Who is my brother?

Paul opens his letter to the Roman Christians with this rousing declaration, which after reading the entire letter, can be seen as its theme:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed, beginning and ending with faith;
as it is written 'He, who through faith is righteous, shall live’” (Rom 1:16,17).

The gospel, then, is the manifestation of God’s saving grace to humanity. Just what this saving gospel is has been and continues to be elusive to pin down. Some would say that the gospel is the entire New Testament corpus. That every example and inference, not to mention every direct command (CENI), is to be understood as defining salvation. Such a view has wrought havoc on the Lord’s Body for centuries. I would suggest an alternative view.

I freely admit to having been strongly influenced by a giant of the Restoration Movement (one man’s giant is another’s dwarf, of course), W. Carl Ketcherside. Brother Ketcherside spent the first half of his life dividing congregations throughout the mid-West of the United States by applying the CENI method of exegesis. There came a time, however, when he realized that the New Testament consists of two very important but very different parts: gospel and doctrine. What follows is my understanding on Brother Ketcherside’s understanding, gained through only one quick reading of two of his writings: Twisted Scripture and According to the Pattern. Both of these works and others can be found at www.unity-in-diversity.org . I highly recommend them.

What is the Gospel?

I prefer to let the New Testament writers speak for themselves when possible; therefore, I will rely upon Paul to tell us what he means:

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared . . . .” (sometimes abbreviated DBRA)
(1 Cor 15:1-5)

Vine’s defines “gospel” thusly:

GOSPEL (NOUN AND VERB: TO PREACH)
euangelion ^2098^ originally denoted a reward for good tidings; later, the idea of reward dropped, and the word stood for "the good news" itself. The Eng. word "gospel," i. e. "good message," is the equivalent of euangelion (Eng., "evangel"). In the NT it denotes the "good tidings" of the kingdom of God and of salvation through Christ, to be received by faith, on the basis of His expiatory death, His burial, resurrection, and ascension, e. g., . Apart from those references and those in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, and , the noun is confined to Paul's epistles. The apostle uses it of two associated yet distinct things, (a) of the basic facts of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, e. g., <1 Cor. 15:1-3>; (b) of the interpretation of these facts, e. g., ; in (a) the "gospel" is viewed historically, in (b) doctrinally, with reference to the interpretation of the facts, as is sometimes indicated by the context.
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)
(Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Thus, the gospel is the historical space/time event of Jesus of Nazareth. JESUS IS THE GOSPEL! This wonderful, bound-in-leather, printed on India paper, book, this book that I have spent hours studying, with all its beauty, IS NOT THE GOSPEL. It is but the story of the gospel and how it affected those who heard its original proclamation.

Is this important? I think so. The generations preceding and including mine were known, by-in-large, for their knowledge of the book. It is also true, to some extent, that these generations failed to gain knowledge of the man. In our desire to restore the New Testament church, to rid ourselves of the causes of division, we became expert at proof-texting – yanking a verse from its context and making it say something other than it meant within that context – much to the detriment of the very unity we were pursuing.

Okay, so what? I can find no reference to the gospel being preached to the saved. The gospel, being God’s message of salvation, was preached to the lost. “For God so loved the world that he gave his unique son, that whoever believes in Him should not die, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Paul further shows how the gospel fulfills God’s salvation in Rom 6:3-7:

“Or do you not know that all of who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

When we experience the grace of God as we share in his Son through baptism, the gospel becomes, for us, the power of God unto salvation. Salvation means that we are free from God’s condemnation. Paul describes to the Roman Christians the dichotomy of being a child of God while being, at the same time, a child of Adam. He finds the duality of his nature causing great frustration: what he wants/needs to do he doesn’t and what he does not want/need to do he does. What’s good about that? Let’s continue in this great passage”

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” (Rom 7:24-8:2)

[By the way, I am convinced that the above passage represents the poorest chapter division in all of scripture.]

So then, we find Paul showing his great confidence in the gospel – that because he has responded with faith (belief and obedience) -- he is free from God’s wrath (condemnation) because he serves God’s law with his mind, while his body or his Adamness continues to serve the law of sin. How does this make him any different from any other man who serves the law of sin? The difference is intent. Paul intends to serve God’s law. Paul sometimes/often fails, but his desire/motive/intent is to serve God.

This is the clearest meaning of God’s grace I can find.

What does all this have to do with determining who my brother is? Well, again let’s let scripture speak. We remember that when the first gospel sermon was preached, to the Jews in Jerusalem on Pentecost (Acts 2) that they were instructed to believe and be baptized to receive salvation and the Holy Spirit. Three thousand responded that very day and more in the days following, all the while “the Lord was adding together day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). The proclamation of the gospel resulted in many being included, by God, among the number of the saved. Notice, that the saved did not add others to their number. That was and remains God’s prerogative. Who am I to question God’s addition/inclusion? Who am I to question God’s choice of my siblings? In truth, I have no choice in the matter. When I respond to the gospel story with faith which leads to baptism, I am added by God to his family.

We see, therefore, that the gospel’s intent (Jesus’ mission) is to “seek and save the lost.” The gospel is preached to the unbelievers/unsaved. So when we find Peter and Paul preaching “Christ, and him crucified,” we find them sharing the good news with the lost. We read about this in Luke’s second letter to Theophilus, known to us as “Acts.” The story preached is found in those short tracts about Jesus by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are called “the Gospels” because they tell a small part of the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

So we see that the gospel is the message taught/preached to the lost with their salvation in view. What about all the rest of the New Testament? It was not written to the lost, it was written to Christians. For what reason? Salvation? That was accomplished with the gospel. So if the addressed were saved already, why did those men spend much time and sweat and tears in writing? I would suggest that the remainder New Testament was written in order to make stronger the faith, surer the walk and confident the hope of those who had been saved by the gospel.

In a word, the gospel is that which must be obeyed. This should sound familiar to many, for many of us “obeyed the gospel” when we were baptized. I did.

What is doctrine?

Here we have newborn Christians. As with the infant of any specie, they are generally defenseless. The danger is high. The enemy very wily. What’s a newborn to do? Listen to wiser, more mature Christians, of course. Christians like Paul, John, James, Peter. Christians who with the guidance of God’s spirit were formulating a doctrine designed to strengthen and nurture these newborns.

Actually, Jesus, took the lead in preaching doctrine. Notice how Matthew gathers Jesus’ doctrine into one setting in chapters 5-7. Here is the ultimate doctrine. Here is a collection of teachings, called by Martyn Lloyd-Jones “the portrait of a wise and godly man.” This “Sermon on the Mount” is Jesus’ (through Matthew’s eyes) idea of how a disciple/Christian/child of God should live. There is nothing in this sermon about salvation – directly. It assumes the presence of saving faith. Beginning with the beatitudes, Jesus shows the intellectual development of that saving faith: recognition of sinfulness leading to a deep sorrow which produces an attitude of self-control. It is at this point that the desire to be Christ-like takes hold and becomes the strongest motive for living. But, it isn’t enough to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek or hungry for righteousness. All that must demonstrate itself through our relations with our fellow-man. We come now to the evidence of righteousness: dealing mercifully and peaceably as we try to make peace. Jesus recognizes that anyone who enters into a relationship with another with those motives and behaviors will be subject to the vilest of persecution: rejection or jealousy or ridicule; advantage taken as the other cheek is turned. Here, then, is the basic of all New Testament doctrine. Here, then, is teaching designed to show us how to live a life of faith.

I well remember my initial exposure to Amway©. As my sister-in-law was extolling the virtues of LOC, she said, “The purpose of any detergent is to make water wetter.” That is the function of doctrine: to make Christians more Christ-like.

Followers of Jesus have made and continue to make the mistake of confusing doctrine and gospel. We have made compliance with the New Testament teachings designed to make us better/stronger followers as tests of fellowship. Our horizontal fellowship is decreed by God when he grants his salvation, resulting in the vertical fellowship. One cannot be in fellowship with God without recognizing the fellowship that exists between each sibling. This is the thrust of the New Testament. To keep us together. Yet, we have used the very passages designed to promote unity to divide!

I will not attempt to go into each of them. Our brother Ketcherside has done an admirable job in Twisted Scriptures, mentioned at the beginning of this essay.

Even worse, we have made our own divisive doctrines where the New Testament is silent! Cups, pianos, colleges, orphan homes, located preachers, buildings, treasuries, offices of authority, Sunday school, song books, no song books, praise teams – the list is endless. None of these things are mentioned yet we have used them as bricks to build our walls of exclusion. We have taken an obscure reference to some first century practice and made it our life’s mission to perpetuate, damning any who does not agree.

Let us recognize as brothers all who have accepted God’s grace by faith at baptism. Let us also recognize that each of us might understand doctrine, designed for nurturment, in differing ways. Your understanding might make you more mature than me, but I am still your brother. My understanding might weaken me, but as long as my trust is in the gospel, I am still your brother. We are not required to become intimate. In fact, affection isn’t even required – it is desired, however. You can meet in your building/ house/pasture and I can meet in mine. We can agree to disagree about many/all doctrine but we are still brothers. Let’s continue to discuss/debate/argue points of doctrine. Let us not, though, do so in an attempt to “save” one another from “error.” You are not my servant. I am not your servant. We have no right to judge/condemn each other. God is ready and able to do that.

Here is my “bottom line”: While it is possible for me, a baptized, penitent, confessing believer, to misunderstand or even disregard certain NT doctrines, it is impossible for me to NOT be a brother to other baptized, penitent, confessing believers. I may even be lost, but I’m still a brother. A brother with whom all other brothers are in fellowship. That fellowship may be far distant but it is still there – whether we want it or not!