QC and SG accountability

Today (as promised) our QC question was on denominations. I mentioned that critics of denominations (like Roman Catholics) quote Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21 “That all of them may be one” as evidence that denominations are wrong. But the context of the verse – “that they may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” tells us that the unity Jesus prays for (and surely His prayers are always answered) is not organizational unity, but spiritual unity.

We believe, then, that true believers who make up the invisible church are always united in Christ, even if they belong to different denominations. In contrast, those members of the visible church who are not believers are not united in Christ.

The chief reason why the Roman Catholic is able to maintain a structural unity is that they believe in an infallible, church-sanctioned interpretation of God’s infallible word. This means that they avoid the numerous theological disagreements Protestants have that separate different denominations. These disagreements must not be in fundamental theological truths, but are permissible with non-fundamental truths. So I said, “unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, charity in all things”.

What, then, are the non-negotiable essentials of Christian doctrine that must be held on to? The Bible gives some indications:

·         “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Ro 12:1)

·         “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household.” (Ac 16:30-31)

·         For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3)

·         “By grace you have been saved, through faith” (Eph 2:8)

·         “God..sent His..Son..that whosover believes on Him will have eternal life” (Jn 3:16)

·         What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? (Js 2:14)

I think the non-negotiables then, would be:

1.       An acknowledgement that we are sinners

2.       A belief in the unmerited favour of God shown to us to save

3.       A belief in the divinity (“Lord”, “His..Son” ) of Christ

4.       A full trust in Christ’s saving death for our sin

5.       A belief in the resurrection of Christ.

6.       A public profession of our faith in Christ

7.       Evidence of a living faith in changed life

I ended by saying that Methodists in Singapore don’t really emphasize strong theological distinctives. We do have an open Communion table, paedobaptism, an Episcopalian polity, an emphasis on spiritual growth in community (“social holiness”) and an Armininan stance on salvation. But the church has a broad view of what is acceptable, hence many different viewpoints can be accommodated. Whatever it is, we can be thankful for the role of the local church in our salvation and growth in the faith, as well as for fellow believers who walk with us on our journey of discipleship.