “sanctify” is a translation of these same Hebrew and Greek words and carries the same root idea. Literally the angels said, “SEPARATED, SEPARATED, SEPARATED, is the LORD OF HOSTS.”
I. God is absolutely separate from all that is earthly or created. This is a Holiness of Divine Majesty.
Study Psalm 99:1-3 and Isaiah 57:15. Compare Isaiah 6:1-2.
II. God is absolutely separate from all that is morally unclean. This is a Holiness of Moral Purity.
Study Psalm 99:4-9 and Psalm 24:3-4. Compare Isaiah 6:5.
Thus in studying the doctrine of separation we must begin with GOD Himself and we must ever keep before our minds the fact of His awesome holiness and His separateness: “Be ye holy: for I AM HOLY” (1 Peter 1:16).
All believers are separated positionally.
Each and every believer is a “saint,” a person set apart and separated unto the living God.
Study: Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Jude 1; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Hebrews 3:1; 10:10,14,29; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 2:9.
Each and every believer, having been positionally separated unto God in Christ, is responsible to walk and conduct himself in a manner worthy of and consistent with such a position and standing.
Study: 1 Peter 1:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 2:21; Romans 6:19; Hebrews 12:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Titus 2:3.
Biblical separation is twofold:
1) Separation From; 2) Separation Unto.
Separation From | Scripture Passage | Separation Unto |
Who hath delivered us FROM the power of darkness | Colossians 1:13 | and hath translated us INTO the kingdom of His dear Son |
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness | 1 Thessalonians 4:7 | but UNTO holiness |
Wherefore, come out FROM among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing | 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 | and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty |
For I the LORD am holy, and have severed you FROM other people | Leviticus 20:26 | that ye should be Mine |
Let us cleanse ourselves FROM all filthiness of the flesh and spirit | 2 Corinthians 7:1 | perfecting holiness in the fear of God |
Ye turned to God FROM idols | 1 Thessalonians 1:9 | to serve the living and true God |
But is passed FROM death | John 5:24 | UNTO life |
He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness | John 8:12 | but shall have the light of life |
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin | Romans 6:11 | but alive UNTO God through Jesus Christ our Lord |
And be not conformed to this world | Romans 12:2 | but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind |
Even when we were dead in sins | Ephesians 2:5 | hath made us alive together with Christ |
But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off | Ephesians 2:13 | are made near by the blood of Christ |
And you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works | Colossians 1:21-22 | yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight. |
That we, being dead to sins | 1 Peter 2:24 | should live UNTO righteousness |
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us FROM our sins in His own blood | Revelation 1:5-6 | and hath made us a kings and priests UNTO God and His Father |
God has put a difference between the saved and the unsaved and God demands that this DIFFERENCE be evident and well defined—hence the need for separation.
The Word of God delineates this difference as follows:
Unsaved | Scripture Passage | Saved |
death | John 5:24 | life |
darkness | John 8:12 | light |
night | 1 Thessalonians 5:5 | day |
lost | Luke 15:24 | found |
unrighteousness | 2 Corinthians 6:14 | righteousness |
infidel | 2 Corinthians 6:15 | believer |
condemnation | John 3:18 | no condemnation |
perish | John 3:16 | eternal life |
perish | 1 Corinthians 1:18 | saved |
death unto death | 2 Corinthians 2:16 | life unto life |
children of the devil | 1 John 3:10 | children of God |
There is no middle ground between the saved and the unsaved: “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26).
God, in His Word, demands that this distinction between saved and unsaved be maintained.
Study: Leviticus 10:10; 11:44,47; 20:24-26; Deuteronomy 7:6; Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 6:10-11; Ephesians 4:17-20; 5:6-7,8,11; Colossians 3:5-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:4-5; 5:4-8; Titus 3:2-4; 1 Peter 1:14; 4:2-4; Jude 19-20.
The believer is to be separated, not isolated.
Study: John 17:11,14-18; 1 Corinthians 5:9-10; Acts 1:8; Philippians 2:15-16; 2 Corinthians 5:20.
The believer is in the world but not ofthe world. The monastic philosophy which declares “to be holy you must live in a hole!” finds no basis in the Scriptures. Believers are pilgrims and strangers (1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13) and citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20; John 14:1-3) who have the privilege of representing Christ on the earth (2 Corinthians 5:20; Isaiah 43:10-12) as He represents us in heaven (1 John 2:1-2). As we represent Christ in the world we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world (James 1:27) because we are not of the world! The Lord Jesus was our perfect example of a man “separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). Yet He strongly condemned pharisaical isolationism (Luke 5:27-32; 7:29-34; 7:36-50; 15:1-32; 18:9-14; 19:1-10). The believer in Christ has explicit responsibilities towards all men as he represents Christ in the world.
1. He is to be a witness before all men (Acts 1:8).
2. He is to be Christ’s ambassador to all men (2 Corinthians 5:20).
3. He is to preach the gospel to all men (Mark 16:15).
4. He is to shine as a light before all men (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:15).
5. He is to do good to all men (Galatians 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:15).
6. He is to walk in wisdom towards all men (Colossians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 10:32).
7. He is to pray for all men (1 Timothy 2:1).
8. He is to provide things honest in the sight of all men (Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:12).
9. He is to live peaceably with all men (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14).
10. He is to let his moderation be known unto all men (Philippians 4:5).
11. He is to honour all men (1 Peter 2:17).
12. He is to have a good report (testimony) before all men (1 Timothy 3:7; 2 John 12).
Separation from all worldly and sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.
Study: 1 John 2:15-17; James 1:27; 4:4; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Peter 2:11; Titus 2:11-12; Romans 13:13-14; Galatians 5:16; 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
In the area of questionable practices and associations the believer is bound by the law of love (1 Corinthians 8-10; Romans 14). That is, in deciding whether or not something should be done, it is not enough for the believer to act according to knowledge (1 Corinthians 8). It is not enough for the believer to ask such questions as these: “Is it right?” “Is it lawful?” “Is it permissible?” Rather he must make his decisions on the basis of the law of love which will result in the consideration of such questions as these: “Is it profitable?” “Is it useful?” “Will it edify?” “Will it glorify God?” “Will it hinder my growth or the growth of others?” “Will it present a clear testimony before the lost?” The Scriptural basis for this latter group of questions can be seen by studying such verses as 1 Corinthians 8:9; 10:23; 10:31-32; Romans 14:21; etc.
Separation from an immoral Christian brother
Study: 1 Corinthians chapter 5. In seeking to obey God in these matters such passages as Galatians 6:1; 2 Corinthians 2:1-11 and 2 Timothy 2:24-26 should also be kept in mind.
Separation from all religious apostasy is commanded of God.
Study: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 (compare Deuteronomy 22:9-11, God hates mixture!); Revelation 18:4.
When an ox and a donkey are yoked up together they are involved with the same work. They are “on the same team,” laboring together for common goals and objectives. Believers are not to work together in co-operation with unbelievers. See the example in Ezra 4:1-5. The Lord Jesus never enlisted unbelievers to carry out the work of God. The football player would never think of giving the ball to a member of the opposite team!
Other passages which demand separation from false teachers and from religious apostasy are as follows:
1. AVOID THEM (Romans 16:17).
2. REJECT (Titus 3:10).
3. RECEIVE HIM NOT (2 John 10).
4. FROM SUCH TURN AWAY (2 Timothy 3:5).
[Compare 2 Timothy 3:5 with Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 1:24. It involves a denial of the gospel.]
5. LET HIM BE ACCURSED (Gal. 1:8-9).
The obedient believer must separate from every Christian brother who is consistently and willfully disobedient to the Word of God.
This would include separation from the believer who is disobedient to the commands as listed under PROPOSITION 9.
Study carefully: 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 3:6,14-15. Note carefully the five commands: 1) Note that man; 2) withdraw yourselves; 3) have no company; 4) count him not as an enemy; 5) admonish him as a brother.
Who are the disorderly? Carefully read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 and make a note of every time you read the word “disorderly” (it is the same word found in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “unruly”). The Greek word means “not keeping order, out of line, out of place.” It was a military term used of soldiers who would march out of order (not keeping rank, breaking rank). It is used of a person who neglects his duty and evades his obligations. The word means the opposite of SUBMISSION (Eph. 5:21). Thus the word describes a person who is not willing to bow before authority. He refuses to bow before God’s Word and before God Himself. He refuses to bow before the authority of those that are “over him” (see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-14).
Disorderliness can manifest itself in many different ways. In 2 Thessalonians 3:11 some of the Thessalonians refused to fulfill their God-given responsibility to work with their hands and earn a living. Paul had made them aware of their responsibility (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11).
When Paul was with them he commanded them to work (see the last part of 1 Thess. 4:11). | They did not obey and Paul had to tell them the same thing in his first letter (see the first part of 1 Thess. 4:11). | They still did not obey and Paul had to write a second letter to deal with this same problem (2 Thess. chapter 3). |
We see then that these disorderly ones were guilty of disobeying a clear command, both by word and by letter.
Consider 2 Thessalonians 3:6 and compare this verse with 2 Thessalonians 2:15. These disorderly ones were also guilty of not holding fast to the tradition that was handed down to them. Usually when we think of “traditions” we think of some erroneous teachings of men that have been handed down to us. In this case, however, “traditions” refers to the teaching and the letters (epistles) which had been handed down by the apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15—apostolic tradition, and compare Acts 2:42—“continue stedfastly in the teaching of the apostles”). If a person does not hold fast to the apostolic traditions he is in trouble because these traditions have come directly to the apostles FROM GOD!
The Thessalonian letters deal with a specific problem of believers not working, but the term “disorderly” should not be limited to only those believers who fail to work. The term would fit any believer who is persistently disobedient to the traditions handed down to us from the apostles, which we now possess in written form in the New Testament books. It could involve any kind of persistent disobedience to the clear commands of God given through the apostles.
The action taken by the believers in the local assembly, as severe as these actions are (2 Thessalonians 3:6,14), are intended to restore such a person back to the place of submissive obedience. It is to help him, not to harm him. May the Spirit of God give each of us wisdom to carry out God’s commands in God’s way for God’s glory, being careful not to be a stumbling block to the Jews, to the Gentiles nor to the church of God (1 Corinthians 10:32).
Lesson From Church History
Church history has proven again and again that separation is the only solution to apostasy. There is not an instance in all of church history where a denomination has departed from the Word of God and then some time later returned to a more solid Biblical position. Sad but true, the only effective answer is to come out from among them and be separate.
Dr. John Whitcomb has said it this way:
The only possible way to perpetuate His truth is to separate it from all forms of error and compromise. A refusal to recognize this fundamental fact is the fatal blunder of modern ecclesiastical ecumenism in all its forms, including evangelical ecumenism. Truth cannot be perpetuated through compromise and compromise cannot be avoided without separation. This is a formula which God’s people have discovered through centuries of sad experience with the weakness of fallen human nature in the presence of “the god of this world,” and especially through the direct teachings of God’s Word (Christ, Our Pattern and Plan, p. 14).
F.B.Meyer has said,
There is not a single hero or saint, whose name sparkles on the inspired page, who moved his times from within: All, without exception, have raised the cry, "Let us go forth without the camp"; and have joined the constant stream of martyrs, confessors, prophets, and saints, of which the world was not worthy, but who can trace their kinship to Him of whom it is written, "He suffered without the gate."
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan also spoke of the urgent need for separation:
There is a toleration which is treachery. There is a peace which issues in paralysis. There are hours when the church must say NO to those who should ask communion with her, in the doing of her work, upon the basis of compromise. Such standing aloof may produce ostracism and persecution; but it will maintain power and influence. If the Church of God in the cities of today were aloof from the maxims of the age, separated from the materialistic philosophies of the schools, bearing her witness alone to the all-sufficiency of Christ, and the perfection of His salvation, even though persecuted and ostracized and bruised, it would be to her that men would look in the hour of their heartbreak and sorrow and national need. The reason why men do not look to the church today is that she has destroyed her own influence by compromise.
* * * * * * * * *
--George Zeller (1975)
For help in understanding how to live a life set apart and separated unto the Lord, consider the following:
Various Studies on How to Live the Christian Life
The following is taken from a paper written by missionary Robert Lawton who for many years has been evangelizing and training international students on college campuses.
The doctrine of personal separation will be examined within the framework of the four aspects of life set forth in Luke 2:52—“And Jesus increased in wisdom(mental) and stature (physical), and in favor with God (spiritual) and man(social).” The following diagram may be helpful (taken from The Four Aspects of Life by Robert Ramey, “The Philosophy of Christ’s Life,” unpublished class notes, Grace Theological Seminary, n.d., p.2).
Separation in the Christian’s Mental Life
All practical godliness must begin with the thought life of the Christian, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Separation in the thought life is particularly important because the Christian possesses two natures: two dispositions which are continually striving with each other for the control of the believer (Galatians 5:17). If the Christian is to “walk in the Spirit,” he must distinguish the desires of the Spirit. To make the differentiation easy, Paul has given the believer an objective criterion for distinguishing the desires of the flesh from the desires of the Spirit in the form of a list of examples (see Galatians 5:19-23). By meditating upon this list, the Christian will be able to readily discern between the desires of his old nature and those of the Holy Spirit and will, by obeying His desires, be controlled by the Spirit.
The realization that the Christian still possesses his old nature, as a kind of caged-up wild beast looking for a way to get out, ought to make him careful of the kind of “food for thought” he allows to come in. The Christian must distinguish between that which feeds the flesh and that which nourishes his new nature in the things which he allows to enter through the eyes and ears. David failed to turn his head at the first glimpse of Bathsheba, and paid the consequences. Split-second discernment and reaction is becoming imperative for the Christian living in a world where modest women dress like the harlots of ten years ago.
To be pleasing to the Lord, the right thing must be done in the right way. Israel had served the Lord, and yet He said:
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies whom the LORD shall send against thee” (Deut. 28:47-48).
The Christian must be extremely discriminatory in the choice of attitudes which he manifests. He must be as set apart from wrong attitudes as he is from wrong actions. As the Apostle Paul stated:
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you (Eph. 4:31-32).
The true Christian, then, will be a fanatical separatist with regards to his own attitudes.
Separation in the Christian’s Physical Life
The Christian’s outward appearance is a matter of concern to the Apostle Paul, particularly in the case of Christian women for whom he lays down some guidelines: “In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel . . . (1 Timothy 2:9). Modesty in dress, especially today, requires careful discrimination. The Christian is not to be conformed to the world’s sensuous standards, and must set aside the majority of the fashions of today. At the same time, the Christian ought to display good taste in the clothing he wears, and not draw attention to himself with extremism in either direction. Pastor George F. Parsons has set forth the following principle:
Whenever a new style or a new way of dressing or a new way of saying something is seen or heard by me, I will look to see if it pictures truth or error. I will see if it agrees or disagrees with God’s Word and God’s ways. I will see if it makes clear or confuses and clouds up God’s Person and God’s Word. I will see if it mixes truth and error. May nothing detract from the message I want to present: “I belong to the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The Christian is most certainly to be discriminatory to the extreme, however, in the matter of whom he touches. Absolute separation is axiomatic for unmarried Christians of opposite sex. This is particularly true for the Christian worker:
A minister, especially a young one, who puts his hands, however innocent-mindedly on the person of womankind, particularly young girls, is in the mildest language I can command, an unmitigated fool (Homer A. Kent, Sr., The Pastor and His Work, p. 57).
The Christian is thus to be set apart in this regard, too.
While proper recreation and exercise are necessary for the Christian, the Christian must use discernment in the activities in which he engages in leisure time. The Christian is to be separate from “worldly amusements and unclean habits which defile mind and body.” A chapel speaker recently gave a good rule of thumb for deciding about doubtful things:
Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult is wrong for me and as a Christian I must turn from it (Cited by Dr. David Nettleton, former President of Faith Baptist Bible College, in the Grace Seminary Chapel, November 27, 1973).
To “turn from” something is separation: we are beginning to see something of the scope of this subject!
Discrimination is also the order in the use of the Christian’s tongue. Every thought which comes to mind is not to be broadcast by the child of God. Paul makes this clear:
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers (Ephesians 4:29).
The Christian is thus to be drastically selective in his choice of words. Not only is he to separate out all vulgarity from his speech, but positively, his words are to be a blessing to the hearers.
Separation in the Christian’s Social Life
While the Christian is to exhibit genuine love for all of mankind, the Word of God makes it clear that a believer is to be discriminatory in the choice of his close companions (see Psalm 119:63). Solomon saw that, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20). The Apostle Paul likewise noted, “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). As Dr. John Whitcomb has observed, “All things being equal, bad apples make good apples go rotten, and the good apples do not make the rotten ones any better.” Thus, while the Christian is to be cordial towards all, especially towards those of like precious faith, he, nevertheless, is to be selective in his choice of close companionships. The best way to do this, of course, is to have the right interests, and to allow our interests to govern our close friendships.
If ever there were an area where neglect of separation has led to heartbreak, it must be in the realm of courtships. How often have we heard stories of a Christian dating a non-Christian for the sake of witnessing, with a resultant unscriptural (and usually disastrous) marriage. Yet the practice of Christians dating unbelievers continues. Since it is certainly not God’s will for a child of God to marry an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers”), one is hard pressed to defend any position other than total separation of Christians and non-Christians in the area of dating.
As Dr. C. F. Yoder (God’s Means of Grace, p. 468) has stated, “In occupation the Christian should remember that God is his senior partner.” The Christian should therefore beware of making partnerships with unbelievers. Moreover, the Christian businessman must be discriminative in his business methods. The dishonest practices which are a matter of course in many firms are to be put away from the Christian in the business world.
Separation in the Christian’s Spiritual Life
In order for the Levitical priests to enter into the Holy of Holies, they themselves had to be holy. The Christian, then, ought to be discriminative in his own devotional activities. This would apply, for example, to the Bible version which he reads. Peter says, “Desire the sincere (pure) milk of the word . . . (1 Peter 2:2). A paraphrase may be good for occasional comparison, but it ought not to be the daily food for the Christian’s soul. The prayer life, too, ought to be purged from all that is unfit for God’s presence. The Christian, especially the young Christian, ought to make a distinction between talking to the Lord of Hosts and “shooting the breeze” with his dormitory roommate.
Fellowship with other Christians
The Apostle John says, “We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). The joy of fellowship with other true believers is indeed a blessed assurance of the Christian’s salvation. Nevertheless, the Word of God plainly teaches that there are times when the obedient believer must purposefully part company with disobedient fellow Christians. This is true in the case of a brother who is living in sin. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one, no, not to eat (1 Corinthians 5:11).
This is also true, however, in the case of a brother who teaches doctrinal error or who fails to obey the truth:
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us . . . and if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed (2 Thessalonians 3:6,14).
This instruction seems like hard medicine to swallow, but as the Apostle points out, it is in order that the brother in the error may take stock of himself and turn from it.
If a Christian is to be separated from individuals who hold to and teach doctrinal error, he most certainly is to be separated from entire assemblies with the same problem. Withdrawing from a much loved church which has fallen into error is not easy, but it may remedy the problem. In any event, it is unethical to remain in and teach a doctrinal position contrary to that held by the assembly. The Christian ought to withdraw in such a case, and pray that God will open the eyes of the congregation.
himself.
If the heart of the doctrine of separation is discernment, then the soul of separation is purity in life from sin and error. It is not a matter of just standing apart, but of standing with God. To stand in God's presence and in the center of His will, one must be separated from sin and error. God is separated from sin, and He will not have fellowship with one who is callously living in sin or is condoning false doctrine and those that do. This is not a matter of God withholding his love, but a matter of God withholding his fellowship and the blessing of his presence and power to those who are in error. God cannot nor will bless error and sin. Sin separates a believer from the fellowship of God. The action of biblical separation is of being separated from sin and unto God. (Rom. 6:13) The natural course of biblical separation is a movement towards God and a deeper and closer relationship with Him.
There are several erroneous conclusions drawn by those who do not understand biblical separation. One false idea is the one who practices biblical separation is uncaring, unloving or feels superior to those from whom he separates. Those that take this position see separation as a personal affront. It is an affront, but if separation is practiced biblically, it is not personal. In fact, the opposite is true. Biblical separation comes from a caring heart that loves the one who is in doctrinal error and seeks to lead them to what is correct. Taking a correct scriptural position sets a proper example that could lead one to the truth and into the blessings and fellowship of the Lord.
Who is the author of biblical separation? If it is God, do we also accuse God of being unloving because He is separated from sin and error and condemn sin? The answer is obvious. God is love and all He does is loving. That includes practicing separation from sin and evil doers. Condoning sin and doctrinal error is excusing it and compromising with doctrinal error is corrupting the truth. To be lenient with those who teach doctrinal error is to support lies. Clearly, God hates lies that enslave men and deny them the blessings of God. Truth set men free, and error enslaves them to continuing sin. (John 8:32) Further to support and stand with doctrinal error is to be a party to sin. Preaching and teaching doctrinal error is gross sin and condemned repeated by God in His word.
Doctrinal error is, in fact, a lie that is presented as truth. Who is the author of all lies? (John 8:44) How can a true child of God defend those in doctrinal error and those that thrive in it? We should take off our blinders and see doctrinal error for what it is . . . sin, which God hates. We should understand that doctrinal error destroys lives and prevents God’s people from growing, maturing and receiving God's blessing. Is it love to condone sin that is so destructive in people's lives and separates them from God's love and fellowship?
We should ask those who criticize those of us who practice biblical separation is it truly a loving act to gloss over sin and doctrinal error, and ignore it. God says the wages of sin is death. All sin has its destructive result in the lives of the persons who practices it. Doctrinal error is no blessing to anyone, but it enslaves one to error. No, it is not an act of love for a Christian, pastor or church to excuse doctrinal error and not stand for the God’s truth.
Let us get to the practical side of Biblical separation. Biblical separation is not an option for the child of God. It is a commandment. Let's look at the following verses let God speak on the matter.
Practicing Biblical Separation
The Mandate from God God instructs believers to "try the Spirits." (1 John 4:1-6)
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” (1 John 4:1-6)
"Trying the spirits" is a matter of seeking to determine those who are in truth from those who are in error. The warning is to be on the lookout for false prophets. What then is the purpose of seeking to determine if someone is in doctrinal error or not? John does not say in the verses what to do, but points out clearly that those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ are antichrists. It is assumed that any child of God would not have fellowship or support those whom God says are against Christ.
”Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 9-11)
In these verses John tells us what should be our relationship to these who are identified as antichrists. Let us be clear, an "antichrist" is one who is "against Christ" or presents false teaching instead of truth. The antichrist presents an error under the guise of teaching truth. John says in 2 John 11, to be separate from them and not even let them in your house, neither bid them God speed. He instructs us that those who wish these false teachers well are partakers of his evil deeds. The context of this statement is in the framework of the local assembly of believers. The identity of these antichrists is clearly shown as being those who do not “. . . abide in the doctrine of Christ.” The doctrine of Christ is His word, and He is the Word as John 1:1,14 plainly states. God’s assemblies are to preach the whole or all the counsel of the word of God. (Acts 20:27) The word "partaker" means having "fellowship" with and further to share in their error and become a partner to their sin. It means that to partake of false doctrine is to distribute it to others.
Watch or be on guard for false teachers and regularly warn the congregation of them. (Act 20:26-32)
”Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Act 20:26-32)
Paul's calls these false teachers “grievous wolves” who do not spare the flock. The illustration presents false teachers in churches as ravenous wolves who destroy the lives of those in the churches. He said the wolves would come from outside, and within the congregation (Verses 29-30) Paul says he for three years warned the church at Ephesus about this matter. Paul thought it important enough to speak regularly on the matter for three years. Jesus commended the Ephesians in Revelation 2:2, saying, “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars” Clearly Jesus thought it was commendable for the Church as Ephesus to “not bear them which are evil. . .who found them to be liars.” This is talking those who were in these churches who professed to be serving the Lord and who falsely claimed they were apostles of the Lord. It is loving to embrace those who by their unbiblical teaching, show themselves to be wolves bent on destroying God’s people?
”Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” (Rom. 16:17-18)
Paul uses the strong word "beseech" in commanding the congregation at Rome to mark and avoid false teachers. What was the basis of his instruction to separate from these false teachers? It was because they caused division and offenses contrary to doctrine. God does not say what specific doctrine is false, but by the way the sentence is structured it means doctrine in general. Note too that in verse 18, He says these false teachers deceive by good works and fair speech and deceive the simple. The word "simple" means "naive" or innocent simplicity. Paul commends them for separating from these false teachers and says, "I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning that which is evil" which means that believers should not mix with this evil.
The basis of marking them and avoiding them was that these people caused divisions and offenses “contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned.” This was not separation because of personality or other reasons. It was because these people did not believe or accept sound doctrine and encouraged those in the church to accept their false ideas. Paul called their actions evil. It is not biblical or obeying God to accept evil for the sake of unity.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”(Matt. 7:13-23).
Jesus sound warned about accepting a professing Christian or church just because they claimed to speak in Christ’s name. Note who these people are and that Jesus said were “workers of iniquity” of whom He said He never knew them. These were unsaved men who were professing to be Christians calling Jesus, Lord, who preached in Jesus’ name; they even cast out demons and did miracles. However, our Lord and Savior exposed these false teachers and said they were ravening wolves. He gave us further instructions to identify them saying that they would be disguised in sheep’s clothing. That means they would present themselves as brothers.... as fellow sheep... when in truth they were wolves.
Is it an act of love to put our arms around wolves prosing as sheep and let them into our churches and among the truth sheep giving them the opportunity to ravage them? It is sound to promote false teaches and thereby exposes our churches to their error? Does such a policy help the cause of Christ or hinder it? A true under shepherd and pastor of the Lord Jesus Christ would teach his congregation all God’s truth and be ever vigilant in watching for the false teacher. It is not an act of love for the Lord's sheep to care for them by exposing the lies that distort God’s truth?
”I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:6-11)
In the strongest words, possible Paul twice says let false teachers be accursed. These teachers who “troubled” the Galatian church were not pagans or idol worshipers outside the assembly, but teachers who had entered into and have been received by the congregation. The word "accursed" means “anathema” or dedicated or given over to be destroyed. The same word "anathema" was used in pagan temples of the virgin who was to be sacrificed to the idol. She was considered “anathema” or dedicated to be destroyed. He says these false teachers preached an "another gospel, which is not another." This statement should clarify the matter for all that mix, pollute God’s word, and teach lies that are not "the" Gospel. In verse 10, Paul boldly proclaims in the face of obvious criticism that he will not compromise God’s word to please men, but rather that he would preach the truth and please God.
The details of how these false teachers gained excess and power in the Galatian church is not revealed. However, clearly at some point these false teachers began to preach their doctrinal error and sadly, it appears no one in this congregation questioned them or rebuked them. The Galatian assembly did not practice biblical separation, which could have avoided their apostasy.
Here lies the heart of the matter. To choose not to practice biblical separation is to accept ecumenicalism and compromise. Those who criticize those who seek to live separated lives, and who preach ecumenicalism do so using worldly wisdom. They think it is loving to overlook doctrinal error and sin and not embarrass or offend those who practice these things. They take great pride from their supposed superior position saying they preach love instead of hate. It is well said we are to love the sinner and hate his sin. However, is it an act of love to put the stamp of approval on doctrinal error and sin, ignoring it? Does it honor God’s word close one’s eyes to the truth and let mislead and destroy the one who is practicing it?
"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2:1-3).
Note that Peter calls the teaching of these false prophets “damnable heresies.” Further, he warns that many will follow them. This is the reason for the mandate of biblical separation, to keep these heretics out of God’s churches and to protect the flock from their damnable ways. The motive of these false teachers is also revealed in what they do, in making merchandise of God’s children. They do it for personal gain, whether it is for money, popularity, leading a large church, pride, or seeking the vain favor of men.
Sadly, most of the “preachers” who condone false teachings, gravitate to the pulpit seeking an audience and to be seen of men. Like Diotrephes, who loved to have the preeminence among the brethren, these “hirelings” too love the praise of men. Diotrephes used the church as a stage to strut upon and further his ambition to rule of the assembly.
Manpleaers maintain their position by controlling others. (Gal. 1:10) Paul foretold of their coming saying, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables”(2 Tim. 4:3-4).
The other motive is money, the “root of all evil.” (1 Tim. 6:10) These compromisers and false teachers receive ill-gotten gain from their sorted work of making merchandise of God’s people. Is it an act of love and pleasing to God to condone these false brethren?
Many pastors and preaches take the easy road to avoid the difficulties that come when a man stands for the truth in the face of opposition. It is no fun to be criticized, and ostracized by others. It takes a strong faith and commitment to stand in the face of such pressure. Note what God says,
”Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Cor. 6:14-17).
The principle of separation here is illustrated by comparing it to unequally yoked oxen. The analogy is very apparent. Unbelievers and believers are not equal and cannot work together. In other words, truth and lies do not go together. A false teacher is surely an unbeliever and is referred to in this verse as being unrighteous and in darkness. Verse 15, says they are of "Belial" which is a name for Satan and calls them infidels. In verse 17, Paul here too uses strong language to say, ". . . come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing..." Note the clarity of the last phrase of the passages that says, (1) “be ye separate, saith the Lord, and (2) touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” This means you cannot be in fellowship with the Lord and not be separated from sin and false teachers.
However, those who criticize those who believe God and follow His instructions practicing biblical separation ignore this verse completely, or seek to mislead through a false interpretation. Who then is pleasing the Lord? Christians should make a distinction betweenthe compromiser who embraces false teachers, false churches, or the one who disobeys God. The Bible says we are to:
This verse is also dealing with biblical separation from evil and sin in any form. It is the broadest of all the verses and plainly states to “abstain” from every appearance of evil. To “abstain” means to “hold one’s self off from” or to “refrain from.” Is not false doctrine evil? God clearly throughout His word repeatedly condemns sin, false, and idolatrous teachers. Is standing beside them, and working with those are in doctrinal error “refraining” evil? The answer is obviously no.
“Obey not their word and have no company with them.” (2 Thess. 3:13-15)
”But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother”(2 Thess. 3:13-15)
It is not pleasant to be criticized for obeying the Lord and seeking to please Him. Further, the biblical separationist often finds himself the object of disdain from the ecumenicist who with open arms accepts all who profess Christians with no effort to “try the spirits” or “examine their fruit.” However, God says to separate from false teachers and sin. Verse 15 explains an important truth that the biblical separationist understands...the goal and purpose of biblical separation is not to treat a brother as an enemy but rather to rebuke his sin and error and turn him to the truth. As the Lord says in James, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). False doctrine is not God’s word and thereby cannot save a soul nor give sound instruction to the believer. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” We are to worship God in “spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) Only the word of God can save and mature a believer in Christ.
Thus, the biblical separationist seeks scriptural restoration with an erring brother. He longs to see the one in error, believe God, and receive the benefits of living by God’s truth. There is no pride in genuine biblical separation, and in having true “agape” love others. As Paul states in Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”
"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you” (2 Thess. 3:6).
The New Testament gives a matter-of-fact command. It does not suggest or recommend, but commands Christians to withdraw from the brother who walks disorderly. The word “disorderly” refers to one who is out of ranks or deviates from the teachings of the Apostle Paul (biblical traditions). This would include personal sin and Paul’s doctrine. The Bible does not support the idea that we are to embrace everyone regardless of his sin or doctrinal error. Once again, God says we are to stand for His word and to be separate.
This is not popular and will bring the one who practices biblical separation much scorn. The unseparated professing Christian is offended at those who hold uncompromisingly to the biblical standard.
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:10-14)
Paul warned us that evil men and seducers would wax worse and worse. Note that these evil men are called “seducers.” It is plain their prey is Christians, and their goal is to deceive for whatever their motives may be. The answer is not to condone false doctrine or compromise God’s truth with mixing it with error. As the passage points out the answer is in preaching God’s truth because it and it alone can make the “man of God...perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:17b)
The belief is stated by the dictum, “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.” Another phrase often heard is “Let’s not major on the minors.” The question this demands we answer is what is essential and what is not major? What parts of God's word are we at liberty to ignore. The phrases mean that some believe that there are doctrinal truths that are not essential to salvation, and thus they are not important. What this means those who hold this philosophy think that some doctrines and can be discarded because it interferes with fellowship or unity. In reality, to stand for the “essentials” is to stand for the whole word of God. God commands that believers are to separate themselves from worldliness and false teaching. God says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)
Paul warned about divisions in the local congregation. He said we are to mark them and avoid them. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” (Romans 16:17)
For example: For example, should a biblical church have fellowship and work in cooperation with a church or individuals who do not believe in the biblical doctrine of the eternal security of the believer? Those who deny eternal security of the believe plainly do not understand salvation. Would the Lord Jesus approve of an assembly bearing His name, having fellowship and unity with churches and individuals whose teaching what contrary to His word?
Should a sound biblical church fellowship and stand equally with a church that is actively involved in the unscriptural modern tongues' movement? Should a Bible believing Christian or church join in unity with the doctrinally false Reformed movement or the Arminians? They too do not understand salvation and teach “another gospel that is not another.”
Biblical separation rebukes false teaching, practices, and stands for God’s truth. Unity that ignores sound doctrine never brings anyone to Christ, but rather places a stumbling block to finding Christ and His truth. The unity God wants believers to have is biblical unity.
God says “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:11-18)
The doctrine of biblical separation precludes a true believer or a Bible believing church from being a part of any church, organization, denomination that practices and is committed to unbelief. God says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
We thank the Lord that others responded positively and became an important part of our congregation. What a blessing and encouragement they are who hold God’s word in truth and will join with those who love the Lord. How tragic also it is that they continued live in unbelief and as John explained, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)
If you are one of those who have compromised God word and criticized the biblical separationist clearly you do not understanding what God’s word teaches. This article was written for you. If you truly want to serve the Lord and do love the brethren, do you not see that the Lord would be pleased by you obeying him and abandoning your ecumenical ideas and practices governed by faulty human wisdom? Should you be condoning error and sin rather than upholding God’s truth? Let God’s word speak to your mind and heart, thus directing your path? He says to you:
”And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:11-18).
Yes, we are to love the brethren even as God has loved us and we are to:
”Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity” (1 Cor. 16:13-14)
Revised April 2016.All Rights Reserved
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Separation from sin is required of the Christian by the covenant of grace. The conditions of the covenant of grace are repentance and faith. The repentance which contemplates continuance in sin is not true repentance but a mere feigned or hypocritical repentance. When a particular course of conduct is demonstrated to be sinful, that is, contrary to the moral law of God, then separation from such conduct is required of the Christian by God himself. The moral law of God binds all of Adam’s posterity to personal, entire, exact and perpetual obedience (Westminster Confession of Faith, XIX.i). That God requires separation from sin is the consistent teaching of all Scripture. Rom. 6:1-2 may be cited as an example: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?”
That the Christian may continue in sin in order that grace may abound is Antinomianism, which is one of the most harmful of all heresies. We may confidently assert that Scripture requires the separated life, in the sense of separation from sinful conduct, of every Christian — indeed, of every human being.
II. Separation from Occasions of Temptation to Sin
The Christian is required to separate not merely from sin itself but also from known occasions of temptation to sin. It is not a sin to be tempted; the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil, yet He was wholly without sin. It is, however, a sin deliberately to place ourselves in the path of temptation to sin. In the Lord’s Prayer we use the petition, “Lead us not into temptation.” Concerning this the Larger Catechism, no. 195, states: “. . . that we, even after the pardon of our sins, by reason of our corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be tempted, and forward to expose ourselves unto temptations; but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them, and to improve them . . . .”
Christians are here said to be forward to expose themselves unto temptations, and doubtless this forwardness is itself sinful, inasmuch as it proceeds from our corruption of nature. Christians, therefore, instead of being forward in exposing themselves to temptations to sin, ought to separate themselves from such temptations and those things which are known to be occasions thereto. This is substantially taught in the words of Christ in Matthew 5:29-30: “And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not the whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell.”
Of course these words are not to be understood literally; the Lord does not intend us to attempt to avoid sin by actually mutilating our bodies. The real meaning is that the Christian is bound to cut off occasions of temptation to sin. A hand or an eye is not sinful in itself; they are here used metaphorically for occasions of temptation, which may be quite harmless in themselves, but which for various reasons cause the Christian to stumble. The Lord’s command is to cut them off, even though they may be harmless in themselves.
It will be noted that the command is conditional: “If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble,” etc. Therefore no universal rule can be made in this matter, for what is an overwhelming temptation to one person may be no temptation at all to another person. For a Chinese just converted from heathenism to keep a small brass image of the Buddha in his house, would be to tolerate a serious occasion of temptation to sin. For him the only safe course, even the only right course, is to get rid of the abomination as soon as possible. For a retired missionary living in America to have an image of the Buddha in his house as a curio cannot possibly be an occasion of temptation to him or to anyone else; to dispose of such an object in order to avoid temptation would be absurd. The image itself is “nothing in the world” (I Cor. 8:4); it is simply “a piece of brass” (II Kings 18:4); but to the man just saved from paganism it is a symbol of all the abominations of idolatry and a constant invitation to return to the old ways.
We should always remember that in reality all temptation is so dangerous because of the corruption of man’s sinful heart, not because of the inherent nature of any material thing. The truth is elementary, but it is constantly being overlooked or misunderstood, not only by earnest Christians but even by popular religious teachers of the present day. Since the real menace of temptation comes from the corruption of the human heart, not from the material things which surround us or the situations in life with which we are confronted, we see how false the doctrine is which would formulate hard and fast rules about separation from occasions of temptation to sin. Since, in the very nature of the case, that which tempts one man does not affect another, such formulations ought not to be made, and if made, they ought to be rejected by all Christian people who value their freedom of conscience. Beyond question it is a duty to separate from occasions of temptation to sin; but just what constitutes an occasion of temptation to sin, no man can authoritatively say for another so as to bind the other’s conscience; much less can any man or church formulate universal regulations binding upon all men in such matters as these.
III. Separation from the World
In addition to the obligation to separate from sin and from occasions of temptation to sin, there is a sense in which Scripture requires of the Christian separation from the world. In the original languages of Scripture, various terms are used which are translated “world” in the English Bible, and these are used with various meanings. In the New Testament the words aioon and kosmos are frequently used, the latter being much more common. The latter term is used in the New Testament with at least two entirely distinct meanings, of which examples may be cited as follows:
1. The World of Men, Regarded as God’s Property: — Matt. 13:38: “And the field is the world . . . .” Rom. 5:12: “Through one man sin entered into the world . . . .” I Cor. 7:31: “Those that use the world, as not using it to the full . . . .”
2. The Sinful World, Regarded as Satan’s Kingdom: — I John 2:15: “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him . . . .” John 14:30: “The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me . . . .” Eph. 2:2: “According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air . . . .”
That the Christian is not required to separate from human society or from the world itself is proved by I Cor. 5:9-10, “I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators: not at all meaning with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.”
Mediaeval monasticism was an attempt to separate from the world itself, an attempt to escape corruption by abstaining from all association with the corrupt. The Apostle Paul, in the text cited above, rejects this as an absurdity. The Christian is not required to separate from all association with unregenerate and sinful men; he is permitted to have civil association, even with fornicators, covetous, extortioners and idolaters; but he is forbidden to regard such as within the pale of Christian or ecclesiastical fellowship.
The Christian is, however, required to separate from all participation in the sins of the world. This is taught by II Cor. 6:17-18 and I Tim. 5:22, “Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and I will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” “Neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.”
In this sense, separation from the world is the same thing as separation from sin. It simply means separation from those things, sinful in themselves, which specially characterize the world regarded as Satan’s kingdom.
The Christian is also bound to witness against the world as Satan’s kingdom. Jesus Christ was a witness against the world in this sense, as shown by John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil.”
The Christian must follow the example of Christ, and testify of the world, that its works are evil. The Christian must maintain a consistent testimony against the world, and this involves separation from all conduct inconsistent with that testimony. This kind of separation from the world is required of Christians in Rev. 18:4, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues . . . .”
Even in the legitimate use of the world considered as God’s possession, the Christian must be moderate, as is shown by I Cor. 7:29-31, “But this I say, brethren, the time is shortened, that henceforth those that have wives may be as though they had none; and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use the world, as not using it to the full; for the fashion of this world passeth away.”
The Christian is a stranger and pilgrim on the earth (Heb. 11:13); his citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), where he already is in the person of his representative, Christ (Col. 3:1); the present world, even regarded apart from sin, as God’s creation and possession, is only temporary, a mere preparation for the eternal order of things (Heb. 13:14); and therefore the Christian must abstain from everything inconsistent with his position as a stranger and pilgrim, that is, from all inordinate use of the world. The expression “not using it to the full” might be paraphrased “not using it too intensely.” In this matter, as in the case of occasions of temptation to sin, it is obviously impossible to formulate specific rules; each case must be decided on its own merits by the person concerned, acting in accordance with a conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit.
IV. The Separated Life and the Use of Things Indifferent
Scripture recognizes a classification of things or actions which are commonly called adiaphora, or “things indifferent.” This term must not be misunderstood. It does not mean that a Christian, in performing any particular act, can be regarded as himself morally neutral or indifferent, or that the Christian can at any time take a moral holiday and concern himself wholly with things morally indifferent. Man is a moral agent and is always accountable to God for the state of his heart and for his every thought, word and deed. Everything that the Christian is and does always has moral significance. This is shown by Col. 3:17 and I Cor. 10:31: “And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
No matter what he does, the Christian is always either living for the glory of God or else sinning against the glory of God. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). A Christian performing any particular act under any particular set of circumstances, must be either glorifying God or else committing sin; there can be no third possibility. This does not mean that there are no adiaphora or things indifferent in themselves; it simply means that the right use of things indifferent, that is, the careful, temperate, God-fearing and conscientious use of or abstinence from them, is for the glory of God, whereas the wrong use of things indifferent, that is the abuse of them, is contrary to the glory of God and therefore sinful. But while the Christian himself is never morally neutral, still there are certain things and practices which, considered in themselves, are morally indifferent. This cannot be denied for it is clearly taught in Scripture, especially in such passages as Rom. 14:1-23, I Cor. 8:1-13 and I Cor. 10:23-32.
One part of Christian liberty consists in the conscientious free use of or abstinence from things indifferent, that is, things which are not in themselves unlawful. In this category Scripture includes such practical matters as what we shall eat and drink (Rom. 14:2-3, 6, 14, 17, 21; I Cor. 8:8, 10:25-26), the observance of certain days (Rom. 14:5-6), and such matters as marriage and celibacy (I Cor. 7:28).
What is the duty of the Christian with respect to things indifferent? Should be abstain from all conduct which might offend any Christian? If so, what are the proper grounds for this abstinence? Or should the Christian assert his freedom by the free use of things indifferent before the eyes of men? The teaching of Scripture on these and related questions may be summed up as follows:
1. Things Indifferent Can Never Be Sinful In Themselves. To classify something as indifferent and then regard it as sinful in itself is to become involved in a contradiction in terms, as if one were to speak of an honest thief, or a truthful liar. It is true, of course, that the use of things indifferent may, under certain circumstances, be sinful, but this is very far from implying that things indifferent can be sinful in themselves. When we affirm that a particular thing or act is sinful in itself, we mean that it is inseparable from sin, and therefore cannot possibly, under any circumstances whatever, be done without sin. For example, adultery is sinful in itself; under no possible circumstances can it be committed without sin. Its sinful character is not contingent upon special circumstances, but is inherent in its very nature and inseparable from it. Playing on the piano, on the other hand, is in itself morally indifferent. Just because it is a thing indifferent, it can never be sinful in itself. But there may exist circumstances in which such an act is sinful. If a child has been forbidden by its parents to play on the piano at a particular time, but does so anyway, then under those circumstances playing on the piano is sinful. The sin committed, however, is not the sin of piano playing, but the sin of disobedience to legitimate parental authority. Again, if a person develops such a consuming passion for piano music that he devotes to this pursuit practically all of this time and strength, and makes it the supreme business and chief aim of his life, even above worshipping God and seeking his kingdom and righteousness, then in such a case and when carried to such an intemperate extreme, playing on the piano is sinful. The sin committed, however, is not the sin of piano playingbut the sin of idolatry. Thus we see that while certain circumstances may render the use of adiaphora sinful by a particular person at a particular time or under certain circumstances, still this is very different from affirming that the things in question are sinful in themselves. Let us assure ourselves, then, once for all, that Scripture does really teach that certain things or actions are not sinful in themselves, but morally indifferent. If this fact be denied or ignored, only confusion and error can result. If any of our readers are disposed to deny that Scripture teaches the existence of adiaphora, we can only entreat them to make a more careful study of the fourteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. This doctrine is proved by Rom. 14:14 and I Cor. 10:23. “I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; save that to him who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” “All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things edify.”
There can be little doubt that certain groups among American Fundamentalists have to a considerable extent revived the ancient Gnostic doctrine that material things can be sinful in themselves. It is not difficult, however, to show how contrary this conception is to the Biblical doctrine of sin. According to Scripture, the seat of sin is the corrupt heart of fallen man, not any material thing or impersonal matter. This is shown by our Lord’s words in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man.”
Scripture also teaches that sin has an absolute character; even the slightest sin is a violation of the whole moral law of God and brings on the sinner the sentence of eternal separation from God (James 2:10-11; Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). If the use of any material thing is sinful in itself, then that use partakes of the absolute character of sin and brings upon the user a deserved sentence to eternal punishment. Thus, if the use of any material things is sinful in itself, then such use is sinful regardless of the degree of use. In that case, even the slightest possible use is an offence against the righteousness of God which brings His deserved wrath upon the user (Rom. 1:18).
This may be illustrated as follows: Beyond doubt it is sinful to commit suicide by drinking carbolic acid. This, however, is not because the use of carbolic acid is sinful in itself, but because it is used with suicidal intent. In such a case, the sin committed is the sin of suicide, not the sin of drinking carbolic acid. Carbolic acid being a material thing cannot be sinful in itself. If its use were sinful in itself, that use would be sinful regardless of the quantity used. If one drop of carbolic acid were to be dissolved in a thousand gallons of water, and one drop of the resultant solution drunk, the drinking of that one drop would be a sin deserving the punishment of eternal death, provided the use of carbolic acid is sinful in itself.
Let no one say that this is simply a reductio ad absurdum and therefore not worthy of serious consideration. Scripture does teach that sin has an absolute character, and that any sin, even the least, is a violation of the whole moral law and therefore deserving of the judicial sentence of eternal death. This being the teaching of Scripture, it follows necessarily that if the use of material things can be sinful in itself, then the slightest such use is deserving of the judicial sentence of eternal death. The absurdity is in the notion that sin can be inherent in the use of any material thing, not in the Scripture doctrine that even the least sin has an absolute character. It is extremely important at the present time to defend the proposition that things indifferent cannot be sinful in themselves, for this proposition is widely denied in some Fundamentalist circles today. A return to the teaching of Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8 would be a most salutary thing in the life of many churches today.
2. The Christian Is Free To Use Or Abstain From Things Indifferent.Since things indifferent are not sinful in themselves, the Christian is free to use them except when there is some special reason for abstinence from them. Scripture expressly uses the word “liberty” (I Cor. 8:9; 10:29) in dealing with this matter. The Christian’s freedom to use or abstain from things indifferent is also brought out by Rom. 14:5 and 22: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. . . . Happy is he that judgeth not himself in that which he approveth.”
Since the Christian is declared to be free to use or not use things indifferent, it follows that any abstinence from things indifferent must in the nature of the case be voluntary and not obligatory. This is brought out by Rom. 14:21, “It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.”
The word translated “good” is kalon, which means “pleasant,” “comely,” or “seemly,” but cannot possibly mean “obligatory.” The same Greek word is used in Mark 9:5, where Peter, speaking of the Mount of Transfiguration, says to the Lord, “It is good for us to be here.” This should be sufficient to show that Rom. 14:21 cannot possibly be interpreted as a divine prohibition of the use of any material thing.
3. It Is Not Of The Essence Of Christian Liberty That It Must Be Exercised In The Sight Of Men. Scripture teaches, rather, that it is to be exercised in the sight of God, and that God holds the Christian accountable for his use or abuse of this freedom. This is proved by Rom. 14:22, 6, 12, “The faith which thou hast, have thou to thyself before God.” “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.” “So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
A corollary of this truth that the Christian is responsible to God for his use or abuse of Christian liberty, is the command to refrain from judging others for their conscientious use of things indifferent, as shown by Rom. 14:4, 10, 13, “Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth . . . .” “But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? or thou again, why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.” “Let us therefore judge one another any more . . . .”
These texts speak of individual judging of individuals. The judicial function of the church in these matters will be dealt with in a subsequent section of this paper. As to individual judging, can there be any doubt that uncharitable and presumptuous judging of others for their legitimate and conscientious use of things indifferent is exceedingly common at the present day?
4. The Christian Must Take Care Take He Does Not Cause Others To Stumble. The Christian is accountable to God to take care that in his use of things indifferent he does not cause others to stumble or be offended. The Christian is his brother’s keeper, and has a responsibility for his brother’s welfare. He should therefore deny himself and voluntarily abstain from the use of particular things which are in themselves indifferent, when a brother would be offended or caused to stumble by their use. This is shown by Rom. 14:7, 13, 15, 21, “For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself.” “Judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion of falling.” “For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died.” “It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth.”
In this connection, it must be repeated and emphasized that, so far as the Christian’s relation to his brethren is concerned, the abstinence spoken of in these texts is voluntary and not obligatory abstinence. It should be carefully noted that Romans 14, I Corinthians 8 and I Cor. 10:23-32 are definitely addressed to the individual Christian and not to church assemblies or judicatories. The singular number is used throughout. These passages, therefore, present principles for the guidance of Christians in regulating their personal conduct, not principles for the guidance of church assemblies in formulating conditions of church membership. A Christian may feel that it is his duty, before God, to abstain from a particular thing which is in itself indifferent, while yet realizing that, so far as men are concerned, it is not mandatory upon him to abstain. In such a case, abstinence is obligatory so far as the relation between the Christian and God is concerned, but voluntary so far as the relation between the Christian and his brethren is concerned. Abstinence can be truly voluntary only when it is a matter between the Christian and his Lord; when it is made mandatory by ecclesiastical enactment it ceases to be voluntary and becomes obligatory. This would seem very clear from the texts above cited, taken in their context, yet it has been repeatedly claimed that Rom. 14:21 contains a divine prohibition of the use of certain material things. If that is the true meaning of Rom. 14:21, then all the rest of the chapter is without point and its teaching is utterly obscure.
5. In Abstinence From Things Indifferent, The Christian’s Conscience Is Free. Abstinence from things indifferent, while it may proceed from consideration for the weak conscience of a brother, can never proceed from our own conscience, except in the indirect sense that our conscience requires us to be considerate of the weaknesses of fellow Christians; for if a thing be regarded as indifferent, how could the use of it be sinful in itself, or how could we abstain because of our own conscience? The relation of Christian liberty to the conscience is proved by I Cor. 10:25-29, “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake; for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. If one of them that believe not biddeth you to a feast, and ye are disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if any man say unto you, This hath been offered in sacrifice, eat not, for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other’s; for why is my liberty judged by another conscience?”
The closing words of the above citation need to be emphasized today: “Why is my liberty judged by another conscience?” Why should my liberty, in those things in which Christ has left me free, be subject to the judgment of an individual brother’s conscience, or to the collective judgment of the conscience of a church assembly or judicatory? Let us ask ourselves in all seriousness, what right has any person or power on earth to bind the conscience of the Christian in matters in which Christ has declared that conscience to be free under God? The very heart of the Scripture teaching concerning the use of things indifferent is that the Christian is free to use or to abstain from using such things, according to his own conscience, and that for his use or abuse of this freedom he is accountable to God. The moment that specific rules are made by men concerning things indifferent, the moment that any man or body of men requires of the Christian abstinence from things indifferent for religious or moral reasons, at that moment liberty has become bondage, and the conscience, left free by God as to things indifferent, has become enslaved to the commandments of men. At that moment abstinence ceases to be voluntary and becomes obligatory, and the entire Scripture teaching on this subject is utterly perverted.
6. A Matter Must Be Regarded As Indifferent In Itself Until Proved Sinful By Scripture. The question may be raised, How are we to decide whether or not a particular matter belongs in the category of things indifferent? In this, as in all other questions of faith and conduct, the Word of God must be our chart and compass. A matter must be regarded as indifferent until proved to be sinful, not vice versa. A man is regarded as innocent until proved guilty. Nothing could be more false and dangerous than the contention of some religious teachers that a matter must be regarded as sinful until proved to be indifferent. When there is any doubt that the matter is sinful in itself, it must be left to the individual conscience. If the teaching of Scripture about a particular matter appears to be doubtful or obscure, or even seems to be contradictory, this is all the more reason for church assemblies not to make authoritative pronouncements or laws about such a matter. What God has clearly revealed, let the church confidently enforce. What God has not clearly revealed, let the church not presume to determine. God grant that we may be preserved from trying to have a clearer standard than the Bible, or a more complete set of moral laws than that contained in the Word of God!
Beyond question a great deal of the present insistence on the obligation to live what is called the separated life proceeds from misunderstanding of the Scripture passages dealing with the use of things indifferent. When groups of earnest Christians demand separation from particular things, in themselves indifferent, as the condition of Christian fellowship, they set up a false and unwarranted standard of fellowship, and become guilty of presumption by judging their brethren in those things in which Christ has left them free under God.
V. The Separated Life and the Sufficiency of Scripture
The principle of the sufficiency of Scripture as the standard of faith and conduct is involved in the problem of the separated life. Separation is sometimes demanded from things which Scripture does not declare or imply to be sinful. Sometimes the attempt is made to show that some of these things or practices are sinful by bringing in a secondary authority, such as experience, physical science, the so-called Christian consciousness. Experience or science may show good reasons for abstaining from certain acts or habits, but experience or science can never of itself be binding on the conscience of man.
Moreover, those who wish to introduce science as an additional authority always speak as if it were a very simple matter to ascertain what science has to say on any particular question. They always speak as if somewhere there were a sort of scientific pope who could utter ex cathedra the final, united, unquestionable voice of science. They seem to presuppose that the voice of science can be heard, speaking with authoritative accents, by simply consulting a few volumes in the public library. The truth is, however, that “science” is an abstraction. There is in the world today no such thing as the voice of science; there are only the voices of a multitude of scientists, and they are anything but agreed among themselves. Now who is to decide which of these many voices is to be accepted as the authoritative voice of science? One scientist, a professor in a great university, states that years of research have failed to demonstrate that a certain practice shortens life. Another scientist, of equal scientific standing, maintains the contrary position. Who is to decide which represents the authoritative voice of “science”? All too often those who wish to place science alongside of Scripture as a standard of faith and conduct wish at the same time to be the judges of what is science; those who hold certain views they regard as scientists; all others they reject as being prejudiced or otherwise untrustworthy. Can any pope or church assembly decide just what kinds of science — the opinions of just which scientists — are authoritative and therefore, along with Scripture, binding on the conscience of man? No, in matters of science every person must decide for himself. And even if certain scientific theories are believed to be true, they cannot be binding on the conscience. We must beware of the sin mentioned in the Larger Catechism, no. 105, of “making men the lords of our faith and conscience.” All human authority, however expert or learned, is fallible, and therefore cannot bind the conscience. Science may show that certain things are harmful to the body, but science can never show that anything is sinful. Scripture alone can show that anything, for example a particular course of conduct, is sinful. It is true that the light of nature, or the moral law written on the heart of man (Rom 2:14-15), shows that certain acts, such as murder, are wrong; but the light of nature does not tell us anything about morality in addition to what is revealed in Scripture; Scripture is a fuller revelation than natural revelation and includes all of the latter and much besides; therefore when Scripture does not declare or imply that a certain practice is sinful, we cannot turn from Scripture to natural revelation for fuller light on the matter. (In this connection it may be remarked that the modernist notion that all human knowledge and science is a divine revelation in the same sense that Scripture is a divine revelation, is utterly false and destructive. Natural revelation is a provision of God by which the heathen, who do not have the light of Scripture, may know something of His power, divinity and moral law. It is insufficient for salvation, but leaves men without excuse and provides a standard by which those who lived and died without the light of special revelation shall be judged. Rom. 1:18-20; 2:12-16.)
Scripture of course teaches that it is ordinarily the duty of Christians to abstain from what is harmful to the body (this is not always the duty of Christians, for there may be circumstances when loyalty to Christ requires that our own physical welfare be disregarded, or even that, rather than deny the Lord, we suffer martyrdom and allow the body to be entirely destroyed); the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” is stated by the Shorter Catechism to forbid “the taking of our own life, or the life of our neighbor, unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto” (no. 69). This commandment is binding on every man, and the interpretation of it given in the Catechism is doubtless the correct one. It thus becomes binding on the conscience of the Christian to abstain from that which tends toward the unjust destruction of his own life, or that of his neighbor, that is, from that which is harmful to the body. But we should note that the decision whether a particular act is harmful must be made by the individual concerned. Science is never infallible; it cannot bind the conscience; therefore the individual Christian must judge of the statements of science, and the statements of science must not judge the Christian. To deny this means to make science, instead of God, the Lord of the conscience. No alleged “findings” of science can be formulated into an authoritative list of harmful things or acts. The relation between the sufficiency of Scripture as the standard of faith and conduct and the problem of the separated life must be summarized as follows:
- The Christian is required by God to separate from what is sinful.
- Scripture alone can demonstrate that a given course of conduct is sinful.
- Natural revelation cannot be regarded as a fuller revelation than Scripture, or as coordinate with Scripture in any sense whatever.
- It is possible that science or experience may show that certain conduct is harmful.
- Science or experience can never show that anything is sinful.
- Scripture teaches that what is really harmful is ordinarily sinful.
- The decision whether science or experience shows that particular conduct is harmful must be made by the individual concerned, not by other persons.
- Church assemblies may not issue authoritative regulations based in whole or in part on any other standard than Scripture.
To depart from these principles is to deny the sufficiency of Scripture as the standard of faith and conduct and to elevate experience or science to the position of an additional authority coordinate with Scripture. This may be illustrated as follows: Science, let us say, has demonstrated that in certain conditions the eating of large amounts of certain foods is harmful to the body; this does not prove that the use of those foods is sinful in itself; science, moreover, cannot tell precisely where lies the border line between harmless use and harmful use. Scripture requires abstinence from that which is harmful, but teaches that no material thing is sinful in itself (Rom. 14:4). In the very nature of the case the individual concerned must be the judge of the extent of legitimate use in such a case, so far as his conscience is concerned. Some may say that the individual’s physician is the proper judge in such a case but, even so, judgment is still left with the individual; he is free to follow or to reject his physician’s advice, and also free to change or dismiss his physician. For an ecclesiastical judicatory to assert that science declares the matters in question to be harmful, therefore they are under all circumstances sinful, amounts to denying the sufficiency of Scripture and making human science an additional, coordinate authority.
If a Christian suffering from some bodily pain, takes more aspirin than is good for him, he may by this do something which is harmful to the body; he may even be doing something which, though not sinful in itself, is in that particular instance a sin against God; but the fact that it is possible for a person to commit sin by excessive use of aspirin by no means warrants a church assembly in enacting a rule limiting or prohibiting the use of aspirin by church members; because the use of aspirin is in itself morally indifferent, in the nature of the case the extent of legitimate use is a matter between the person and his Lord. No third party can be admitted to determine the question, so far as the morality of the matter is concerned. A physician may give good advice concerning the care of the body and the proper dosage of medicines, but he has nothing to do with the consciences of his patients. No fellow Christian, no bishop, pope, or ecclesiastical assembly can step in and say: “So-and-so many grains of aspirin constitute a legitimate medicinal dose, provided you have so-and-so many degrees of headache; but at that precise point aspirin ceases to be morally indifferent and its use becomes sinful.”
Many persons today are ready to take the real or alleged “findings” of science (or rather of certain scientists) that certain material things or certain habits are harmful to the body, and on this basis alone to affirm confidently that those things or those habits are necessarily sinful in themselves. To do this is not only to fall into Gnostic error, but to repudiate the sufficiency of the Word of God as the standard of morality, and to make fallible, human knowledge an authoritative standard of conduct.
VI. The Separated Life and the Nature and Extent of the Authority of the Christian Church
In the formulation of creedal doctrine, the Christian church is strictly limited by Scripture. The church has the right to require of her officers and members assent to everything that can be shown to be taught or implied in Scripture, but the church does not have the right to add anything to what is contained in Scripture. The authority of the church is ministerial and declarative, not legislative; it is derived from Christ, not original in the church itself; it is no an absolute authority, but one limited and regulated by a definite revelation, the Scriptures. From these considerations it follows that the church has no right to go beyond Scripture and compile lists of specific things or acts, in themselves indifferent, which experience or science purport to show to be deleterious and which are therefore alleged to be wrong for the Christian to use or to do.
There are some Christian denominations which actually single out certain specific acts, in themselves indifferent, and require of church members abstinence from those things as a condition of membership. In some cases this requirement of abstinence is written into the denomination’s creedal doctrine, and members are not merely required to abstain from the particular things involved, but are also required to express their assent to the rightfulness of this requirement of abstinence. This tendency, which assumes various forms in various circles, is a very unhealthy one, for it tends to give people the notion that the church can, by its own authority, legislate for the lives of its members, and even go beyond Scripture in requiring of them abstinence from particular things which are in themselves indifferent.
Of course the church may and should require its members to abstain from everything that can be proved by Scripture to be sinful. The breach of such abstinence can be justly censured by ecclesiastical judicatories when the fact is proved. But the church has not authority to require abstinence from things indifferent. The church has no authority to usurp the functions of the individual Christian conscience and decide for her members concerning the use of things indifferent. For the church to censure her members for doing that which cannot be proved from Scripture, without the use of any additional authority, to be sinful, is to exceed the limits of legitimate church authority. At the point where a secondary becomes necessary, the matter automatically passes from the church to the court of the individual conscience, precisely because God alone is Lord of the conscience, and human authority cannot bind the conscience. Let all church courts beware of committing the sin which Spurgeon described as “violating the crown rights of God who alone is Lord of the consciences of men.”
Even though a church member may have committed an act which in the opinion of the members of a judicatory would be sinful if committed in like circumstances by themselves, still the judicatory has no right to censure such a person unless it can be proved from Scripture that the act was sinful; just as in criminal law a jury may be of the opinion that a defendant has committed a wrong, but has no right to convict him unless the evidence proves that he has violated the law of the land. A church judicatory may not decide cases by opinion, but must decide according to the law and the evidence.
It will be seen to follow from the foregoing that just as the church has no authority to go beyond Scripture in legislating concerning particular things which are in themselves indifferent, so the church has no authority to censure her members for any use of things indifferent unless that use can be proved to involve the violation of an express or implied command of Scripture. It is not sufficient to show that a command of Scripture may have been violated, or that an act has been committed which might, under some circumstances, involve the violation of a command of Scripture. To be justly liable to ecclesiastical censure, a church member must be charged with a particular act, committed at a particular time and place, and concerning this act two things must be proved: (1) it must be proved that the act was actually committed by the person, and at the time and place specified in the charge; (2) it must be proved that the act, in the circumstances under which it was committed, involved the violation of a command of Scripture, that is, that it was sinful. Church discipline must always deal with real offenses, not with the legitimate and conscientious use of things indifferent. Its function is to remedy actual wrongs already committed, not to prevent the commission of wrongs by enforcing abstinence from things which are in themselves not sinful but indifferent.
VII. The Work of the Holy Spirit vs. the Doctrines and Commandments of Men
Those who wish to add to what God has spoken in Scripture certain man-made regulations concerning things indifferent often take this position because they believe these rules necessary in order to prevent various evils. They assume that unless a rule is made, a particular evil will exist unchecked. So a church in China makes a rule against the use of opium by church members, and a church in Mexico a rule against the use of marihuana. In each case the motive is a laudable one, namely to prevent church members from becoming addicted to certain drugs. Nevertheless, a careful study of the problem leads us to the conclusion that the enactment of such regulations proceeds from false assumptions, is ineffectual for the intended purpose, and is very dishonoring to the Holy Spirit.
For a church judicatory to enact a rule prohibiting the use of opium by church members, for example, shows a presupposition that such a rule is necessary. Clearly the assumption is that, unless such a rule is made, some church members will use opium. And it seems to be assumed that some church members will abstain from the use of opium because of a church rule, who would not abstain if there were no such ecclesiastical regulation. Now those who advocate man-made regulations concerning things indifferent reason as though the Holy Spirit did not dwell in the hearts of the Lord’s people, as though there were no such thing as sanctification by the Holy Spirit, and as though Christian people were the same as the children of the world. They fail to take the power of the Holy Spirit into their reckoning. How are the members of the church to be kept from using opium or marihuana? The only way they can think of is to make a rule prohibiting the use of these things by church members. What a confession! What ignorance concerning the nature and power of the Holy Spirit’s work. What an admission concerning the spiritual state of the church members for whom the rule is made!
Church members are supposed to be Christian people. If they are not Christian people, they really have no right to be church members at all. This does not mean that church officers can examine people’s hearts and admit to membership only those who are truly regenerate, for they cannot. It does mean, however, that in a church where the gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully proclaimed, where a credible profession of faith is required of those admitted from the world, and where the discipline of the Lord’s house is faithfully administered, the hypocrites will be very few. Such a church will be made up of regenerate Christian people. Now the Word of God teaches us that every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that if any person does not possess the Holy Spirit, he is not a Christian at all (Rom. 8:9). The Holy Spirit is God, He is omnipotent, and He carries on in each of God’s children the work of sanctification until each is made perfect in the likeness of Christ. Therefore, where the gospel is faithfully preached and taught there will be no need to go beyond Scripture and add the doctrines and commandments of men concerning things in themselves indifferent. The Spirit of God will work true holiness in the hearts and lives of the people, their consciences will be enlightened and their walk consistent.
Long ago the Apostle Paul warned the Colossians against all such man-made rules, as we read in Col. 2:20-23, “If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
From this we learn that man-made regulations about things indifferent are ineffectual: they are “not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.” Whatever men may say about such rules and regulations, the Holy Spirit here tells us that they are useless as a means of restraining fleshly appetites. In another place the Holy Spirit has given us through the Apostle Paul the true secret of overcoming the fleshly lusts, as we see in Gal. 5:16, “But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”
The whole passage, Gal. 5:16-24, is a radical antidote for the false belief that man-made rules and regulations can curb the sinful tendencies of the Christian’s old nature. Many of those who today are so zealous for human ordinances about things indifferent fall into the error of the Galatians, who supposed that the Christian life is begun in the Spirit, but perfected in the flesh (Gal. 3:3), begun by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, but completed by human efforts, actions and abstinences.
Someone may object that opium and marihuana, for example, are not indifferent, but sinful in themselves. We have already shown that no material thing can be sinful in itself. Now if opium, marihuana or any other particular material substance is to be regarded as an exception to this principle, the problem is raised as to what authority is competent to decide which substances are exceptions to the principle that no material things can be sinful in itself. There is, no doubt, general agreement among Christian people that such substances as opium and marihuana, for example, are so dangerous and harmful that they should not be used at all. This general agreement is, however, no proper ground for church judicatories authoritatively pronouncing such substances sinful in themselves, or declaring their use to be sinful per se. The Word of God, not the so-called Christian consciousness, is our only infallible rule of faith and conduct. What authority is competent to determine the harmfulness and on this basis to infer the inherent sinfulness of the use of a particular material substance, withal making this inference binding on the consciences of the Lord’s people? Are church judicatories qualified to issue authoritative pronouncements on such matters? By what right does a synod or assembly composed of ministers and elders decide questions concerning the physiological action and toxic properties of various narcotic drugs? If we grant to ecclesiastical bodies the right to decide concerning opium and marihuana, do we not thereby concede the entire principle that the church may legitimately decide for its members concerning the use of things indifferent? And if so, could we consistently object, for reasons of principle, if a church judicatory were to enact a rule prohibiting the use of tea or coffee? We are far from holding that it is legitimate for Christians to use dangerous drugs. What we are contending for is not license to use poisonous drugs, but freedom under God to decide for ourselves what material substances we ought to leave alone. We would keep the consciences of Christian people free from what Dr. Machen called “the tyranny of the experts.” We maintain that the individual Christian, and not the church, must pass judgment on the pronouncements of experts concerning such things, so far as questions of morality are concerned. We are far from holding that it is “all right” to use opium, marihuana or a great many other material substances, but if the question as to the sinfulness of the use of these things is to be decided for us by a synod or pope, then our freedom of conscience is destroyed and our soul reduced to bondage to the commandments of men. If the thing is indifferent in itself, whatever it may be, then the individual Christian, not the church, has the God-given right to decide ethical questions concerning its use. We fully agree with the general opinion of Christian people that such substances as opium and marihuana should not be used at all, except possibly by a physician’s orders; but we claim the God-given right to make this decision ourselves, and not to have it made for us by an ecclesiastical judicatory. The conscience of each and every one of the Lord’s people is enlightened by the Holy Spirit; to require Christian people to accept ecclesiastical regulations on such matters is akin to the “implicit faith, and absolute and blind obedience” which is required by the Church of Rome.
In a previous section of this discussion we made the statement that “Since things indifferent are not sinful in themselves, the Christian is free to use them except when there is some special reason for abstinence from them.” Lest this statement be misunderstood, we would add that the reference is to things indifferent as a class, not to every specific adiaphoronindividually. We do not mean that the Christian is free to use every indifferent thing, except when there is some special reason for abstinence, but rather that, of the whole class of things indifferent, the Christian is free to use any specific things except those in the case of which there exists some special reason for abstinence. If a particular material substance is known to be a dangerous, habit-forming narcotic drug, that is certainly a valid special reason for abstinence from that particular substance, but the decision that a consistent Christian walk requires abstinence from that particular thing must be made by the individual Christian, not by the church. If it be alleged that this position fails to safeguard the members of the church against harmful and dangerous habits, we reply that the contrary position dishonors the Holy Spirit and minimizes His work. Regeneration of the heart, sanctification of the life and enlightenment of the mind and conscience of Christian people by the Holy Spirit are realities, and we for our part believe they are far more powerful and effective than any man-made rules and regulations revised to supplement the Word of God.
Having stated and defended the foregoing principles, we wish to add three qualifying statements in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding:
1. Though it is not proper for ecclesiastical bodies to legislate concerning things indifferent, it is sometimes entirely legitimate for the civil government to do so. Civil legislation does not purport to bind the conscience, but only the control the conduct of citizens.
2. While it is not proper for church judicatories to make rules concerning opium or marihuana, for instance, it may be perfectly legitimate for a church session to reject an applicant for membership who uses one of these things, not because the use of these or any other material thing is sinful in itself, but because, in the particular case under consideration, the church session may decide that the degree, manner and circumstances of the use of a particular thing are such as to involve the actual commission of sin of such a nature as to render the applicant’s profession incredible.
3. While it is not proper for church bodies to make rules concerning the use of things indifferent, it may be perfectly legitimate for a church judicatory to censure a church member for the use of something which is not sinful in itself, when it is proved that in the particular case in question the use really involved the commission of sin. It is one thing to administer church discipline if and when real scandal occurs, and quite another to attempt to prevent its occurring by binding a universal man-made rule upon the consciences of the Lord’s people.
Conclusion: The True vs. the False Doctrine
In conclusion, then, we may say that there exist a true and a false doctrine of the separated life. The Christian life must be a separated life, in the sense in which Scripture uses the term “separate.” But this by no means implies that all that is meant by the separated life in common speech today is mandatory upon the Christian so far as his relation to his brethren is concerned. The differences between the true and false conceptions of the separated life may be shown by the following comparative table:
The Biblical Conception:
1. Obligatory separation from conduct which is sinful in itself.
The Popular Conception:
1. Obligatory separation from conduct which is sinful in itself and from certain conduct not sinful in itself.
The Biblical Conception:
2. The seat of sin is the corrupt heart of fallen man; the use of no material thing can be sinful in itself.
The Popular Conception:
2. Sin is inherent in the use of certain material things, as well as in the corrupt heart of fallen man.
The Biblical Conception:
3. Conscientious free use, under God, of things indifferent. The conscience free from the commandments of men.
The Popular Conception:
3. Human prohibition of things indifferent. The conscience enslaved to the traditions and commandments of men.
The Biblical Conception:
4. Scripture the only standard of faith and conduct that can bind the conscience.
The Popular Conception:
4. Sufficiency of Scripture denied; other authorities added and regarded as binding the conscience.
The Biblical Conception:
5. Ecclesiastical legislation concerning things indifferent limited by Scripture.
The Popular Conception:
5. Ecclesiastical legislation concerning things indifferent extends beyond what Scripture warrants.
Departure from what Scripture teaches concerning the separated life is fraught with peril to the Christian church. The notion that sin is inherent in the use of material things is widespread in American fundamentalism today. The doctrine that the church has the right to decide for her members concerning the use of or abstinence from things indifferent appears to be very widespread, and very seldom challenged at the present day. Persons who have the courage to oppose publicly these two false doctrinal tendencies are likely to be attacked as being opposed to holiness and in favor of sinful license. The practice of ecclesiastical assemblies issuing authoritative pronouncements on all sorts of questions which Scripture places in the sphere of the individual Christian conscience, has become a notorious evil. Many in their zeal to have the church “take a stand” on this, that or the other evil, quite forget that in some matters the Christian responsible, not to his brethren, but directly to his Lord, to whom alone the conscience can be subject. It is imperative that the churches rethink this whole problem and return to the solid rock of Scripture, and build solidly thereon. The alternative is a Gnostic doctrine of sin and a tyrannical, totalitarian church which destroys the God-given Christian liberty of her members. Our appeal is to the Word of God. Popular conceptions and ecclesiastical traditions are of no weight whatever in determining what we should believe and how we should live.
Many earnest Christian people are strongly opposed to the doctrines set forth in this article, and persons who proclaim these doctrines are likely to suffer considerable criticism, misunderstanding and reproach, but these are of little importance. Let us lay aside all prejudices and search the Scriptures to see whether these things are so. We may safely take our stand with Matthew Henry who wrote, commenting on Prov. 12:19, “Be it observed, to the honour of truth, that sacred thing, that, if truth be spoken, it will hold good, and whoever may be disobliged by it, and angry at it, yet it will keep its ground; great is the truth, and will prevail; what is true will be always true, we may abide by it, and need not fear being disproved and put to shame.” The truth of the Lord endureth forever, and that truth is sure to prevail over error in the end.
In Numbers 6:1-12 we have God’’s call to every believer to live a separated life. The Word of God calls us to be separated people –- look up 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1. In the Bible separation is always presented as a two-fold experience –- separation from and to. Separation from is mentioned in Numbers 6:3 (KJV); separation to is indicated in Numbers 6:2. By a separated life we are to be separated from all that is contrary to God’’s will, and separated to God Himself, for His use and for His glory alone. Let us consider all that this involves.
1. IT IS THE LORD WHO CALLS TO A LIFE OF SEPARATION.
Look at verses 2 and 3 –- it is very important for us to see this. Sometimes Christians feel that they must not do a certain thing, or go to a certain place, because another Christian regards it as wrong. We need to see that it is God to whom we are responsible in these matters; the Lord calls us to separate from all that is displeasing to Him, and to dedicate ourselves to Him so that we are available for His service. If we have a problem about this, our problem is not with the preacher, or the church, or our Christian friend, but with the Lord.
2. THE LORD CALLS BOTH MEN AND WOMEN TO LIVE SEPARATED LIVES.
That may sound strange; but the Holy Spirit underlines it in verse 2. The Lord has a two-fold need: for men and women who will each, in their separate spheres, live lives that are separated from all that is contrary to His will. He needs men who will live separated lives as husbands and fathers, and in their work in commerce, industry or professional life –- everywhere; and He needs women who will live separated lives in their sphere, whether at work, in the home, caring for family, or busy serving their Lord in some other way.
3. SEPARATION IS PRESENTED TO US AS A VOLUNTARY MATTER.
Twice in verse 2 (KJV) we read the words ““separate themselves””. There is no suggestion here that it is optional, though God does not force us to live separated lives. He appeals to us and commands us to be separated Christians, then leaves us to make our response to Him. Notice that this whole matter of separation from……and to……is brought before us in Romans 12:1-2.
4. THIS SEPARATION IS FROM ALL FORBIDDEN THINGS.
In the case of the Nazarite three things in particular were forbidden: (1) strong drink (verses 3-4); (2) cutting or shaving the hair (verse 5); and (3) contact with any dead body (verses 6-7). There is, however, a much wider application of this truth to those of us who are Christians. The Lord has given us His Word containing His commandments so that we may not have any doubt as to how He would have us live. If we are in doubt as to whether a thing is right or wrong and we will honestly come to the Word of God to seek an answer, we can be sure that He will give us clear guidance in the matter.
5. THIS SEPARATION IS TO THE LORD HIMSELF.
Compare verses 3 and 8. This separation is not isolation –- see what Psalm 4:3 says! It is not separation to a cause, a church, a denomination or a creed; it is separation to the Lord Himself. We get an illustration of this in Acts 13:2 (KJV): ““The Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them…”…” These two servants of God were setting out on a great missionary journey, and were to separate themselves to that one task; but before they separated themselves to the task they were to be separated to the Holy Spirit. In other words, it was separation to the Lord, and then separation to the task –- look up 2 Corinthians 8:5.
6. IT IS A COMPLETE SEPARATION OF OURSELVES.
Primarily, God wants us –- not our gifts, talents, time, money or service. It is a great thing to bring these things to the Lord, and He will accept them; but the gift He asks of each one of us is the gift of ourselves. He wants us to place ourselves utterly and absolutely at His disposal –- look up Romans 6:13.
7. THIS SEPARATION IS TO BE FOR LIFE.
In the case of the Nazarite, the vow of separation was for a short period, as verse 13 indicates; but in the case of God’’s people who live today, our separation will only be fulfilled when we finish our earthly course. It is God’’s purpose that the whole of our life upon earth should be lived entirely to His glory. Have we this vision?
8. THIS SEPARATION NECESSARILY INVOLVES SELF-DENIAL.
Take the case of the Nazarite. The fruit of the vine might be very sweet to his taste, but he must not touch it. And if even his father, mother, brother or sister died, he must not go near their dead bodies. He could not even have his hair cut! All these things are symbolic, typical and indicative of real self-denial. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 6:12. There are many things which are lawful for us, but it is not expedient that we should allow them in our lives. If we are determined to be separated men and women, by not touching the unclean thing, not living a worldly life, but living only for the Lord, then we shall be fully prepared to make any sacrifice that will bring pleasure to Him.
9. FINALLY, SEPARATED LIVES CANNOT BE HIDDEN.
As his hair and beard grew longer, the Nazarite would become more and more conspicuous, and everyone who saw him would say, ‘‘Look, a Nazarite!’’ While God does not want us to look foolish, he wants us in every part of our life to show clearly that we belong to Him. Do others know, not only by the things we do not do, but by the things we do, and by what we are, that we are the Lord’’s? Now look up Hebrews 13:12-13 –- the motive for a separated life!
Biblical separation from denominational heresy and apostasy (nowadays including homosexual immorality) is no longer widely followed by evangelicals. Evangelical Anglicans remain in their deeply corrupt denomination no matter what; the Evangelical Alliance happily harbours numerous people who deny penal substitution; and even the former British Evangelical Council has changed into ‘Affinity’ – an organisation soft on biblical separation. But the commands to stand clear of false doctrine, immorality and worldliness are still in the Bible, and the warnings of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 stand over us if we persist in disobedience. The loss of separation has already led to a weakened, worldly, psychological evangelicalism in Britain, and the situation will grow worse still without a return to former standards of loyalty to Christ and his Word.
What follows is a brief article published in the Sword & Trowel early in 1971, soon after the Metropolitan Tabernacle had seceded once again from the Baptist Union. It had done so before, in 1887, but in 1955 rejoined, during a ‘low’ period of the church. When the present pastor arrived at the Tabernacle in October 1970, the remaining members were fervent for secession, which was unanimously resolved at a church meeting held on 22nd February 1971.
Sword & Trowel 1971:
TO LEAVE a denomination is regarded in some quarters as being a totally negative, defeatist thing to do. One runs the risk of being classified as a misfit committing a deliberate, unfriendly act towards brethren.
Some go so far as to charge seceders with the sin of schism. Certainly there is a stigma, a branding, and a great deal of ill-feeling surrounding any secession. It is not easy to convince some friends who remain in the denomination that the act of secession involves no breach of fellowship whatsoever with true evangelical brethren.
Why do we leave the Baptist Union? Why do we have no hope that it can be restored to an evangelical position? Why are we against the ecumenical movement? Is there a positive, constructive purpose in our decision?
Before answering these questions, a word about ‘our decision’. It has been a decision which, in our view, no church meeting can take in its own judgement and wisdom. It is a decision which, we believe, has already been taken for us in the Word of God. As we have looked at the Scripture on this subject over a period of time, there has been a growing certainty that ‘this is the way – walk ye in it’.
So our decision is a deeply-felt response to what we conscientiously believe is the command of the Word. We have many, many faults and weaknesses as a family of God’s people. We have no merit which would entitle us to criticise brethren who do not feel as we do on this issue. Rather, we would like to assure them that we want to maintain the closest fellowship with all the Lord’s people and to add our efforts to those of evangelicals striving for a new evangelical unity.
These are, broadly stated, the reasons for our separation from the Baptist Union:
FIRSTLY, we have been deeply concerned with the participation of the Baptist Union in the so-called ecumenical movement. Great biblical principles are at stake in this, for the ecumenical movement seeks to unite all major religious denominations irrespective of what their member churches may or may not believe.
Ultimately the movement’s goal is union with Rome and a World Church. At the top of the ecumenical movement is the World Council of Churches, which links together thousands of churches, most of which are utterly opposed to our evangelical beliefs. It includes those who deny the virgin birth of Christ and reject his divine nature and co-equality with God the Father; who scoff at the infallibility of the Bible, dismissing it as a collection of myths; and who denounce the atoning, sacrificial death of Christ.
The World Council accepts all, from Unitarians to Roman Catholics, and stands for the view that doctrine counts for nothing.
The Baptist Union is a member of this World Council of Churches (as confirmed in recent years by an overwhelming vote in Assembly). We believe the Scripture clearly directs Christians not to be associated with such a movement. And to be faithful to our historic Baptist evangelical position we must obey the following Scriptures:
Principles of Biblical Separation
2 Corinthians 6.14-18. ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them…and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.’
Acts 20.28-31. ‘Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch…’
Matthew 7.15. ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’
Titus 3.10. ‘A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject.’
2 John 9-11, speaking of the qualifications for Christian fellowship, says: ‘Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.’
As we consider our involvement with the ecumenical movement through the Baptist Union in the light of these scriptures, our reaction echoes the words of Revelation 18.4– ‘And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’
Principles of Biblical Separation (ctd.)
SECONDLY, we have had to face up to the hard truth that what is true of the ecumenical movement is true of the Baptist Union itself. No longer is the Union an evangelical denomination. Neither has it been for many years. While there are a number of fine evangelical churches in its membership (with an unusual number in South London), nevertheless the vast majority of its churches have gone a very long way from the evangelical faith of the Bible.
There are many, many ministers who preach ‘another gospel’ and many who even strenuously oppose the Truth. Yet we are joined in fellowship with such.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon withdrew from the Union when he discovered that there was no basis of faith strong enough to restrict membership to evangelical believers. He was deeply grieved by the influx of modernists into the denomination. Today the position is far worse, as the denomination has been practically completely taken over by non-evangelicals.
Some evangelicals would say that we should stay in the Union to win it back. While we acknowledge this policy to be sincerely meant, it has never been successful whenever it has been tried in the history of the Christian Church. Once a religious denomination has gone into such serious decay that the majority of its members no longer believe the biblical faith, it has never been possible to save it.
More important still is the fact that God has told us what our course of action should be in this situation. We are not at liberty to use our human wisdom and say ‘we must remain in it – to win it’, for the Word of God has already bidden us to come out of it. (The same scriptures just quoted in connection with the ecumenical movement speak to us on this matter also.) Should we go on having fellowship with modernists; giving monetary support to liberals; and identifying our message with that of non-evangelicals? We believe the Lord has clearly given us our instructions for Biblical Separation in his Word.
A further source of guidance to us has been the clear example of our Lord Jesus Christ in his dealings with the Jewish religious parties of his day (who believed more of the Bible than many of the modernistic Baptists with whom we are in fellowship).
In studying our Lord’s encounters with such, and particularly the occasions when he met with them in the Temple and in the synagogues, we realised that his attitude was always the same:
(i) He made it very plain to them that they had no genuine spiritual standing as God’s children.
(ii) He made it very plain to them that their teaching was entirely wrong; they greatly erred. Every meeting resulted in strong controversy.
(iii) He permitted no basis of fellowship or co-operation with them for spiritual work – even when they offered (Clear example of the doctrine of separation.)
We believe that our Lord’s attitude was mingled with that love which always characterised his dealings with men, except when they deserved his righteous indignation. Nevertheless his attitude brought out their hostility, even attempts to take his life. We believe, whatever the consequences, that our Lord’s conduct is our example and we must follow him. How can we be in membership of the Baptist Union with Christ’s conduct as our example? Clearly we must obey the doctrine of Biblical Separation without delay. It is a union of churches, largely non-evangelical, in which we:
(i) Recognise one another as true churches in God’s sight even though in our hearts we do not believe many member churches are;
(ii) Give acknowledgment to one another’s spiritual work and teaching, even though we believe it is wrong;
(iii) Co-operate together in spiritual work, even with those we believe are unsaved. All this is the very opposite of our Lord’s conduct and as a matter of conscience we cannot belong. It is our duty to try to reach non-evangelicals with the Gospel, not to embrace them in pretended fellowship. Again we stress that our attitude is against being joined with unbelievers. We assure our fellow evangelicals that no breach with them is implied at all.
THIRDLY, on a more positive note, we have become increasingly concerned about obeying the Scriptures in joining more decidedly with our evangelical brethren. We must not be joined with unbelievers, the Word exhorts, but we must walk in fellowship with the Lord’s true people (John 13.34-35).
We note the great prayer of our Lord and Saviour ‘that they all may be one’ in John 17. The ecumenical movement takes this text to join together heretics of every kind, but we believe that Christ was referring to unity among his true people only, for he describes them as those who believe the Bible (v6) and belong to him (vv 6, 9, 10).
We acknowledge ourselves to be disobedient to the Scripture at this point. While we should be actively promoting unity with evangelical people, our first commitment and first loyalty is to a union of churches which is mainly non-evangelical. There are more evangelical Baptists outside the Union than there are within it – far more. We find ourselves at present cut off from active fellowship with these other Baptist evangelicals.
We desire to join in the efforts of those who are trying to build greater unity between evangelical churches. We desire to co-operate in evangelism, missionary labours and mutual support exclusively with true brethren. We see the ecumenical movement gathering momentum and we long for the day when, in obedience with the Scripture’s doctrine of separation, a distinct evangelical Baptist testimony will emerge in this land. Perhaps then, when the man in the street looks at the churches, instead of seeing a confusion of teaching, he will see evangelicals as a distinct body of churches, no longer submerged in various non-evangelical, Rome-ward bound denominations.
FINALLY, we feel we must be true to our heritage as a church. We enjoy facilities laid down over the centuries by one of the oldest Baptist causes in London. This church was formed in the days when all Baptists were evangelicals. We still stand on the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 (Benjamin Keach, our Pastor at that time, was one of its co-authors). The Baptist Union of today is not in the slightest degree representative of the Baptist denomination of those days. (If the theological opinions commonly held today had been expressed in the first Baptist Assembly of 1689, there would have been some very prompt expulsions.)
The true Baptist denomination to which we belong consists of all evangelical Baptist churches whether in the Union or out of it. We are part of that denomination (with a small ‘d’) – joined in principle to all evangelical Baptist churches whether they are persecuted, unregistered congregations in Russia, or wherever.
This was the position taken by our great forebear Charles Haddon Spurgeon when he withdrew from the Baptist Union so long ago. We stand with him today. We believe it is our duty to defend the faith once delivered. May the Lord grant us courage to bear the malice of those who will decry us; strength and heart to deepen our fellowship with all fellow evangelicals; and the privilege of bearing much fruit as we hold forth the Word of Life.
Leviticus 11:45 – “For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” “… as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16).
If there is one thing that describes the essence of Who God is, it has to be holiness. Isaiah declared, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:1-3). Revelation 4:8 says: “And the four [living creatures] had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” Here we have occasions when the seraphim and the living creatures, who are in the presence of God, declare Him to be “Holy, holy, holy!” The preeminence of God’s holiness is loudly proclaimed in heaven and the Lord tells us that that is also to characterize how we live. “The holiness of God is that attribute which governs the exercise of all His other attributes…. It is extremely important to recognize the preeminence of God’s holiness.”1
On the first day of creation, God created light and “saw the light, that it was good: and God divided [to separate, to make a distinction] the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4).2 God separated the light from the darkness on day one, thereby laying the foundation for the understood answer to the question: “what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). Since God separated the light from the darkness, the implicit answer is that they have nothing in common; in other words, there is no fellowship, or intimacy (communion), between these two.3The message of the Apostle John is that “God is light, and in him is [absolutely] no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5)4; Isaiah wrote, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy ...” (Isaiah 57:15). God is light and God is holy; if we desire to live in His light and holiness, as we must if we are to have fellowship with Him, then it is incumbent upon us to separate from all that is darkness and unholiness.
In heaven, the holiness of God is loudly proclaimed; but among Evangelicals today, the attribute of God that is given preeminence is love. By focusing on His love to a much greater extent than His holiness, modern Christianity has become a cesspool of compromise where virtually anything is acceptable; they envision God as being benevolent, tolerant and accommodating – Someone Who, perhaps, did not really need to send His Son to die for our sins for, after all, aren’t we actually good people deep down? By contrast, if you permit the love of God to be expressed through His holiness (as it rightfully is), then it becomes apparent that God had to send His Son in order to redeem a lost and fallen mankind because of His great love for the creature who bears His image – this is the balance that is evident in Scripture. The redemption of mankind, accomplished through the sacrifice of Jesus, flows out of God’s love for mankind as it is expressed through His holiness – a holiness that cannot tolerate sin. In order for man to have a restored fellowship with his Creator, the sin that was a part of his nature had to be removed because God could not simply overlook it. The doctrine of Biblical separation is inextricably woven into the fabric of God’s holiness: God cannot abide sin; He is absolutely separated from all that is evil (Habakkuk 1:13a). Therefore, inasmuch as God is holy, He has called us to, likewise, abide in holiness; if we abide in Jesus, as He commanded us (John 15:4, 10), then our lives will reflect His holiness. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him [in Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holyand without blame before him ...” (Ephesians 1:4). If we are in Christ, then we appear before God in the holiness of Christ – that is now our spiritual standing; however, in this life, we are called upon to grow in our sanctification (holiness). As Paul closed his first letter to the Thessalonians, his prayer for them was this: “And the very God of peace sanctify [to make holy; optative mood expressing a hope] you wholly [completely or through and through]; and I pray God your whole [entire or complete] spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless [a hope (optative mood)] unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).5 Paul expressed his sincere desire for the Thessalonians, knowing that the experience of complete holiness will only come when we are with the Lord for “we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Nevertheless, through the assistance of the Spirit of God, we are to develop in our holy living now: “But grow [you must be growing; present tense, imperative mood] in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:18).6
Perhaps it is because of the modern view of God among most Evangelicals (that He is love) that Biblical separation (that springs from His holiness) has not fared very well. Those who believe and practice Biblical separation are looked upon with disdain by everyone within the Christian community who has bought into ecumenism, which has flourished under the idea that God is primarily all loving. Of all of the doctrines of New Evangelicalism, which proved to be a significant catalyst for modern ecumenism, it was their disdain for, and repudiation of, Biblical separation that has taken the greatest toll on Christianity over the past seventy plus years.7 With the loss of this integral belief in spiritual separation from all who depart from the truth of the Bible, there was nothing left to prevent Evangelicals from being absorbed into the Liberalism of the day, and so ecumenism has become the accepted norm.
There are really only two primary applications for Biblical separation; it is important that we give consideration to this area where the Word of God has been sadly neglected to the spiritual detriment of so many. Biblical separation is not a popular topic for discussion among Evangelicals today and, in fact, it would be a rare occasion to ever hear this subject expounded by modern preachers. Despite having fallen on hard times, separation is nonetheless a living doctrine of the Scriptures, and we would do well to understand it thoroughly. Inasmuch as it flows out of the holiness of God, it would only follow that a good understanding of Biblical separation should assist us in coming to terms with His overwhelming holiness – the importance of this matter is heightened by the fact that He has commanded us to make holiness a part of how we live (1 Peter 1:15-16).
The first area for consideration is separation from all that is ungodly. Ungodly, as it is used in the Scriptures, is translated from several words in both Hebrew and Greek, and its primary application in each language is as an adjective that is used to describe people and not things. The most prevalent word in Hebrew is rasha’, which identifies someone who is guilty of a crime, of hostility against God or of sin.8 In Greek, the most common word is asebes, which describes someone as being godless, unholy or profane.9 As we consider these definitions, it should be very evident that someone who is ungodly is absolutely not in a reconciled relationship with God – in fact, they stand in opposition to Him. Jesus said that unless we are with Him, we are actually against Him (Matthew 12:30) thereby clarifying that there is no third option; therefore, the ungodly, because they are not in a favorable position with God, abide under His condemnation – there is no neutral territory, no fence to straddle. The ungodly might be characterized by paganism, or they might just as easily appear to be (and profess to be) a worshipper of God; therein lies the great difficulty that faces everyone who desires to walk faithfully with the Lord: the ungodly pagans are most easily identified, but the religious ungodly often require a measure of keen Biblical discernment.
The more conservative Evangelicals today will accept, to some degree, the necessity of separating from the obviously pagan; they still acknowledge that there is some need for a difference between the pagan and the Christian, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to arrive at any consensus as to what that difference should look like. When New Evangelicalism hit mainstream Evangelicals in the late 1940s, it came at a time when there was a general exhaustion from holding the standard, which, if you think about it, indicates that there was an increasing effort to live the Christian life externally without the aid of the Spirit of God – in essence, the Biblical standard was already faltering. Therefore, when Harold Ockenga outlined a “Christian” position that professed to uphold the inerrancy of Scripture even while opening its doors to a reevaluation of many fundamental Biblical doctrines, Evangelicals were ready for the change and considered it to be a welcome relief from having to continually evaluate everything and everyone. The reexamination of Biblical doctrines being advocated was not for the purposes of reinforcing the authority of the Scriptures that had existed up to this time but, rather, to arrive at an understanding of the Bible that would not of necessity exclude the Liberal theologians and scientific “experts.” In other words, the goal was to set aside the historic understanding of God’s Word in order to embrace a new understanding that would permit them to join company with those intellectuals with whom Evangelicals were so enamored. The subtlety of this is that even while Ockenga promoted this compromise in order to gain favor with the ungodly, he appeared to hold to the Scriptures as being inerrant: “… inerrancy is the watershed of modern theological controversy … those who surrender the doctrine of inerrancy inevitably move away from orthodoxy ….”10 Unfortunately, Ockenga never recognized that what he was advocating as a New Evangelicalism was incompatible with an inerrant view of God’s Word; although he laid the blame for the massive departure from orthodox Evangelicalism upon those who took up the New Evangelical name, nonetheless, he was the one who opened the door.11
The Psalmist has provided us with insight into how easily the downward slide can happen: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly [rasha’], nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). Let’s look at how this can be applied to the New Evangelical departure that began with Harold Ockenga.
One of the planks of the New Evangelical platform was that they would now dialogue with Liberal theologians and worldly philosophers in an effort to gain some understanding of their position, conceivably to better reach them with the Gospel. However, as New Evangelicals began to walk and talk with the Liberals and the world (i.e., to walk in the counsel of the ungodly), they became increasingly at ease in their company and found that they had so much in common with them (they were now standing in the way of sinners). It wasn’t long before they looked with disdain on those who had not followed their lead – those who purposed to remain true to the Word of God (alas, they now sat in the seat of the scornful). The Psalmist outlines a downward progression (walk, stand, sit) and New Evangelicals followed it step-by-downward-step. What they failed to realize is that through their accommodation and compromise (which is the only way to unite with those who do not hold the Bible as an authority) they had completely lost the Gospel message; incredibly, they did not win the Liberals over to the truth but, conversely, the Liberals drew them away from God’s truth and into their camp. There is a clear evolution (really a “devilution”) here, and we must be alert and guard against even taking that first step of walking in the “counsel of the ungodly.” Biblical separation requires that we not be found with a favorable attitude toward the teachings of the ungodly that lie in contradiction to the inerrant truth of God’s Word.
Paul expounded on this truth to the Corinthians: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship [partnership] hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion [having in common] hath light with darkness? And what concord [agreement, literally, a sounding together] hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).12
Could it be made any clearer? Paul provides a series of questions and each one calls for a resounding “nothing” or “none” as the answer. As we live in Christ, our purpose must be spiritual purity, not physical unity: holiness in the fear of God rather than unity with those who have desecrated and marginalized God’s Word. Purity has taken a beating by the popular emphasis on ecumenical unity; what we must not overlook is that spiritual purity and ecumenical unity will absolutely never stand together – they are a living example of light and darkness (what communion hath light with darkness?). Such unity is accomplished only through compromise, and purity can never survive any compromise of God’s truth! We still read: “… but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling … (2 Timothy 1:8b-9a); God’s call is to holiness for everyone who has placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “I … beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1); our lives are to reflect the holiness of God – as we are called, so we are to walk (Romans 8:4). Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly common for those who call themselves Christians (even some who claim to be Fundamental Christians) to neglect, or even forsake, their holy calling and endeavor to justify their accommodation of pagan practices and traditions. Nevertheless, God’s call to holiness has not changed.
The ungodly are made up of two definable groups: 1) the pagans, who are those who have never professed to believe and those who continue to profess but have never believed, and 2) the apostates who no longer believe. Paganism can wear many faces. For example, we might see a member of a hidden tribe of the Amazon basin and readily identify him as a pagan, but if we see a well-dressed gentleman who is an upstanding member of our society and a strong supporter of humanitarian charities, we might find it more difficult to attach the same label to him. James warns us against being unduly influenced by outward appearances (James 2:2-7), and Jesus, even as He calls upon us to judge, also counsels that we “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). What we need to understand is that the realm of the ungodly can be difficult to navigate because it includes those who might appear to be very righteous. Of the outwardly righteous Jews, Jesus said, “… except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20); He saw past their façade to the spiritual vacuum that it covered. Jesus has given us insight in order to help us to be discerning: “Beware of false prophets, which come [are coming] to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening [ravenous] wolves. Ye shall know [recognize] them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16a).13 False prophetsare those who proclaim a message that might sound like the truth but it is not; within our terms, this could be someone who professes to be a Christian while they do not have a living faith-relationship with the Lord. Jesus tells us to watch their fruits for, as we do so, we will come to see past their righteous appearances and recognize their destructive natures. As we willingly submit to the leading of the Spirit of God, our discernment in these matters will be sharpened, and, as our commitment to the Lord deepens, we will become more willing to stand alone with the Lord against the onslaught of the false prophets and their numerous followers.
However, apostasy is something quite different. Let’s take a moment to consider what it means to be an apostate. By definition, it is a “renunciation of a religious or political belief or allegiance.”14 It is only reasonable to acknowledge that someone cannot renounce, or give up, a belief that he’s never held; therefore, when we speak of someone being apostate, the understanding must be that he no longer adheres to the beliefs that he once held. It is equally evident that a person cannot forsake a belief for someone else; he may speak against that person’s belief but he cannot give it up simply because it is not his own. When we speak of a denomination or a church being apostate, we are referring to it having generally shifted from being Biblically sound in its teaching, to a place where it no longer adheres to the doctrines of Scripture. Even though we might call such a group apostate, we must admit that that is only descriptive of its leadership when it abandoned the truth; if that occurred in the distant past, then everyone since (including its present leadership) have merely accepted the historical doctrinal position and carried on, which makes the group’s present leaders and members religious pagans, and not apostates. When an individual becomes apostate, by definition he must turn his back on his Christian faith; he cannot be considered to be apostate unless he has first been truly born-again. Professing to be a Christian does not make anyone a born-again believer in Christ; therefore, if such a person (someone who only professes) forsakes “Christian” activities and departs into the world, then it follows that it is not correct to call them apostate – they are simply following the dictates of their sinful heart’s natural, unredeemed condition.
Today there are probably very few denominations that have fallen into apostasy under their present leadership, and, consequently, we are in a situation where these groups are technically not apostate but, rather, fall into the category of being pagan professors of the Christian faith (they have never known the truth). There are even some denominations that have formed based upon false doctrine, and they have never departed from it – again, they are religious pagans. However, most denominations (and those who identify with them) have fallen into a pattern where they continue to hold to a form of Christianity; they might retain many of the familiar terms and traditions (although they frequently begin to redefine them) but no one will ever hear the saving truth of God’s Word. People within these groups are often difficult to reach because they are convinced that they are spiritually okay – they have a firm faith in their church and remain largely ignorant of the Scriptures.
Apostasy from Christianity can take as many forms as there are individuals. There are some who will fall away into total wickedness, refusing to have anything to do with either Christians or Christianity. However, most will probably fall away into a religious life that is simply not in keeping with many of the doctrines of Scripture; they may still hold to a form of Christianity – some might even appear as they were before, but their fruits will begin to show their change of heart. They may hold to “a form of godliness” but, with the departure of the Spirit of God, it will become an increasingly thin veneer (2 Timothy 3:5); a “righteous” façade becomes very difficult to maintain with the passing of time. The challenge for the disciple of Jesus is to continually remain discerning so that he can hear the alarm of the Holy Spirit. The rest of Paul’s counsel to Timothy clarifies our action toward such people: “from such turn away” (a present-tense command that contains the concept of separation).15
Ephesians 5:11 declares, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” According to Jesus, we are to be fruit watchers: for “ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), and so we must be observant of their words, attitudes, actions and associations. If the evidence of someone’s life is not in keeping with the Word of God and the Spirit of God (Who abides within us), then we are to have no part with them – spiritually speaking, we are to have no fellowship with them and must not join together with them.16 This places upon us the responsibility of knowing the Word of God sufficiently to be able to evaluate what we see, hear and read in its light. We must never seek spiritual fellowship with such a person and definitely not sit under their teaching; however, we are to expose (reprove) their error in an effort to bring them to repentance.
Today, if someone departs from godliness into godlessness, then it is commonly claimed that he was either never truly born-again, or that, even though he is living like the devil, at one time he prayed for salvation and so he will be okay in the end. The roots of the Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints seem to have wound their way into Evangelicalism and find expression in their comparable doctrine of eternal security – simply put: once saved, always saved.17 However, we must not ignore the teachings of the Word of God on this matter. Jesus said, “But he that shall endure [remain faithful through trials] unto the end, the same [this is the one who] shall [will (saved is in the future tense)] be saved” (Matthew 24:13);18 what most don’t want to see in Jesus’ words is that if someone does not remain faithful to Him unto the end, then they will not be saved! To Nicodemus, Jesus said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth [is believing (a continual reality; present tense)] in him should not perish [perish is in the subjunctive mood in the Greek, which means that it is not a certainty that the one who is believing will not perish], but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) – the continual believing must remain unto the end in order to be saved. The writer of Hebrews was even more forthright: “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge [a precise and correct knowledge] of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment [condemnation] and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).19These are only a small sampling of the many Scriptures that assure us that we must remain steadfast in the faith in order to be saved (see Eternal Securityfor a fuller development of this matter20).
In reality, our response to those who have fallen into apostasy is to be the same as it is to the world – we are to separate from them. We may have a natural repulsion to being drawn into the world’s activities (that may be an easy separation); however, we must be particularly vigilant with those who are pagans or apostates and may still sound like a Christian. These are people who might use the same spiritual language, they may even openly profess to be Christians, and they might well be upstanding citizens, yet they only hold to a form of Christianity that has no foundation in God’s Word – we must avoid them. Amos 3:3 declares, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” – the rhetorical response is: “No!” John warns us to not be taken in by those who hold to doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 10-11). Once again, we come back to the need to follow the guidance of the Spirit of God and to exercise great discernment as we give heed to the fruits of their lives.
Too often it is very, very difficult to know the difference between someone who is apostate (he has been truly born-again, but has departed from the Lord) and the one who is merely disobedient (the next consideration). There is a line that is crossed from being disobedient to becoming apostate, and the difference may not always be evident to the outside observer.
- SEPARATION FROM DOCTRINAL SCHISMATICS AND APOSTATES:
- “Mark them” (Philippians 3:17-18)
- “Avoid them” (Romans 16:17-18)
- “Identify them’! (I Timothy 1:20; II Timothy 1:15,4:14)
- “From such turn away” (II Timothy 3:5)
- “Reprove them” (Ephesians 5: 11)
- “Have no fellowship with them” (Ephesians 5:11)
- “Be not unequally yoked together with” (II Corinthians 6: 14-16)
- “Come out from among them” (II Corinthians 6:17)
- “Reject them” (Titus 3: 10).
- SEPARATION FROM DISOBEDIENT SAINTS AND APPEASERS:
- “Note that man” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
- “Withdraw yourself” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
- “Have no company with” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
- “Rebuke them sharply” (Titus 1:13)
- “Admonish him as a brother” (II Thessalonian 3:15)
- “Count him not an enemy” (II Thessalonian 3:15)
- “Keep not company” (I Corinthians 5:11)
- “With such an one, no, not to eat” (I Corinthians 5:11)
- SEPARATION IN SOUL-WINNING ACTIVITY:
- Jude 22-23, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Be it further resolved that while’ adhering to this separatist position, we “let brotherly love continue” – Hebrews 13:1.
Some may read those statements and proclaim the benefits of such a doctrine, after all we are Christians and called to be distinct in our behavior and worship right? Well sure, but unfortunately that’s not where the IFB stops. They use these verses to manipulate and coerce people into aligning with the IFB’s interpretation of what those verses say. If you don’t you will be considered a heretic and rejected.
The Independent Fundamental Baptist Denomination is blatantly pulling scripture out of context, misinterpreting it, and manipulating so that is supports this doctrine. It is because of this belief of separation and exclusivism that they teach that Christians should be as completely separate from the world as possible. The abuse begins when they interpret something that someone does, says, eats, drinks, thinks, etc. that is in the least remotely associated with the world as worldly. They believe that it gives them the right to judge others and accuse them of being worldly or at least not measuring up to their standard of living. When a person fails to measure up, they are seen as rebellious, living in sin, and in some instances unsaved. This is judgementalism in it’s purest form.
As you can imagine, since everyone lives in this world already, this is a very tall order, one that is unattainable. The Independent Fundamental Baptist Denomination has very strict standards that include everything and anything that could be considered deviation from their separation doctrine. Anything that gives the appearance of “worldliness” such things as going to the movies, drinking alcohol, smoking, listening to secular music, listening to Christian contemporary music, certain styles of dress, certain styles of hair, tattoos, motorcycles, dancing, and the list goes on and on, are considered a violation of their separation doctrine and thus sinful.
So what does the scripture really say?
I’m glad you asked. Let’s take a look. Let’s start with 2 Corinthians 6:17 since that is the flagship verse for this doctrine. For those of you who’ve read other material on this site, it’ll come as no surprise to you to learn that the IFB has taken this verse out of context and ascribed a meaning to it which doesn’t belong. Many Christians, not just the IFB, have used this verse to condone prejudice and bullying in the name of “separation”. Taken to extremes, some groups seclude and isolate their members, parents isolate and reject their children and Christians withdrawal from the public to avoid mixing with unbelievers.
The context for 2 Corinthians 6:17 is 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. This is a warning by Paul, urging believers not to form partnerships with unbelievers. This is not a license to arrogantly display an “I’m better than you” attitude to unbelievers, which is what many Christians do. Nor is this a command or even a suggestion. It’s just a warning that partnering with an unbeliever could cause problems. Paul is simply cautioning believers about forming a commitment or partnership with unbelievers because this might cause undue hardship if the two commitments clash. Paul even stated earlier in 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 that this doesn’t mean isolating oneself from unbelievers, just use caution when entering a partnership. Paul even encourages Christians to stay with their unbelieving spouse (See I Corinthians 7:12-13).
What’s more is that in verses 16-18 Paul was quoting from the Old Testament. Verse 16b is a quote from Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 32:28 and Ezekiel 37:27. The message is one of deliverance – salvation from the unlawful and sinful ways of the heathens. Verse 17 is a quote from Isaiah 52:11 and Ezekiel 20:34 – again message of deliverance, not from sin and separation but for salvation. Paul was referencing these passages to remind his readers that salvation has brought us close to God so that we are (not should be, but are by default) aware of the sin and sinful influence around us. As such we are to use extreme caution. Caution is warranted NOT seclusion and separation.
Let’s next take a look at Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:16; I John 2:15-17; Colossians 3:1-17 and II Corinthians 2:14
- Romans 12:1-2 – This familiar passage is used quite frequently and is one of my favorite scriptures. The IFB gets hung up on the terminology in the KJV where it reads: “and be not conformed to this world…” in verse 2. They take this to mean that we are to be separated from the world so that we aren’t living, in any way, a lifestyle that could be construed as worldly. This was taught quite frequently in the churches we grew up in. I distinctly remember one pastor teaching “Do not do anything that would make another person think that you are conforming to this world”. What a tall task eh?
In reality, this passage is simply about sanctification. We are to build our relationship with God by allowing God to influence our thoughts. When we do that, the customs of the world will look unattractive and unappealing compared to God’s specific will for our lives. This verse is an individual charge to stay open to what God would have for us and allow Him to transform us into a new person (sanctification) by changing the way we think. This is the work of the Holy Spirit to change us and mature us spiritually. This is not a pass to judge people and secular society to determine what is sinful. This is largely a passive effort on our part by remaining open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Galatians 5:16 – This is an ironic verse to use, because the thrust of Galatians 5 is freedom from the legalistic righteousness that comes from the belief that we need to follow a set of man made rules and standards to find favor with God. Paul goes on to warn against the dangers of false teachings (like the teachings of the IFB). Then, having that message as a backbone or foundation, Paul leads us to an important aspect of Christian living that the IFB neglects, following the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power for living lives that strive for sanctification. This, again, is a charge to the individual NOT the group. Each individual is responsible for living according to his/her convictions from the Holy Spirit, not conviction of the IFB. This verse leads me to not believe in separation as the IFB has outlined it, but rather separation from “false teachers” such as the IFB.
- 1 John 2:15-17 – This passage offers good advice… focus on the things that are eternal rather than temporary. We are warned against putting value on material possessions, accomplishments and status. One might wonder how to go about living while not putting value on these things. Well the IFB would have us believe that in order to do that we need to be as separate as possible so we aren’t tempted and influenced by sinful pleasures. This misses the point, however, as we can see in this passage that “worldly” simply means material distractions or things that don’t have eternal value not necessarily sinful things and there’s no mention of separating out selves from those things. The message is caution regarding where we put our “love” or emphasis. This is similar to Colossians 3:1-17 discussed below. (Isn’t it so freeing to know that we don’t have to give up everything life has to offer? We just need to be careful that it isn’t the main focus in our lives.)
- Colossians 3:1-17 – This is an interesting passage because it pretty much echoes 1 John 2:15-17 in that the thrust of the passage is to focus on things that offer eternal value. The defining verse is verse 3: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (KJV). The word “affection” is an interesting translation. The meaning of affection now is a feeling of closeness or regard, fondness. That’s not quite what it meant in King James’ time. There’s an archaic meaning that has lost it’s value over the years which is a willful deliberateness, mindful, purposeful. So with that in mind the KJV should read: “Set your [purpose] on things above, not on things on the earth.” Looking at the etymology we see that the word that’s being translated here is
(Boulomai – boo’-lom-ahee) which is a main purpose or a method of living that focuses on those things that have eternal value(1). This isn’t a command or even a suggestion to separate from earthly/temporary things, but a refocusing, if you will, on a different priority. Given the etymology, the word “only” could be safely inserted into verse 3 giving us: “Don’t ONLY think about the things that are associated with living on earth, but make sure that you prioritize anything that has an eternal value associated with it” (wording mine). The rest of that passage in context then goes on to give us examples of what that might look like, but it’s not a proscription for separation. - II Corinthians 2:14 – The Romans used to have a triumphal procession and ceremony where they would display their captives and treasures and burn incense to the gods. This is a metaphor, used by Paul to describe how he felt about the way God was using him in his ministry. Nothing here about separation. I’m not sure why it’s included in this list.
Here’s a little more about the passages mentioned in the lists above:
- SEPARATION FROM DOCTRINAL SCHISMATICS AND APOSTATES:
- “Mark them” (Philippians 3:17-18)
This verse is actually telling us to “mark” or pay attention to those who follow Christ’s example. This isn’t telling us to “mark” or watch out for “schismatics and apostates”.
- “Avoid them” (Romans 16:17-18)
This passage is a warning to avoid false teachers – kind of like I’m doing with this site – warning people against the false IFB teachers.
- “Identify them’! (I Timothy 1:20; II Timothy 1:15,4:14)
To be honest, I have no idea what 1 Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 1:15 and 2 Timothy 4:14 have to do with this doctrine. I’m truly baffled by this one.
- “From such turn away” (II Timothy 3:5)
This verse, in context, is about people who pretend to be religious, but reject God. Paul was warning Timothy about people who are just going through the motions and practicing a “counterfeit” (See verse 8) religion taking advantage of vulnerable individuals (much like the IFB preys on vulnerable people).
- “Reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11)
The “them” this verse is refering to are the evil deeds and sinful behaviors in one’s life, NOT people and NOT sin in other people’s lives. We are to keep our distance from things that are sin in our lives.
- “Have no fellowship with them” (Ephesians 5:11)
See “Reprove them” above. The correct interpretation is “don’t take part in these activities/behaviors” (ironically the NLT gets this one right. “Fellowship” is the wrong word and the reason why KJV users are confused about this verse. Back in King James’ time “fellowship” meant to partake of. That’s not what it means now. Fellowship means a relationship or association with a person. The correct interpretation is “to partake of”. We are taught to not partake in things that are sinful us.
- “Be not unequally yoked together with” (II Corinthians 6:14-16)
This is about business partnerships – see above.
- “Come out from among them” (II Corinthians 6:17)
This is about business partnerships – see above.
- “Reject them” (Titus 3:10)
The context of this verse is Titus 3:9-11. When read in context this is clearly about “foolish discussions over spiritual pedigrees (genealogies) or…Jewish laws”. It really has nothing to do with “doctrinal schismatics and apostates”. It’s more about pious self-righteousness and pride.
- “Mark them” (Philippians 3:17-18)
- SEPARATION FROM DISOBEDIENT SAINTS AND APPEASERS:
- “Note that man” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
- “Withdraw yourself” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
- “Have no company with” (II Thessalonian 3:14)
2 Thessalonians 3 is Paul’s final instructions to the Church at Thessalonica. He makes a prayer request in verses 1-5 and then an exhortation in verses 6-15. The exhortation includes instructions on how to handle people who were lazy in the church. Remember that back then the church was a backbone of the economy. It wasn’t a non-profit organization like we have today. It was crucial for everyone to pull their own weight in bringing food for the winter months and working to help the sick and feed the poor. Paul was telling them to take note of the people who weren’t obeying Paul’s instructions and to let them experience motivation through their own guilt and shame for not pulling their weight. This verse is about people in the church not secular society. If we go on to verse 15 we see that Paul even tells them to not think of those people as enemies, but to warn them in tough love fashion.
- “Rebuke them sharply” (Titus 1:13)
This passage is also about false teachers, people who teach wrong doctrines and lead others to a personal opinion rather than scriptural truth (kind of like the IFB).
- “Admonish him as a brother” (II Thessalonian 3:15)
See comment on 2 Thessalonian 3:14 above.
- “Count him not an enemy” (II Thessalonian 3:15)
See comment on 2 Thessalonian 3:14 above.
- “Keep not company” (I Corinthians 5:11)
Read onto verse 12. This is about people in the church who are believers and blatantly and openly sinning. It’s NOT about a rogue responsibility to judge society.
- “With such an one, no, not to eat” (I Corinthians 5:11)
See above
- SEPARATION IN SOUL-WINNING ACTIVITY:
- Jude 22-23, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Be it further resolved that while’ adhering to this separatist position, we “let brotherly love continue” – Hebrews 13:1.
Jude 17-23 (context) is about using discernment when sharing the gospel. Some people will need a gentle approach while others will need a more firm approach. It is our responsibility to rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance in any given situation while taking care to not be pulled into the sins of others.
Regarding Hebrews 13:1… do you see how the IFB uses this verse? “…while adhering to this separatist position, we ‘let brotherly love continue'”? Well that’s not the message of Hebrews 13. The IFB would have us believe that we show love while simultaneously judging and rejecting people when we judge them to be in error or sin. That’s not what Hebrews 13:1 says! The message of Hebrews 13:1 is that we are to love people with true Christian love despite what people do, how they act or what they believe. The is an epitome of the IFB’s twisting of scripture. They’ve taken a passage of scripture and, based on a false doctrine of separation (or rather because of a faulty belief in separation), have twisted it’s meaning and manipulated it to align with their way of thinking. It’s a belief followed by finding scripture to support that belief rather than basing beliefs on true scripture. This is an EXTREMELY subtle and dangerous practice.
- Jude 22-23, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Be it further resolved that while’ adhering to this separatist position, we “let brotherly love continue” – Hebrews 13:1.
With correct Biblical exegesis we can see that some of the above scripture references do create a message of caution about certain circumstances. The thing to remember, however, is that these were specific instances and problems that are found in a body of believers NOT believers finding problems and sin in the general population. These do not give us license to judge others (See Matthew 1:1) or to develop a doctrine of separation from people who we think should fit into these categories. The general message is NOT separation, but rather caution and discernment and then distancing ourselves if deemed necessary. This is to be done ON AN INDIVIDUAL CASE BY CASE BASIS. There is nothing we can extract from these verses that give us sweeping authority to judge and separate ourselves as a group/denomination from those we’ve (wrongly) judged. This doctrine of separation doesn’t have a leg to stand on when proper hermeneutics is applied.
What is the strangest law in the Bible? For many, it is Deuteronomy 22:11, “You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.” This directive is repeated in Leviticus 19:19. The phrase “garment of different sorts” is from the Hebrew sha'atnez, literally “mixed stuff,” which Orthodox Jews define as specifically wool and linen together, not any other mixture.
The Law of Sha'atnez, they feel, is a chok, a decree that the King has passed for His subjects, for which we do not know the reason. Rabbinic commentators believe that many of God's statutes are of that sort. He provides no reason and expects us to accept them on faith. One rabbi has said, “Why ask why?” Their point has validity, certainly, but is there really no reason for this edict? Can we discern God's original point here, and does this mandate have any significance for Christians today?
A spiritual principle is involved here: the principle of separation. Just as Godwanted the physical nation of Israel to be kept separate from the nations around it, we are to maintain spiritual separation from the sin that surrounds us.
Deuteronomy 14:2 says essentially the same thing to the children of Israel: “For you are a holy people to the LORDyour God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (see Exodus 19:5). For this reason, Israelites were not to mix wool and linen, nor mix physically with those around them.
With this understanding, we can bring the principle to the New Testament and apply it under the New Covenant:
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (II Corinthians 6:14-16)
The part that Paul quotes at the end—“I will be their God, and they shall be My people”—is found in at least a half-dozen Old Testament verses (Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8). More importantly, the apostle clearly indicates that the principle still applies! Except now it is God's church that is separated out.
Further, Paul writes in Titus 2:14, speaking of Christ, “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” One interpretation of this law asserts that wool stands for works and linen represents grace, and the two can never be mixed. But does not the apostle Paul do just that in this verse? Christ gave Himself for us, to redeem us from sin, which is grace. Then he goes on to say that Jesus did this to purify us, to set us apart, to make us a people “zealous for good works.” He redeemed us by grace so we could strive to live a sinless life, which we fail at repeatedly. But we try. The laws of God give us our borders, our limits. Without them, there would be no sin (Romans 3:20).
I Peter 2:9, describing the church, the apostle Peter writes, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Where does this leave us in terms of Deuteronomy 22:11 and Leviticus 19:19? Just as not circumcising one's baby boy would not be a sin, since it is not a sign under the New Covenant, so with mixing wool and linen. However, there are proven health benefits to circumcision. God is not capricious that way; there is great good in following His instructions, even if they are no longer binding under the New Covenant. It would not be surprising if there are health benefits to not mixing these fabrics as well. Certainly, all of one or the other produces a better quality garment.
For us today, however, the takeaway is to keep ourselves spiritually pure, to concentrate on not mixing with the sin of this world, for we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.”
1. The Sinning Brother—Matthew 18:15-17 (74-75):
The grounds for any separation is sin, not some trite issue. Christ does not differentiate between classes of sin. Separation is a last resort, and only then when reconciliation has failed. Moritz also cites Galatians 5:19-21, specifically separation from brethren who indulge in doctrinal or moral heresy (81).
2. The Immoral &Unequally Yoked Brother—1 Corinthians 5:1-11 (75-77):
Paul instructed the Corinthian church to separate from Christian brethren engaged in specific classes of sin (1 Cor. 5:10). “[T]his passage commands separation from a disobedient brother on both theological and moral grounds” (76-77).
The principle of separation from Christian brethren is precisely the same as it is with unbelievers. “Should a fellow Christian insist on remaining unequally yoked in such a way, the local church or believer must separate from him” (77). Sin is the threshold, and God’s holiness the principle, of separation from brethren. “The local church is to be holy in doctrine and lifestyle” (77).
3. The Lazy and Disobedient Brother—2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 (77-80):
The “tradition received” from Paul included the body of faith, specifically the entire contents of 1 Thessalonians, of which “work” is only one issue (79). Moritz appeals to the example of 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul uses the pressing issue of sexual immorality to expand the application of separation to all manner of sins.
The disobedient brother’s lifestyle reflects poorly on the holiness of God (80). “This passage clearly teaches separation from brethren in Christ who are openly and willfully disobedient to the written, revealed Word of God and is not limited in its application to the lazy brother only” (79). McLachlan agrees: “The passage does not restrict us to such a narrow or limited application. The particular event in this chapter may be indolence in view of Christ’s coming, but the general principle is disobedience to the whole of the Christian message as revealed in Scripture” (135-136).
McLachlan is quick to emphasize that reconciliation is the goal of this separation. It is disgraceful in flavor (2 Thess. 3:6, 14). Christians must withdraw from a disobedient brother, but never with a spirit of superiority. “This kind of shaming is designed to humble him, disgrace him, and hopefully alert him to the catastrophic consequences of refusal to pay heed to the Word of God…. So while the immediate flavor is disgraceful the ultimate objective is beneficial” (135).
The separation is gentle in its spirit. Christians must be relentless in defense of the Word, but never heartless. “There are always those who are overly zealous to point out the faults of others and who seem to relish drastic responses” (135).
4. The Divisive Brother—Titus 3:9-11(Moritz, 80):
This includes separation from brethren who promote division. Moritz explained that the Greek behind the KJVtranslation “heretick” in Titus 3:10 refers to a self-willed opinion which is substituted for submission to the power of the truth. “Paul identifies the divisive man who, after the pattern of Acts 20:30 and 3 John 9, seeks for prominence in order to gain a following.” A heretic promotes a peculiar doctrine and is divisive in doing it. William Mounce (2000) referred to this divisive doctrine as “vacuous” (453).
Parameters of fellowship
Moritz remarked,
All ecclesiastical separation in the NT is on the local church level. It involves the church not working with unbelievers (2 John 8, 9) or separating from professing believers in sin (1 Cor. 5). It must extend to personal fellowship between professing believers and application on the inter-church and interdenominational levels” (Interview)
In this context, the grounds for biblical separation are no different than the grounds for church discipline against a brother or sister in Christ. This point is simply crucial. If a separatist would hesitate to implement church discipline against a brother, then he has no biblical warrant to separate from that brother. In this vein, Ernest Pickering’s concept of different “levels” of fellowship is simply excellent, and a great help to any separatist (218). They are:
- Personal Christian fellowship between individual believers
- Local church fellowship
- Inter-church fellowship
- Interdenominational fellowship
We each engage in these types of fellowship regularly, but there are obvious limits to cooperative fellowship depending who we’re talking to. “It is impossible to have harmonious, working fellowship with all believers at all of these levels. Doctrinal considerations govern certain types of fellowship” (219). There are different levels of fellowship all honest Christians recognize. One could enjoy a cup of coffee with a Reformed pastor, yet might not be able to have this Reformed brother preach on Sunday morning in his church. Just because a Christian implements common-sense restrictions on different levels of fellowship does not necessarily mean he is “separating” from a brother. Selective fellowship does not equal separation.
Recall McCune’s definition of a “disobedient brother,” which is critical at this juncture: “A professing Christian who deliberately refuses to change some aspect of his conduct to the clear teaching of Scripture is a disobedient brother” (143). To this point, McLachlan asks us to consider whether a brother’s deviation is an isolated event or a continual pattern. “All of us, I think, would prefer to be judged by the ebb and flow of our lives and ministries rather than by the eddies, which seem at times to move against the main current” (133).
McLachlan poses numerous questions for the separatist to consider (133):
- Is the position shift permanent or transient?
- Is the shift a major change in direction or a fleeing moment of experimentation?
- Is it an appeal for a new and unbiblical theology, or merely an attempt at discovering a new and functional methodology, which might on the surface appear unconventional but is not unnecessarily unbiblical?
Separation is a necessary complement to evangelism. Christians are commanded to be holy (Lev. 19:2, 1 Pet. 1:16) in order to show Christ to a lost world. It is this concern which informs Scriptural principles of separation from brethren.
If the purity of the bride of Christ is not at stake, then we shall have to discipline ourselves against judgmental or pharisaical attitudes and actions toward our brothers with whom we disagree. On the other hand, if a specific behavioral pattern or belief system has the potential to defile the bride, then we shall have to love our brother enough to confront him Biblically…so that Christ’s cause does not suffer loss before the watching world. (McLachlan, 133)
A subjective sinkhole?
Critics frequently charge so-called “secondary separation” with being little more than a subjective sinkhole. Moritz is quite correct to dismiss this as a smokescreen. Pickering’s words are particularly relevant here:
First of all, it is very clear that no direct scriptural teaching will cover every problem we face. As in so many areas of Christian thought and life, we must determine our practice by the application of doctrines, principles and emphases that are found in the Bible. The exercise of personal judgment, in the light of known divine truths, is required. It is this element of separatism which non-separatists often attack…. Yes, it is dangerous in the sense that not all will come up with the right answers and make the right judgments. Some will go to extremes. Nevertheless, it is a privilege given by God to each believer – the right of private judgment and soul liberty in things divine. (222-223)
There is indeed an element of subjectivism at work. How could there not be? However, it is not nearly the sinkhole critics like John Rice claim it is. The chart below may assist brethren in making some practical applications in this regard (Oats):
The Bottom Line
Edward Hiscox (1893), in his enduring work on Baptist polity, had this to say:
Nothing can be considered a just and reasonable cause for the withdrawal of fellowship, and exclusion of the Church, except it be clearly forbidden in, or manifestly contrary to, the Scriptures, and what would have prevented the reception of the individual into the Church had it existed at the time and been persisted in. (180)
Hiscox’s was writing about ecclesiastical separation in the context of local church discipline, but his words are perfectly applicable here. A faithful, biblical separatist considering separation from a Christian brother must subject an issue to the following litmus tests:
- Is the Christian brother aiding or abetting apostates by continued organizational or cooperative alignment with them?
- Is there a Scripturally defensible claim of doctrinal or ethical compromise in the life or ministry of the Christian brother? Let the honest separatist consider whether the issue at hand is:
- An explicit teaching from Scripture
An implicit teaching from Scripture
A principle from Scripture, or
A mere personal preference from Scripture
- An explicit teaching from Scripture
- Will this Christian brother deliberately not change his conduct to conform to the clear teachingof Scripture?
If the separatist cannot answer in the affirmative to these questions, he must not separate. He may disagree strongly, but we cannot in good conscience label a Christian brother “disobedient” if we cannot find Scriptural fault with his actions.
Separation complements evangelism; it is done to glorify God and obey His command to imitate His holiness in our lives (Eph. 5:1, 1 Pet. 1:14-16). The faithful Christian must prayerfully consider whether separation is truly warranted if the issue is not an explicit or implicit teaching of Scripture. Christians will inevitably differ on application of certain issues; some may even shift positions upon reflection. It is never easy to re-evaluate heretofore sacred “flash point” issues, particularly in light of Scripture. It occasionally goes against ingrained expectations. A fundamentalist, however, cannot forsake this responsibility and remain a biblical separatist.
Works Cited
Hiscox, Edward. Principles and Practices for Baptist Churches. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1893. Reprinted with no date.
Marsden George M. Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.
McCune, Rolland. Promise Unfulfilled: The Failed Strategy of Modern Evangelicalism. Greenville: Ambassador International, 2004.
McLachlan, Douglas. Reclaiming Authentic Fundamentalism. Independence: AACS, 1993.
Moritz, Fred. Be Ye Holy: The Call to Christian Separation. Greenville: BJU, 1994.
Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos3: 3.
Oar subject to-day is, "Walking with God, or Separating from the World." Of course, this address is to those that have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ; for no man has a desire to walk with God until he is saved. For six thousand years, since Adam fell out of communion with God, God has been trying to win back the sons and daughters of Adam into communion with himself. When Adam was innocent of sin, he could walk with God; but the moment he fell, he ran away and hid himself and was out of communion with God. When men are going away from God they do not desire to walk with him; but after we have become his children, the sweetest lesson we can learn is how to walk with him in constant fellowship, how to be in communion with him all the while. God came down and visited man. He visited Abraham, and Jacob, and Moses; but he did not walk with man until after the flood. Then he took the children of Israel and walked with them, and would have walked with them forever as a nation; but they said that they wanted a king like the other nations around them, and God granted their request.
Now if nations will not walk with God, it is the privilege of individuals to do so; and each one of us in this house can be brought into communion with God, and walk with him the rest of our days, if we will. It says in Peter, 2d chapter, at the 20th verse: "For what Eflory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God, For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps."
I am told by men that have been in the Indian country that very often you will find a trail over a mountain, and you will find only one footprint, as if but one man had trod that path; and I am told that the chief goes on and the tribe follow, and they put their feet into his footprints. Our chief has gone on before us, and left us an example. We are to follow in his footsteps; and we would have continual blessing if we did not go out of the path; and the trouble is that most of us think our way is better than his, and are not willing to follow in his footsteps. It says in the 2Gth chapter of Leviticus, 2d and3d and 4th verses: "Ye shall keep my Sabbaths andreverence my sanctuary; I am the Lord. If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them: Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."
Now if you will read the history of that nation, you will find that as long as they kept the law they prospered. God gave them the rain in season, and God caused their land to bring forth abundance; but when they turned away from him and would not reverence his law, then they brought calamity upon themselves, and they were taken into bondage and servitude. Nebuchadnezzar took them into bondage and kept them for seventy years, because they would not reverence the law. Now it says in that same chapter, 12th verse: "And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." He said, I will come down among you, and you shall be my people and I shall be your God. And what nation had a God like that? What nation was blessed like that nation, when God was walking with them? The shout of the King was heard in the time of battle. God sent legions of angels to help them if they put their trust in him. But then he warns them in the 27th verse: "And if ye will not for all this barken unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins."
What causes so much misery now in the city of Boston? It is because men are walking contrary to God. There is no peace for the wicked. You may try to find it, but you cannot away from God. If men will just walk in God's law, reverence God's sanctuary, and obey God, they will have peace; they will be blessed as in olden time. God has not changed; he is the same now as he always was. But men are walking contrary to God, and that is the trouble. Now we find here, that in the days of Joshua no man was able to stand before him all the days of his life, because he studied the Word of God and meditated upon it day and night; he observed the whole law, not merely a part of it, and the result was that he was prosperous. In the 22d chapter, we find there he gave orders to those he left to take his place after he was gone: "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went into their tents."
We are told that they did not depart from the Lord in the days of Joshua and the Judges. He had such influence over those Judges that he kept the children of Israel from departing from the Lord. But a few hundred years after, they turned away. It is only rain that you hear, my friends; let us pray that the rain of God's blessing may come upon us, that we may all be brought into communion with God. As he is giving the earth its showers, let us pray that he will shower blessings upon each one of us to-day.
If you will turn to the 6th chapter of Jeremiah, 16th verse, you will find what Israel did: "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the way, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the cood way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But, they said, We will not walk therein."
We will not do any such thing, they say; that law of Moses is very good for those heathen coming out of Egypt, but we have scientific men and we know more than Moses and Caleb. It was very good in those dark, heathen days, but we have grown wiser; we have outgrown the law of God." So the king turned away, and the whole nation turned away with him. So Jeremiah wept over them, and the Lord gave him this command: "And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, \Ve will not hearken." That is the way a good many men talk now. "We don't want the Bible; give us some other book; the idea of men talking about the Bible being true! Don't you believe in that book." It is the same old human heart, the same old enemy. You will find it the same in every age, and in every clime. Pride is a plant that grows in all kinds of soil, in winter and in summer, and you will find it wherever the foot of man has touched the earth; man just rising up and claiming to be wiser than the Almighty. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O Earth; Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words nor to my law, but rejected it." They laughed at Jeremiah. The king at last put him into a dungeon, and they cast him into a filthy pit, and thought they had got rid of him. But there is a God in heaven, and they found out that the Word of God was true; and these men that are now trying to fight against the Lord, declaring that his word is not true, will find out just as Pharoah did, when he asked, " Who is God that I should obey him?" When God comes to deal in judgment, these enemies will find out. God has a controTersy with man, on account of sin; and until man turns from sin, there can be no fellowship with God. He says in the 84th Psalm, llth verse, and to me that is one of the sweetest verses in the Bible: "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." If a man is willing to walk uprightly, God has promised that no good thing will he withhold from him; and how many can say that that is true? That is their own experience. When they have been willing to obey God heaven has smiled upon them, and rich blessings have come upon their souls.
Now I want to touch on something that is practical, that keeps us
out of communion with God. I believe there is one truth that ought to be preached to Christians more than anything else; and that is, separation from the world. If the church would draw the line and take its stand, I believe it would have a hundred times more power than it has at the present time. I do not fear what these infidels say about the church of God. The trouble is, we have so many traitors in oamp. They blow hot one day and cold the next. They pat you on the back one day, and then stab you in the back. They meet you and say, "Oh, this is a fine work, I am very much interested in it;" and the next day perhaps they meet an enemy and say, "I don't believe in that work at all." We have too many of those men. It would be a good thing if every man who is opposed to Jesus Christ would take his stand and fight him. What we want is separation; and the quicker it comes the better.
We read in the 3d chapter of Amos, 3d verse: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" If you see a man that is in cor munion with another man, you say, those two men agree pretty weil. If you see two business men that go to their stores together every morning, you say they agree; and if they do not have fellowship with one another, you do not have the same impression. If a man is going to walk with God, he has got to agree with God. He has got to give up his own thoughts and ways; for God is above us, and is not going to give up his ways to walk with us. I was in a horse oar, a little while ago, and saw two young men together. One spoke hardly a word without cursing; but the young man that was with him did not swear at all; perhaps he had a praying father or mother. But I noticed that they locked arms and went off together. There was no difference between them. One did not swear, and the other did; but they walked together, and I put the two together. Suppose I walk with a man to a bank, and while he breaks in and steals $100,000 I wait for him, and then walk off with him. The police get hold of us, and they make no difference between us. I walked to that bank with him, and walked away with him; and I am just as bad as that man. If we are going to be hand and glove with the ungodly, there is no difference between us. What we want is, to be separated. If a man speaks contemptuously of my wife, he is no companion for me. If he speaks contemptuously of my mother, he is no companion for me. Good bye, sir, I say. I will do all I can to save him, but will have no fellowship with him. If a man speaks contemptuously of the Son of God—good day, sir, you and I must separate. If you are going to walk with God, you have got to be separated from those who do not. He said, you know, when he brought them up from Egypt, that it was their sin that had separated him from them. If we are going to live in sin, God, if he walked with us, would appear to be a party to the sin. Therefore, when we walk in sin and unbelief, we must separate from him.
I want to call your attention to a passage in 2d Corinthians, 6 and 14: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, anH walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my pe< 'le. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, eaiui the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you: And will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
I know this is not going to be a very popular thing for me to say; but when you come to the Word of God, you must look it right in the face, and let the truth come out. I believe, if I am a Christian man, I hare no right to yoke myself up with two ungodly men and go into business with them. "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." A man came to me some time ago in great distress; he was a banker, and said: "I haye got two partners, and they voted to do so and so, and it is compromising my Christian character, and I cannot outvote them, what shall I do?" I said, "When did you form that partnership?" "So many years ago." "How long have you been a Christian?" "Fourteen years." "You formed the partnership only three or four years ago, and that is where the mistake was made, when you took those two unbelievers into company •with you." "I thought I could get on a little better, and that is the reason I did it." "God told you not to do it; be not 'unequally yoked with unbelievers,' and they voted to make the firm do something which has compromised your Christian character, and you haven't got the power for Christ that you would have if you were separated." And there are a great many men who think they can make money a little faster, and they go contrary to the Word of God. This question also touches matrimony. What right has a saintly, godly woman to give herself away to some scoffing infidel, because he is rich and has got some position in society? What riprht has a godly man to marry some frivolous, scoffing young lady; that hates the church of God and the Bible? "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." That is what it means. It means more than that. What right has a Christian man in some of these lodges, where they have got infidels and skeptics that may vote to make him do a wrong? If you want power with God, come out and be separated. Some one will say, if you take that course you will be very unpopular. Well, you will be very popular up there with God, if you obey him. Let us take his Word " back to back," and not pick out a passage here and there. Let us not be catering to public opinion. I would rather be alone, with God holding my right hand and be
Heving, than to have all Boston applauding me and be wrong with God. "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." I know there may be a great many young men that will scoff at this idea; and they will declare that they will marry whom they please, despite what the Word of God says. Bear in mind you will not have God's blessing upon you. Many a young lady has given herself away to some scoffing infidel, and has lived a miserable, wretched life. It wasn't long before he began to trample her feelings under his feet. A man that will not obey God, and don't care anything about the law of God, will not care much about your feelings, in a little while. He may profess a great deal of love and friendship for you; but he will be unkind to you, by and by. There was a lady in Chicago that came to me in great distress. She was engaged already. I told her I hardly knew what to tell her, but advised her to go to her lover and tell him frankly that she was a Christian, and that their ways did not run together. Well, he gave her up, and said he respected her more than ever. But it wasn't a week before he was in the inquiry-room, and sought her God and was converted. I know this doctrine is not what you like; but it is a good deal better to know the truth, and what God will have us do, than to go right contrary to the Word of God. Let us ask ourselves this question. Am I unequally yoked with unbelievers? Am I yoked up with some unbeliever? Perhaps somebody may say, "I have been converted since I was married." The Word of God declares that you must not leave your husband. I am talking about those who are not married; and if we read our Bibles carefully on that point, we find that the Word of God gives no uncertain sound. Some of you may say, "I think I can do some good in that way." I would rather be safe and take the Word of God for my guide, than be going against it and think I am going to do some good. If you haven't any influence over the young man you are about to marry, you will not have any more after you have married him.
Then we find a great many people say, "Oh, he is a narrow, bigoted man. I believe we are to go in and be yoked up with unbelievers, and get into all these lodges and societies, and lift them up in that way." I suppose Lot believed the same thing when he went to Sodom; but it lifted him down instead of up. And instead of lifting up the world, we find the world is all the time pulling the church down. If you want to be right with God, you want to be where you can testify against the sins of the world. Lot lost his influence in Sodom, beoause he became a member of their societies. Wives who have unconverted husbands bargain that they will go to the theatre with them, if they will go to church on Sunday; and then the husbands will find out some minister who don't cut them with the truth; and they might as well be at the theatre as at that church; and wives think they are going to save their husbands in that way. You want to be separated from unbelievers; and if you want power with God and man you must be separated; and then he will walk with you, and be with you. I remember a man telling me how the sparrows had spoiled his canary, and that it would do nothing but chirp, chirp, chirp like the sparrows. That is the trouble with Christians now; they cannot sing the songs of Zion, but just chirp, chirp, ohirp. If they get up in the prayer meeting, they say nothing. If you want power with God and man, you must be separated and withdraw from the world; and then the Lord God will bless you.
Let us look at the 11th chapter of Numbers and the 14th verse. I think that gives us another view of this truth, and how it is we have lost our power. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Whoshallgive us flesh to eat? We rememberthe flesh that we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes." What a sad picture that was. God gave them angels' food, bread from heaven; and they loathed it. Why? On account of the mixed multitude; they got in with the world, with unbelievers, and they began to talk against the manna and about the onions, and leeks and garlics which they ate down in Egypt. What do you see to-day? Men loathe the Bible; men don't love this bread which has come down from heaven, which feeds our souls; they run off to operas and theatres, and the world has come into the church. They loathe the manna which God has sent them from heaven, on account of this mixed multitude. Oh, may God help us to see this truth and separate from the world; and, if necessary, walk alone with him. Enoch's name was handed down through all these generations, because he walked with God. If Enoch had been up for any office, I doubt if he could have been elected to the Legislature, or even to any town office. But he walked with God, and God must have agreed with him, for they never were separated. At one bound, Enoch leaped right over the stream; death never touched him. God loved his company so much that one day I can imagine he said, "Enoch just come up higher;" and up he went. And he has been all these years walking the crystal pavements of heaven with God. As old Dr. Bonar of Scotland once said to me, "Enoch took a long walk one day, and he hasn't got back yet." He is up there, and we will see him, by-andby. Noah walked with God; and God took care of him in the time of the flood. Abraham walked with God, and he became the friend of God. If we walk in the wilderness to-day, we will walk in Paradise to-morrow. And when we are questioning ourselves if it is right to do this or that, ask the question if Christ would do it, and govern ourselves accordingly. Let us do as he did, have the same mind
that he has, and try and follow in his footsteps and be like him iii all our ways.
The doctrine of separation from “the unclean thing” is neglected today by professing Christians, but it is still here in God’s Word. The context indicates that Paul is warning against Christians being “unequally yoked together with unbelievers” and urging us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor. 6:14, 7:1).Such separation does not mean having no contact at all with unbelievers, “for then must ye needs go out of the world” (I Cor. 5:10), whereas Jesus commanded: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). He also prayed to the Father “not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15).
He does demand, however, that we not compromise with unbelief or with the unclean thing. We are “born again” into the family of God through simple faith in the person and saving work of Christ, but the full manifestation and fellowship of our relation with the heavenly Father as His spiritual sons and daughters is evidently, in this passage, conditioned on the vital principle of separation from all unbelief and filthiness of the flesh, with Jesus as our example (Heb. 7:16).
We are specially warned to “turn away” from those who, “having a form of godliness,” yet attempt to accommodate the naturalistic viewpoint of modern scientism within the Scriptures, thus “denying the power thereof” (II Tim. 3.5). “Be ye separate, saith the Lord.”
We must extricate ourselves from the Babylonian culture and the siren song to compromise. All the obstacles thrown at the church, including the calendar issue, alleged discrepancies in the Bible, faith without works, are all recycled perennial heresies from Babylon, recycling through the church since as long as the church has been founded, and will continue to be recycled as long as we are in the Babylonian system. Any attempted syncretism with the world will lead to confusion. We need to separate from the world in terms of its religious practices, its false 'gospels,' its immoral and idolatrous practices, whether in the letter of the practice or the idols of our heart, any practice that would separate us from God. God desires problem solvers in his kingdom, not dependent whiners. We need to build on the skills with which God has endowed us, giving Our Creator a return on His investment. If we do not maintain contact with God, but become pulled into the world, we run the risk of slipping into a reprobate mind, perverted and debased. We are called to repent of our sins, reject the political 'correctness' of the world, and cry out to Christ to separate us from Satan's world. The pay-off will be an opportunity to assist Christ in administering Millennial Kingdom as one of the First Fruits, literal offspring of God Almighty.
transcript:
The Church of the Great God is coming up on the 22 year anniversary of when we seceded from the Worldwide Church of God. There are hundreds of splinter groups that have broken off since, primarily because of false doctrine. It has been a spiritual separation.
During the late 1980s and on into the early 1990s, when the leaders of the Worldwide Church of God pushed the church into apostasy, it became very clear it was man-made Worldwide Church of God, Inc. that leading the doctrines of the spiritual church of God.
When we baptize people we say that we are not baptizing you into any organization of man, but rather into the family of God, and this is because God is not limited by organizations of men. God uses organizations to do His work as long as most of the doctrines are correct and most members are reasonably righteous.
God can use anybody or any group. However, when the majority of any church organization's members have become corrupted with false doctrines and improper behavior, or the unconverted tares have become the majority, the physical organization representing and containing members of the spiritual church can no longer be trusted to teach and lead in spiritual matters. The members of the spiritual church can no longer trust their spiritual leaders to teach spiritual matters. Now Paul cautions the church in Rome in Romans 16:
Romans 16:17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.
So doctrine is the main reason for the distrust of the leaders. Sometimes there is only one recourse for converted members of God’s church. They must separate or secede from the parent organization that has gone into apostasy, and that is what thousands of converted members of God’s church were forced to do in the 1990s. It was an agonizing decision with many sleepless nights and long prayers and deep Bible studies.
One member who had been quite apathetic about God’s truth, even though he attended Sabbath services every week, said something that I will never forget: “I didn’t realize how valuable God’s truth is until they tried to take it away.”
Remaining under false religious leaders and teachers will involve compromising which leads to sin and this is why separation is necessary. There are many reasons people give for leaving a church of God group and usually it is not the real reason but rather just an excuse. But there is really only one spiritual reason that is valid for seceding and that is when false doctrine is being taught.
The people who place their faith and loyalty in the benevolent and righteous government of God will have separated themselves out of, and away from, the philosophy, the character, and the outlook of the Babylonian system of government which has been founded, promoted, and sustained by Satan and his demons but who are, at Christ’s return, imprisoned in outer darkness.
Revelation 18:4 And I heard anther voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, [speaking to “my people,” not the world here] lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
Jeremiah was inspired to say very much the same thing in warning ancient Israel: "Come out of her, my people," he said. Even in its Old Testament setting, this was no mere warning to leave the actual city of Babylon, much less here in Revelation. It means leaving the system of Babylon, their way of thinking, and outlook of Babylon.
The apostle John was inspired to exhort the churches to shun the charms and ensnarement of the great immoral woman as her qualities are manifested in the world they live in. Wherever there are idolatry, immorality, self-glorification, self-sufficiency, pride, complacency, reliance on luxury and wealth, avoidance of suffering, violence against life, there is Babylon.
Luxury leads to boastful self-sufficiency, while the desire to avoid suffering may lead to the dishonest pursuit of luxury. This is what the world seeks today in a greater way than ever before. We are bombarded by it with the media, our lives at work, and the internet especially, which is right in our own homes.
Christians are to separate themselves ideologically and, if necessary, physically from all forms of Babylon. Already in Revelation 2 and 3, Christ through John, has warned the churches of her deceit and snares. If they refuse to separate themselves, they will “share in her sins” and also in the divine judgments, that is, the plagues.
So it is a very serious matter to come out of Babylon, because if we do not, we remain a part of it. If we love its social atmosphere and entertainment, we may very well share in her sins and suffer those judgments and plagues. We must do something about what is happening in our lives.
The church is to secede from the ideas and beliefs of the world’s way of life, and if necessary, physically secede. Physical secession can in some ways compare with spiritual separation, as we saw in my previous sermon. We see that we had to physically secede from the Worldwide Church of God, as well as spiritually, but it was the spiritual separation that motivated us.
Revelation 18:4 is not one last call to repentance addressed to the beast worshippers, but rather, like the warnings in the letters to the churchesin chapters 2 and 3, it is addressed to professing Christians who are being seduced by Satan through the wiles of the great immoral woman to abandon their loyalty to Jesus Christ. What is required is an inner transformation of attitude, feelings and responses.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The emphasis there is what are we thinking, and what is motivating us? If they were seduced by Satan, Christ would have to, by their own decision, blot out their names from the Book of Life and include them in the plagues designed for Babylon when she is judged. God will not forget her crimes and her punishment will fit her, meaning Babylon's crimes. In a way we are receiving some of the judgments on Babylon, because we live in a world that man has so polluted.
Now we will see as we go through this topic of spiritual separation, or ideological secession if you will, that we have a duty to save ourselves. Yes, it is God to whom we give the credit and give all thanks to for our salvation, but we do have work to do and a lot of it.
This is not to say that God is not active in our spiritual deliverance from the world, but that we have our own responsibilities to fulfill in this and we know that God is active in our lives every day. So it is not a matter of saving ourselves by ourselves, because God is always there to help us do that.
On Pentecost 31 AD, the apostle Peter preached about how the Israelites were guilty of a horrendous sin. Individual Jews could be spared from God's judgment if they would repent and they would be set apart to Christ and His church if they would separate from the oppression of the twisted Jewish leaders who promoted their polluted traditions and skewed ideology which blinded them to Christ.
Acts 2:36-39 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus [or Savior], whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” [They wanted to do something, they wanted to do the works part of faith, but they did not know where to begin.] Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
So this scripture is very important particularly to those who are going to be baptized but for the rest of us as well. They were asking “what shall we do?” and he tells them repent and be baptized.
Peter's answer was straightforward, first they were to repent. This verb “repent” means to change your outlook; have a change of heart; reverse the direction of your life. This obviously results in a change of conduct, but the emphasis is on the mind and the outlook.
The Jews had rejected Jesus, now they were to trust in Him. Repentance was repeatedly part of the apostles' message in Acts. Continuing on here in Acts 2.
Acts 2:40-42 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved [or “save yourselves” in the King James Version] from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
So it is not enough just to get baptized and move on from there, there is work to be done. We see here it says that they continued steadfastly.
These words hold out great hope for men and women and it is indeed, as it describes itself, “a light that shines in a dark place” as Peter says in II Peter 1:19. The world is a cavern and here is the only light. Nowhere else can you find this spiritual light. There are speculations and people strike their little matches in the dark, but they do not last very long, are denounced by the next generation, and they are forgotten.
Ideas come and go and are always changing. Certainly, the most extraordinary and in many ways the most tragic aspect of all is that, although the world boasts about its advances, its ideas do not progress. People had the same stupid ideas in Noah's time, when God brought the Flood, the tower of Babel, and so on. That is the banner of the world. Human nature blinds people to the point of stupidity.
Fashion, for example, is a series of things that are popular at one moment and then discarded and ridiculed as being silly, only to return again in another form.
Modern men and women say, “We have a new morality,” but that is simply a repetition of what Satan has instigated before. He puts an idea back into some cupboard and brings out another one, and everybody forgets the old idea. He lets some time pass, and brings the first one out again saying that it is something brand-new and people fall for it.
A religious example that comes back around about every five years or so is the calendar issue. It has been proven by Mr. Armstrong and others in the church that the sacred calendar we use is the only reliable one. It is amazing what Satan can do to deceive people.
A “new morality” that people claim, is as old as Adam in its sinfulness. It is nothing new or original in any sense whatsoever. All perversions and all foulness are described in the Bible, as well as in the pages of secular history. We have the record in many different sources.
For many centuries the book of Ecclesiastes has told us, “There is no new thing under the sun,” and there certainly is not. All the arguments against Christianity, against the faith and way of life have been promoted many times and consistently proven as being lies and inaccurate. Even the discrepancies in the Bible can all be proved as not discrepancies but rather proof that God inspired Scripture.
Nicodemus had a philosophy that, you add on something to what you already have. Nicodemus was a teacher who thought Jesus had something that he did not have yet and he wanted it, but Christ made a famous statement to Nicodemus in John 3.
The Greeks were very into the intellectual side of things and wanted to hear any “new” thought. Nicodemus, a master of Israel, who had a certain amount of power and influence saw, in Jesus' workings of miracles, a much deeper spiritual insight than what he had. He had to understand more about what this teacher and possible prophet knew. What if Jesus was right about these things? The answer Nicodemus received shook him to his foundations, as it was meant to do.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Born again,” we know this more clearly means to born from above. It is a profound, radical change that makes a man or woman an entirely new creature and as the apostle Paul puts it in II Corinthians 5.
II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
New things cannot retain its old qualities. New creations, which we all are, cannot retain Babylon in them and still be a new creation. That is what we are working on. Our sanctification is a process, which for most of us will take 50-60 years, if not more, before God is satisfied with our completion.
This is the action of God, the Creator, re-creating His creation. It is God who takes men and women, calls them, convinces them, smashes them, and reassembles them on a new pattern, on the pattern of the image of the Son of God Himself and what better pattern is there than that.
True Christians are those who have the life of God, the mind of God, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. That stands out very clearly in this account of these first Christians who were added to the church of God.
This change in someone’s whole outlook shows itself in action. If it does not do that then it is of no value.
James 2:17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But true faith, the change leading to faith always shows itself. It shows by being a good witness of God's way of life. Another way we notice how faith reveals itself, is that it leads to a great separation. It separates men and women from the world and joins them to the church. This is something that is found everywhere in the New Testament.
Separation is the principle and practice of spiritual and moral distinction of believers from unbelievers and unrepentant believers guilty of flagrant and open sin. Not one of the New Testament letters was written to people of the world, they were all written to individual Christians or to churches, in other words, to people who had been gathered out of the world and put into these communities of faith by God Himself.
They had been added to the church and continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, which is a type of fellowship, and in prayers. A tremendous change was taking place within them and this showed itself outwardly in that they had left one position for another—the position of being in the world and the realm of Satan, to being in the realm of God.
This in one of the most vital things that needs to be emphasized at this present time. The church is dysfunctional and useless without this spiritual separation from the world. In the New Testament we see a division, a man or woman is taken from the world and put into the realm of the church. There has to be a change and there has to be conflict.
An admix of church and state, world and Christianity, is fatal to true Christianity. It is syncretism, it misleads, it is wrong, and it hinders the whole work of the church. So, the more worldly a church is, the more they are going to be in a state of confusion.
Jesus is described as separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. He did not think, live, or even judge like them, but He was nevertheless separated from the world. He did not practice physical separation from the world, He received sinners who came to Him for teaching and salvation, and He ate with them, but He was spiritually separate from the world.
Now at times, in Scripture, physical or social separation is required. Believers are told to flee from immorality and from idolatry. Notice what God says about anyone in Israel or the church who commits the sin of idolatry here in Ezekiel 14.
Ezekiel 14:7-8 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, [the church as well] who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet [or minister] to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. [God Himself will answer him, personally! What a scary thought.] I will set My face against that man [the sinner] and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
That is the theme throughout Ezekiel and it is repeated over and over. God will make sure that every one eventually knows exactly who He is, His sovereignty, His power, and what He expects. That is why everyone in the whole world will receive their opportunity to understand God's truth. We know that the beast and false prophet will understand who God is and what His truth is and will reject it.
Now notice the phrase “sets up his idols in his heart.” You cannot set up a man-made carved idol in your heart, so this is obviously speaking in a spiritual sense. God is making it very clear that the spirit of the law was important in the Old Testament as well as the letter of the law. Idolatry is not only setting up some physical image to bow down to and worship as a god, it is an internalization of something that becomes more important to you than God is.
It is not enough to keep just the letter of the law. God makes it abundantly clear here that anything we setup in the thoughts of our minds that supersedes God in importance is idolatry. Relationships with unbelievers often involve compromising which leads to sin. This is why separation is necessary.
This does not mean that believers cannot have any contact with immoral persons and idolaters. We are to treat our fellow man and neighbors kindly and affectionately. Rather, believers are to remain apart in: marriage, close business relationships, and immoral or degenerate social activities. The clearest application of this principle is the marriage relationship. Believers are to marry only “in the Lord” as Paul made clear in I Corinthians 7.
I Corinthians 7:39 A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
In one sense, secession is like a marriage separation and divorce, except secession from the world into the church is a positive thing, because to divorce the world is a good thing. God hates divorce, meaning He hates divorce between husband and wife, and He hates divorce from the church.
Christians also are to maintain spiritual, moral, and social separation from a professing Christian who refuses to repent and who will not leave behind a lifestyle of flagrant sin. In I Corinthians 5 Paul writes:
I Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
This command is one thing in the Bible that the most of the churches of God seem to be lax in. Paul adds another caution in II Thessalonians 3.
II Thessalonians 3:14-15 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, [that is crucial in this] but admonish him as a brother.
So it does not say that we are not to have contact with them, it says that we are not to socialize, party, or have intimate relationships with them.
Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians might overdo the discipline, so he quickly urged them to treat the offender as a brother and not as an enemy. An occasion for discipline should not become an occasion for disobedience by those exercising the discipline. It does not give any of us the right to be harsh, to criticize someone harshly, or to offend them needlessly at all. We must put ourselves in Christ’s shoes and ask how He would treat this person. That is not always an easy thing to do because of our human nature.
They were not to think of the offender as personally antagonistic toward them, nor were they to feel hostile toward them. His objective relationship to them, as a brother in Christ, should govern their feelings and actions, rather than subjective feelings that might be provoked by his apathy. Meaning that if a person like that seems apathetic, we should not get angry at them, we should actually feel sorry for them and try to help them through it. However we cannot let them influence us in any way, because someone who is bound so much by the world can draw a person in the church away if they are not careful.
They were to warn him, not denounce him. Whereas, they were to have no social contact with him but they were not to break off all contact. They were patiently to admonish him to forsake the error of his ways and that must be done in a loving way.
Now let us be clear about the meaning of the word “world.” As used in Scripture, world always means the mind and the outlook of humanity without God. Generally, it does not mean physical universe or earth, nor does it mean animal creation, on the spiritual level in Scripture. World means human beings trying to organize themselves and their lives without God, and when people become Christians, they are taken from the world, though they still live in it, and are joined to this other body of people whom they resemble, in the most essential respects, and they become part of the Family of God.
Now look at this as it comes out plainly in the teaching Jesus Christ Himself. If you read Matthew 10 you will see how Jesus was always surprising His contemporaries, just as He has surprised people ever since. The common mainstream Christian idea about Jesus Christ is that He is someone who came into the world to give peace, that He is the Prince of peace, but Jesus says:
Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
That directly contradicts what mainstream Christianity, Protestantism or Catholicism, teach about Jesus Christ. What did He mean? When Jesus said that, He did not mean He had come into the world to make nations fight one another. He was dissenting very strongly from the idea that He was just “a weak Galilean” or “a limp-wristed teacher.” He was not some peace activist or a moral philosopher who had come simply to bring people together, break down barriers, and urge peace. He rejected that because He knew that the doctrine that he brought was going to stir the world up and toss it upside-down.
The idea that the gospel of Christ is just a message to be nice, kind, and friendly to one another is a travesty of the gospel. It is too profound, too radical, too strong, too fundamental, too dynamic for that. Every time you read Scripture it gives you more insight and wisdom, depending on how you look at your life at that time. You can open any page and find something that can be applicable in your life at that time.
It is amazing and awesome to see how active Scripture is. There is nothing sedentary about it, but we do receive deep, spiritual peace from obeying God's Word even though it causes disruption in our physical lives.
There is no sloppy sentimentality about the gospel message. It is a message with a sword and we see this in operation right at the beginning, on the Day of Pentecost. In Acts 26:16, on the road to Damascus one day, Christ commissioned a man called Saul of Tarsus and this is what He told him:
Acts 26:16-18 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you [What for? Why?], to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
That is the commission that Paul was given. He would separate the Gentiles, call them out of darkness and into the realm of light, this great separation from the world into the realm of the Kingdom of God. Paul was to help the Gentile converts secede from the world at a spiritual level. We find this repeated everywhere.
II Corinthians 6:17-18 Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
He had just written:
II Corinthians 6:14-15 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
These verses describe unholy alliances, not the relationships a Christian should enter into. You cannot mix light and darkness; you cannot mix Christ and Belial, and the difference between the Christian and the world is the difference between light and darkness. These things are eternal opposites and they are as different as night and day or as God and Satan. It is the great contrast.
Again, take the specific statement that Paul makes at the beginning of his epistle to the Galatians.
Galatians 1:3-4 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ [there is that spiritual peace we receive], who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
That is why Christ died on the stake, so He might deliver us or separate us from the present evil world. Still, some people refuse to secede from the world mentally, spiritually, and ideologically. And again, the apostle Paul writes, this time to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:17-20 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ.
We are committed and we are in this to the end, and if we reject it with the knowledge and understanding that we have, the judgment on us will be so much greater than of the world. The world is ignorant, but God will judge people according to what they know. They—the world—will still get a pretty harsh judgment, but for the church, we receive discipline from God and it will be far grater because of what we know. It is a terrifying thought. David, when he committed that great sin, pleaded for God's mercy, and we should as well.
We must not go on living as we used to live, like the rest of the world to whom we used to belong to. We have changed, we have “learned Christ,” things were different now. Paul puts it still more specifically in the next chapter.
Ephesians 5:6-12 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
We have work to do, as John [Ritenbaugh] has been teaching us on his sermons on the book of Ecclesiastes. We always have work to do every day. When you are with someone in the church and they do something that is obviously a sin, do you gently remind them in the kindest way possible? Or do you get offended and do nothing about it and just let them go on not realizing what they are doing?
I am not saying that we should correct each other all the time, but rather that we should be concerned about one another's future, in the church and in God's Kingdom. Paul exhorts the Christians at Philippi:
Philippians 2:15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
So ask yourselves, while you have been here at the Feast, have you, in every way, been a light to the world or has your attitude kind of gone awry on you? We all have human nature, so no doubt we have failed at one point or another.
The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that the Christian is like a star in the blackness of the heavens on a dark night. That is the contrast there should be between us and the world and you see why it requires complete spiritual separation—that we must seceded from the world. Christians shine as luminaries in the heavens, in the midst of all that darkness, and that is Paul’s description of a Christian.
Let me quickly read a series of scriptures that show this. Paul says in Colossians 1:
Colossians 1:12-13 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Who has done this? The Father has. He has delivered us from and conveyed us into. He has done it all, but yet we still have our part to do to separate from the world. There has been a great transference, a movement of population, in one sense, from one realm into another. Listen to the apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians, and directly to us as well.
I Thessalonians 5:4-6 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep [that is, sleep spiritually], as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
The apostle Peter preached exactly the same message in I Peter 2.
I Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people [What more of a wonderful description of us could there be?], that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
John, toward the end of his first letter in I John 5, says:
I John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
Wait a minute, it says here that God does not do everything, does He? He does all of the important and critical things, but He gives us the power to use our faith so that we can do our part. How do we overcome the world? By faith.
I John 5:18-19 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
It is a choice, a decisive choice: either God or Satan. Who do you choose? So there is the statement that is so plain and clear in the whole of New Testament teaching, once men and woman are called by God, through His Word preached, they are entirely changed, and the change reveals itself in their separation from the godless world. Separation requires faith.
Now we must go a step further. Becoming a Christian is the most profound change that can ever take place in a human being’s life. Thinking again about what Christ said to the disciples in Matthew 10.
Matthew 10:34-38 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
That means also that we have to love ourselves less than we do our loved ones, our children, spouses, and we have to love God more than all, that means that our obedience and loyalty goes to Him first, then to our families secondly. The spiritual family that we have, those of us that are here together, are more important than our physical families that are not in the church. Do not get me wrong here, our physical families are important, but our spiritual family is more important.
Are we willing to give our lives not only for God, our spouses, our children, and to our extended families that are not in the church? That is what Christ would do and that is the goal that we shoot for and we cannot do it without the power of God and the dynamic Word that He has given us.
Whatever it may cost and whatever separation it may involve is what God requires, as Christ emphasizes here. People think of Him as one who just says sweet, sentimental nothings. How utterly ridiculous! He is comforting at the right time, He consoles us, but He treats us in a special way.
Here is a gospel that produces heroes, a gospel that produces martyrs. Here is the strongest thing in the world. So do you see how this works?
Matthew 10:21-22 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
All those passages establish that, when people become Christians, something so profound takes place within them that not only are they separated from the world in general, they are separated even from their nearest and dearest.
Please do not misunderstand this. It does not mean that a man has to leave his wife, or the wife the husband, or the father the child, but it does mean that whereas the members of a family had been living the same sort of life more or less in harmony, the moment one member becomes a Christian, there is an inevitable separation. Something has disrupted the nearest and the dearest relationships. Becoming a Christian cuts and divides even the most tender earthly associations. “Think not that I have come to send peace. . . but a sword.”
Christ’s words show how thorough and profound this change is. There is nothing one can say beyond that. That is what Christ Himself says, and His words have been fulfilled throughout the centuries. But why should there be such a change? That is the great question, and the answers are right before us in the pages of Scripture.
The teaching is that before our conversion we all, by nature, belonged to the world. We are slaves to the world and Satan owned us. The world is one in its alienation from God.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Sin reveals itself in every continent and in every culture. In every division of the human race we find the same things being done and the same problems arising and it has been going on for six thousand years.
By nature however men and women are not aware of this need to change. That is why there are these separations and divisions. We think we are superior or we feel we are inferior and there are clashes and we carry those feelings, by our human nature, over into the church when we are converted.
When people become Christians, God, using the Word, opens their minds and awakens them to a realization of this tremendous truth. That is what Peter said at the end of his sermon in Acts 2.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved [“Save yourselves,” as it says in the King James version] from this perverse generation.”
How, then, do you save yourselves? Well, once men and women are called and begin to understand this message, their minds and understanding are awakened to the tremendous truth of the solidarity of the entire human race in sin. At first they do not know what Peter is talking about when he says, "Save yourselves from this perverse generation."
They say “I’m in the world and how can I save myself from it? Is Peter asking me to become a monk or a hermit? Is he asking me to totally segregate myself from society?” No, he is simply asking you to separate yourself from all that is true about the world in the biblical sense.
“Save yourselves” here means, preserve yourselves from the influence, opinions, and fate of this generation. It implies that we are to use diligence and effort to deliver ourselves. God deals with people as free agents. You have a God-given right to choose what you are going to do, whether to remain part of the world, one foot in the world and one foot in the church, or whether you are willing to make that total secession form the world.
God wants problem-solvers in His Kingdom, not people that kick back and say I have faith that God will take care of it. God does not want us to panic when we have a problem. He wants us to come to Him, but He does want us to think about what we should do, He wants us to use our minds and He wants to help us to use them.
We are victims of the propaganda of the media: TV, radio, and the Internet. It is this world-mind, global mentality that makes us what we are—opposed to God. We cannot stand to be a part of it and that helps us to be even more loyal to God.
There is some interesting teaching about this in the New Testament. As men and women are dealt with by God, through His Holy Spirit, they begin to see it more and more clearly. Listen to the apostle Paul putting it so plainly to the Ephesians here.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
That is a finite condition and a direct opposite. Dead is dead, and that is a terrible state to be in. We are alive, and what a blessing that is that we have had our minds opened and have now been made alive.
We appeared alive when people looked at us and of course we were, but we were “dead” in trespasses and sins. As you know, people can be alive physically but dead spiritually. As we have seen, that is the trouble with all human beings that have not been called into God's church. They are dead spiritually.
We were all spiritually dead before we received the Holy Spirit. Until then, we were not aware of the spiritual realm, other than in a superstitious way, at most. We did not think in a spiritual manner. Then Paul goes on to say:
Ephesians 2:2-3 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
If it was not for God we would be in the same state of mind. We have nothing to be proud about in that sense. It is God who has pulled us out of that, it is God who is saving us. However we do have our part to accomplish as well, as I have said before.
We are told that we receive rewards, but what are those rewards based on? They are based on our works. They are gifts—everything is a gift—but how much have you developed in God's church to be able to be a priest or a leader? We are to be kings and priests. We are to be developing those traits now and we do that by applying God's words in our own lives, by living His way of life entirely.
We know that Satan controls the world and controls the mind of the world and because of Satan—the god of this world, the prince of this world, the prince of the power of the air—the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience is as it is because it does not know that. The tremendous unseen spiritual power is paralyzing and blinding the minds of men and women. When you mention Satan, the majority of the world laughs you off.
The apostle Paul says in In II Corinthians 4:
II Corinthians 4:3-4 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
But now, under the influence of God’s Spirit and this teaching, people begin to understand. They suddenly see the awful prejudice, the spiritual tyranny, and it is all due to the fact that man, in his folly, rebelled against God. Before Adam and Eve sinned the world was in harmony with God, man enjoyed fellowship with God, and God blessed him.
The perverse change came about like this: Satan asked, “What did God say? God said it to keep you down and to rob you of your privileges as a man. Assert yourself and you will become as God.” That is the outlook of the world, and its author is Satan. Worldliness started in the original rebellion and sin of Adam and Eve and once they did that, it continued right on through the generations because their human nature is in all of us.
“Save yourselves from this perverse generation,” the apostle Peter says in Acts 2:40. The word “perverse” in the New King James and the word “untoward” in the King James is the biblical description of a person in sin. It means crooked; intractable; and not manageable. It means that men and women have a twist in them; that they are perverted before they are called.
According to the Bible, this is what people see as they begin to become converted and come under conviction. It is not only the world, but it is they themselves that are twisted and perverted before God calls them out of that state.
If you want a description of the crookedness of men and women as they are by nature, and the world as it is apart from God, you will find it all in the opening chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, in the terrifying words that are found there.
Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting [here is the summary of it all]; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
That is what the word seeks to become like. That is a description of any big city without God and that is the life of the rich as well as the poor. Here is a humanity without God, slaves of sin and evil, foul, debased, disgusting, vile, twisted, and perverted; “A perverse generation”! I am emphasizing that to show you the difference between the world and us and why it is so important to be spiritually, mentally, and ideologically separate from the world.
So when men and women are called by God and have their minds opened to the truth, they find a vileness, an ugliness, and a foulness in themselves and they want to be rid of them as much as they would a parasite that attacks the body.
That is what happened to the people at Jerusalem and made them cry out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” We were never meant to be like that and the world was never meant to be as it is today. This is not the world as God made it, it is the result of man’s rebellion and foulness and evil.
This is what we are called to do; to fully believe it, to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and at all costs follow Him, which means to repent of sin, overcome Satan, and the world. That means leaving the world and shunning its society and politics and political correctness. This may mean misunderstandings in the family, but our lives are at stake and we were once in sin with them, but God has chosen to reveal to us that our lives matter.
God is active in every moment our lives everyday. He does not reject us, unless we reject Him, and the way that we reject Him is to fall back into sin. Sin separates us from God every time. What will it profit a person, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own potential for eternal life?
This message tells us that we must be separated and the sword must come and divide us. It also tells us that we must ask Christ to use the sword to set us free. He came into the world in order to do just that. In John 8, He said
John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Here is a message of truth, coming in the power of the Spirit, which separates us from the kingdom of Satan’s world and translates us into the Kingdom of God.
The Millennium is a divine monarchy ruled over by God and His Family, with Jesus Christ being the King of the Kingdom. He will become king over all the earth and will reign in righteousness. He will be established on the throne of David to rule an eternal kingdom.
Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.
That is a guarantee and all we have to do is work with Him. The Lord is exalted in the Kingdom and He is so central that, “the sun shall be no more your light by day, but the Lord will be your everlasting light." There will not be spiritual darkness where separation becomes necessary, that is in the Millennium and in the Kingdom.
Worship naturally figures prominently in such a divine monarchy as we will be seeing in the Millennium and God's Kingdom. Isaiah 2 helps us picture a realm in which all the nations flock to the mountain of the Lord, saying:
Isaiah 2:2-3 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
That is what the world will eventually be seeing in the Millennium. The first-fruits of God's Kingdom will be called the priests of the Lord and people will speak of them as the ministers of our God.
The time is coming when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea and even more. Ezekiel actually devotes the last 8 chapters of his prophecy to a portrayal of temple worship in the coming age. It will be a unified worship, without schisms and separations.
The aura and quality that envelops life in the millennial kingdom is a thoroughly moral and blessed one. People will want to be righteous, and they will want to be loyal and will be deeply dedicated to God’s truth because of the example they see in the nation of Israel, as Israel lives their lives as an example to the rest of the world.
One thing common to secession and separation is dissatisfaction. God himself will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and He will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Living righteously is the key to being satisfied from the inside out. There will be no dissatisfaction among those who live righteously.
The Old Testament prophets who recorded the millennial visions paint a picture of a utopia, a good place. Regardless of how literally or figuratively one interprets the details, the imagery that fires the millennial imagination is a vision of the fulfillment of human longing at every possible level, and it is a picture of moral and spiritual perfection, not a picture of separation and secession.
In contrast to the unsatisfied dis-unified nations of the world today, which are always in a fluctuating state of separation, the Kingdom of God in the Millennium will be the satisfied Kingdom. Biblical visions of the Millennium go beyond description of the external situation and give us a picture of the inner state of the people as well. The result is an inspiring vision, a picture of how the inhabitants of the land experience blessings.
In a sense, above all, they are satisfied. God promises that in the coming age that His people will be satisfied with His goodness. Joel records his vision of the land being refreshed in Joel 2.
Joel 2:18-19 Then the Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people. The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.
Joel 2:26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame.
I know that there is a certain amount of shame that comes, at least on the physical level, from being such a despised people that we are becoming in this nation and in the world, but God promises that shame will never be there again, after we are raised as Spirit beings. Through the Millennium there will not be a shame of God's way of life, there will be resistance to it at first, but as time goes on everyone will have to conform.
Proverbs 14:14 The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above.
That is where our satisfaction comes, from above, and it is a guarantee. Not only will God send abundant produce, but His people will be completely satisfied. This positive outlook will result in inner peace and joy.
Isaiah tells us that God promises to satisfy your desire with good things; with whatever your heart rightly desires. The Feast of Tabernacles is a time to secede, to separate from the ways and thoughts and mindset of the world and to be satisfied and thankful for what God has provided.
It is no wonder that the Old Testament millennial visions are filled with the vocabulary of joy and satisfaction, often expressed in Isaiah as a promise from God: "Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice." The people will say, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God."
Isaiah records God as saying, "Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I created; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." Even "the desert shall rejoice and blossom." Of course, deserts do not really rejoice, but the sensation that we will have at seeing the desert flourish is part of the joy that we will have in the Millennium.
Satisfaction does not come from acquiring material things, it comes from having the inner right desires and positive emotions as we put things in their right perspective and to do that we have to look at things from Christ's point of view and perspective. We should have a “what would Christ do” type of attitude, especially knowing that He reflects God the Father. If we reflect Jesus Christ, we will also reflect God the Father.
So, as Peter says, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”
The word “nonconformity” is coined from the words found in Romans 12:2, where we read, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” To “conform” means “to be in harmony with” or “to pattern after”—and therefore the admonition to be not conformed simply means “do not pattern after” or “do not be in harmony with” this world-system. The child of God is to be separated from the world-system.
The Bible teaches separation from the world—separation from the whole political, commercial, and ecclesiastical system that is trying to make itself happy without God. The average person works for this life only; he prepares for this life only; he lives for this life only. The aims and ambitions of most unsaved people center around the brief time they spend here in this life. The typical citizen desires to acquire some property, to make a name for himself, and to satisfy his physical appetites. A scientist, when asked the question, “Do you believe in a future life beyond the grave?” said, “To tell the truth, I’ve been so occupied with making myself happy in this life that I have not even had time to think about a future life.” That is the philosophy of the world-system from which the disciple of Jesus Christ is to separate.
The Scriptures are clear on this teaching. The whole tenor of the Bible from beginning to end, indicates that the people of God are to be separate from the pride and vanity and extravagance of this world-system. And we are not only to be separated from the world, but at the same time we are to be dedicated and consecrated and devoted to the service of God.
We want to consider the Bible background for the subject of nonconformity, and then we will discuss some of the more practical details. Notice the following Bible passages:
Leviticus 20:24 “I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people.”
Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
1 John 2:15-17 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”
James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves . . . having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.”
The words in James 4 are very clear. They are God’s words. Talk about a worldly Christian; there is no such thing. A person might be worldly, but then he is not a Christian. One may as well talk about a heavenly devil as to talk about a worldly Christian. “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
The words in 2 Timothy 3:5 are also very clear. Paul could have advised Timothy to be “a good mixer” and “to play ball” with the apostates of his day, but instead, he said, “From such turn away.” People today seem to have the idea that we must mingle with and become like the world in order to win them, and yet when a man falls into a deep pit, no one ever dreams of jumping down into the well (alongside him) in order to get him out. Instead, he stays way up at the top, and from there he lets down a ladder or rope and lifts him up.
Each of us believes in God’s physical laws of separation. When a quart of milk begins to sour, what do you do? Mix it with a quart of sweet milk so that both will be good? No. You set it aside until it becomes altogether sour. You separate the bad from the good. Or if a man has a sore leg and gangrene sets in, what do the medical experts do? Cut it off. They separate the bad from the good. God has always been a God of separation. He separated light from darkness, good from evil, the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the wise from the foolish, and He expects the Christian to be separated from the world-system. In addition to all the Bible portions quoted earlier, 2 Corinthians 6:17 serves as a kind of summary statement: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
We want to note now some practical applications of the Bible doctrine of nonconformity. Worldliness is related to what we say, how we dress, how we spend money, how we drive on the highway, our attitude toward work, our reaction to tragedy and death, etc. It is related to outlook, motives, manner of life, aims, and ideals. However, in this particular message, we want to discuss two much neglected aspects of nonconformity: (1) The Christian and worldly dress. (2) The Christian and worldly amusements.
1. The Christian and Worldly Dress
How should God’s people dress? Is there any prescribed way for the Christian to adorn his body? If we approach the New Testament with the idea that we are going to find in it a set of dress regulations with the material and the pattern all described, we are bound for disappointment. It is not there. The Bible lays down great principles on the matter of dress just as it does in many other areas of the Christian life. For example, the Bible does not specifically say that we must stop at a stop sign. Is it wrong not to stop then? And the answer is, “Yes—it is wrong not to stop.” It is wrong, not only because we might get caught, but also because there is a principle in the Bible which says that we should obey the state authorities. And they say we shall stop, and therefore in obedience to this divine principle in the Bible, we are to stop. And just so the Word of God does not specifically tell what color clothes to wear, or how long the dress should be, or of what particular material our clothing should be made—but the Bible principle is found in 1 Timothy 2:9-10. The Word of God says, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” These are God’s words, and if these are the standards for the Christian woman, then surely they should be the standards for the Christian man who is to be the head of the woman.
(a) The wearing of jewelry
According to the biblical principle just established, the Christian should not wear gold for the sake of decorating his body. And yet there is enough gold in our churches to make a countless number of golden calves. If all the finger rings, ear rings, wedding bands, and other pieces of jewelry displayed on the body (“because everybody does it”) were melted together, it would be easy to make many calves like the Israelites made while camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.
Some say, “But can’t I keep on wearing jewelry and still be a faithful Christian?” Probably it is best to answer by asking another question: “Can you be a Christian and willfully disobey the Word of God?” Certainly not—and no person who is painted like an Easter egg and decorated like a Christmas tree should ever be brazen enough to call himself Christian.
(b) The wearing of modest clothes
According to the principle found in 1 Timothy 2:9-10, dresses that are short, tight-fitting, thin, low-necked, sleeveless, and in any way designed to accentuate the female form—are a disgrace for any Christian woman to wear. Low necks, tight dresses, slit skirts, bare arms, and painted faces may be the order of the day in our society, but God says, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel (clothing that properly covers) . . . not with gold, or pearls, or costly array.” God doesn’t expect our clothes to look like the front cover of the latest fashion magazine.
Why must you follow the fashions of the day? Suppose you are peculiar, what of it? It would be a thousand times better to retain your modesty and please God, than to adopt a manner of dress that borders on the immoral. There must be a dividing line between the Christian and the world. The Christian woman wears modest apparel and veils her long hair. The Christian man avoids appearing publicly in shorts; he keeps his shirt on his back; he is careful to see that his whole family guards purity by being modestly attired.
You say, “But no one is going to tell me what kind of clothes to wear.” Yet every one of us (consciously or unconsciously) dresses according to someone’s pattern. We either get our pattern of dress from the Word of God (as understood by godly men and women), or we get it from the world and worldly-minded people. Whatever fashion decrees, no matter how ridiculous or how immodest it is, that’s the goddess that many are worshiping, and this world is dictating what to wear. Never say, “No one is going to tell me what kind of clothes to wear.” Someone is telling you—never forget that.
2. The Christian and Worldly Amusements
There is a teaching in many so-called Christian circles today which implies that the Christian life is a jolly affair, and that to follow Jesus is barrels of fun. Many a modern church ought to blow the steeple off its roof and hang up a night-club sign. They have more suppers, parties, and fun-nights—than prayer meetings and Bible studies.
The Bible principle on worldly amusements is found in Hebrews 11:24-26. “By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” The Christian faith involves “suffering affliction” and bearing “the reproach of Christ.” If you have a popular brand of Christianity, you have the wrong kind! Our Lord talked about the cost of discipleship; too many of us talk about how much fun it is. Within the soul of every person there is an inner longing and a deep quest for peace of mind. The world tries to satisfy this quest which is common to all men by offering the movies, the dance, television, drugs, smoking, drinking, etc. The child of God does not need the momentary, short-lived satisfaction that this world pretends to offer, for the Bible says of our Lord God, “He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm 107:9).
(a) Hollywood movies
There may be some good Hollywood movies. There is some good food in garbage cans too. The theater page of a local newspaper, however, soon reveals that murder, sex, and the free spending of money are the major themes of Hollywood. The filthier, the dirtier, the more degrading, the most lustful, the more suggestive, the more ungodly a film is—the bigger the hit it makes with the American public. It is difficult to imagine a Christian’s supporting the filthy, immoral, ungodly pictures which are conceived in the heart of the devil himself. My blood runs cold to even think of a Christian’s viewing the hell-soaked immoral stench of Hollywood.
(b) Television
Nearly all the popular movies are later shown on television, and television makes a theater out of your home. The television set is a mechanical device which is neither right nor wrong. It is not wrong because it is new, but some of the filth that is displayed on the screen is definitely wrong. And it is almost impossible to develop controlled viewing habits.
I drove a school bus for a number of years. One evening a little girl about to get off the bus was crying, and declared that she did not want to go home. When asked why she didn’t want to go home, she explained: “My parents were watching television last night—and one program showed a man crawling out from under a little girl’s bed, and killing her. I couldn’t sleep all night last night because I thought a man was under my bed and would kill me. I don’t want to go home.” Friends—I’m glad I don’t have to stand in those parents’ shoes on the Judgment Day. The Bible says it would be better if such parents had a millstone cast around their necks, and they were drowned in the depths of the sea, rather than to offend such a little one.
Television nearly always glorifies impurity as love, pictures murder as entertainment, exalts nakedness and indecency as beauty, shows drinking and gun fights as proper, and assumes that taking God’s name in vain is legitimate. It ruins the influence of a Christian, debauches the minds of children, inflames the lust of youth, and hardens the hearts of sinners. And most people admit that the tendency is to slip into more and more careless habits of watching whatever is to be seen.
(c) Dancing
The word “dance” is used many times in the Bible, but only a few times does it compare with the modern dance—and then it is always condemned. When David danced, he danced alone. He didn’t dance all over the streets of Jerusalem in the arms of another man’s wife. David leaped and praised God for sheer joy! There was no embracing the opposite sex. He knew nothing of the waltz, the bunny-hug, and the two-step.
No person in his right mind will deny that the modern dance with its dim lights and suggestive music is solely for the purpose of getting the sexual thrill that comes from the contact of the bodies of the opposite sex. Anyone who says that youth of both sexes can mingle in close embrace on the dance floor without suffering harm, is a liar, and all of us know that’s true. The dance is an incubator which hatches out lust, sin, adultery, fornication, broken homes, and broken lives.
(d) Tobacco
One third of America’s smokers are women. The heart of the infant fetus being carried by an expectant mother beats five times faster each minute while the mother is smoking than it does under normal conditions. The University of Virginia says that the nicotine intake of the normal smoker is almost one pound per year. They fed an equivalent amount of nicotine to eight thousand cats, and it killed them all.
Smoking is a dirty, nauseating habit. I would just as soon have another person spit in my tea or hot chocolate or coffee as to have him blow smoke in my face. The smoke goes through the nasal system and the mucous lining of the mouth and throat, and then it is blown into the faces of others. The most tragic result of smoking however, is the effect tobacco has on the smoker’s own body. As a Christian, your body is intended to be a temple (a dwelling place) of God, and the Lord says that to defile the temple of God is to ask for destruction (1 Corinthians 3:17).
(e) Drugs and drinking
There are many drugs that have been found to be helpful to mankind when used properly. In the hands of trained and skillful doctors, drugs can relieve pain and aid in healing sick bodies. But many in our day have experimented with such things as marijuana, heroin, LSD, and other mind-expanding drugs. These give the temporary feeling of being superior, while at the same time making the drug-user a slave of addiction and tearing him down mentally and physically.
It is no surprise that unsaved people get involved with drugs. Having no faith in God and no respect for God’s Word, they are easy prey for the devil. The use of drugs is only one of the tricks Satan uses to enslave people. But because the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), we should not allow it to become enslaved by wicked and degrading habits. That rules out habit-forming and mind-expanding drugs for the Christian. It also rules out alcohol as a beverage because that too is addictive.
Are you looking for real satisfaction? Turn your life over to Jesus Christ and start living for Him. You will find, as Peter did, “. . . joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8). Dig into your Bible and it will expand your mind. But it will not endanger your mental or physical health. There was a time when I was afraid to live and I was afraid to die. But one day I was invited to accept the peace that Jesus offers. Jesus Christ says, “Come unto me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). I accepted—and since then, the things of this world have grown strangely dim. There has been a peace in my heart and a joy in my soul such as the things of the world could never supply. Jesus knocks on the door of your heart too. The Bible says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
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