A very long time ago, someone gave me very good advice, “Make your words soft so that when you have to eat them, they will not taste so bad.”
It seems to me that the Bible does not expect Christians to live in total agreement. Rather it seems that the Bible expects that Christians will disagree with each regularly. The sign to the rest of the world indicating that we belong to Christ is not that we agree with each other but that we love each other in spite of our disagreements.
Following Christ means that we have to be dedicated to the Truth, because Jesus is the Truth. So, truth matters, in fact it is very important. Falsehood cannot be tolerated in the church. The Bible indicates that there will be false prophets, false brethren, false apostles, and false teachers. Examples can be found in the New Testament where Christians confronted other Christians regarding false teaching. However, they did not engage in personal attack, i.e., character assassination. False teaching was attacked, not people. Truth and love must be inextricably linked together.
Ephesians 4:3 tells us to be diligent to preserve the “unity of the Spirit”. We do not make the unity. It is a gift from God because the Holy Spirit indwells all believers. Verse 13 of the same chapter indicates that the end result of living in the unity of the Spirit will be attaining the unity of the faith.
This tension between the unity of the Spirit and the not-yet-realized unity of the faith presents Christians with a marvelous opportunity to attract or repel unbelievers. Ephesians 4:11-16 spells it out rather plainly, “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (NASU)
Christians are to build each other up, not tear each other down. Falsehood must be exposed but in a spirit of love, restoration, and reconciliation.
Galatians 6:1 tells the Christian to restore fallen brothers in a spirit of gentleness. The epistles of John are short books filled with a repeated command, “Love one another” and repeated warnings that failing to do so is clear indication that the one who disobeys is not a Christian. James 4:11 and 5:9 contain clear commands and warnings about not speaking against fellow Christians.
The Bible states, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. (1 Peter 5:5, Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6 NASU)
Speaking the truth in love, disagreeing agreeably, restoring in a spirit of gentleness exalts Christ and draws unbelievers to Him. Assassinating the character of those with whom we disagree drives people away from Christ.
I think we can all agree that the latter is wrong.
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