There is much talk today about the sin of other christians. Most of all, those in leadership. Those in leadership are to be held to a higher standard. Our Lord’s brother, the Apostle James, writes:
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness
James 3:1
In his pastoral epistles, the Apostle Paul specifies requirements for church leadership. There may be genuine Christians who are attractive candidates for leadership; however, if they do not satisfy these qualifications they may “fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:7) Among others, he excludes those who are recent converts, arrogant, inhospitable, quarrelsome, or held in disrepute by outsiders. Church leadership is unlike other offices of leadership. Church office is sacred. A man may make an excellent leader in other spheres, but in the sacred sphere of the church, if spiritual maturity is lacking, everything is lacking.
Nonetheless, as Christians we are called to show forbearance, patience, and generosity to all people, but especially toward those in the household of faith. Yes, even to our failed leaders. The solution to this problem is not condemnation, shame, anger, and harshness. The path forward requires a clear understanding of spiritual maturity, the proper place of evangelism in relation to the priority of the church’s ministry, and a sound understanding of how the law functions in our spiritual life as Christians saved by God’s grace.
The Category of Spiritual Maturity
If spiritual maturity is necessary for leadership within the Church, it follows there is such a thing as differing degrees of maturity in the Christian life. There is the obvious binary of “immature” or “mature”, but there are further gradations with these two binaries as opposite poles on a spectrum. This is an obvious observation. Nonetheless, some take the above statement as legalistic, or perhaps if the above is conceded, one may be uncomfortable with what follows from it. Namely, strong exhortations to further growth and maturity with the expectation such growth is within the realm of possibility. Learning again from the Apostle Paul, we can see the category of maturity is front of mind for him in the fulfillment of his ministry. It is the very purpose of his ministry of proclamation to present the elect mature before God:
Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Colossians 1:28
In the pastoral epistles, we see not only the category of spiritual maturity but also the constitutive elements of it. This portrait of maturity is given to us with the expectation that it will be supplemented in living color through those who match the description given. In this way we understand maturity is the ultimate goal of the Church’s ministry. Church leaders proclaim Christ, both through teaching and issuing warnings, all toward the purpose of maturing the saints.
What about Evangelism?
The choice between the spread of the gospel and the maturity of the saints is a false one. The gospel spreads out into the world through evangelism and down into human hearts as the saints mature. However were one pressed to prioritize one over the other, to prioritize the spread of the gospel over maturity is to lose both. This is because a sound witness to Christ requires maturity. While God is almighty and most wise to use our flawed witness even when it is tainted by glaring immaturity and foolishness, a confession of faith that comes in this context often does much harm.
This brings us back to our initial observation that many are discussing the sin or immaturity of Christian leaders today. It is obvious to observe that immaturity is the general cause of this failure in leadership, but what about discrete contributing factors?
Soft Antinomianism
Antinomianism is a serious doctrinal error. As with all doctrinal errors, it results in a warped Christian life. Hard antinomianism denies the validity of the law’s moral authority over the believer. Soft antinomianism is more threatening because it does not make such denials outright. Instead, the imperative mood is avoided and seen as unkind, harsh, contrary to grace, and so on. Perhaps in many cases this judgment is legitimate! Self-righteousness, arrogance, and unkindness are common besetting sins. Nonetheless, the application of the law to the Christian life is legitimate.
A common tell of soft antinomianism is that every command must be legitimized by its usefulness in attracting those outside the christian faith. Exhortations are given and then followed up with some form of “this makes the Christianity attractive.” This is an excellent point to be made, but if and when it is the first and only reason given for obedience, concerns must be raised. Partially that is because this reasoning can only be applied to a fraction of the obedience which is due from us. A vast array of rationales exist for our obedience, making the Christian faith attractive is only one among many.
Another common expression of soft antinomianism is the substitution of moral categories (good versus evil) for psychological or therapeutic categories (fulfilled versus empty and broken versus whole). Again, these are perfectly legitimate categories; however, if and when they are the only one’s used to describe our condition, they misrepresent the degree of our personal responsibility before God and consequent need for repentance.
More expressions of a resistance to the imperative mood could be enumerated. These two examples only serve to illustrate how we must be on our guard against our sinful tendency to diminish the impact of the law in our lives.
The Vertical Dimension
The demands of the law upon the Christian are greater than those upon the unbeliever. We confess God is lovely and gracious beyond comprehension. Even more, we confess he has taken up an interest in us and acted on our behalf. He has befriended us and adopted us into his family. How much more, then, do we owe to him than those whom he only knows from far off? Indeed those of us who are in Christ owe a debt of gratitude to God which is unfathomable.
To focus on commands insofar as they render the Christian faith attractive to others so they might be saved from the wrath to come is to cherish their welfare. This is honorable. To focus on commands insofar as they serve our joy is to use wisdom. But to exclude all other considerations of the rationale for God’s commands is to betray a small heart toward Christ. As Christians, we obey first and foremost because we love Christ. We want to do what pleases him even if it ends up being cross to our neighbor’s view of Christianity or our own welfare. This is why Christians have been put to death by those outside the Church.
The vertical dimension of the law is not to be forgotten or downplayed. True, we do not render obedience to God that he might pronounce us righteous. Yet we find myriad other reasons to obey all of his commands. Again, first and foremost because we love him. And we do not love him for no reason. Many of his commands benefit us and are therefore attractive to others. But we love him above all because he first loved us. Remember our Lord Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)
