Fellowship is one of the great blessings of being a Christian. When one is baptized into Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), that person is added to the body of Christ (Acts 2:47), which is the church of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). God intended for brethren within the local body to be united; He also told us the means by which unity is achieved:
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (1 Cor. 1:10).
Unity within the local congregation may require certain ingredients, such as love and mutual respect, but the thing Paul emphasized in this verse is being of the same mind and the same judgment. What do these words mean?
The Greek word nous is translated a number of ways in the New Testament. In each of the following verses the word in italics is the word translated “mind” in 1 Corinthians 1:10.
Luke 24:45: And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Romans 1:28: 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.
Romans 11:34: “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?”
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.
Romans 14:5: One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
1 Corinthians 2:16: For “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 14:14-15: For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.
Titus 1:15: To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
There are other passages, but these reflect the way nous [Strong”s number 3563) is translated. It refers to the way we think and understand certain matters. Paul said Christians are to be united in their thinking and understanding. Does that include every opinion on every subject? No, but it does refer to New Testament teaching. The Pulpit Commentary interprets this phrase very simply: “that is, in what they think and believe (noi), and in what they assert and do (graphee)” (volume 19, section 1, page 4).
The word translated “judgment” [Strong’s #1106] is found 9 times in the New Testament, of which a few are listed below.
1 Corinthians 7:25: Now concerning virgins: I have no commandment from the Lord: yet I give my judgment as one whom the Lord in His mercy has made trustworthy. (See also 1 Corinthians 7:40).
2 Corinthians 8:10: And in this I give my advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago.
Philemon 14: Without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
By now the reader should have a fair idea about what Paul meant when he wrote 1 Corinthians 1:10. A local congregation needs members who have the same thinking and judgment concerning the Scriptures. But what is true within the local congregation must also be true toward other congregations that we are invited to meet with and encourage. While we try to exercise as much latitude as our consciences can grant, there are some congregations we cannot fellowship because we do not share the same mind and the same judgment toward the Word of God and the application of it.
The group that calls itself the Singing Oaks Church of Christ is such a group. We do not share the same ideology toward the Scriptures at all. Our differences are not of a personal nature. We know some of the members there, and there is no personal ill will toward them at all. The man who is currently preaching there I used to know in Pennsylvania. He has always been easy to like: I visited with him in his office on two occasions, and we talked for several minutes. We have never been anything but cordial to one another. On a few occasions members from Singing Oaks have worshipped with us, and we have welcomed them.
But we cannot fellowship Singing Oaks because of numerous differences between our perception of worship and theirs, some of which we now consider.
Recently, during the funeral of one of their elders, they served the Lord’s Supper. This action lacks Biblical authority. Christians meet on the first day of the week “to break bread.” There is no authority either to incorporate the observance of the Lord’s death as part of a funeral or to observe the Lord’s Supper on a day other than the first day of the week. When we assemble together on the first day of the week, it is to honor Jesus by remembering His sacrifice for our sins. When we meet for a funeral service, it is to honor the memory of the one who has passed on. These comprise two distinct purposes; the Lord’s death should not be made subordinate to a custom devised by men.
We do not believe the New Testament authorizes choirs or applauding after the singing is finished. Jesus taught that worship must be in spirit and in truth. In order for it to be in truth, it must be done according to the specifications provided in the New Testament. Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 say that we are to sing, speak, teach, and admonish one another. If a choir performs, then a great many members are listening to one another, not teaching one another. Singing was designed as a mutual activity, in which we strive to please God, not ourselves. The multitudes did not applaud Jesus after the Sermon on the Mount, although it was undoubtedly a masterpiece. Paul was not applauded either on Mars Hill or when he and Silas sang in prison. This cultural custom secularizes worship.
There are other things we have had people tell us about Singing Oaks, from sponsoring dances for the young people to observing Christmas and Easter to having fellowship with various denominations. We do not know if half of what we hear is true, but even if only a few of these actually occurred, they reflect an attitude which disregards the authority of the Scriptures.
Some of their members travel to Tulsa for their annual “Soul-Winning Workshop,” but they cannot commute across town to hear men such as Curtis Cates, director of the Memphis School of Preaching, or Joe Meador, director of the Southwest School of Biblical Studies. These men have dedicated themselves to training the preachers of tomorrow. Members of Singing Oaks, however, can drive hours to hear Jeff Walling and others of his ilk, who belittle the Lord’s church rather than contend for the faith.
Some members also fellowship ACU–despite their departure from the Truth. Remember when one professor called Mary “another sexually questionable woman” and portrayed Joseph as a poor boob who convinced himself Mary was pure? Resner’s article was published in Rubel Shelly’s Wineskins in November of 1992. Carroll Osburn, the distinguished Carmichael professor at ACU, wrote in 1993 The Peaceable Kingdomin which he made this statement:
There should be room in the Christian fellowship for those who differ on…whether instrumental music is used in worship. There should be room in the Christian fellowship for those who believe that Christ is the Son of God, but who differ on eschatological theories such as premillennialism, ecclesiological matters such as congregational organization, or soteriological matters such as whether baptism is “for” or “because of” the remission of sin (91-92).
What is Osburn saying? He approves the use of instruments of music in worship, does not care if someone believes the false doctrine of premillennialism, does not care if a religious group has a “pastor” system, and he is willing to fellowship someone regardless of the reason for baptism (Baptists, for example).
Singing Oaks also fellowships Leroy Garrett who, along with W. Carl Ketcherside (now deceased), for years preached fellowshipping denominations. Once again, there is no personal ill will against this man. He has heard me speak a few times here at our lectures. We have spoken via the telephone on more than one occasion. Although we are poles apart religiously, we have always been courteous to each other.
And we know what he believes because he has written so much on practically every subject imaginable. Space permits only a few examples. From his book, The Stone-Campbell Movement (1981) Garrett wrote:
Despite signs of coming of age, the Churches of Christ have yet to demonstrate fidelity to their heritage in the Stone-Campbell Movement. The question they must face is whether they are truly part of a unity movement. One of their veteran ministers expresses his hope this way: “I think the time may well come when the whole Church of Christ tradition may grow out of its sect mentality and come to perceive itself not as God’s only children, but as a group of God’s true children in the midst of all his other children” (689).
First, our responsibility is to demonstrate fidelity to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ–not to Stone or Campbell. There are debts we owe to several men–including Martin Luther–but we do not follow men, or we violate the very principle Paul was teaching in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13. Obviously, Garrett views the Churches of Christ as a denomination instead of the body of believers for which Jesus died (Acts 20:28). Second, we are part of a unity movement–one that calls people to unity on the basis of New Testament teaching (1 Cor. 1:10), however–not one that seeks unity despite doctrinal differences in salvation, eschatology, church structure, and acceptable worship. Both Garrett and David H. Bobo, whose quotation was cited above, believe that adhering to the Scriptures on all matters involves a “sect mentality,” which is an insult to the Holy Spirit who inspired those teachings to be recorded.
Back in 1996 I reviewed one of Garrett’s articles that he gave me to read after hearing me review Monroe Hawley’s book, Is Christ Divided? at the 1995 Annual Denton Lectures. Afterward I sent him a copy of the two-part review (Feb. 4th and 11th); he wrote me a brief than-you note. Here is one sentence we dealt with at that time from his October, 1995 issue.
As for this “in error” mentality, it is a judgment that one will find only in Churches of Christ. I am not sure how or why it got started. It is a dubious construct, reflective of our inability to see ourselves as others see us. Even when we refer to others in the Movement who have been baptized, we refer to them as “brothers in error.” If there are Christians in other churches, which we often question, they too are “brothers in error.” I have never in all these years heard anyone among us refer to ourselves as “in error.” It is always others who are “in error,” not ourselves.
It should be obvious why others are always the ones “in error.” Whenever we have been in error, we have repented of it and crossed over to the side of Truth. Unlike some, we do not continue doing that which is wrong by shrugging our shoulders and concluding, “Well, we’re all probably wrong on something, anyway.” Isaiah wrote: “For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed” (9:16). James talks about turning a sinner from “the error of his way” (James 5:20); if God can do so, we ought to be able to use the same terminology. Leroy employs the “I’m Not OK: You’re Not OK” mentality, which is to say, “We’re all wrong; so let’s have unity.” How far from 1 Corinthians 1:10 is that philosophy!!
Ray Penna quotes from Garrett in the 1999 Memphis School of Preaching lectureship book. In the April 1990 Restoration Review Leroy laments that only “a Seventh Day Adventist Church here in Denton” had a footwashing service (603-605). He also wrote:
But this interpretation does not preclude an occasional service of literal washing of feet for its symbolic value, such as at a Maundy Thursday service, which a few denominations around the world practice. It was the practice of the ancient church for the rich to wash the feet of the poor on Maundy Thursday before Easter… (emph. mine, gws).
I was impressed that the oldest “Campbellite” church in the world…had such a service this past Maundy Thursday (289-90).
It should be clear that Leroy Garrett has discarded Scriptural terminology for that of the religious world, and further, that he thinks the Church of Christ is a denomination that grew out of the Stone-Campbell Movement (as he calls it). It appears that the leadership of Singing Oaks believes the same thing. The Pearl Street church does not share this “mind,” and we cannot fellowship this kind of thinking. We still believe that the Lord adds those who are baptized for the remission of sins to the church, for whom Christ died. We are committed to teaching the Truth concerning salvation, acceptable worship, and New Testament doctrine.
It was recently announced at Singing Oaks that they were trying to work out their differences with Pearl Street. This was an overstatement. One of our elders had a cup of coffee and some conversation with one of their elders. Nothing official could have or did transpire. For us to have fellowship, they would need to repent of all the things we have mentioned. We would be delighted if they would, but we do not anticipate it. We cannot fellowship, under the current conditions, Leroy Garrett, Singing Oaks, or the several congregations in this area who do fellowship Singing Oaks.