Dear Ray,
What happens when brothers disagree and nobody is allowed to become the final authority over the others?
We are accustomed to resolving that difficulty by finding someone whose word settles the matter. If that fails, we count supporters. If that fails, we separate.
The disagreement becomes a contest for the right to determine the future.
But what if our first concern were whether Christ could gain expression in the disagreement itself?
That would change what we were trying to accomplish.
James describes wisdom from above as peaceable, gentle, and open to reason (James 3:17). Those qualities expose the manner in which we claim to possess truth.
I can hold a correct position while expressing a life that contradicts Christ.
My argument may be sound. My need to defeat you may still come entirely from myself.
That is where the cross must reach.
Can I listen without preparing my next answer?
Can I describe your concern in terms you would recognize?
Can I admit that something you have said exposes a weakness in my position?
If I cannot, the disagreement has already revealed more than a difference of understanding.
It has revealed a self that must remain secure.
Romans 14 shows believers being called to receive one another amid differences over food and days. Each person’s accountability to the Lord challenges the urge to despise or condemn the other.
We should not turn every difference into a test of belonging.
Some matters require action. Money must be handled. A practical need must be met. We cannot always wait until everyone sees everything identically.
But practical responsibility does not require someone to become the permanent governor of the body. A brother can undertake a task without acquiring ownership of the others.
We can agree to a limited step, remain honest about our reservations, and return to the question together.
Where someone is being harmed, receiving one another cannot mean requiring that person to endure it quietly. The body must hear the affected member and act with practical care.
Peace is not the concealment of injury.
Ray, perhaps some disagreements will remain unresolved for a time. We may have to bear the discomfort of not possessing a complete answer.
Our union in Christ does not begin when our opinions agree. Zoe is already our shared life. The question is whether we will allow that life to govern the disagreement rather than surrender the room to our competing selves.
I want to know whether we can remain brothers when I have not persuaded you.
Whether I can rejoice in Christ’s supply through you while still disagreeing with something you believe.
Whether your existence can matter more to me than the satisfaction of having the last word.
Nobody needs to win for Christ to gain expression among us.
But someone’s claim to supremacy may need to die.
I would like to begin with mine.
Your brother,
Brent
