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When believers interpret a passage differently (either within a church or across denominations), how should they relate to each other in a way that promotes unity in the Body of Christ and yet continues to minister God’s Word with conviction?
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We need to interact with humility and respect and gentleness, but appeal to the classical historical grammatical approach to understanding what the scripture writer meant and how the reader in that day would have understood it.
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The Bible calls us not to be people of argument. One must provide respect in love without compromising one’s belief through faith. One must always speak truth in love.
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In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the issue of divisions in the church in 1:10-17, and provides a further argument on why human wisdom is insufficient in understanding the Gospel. Therefore our opinions on what the Bible teaches on non-essential things (such as the day of worship, significance of sacraments/ordinances, etc.) should be considered all in light of how they connect to the Gospel. It isn’t a matter always of preaching the right thing with the right explanation. The Gospel reveals God’s power and wisdom. (1:24-25) We need to keep the Gospel the heart of our preaching and leave the end times theories for friendly discussion. We also need to keep in mind the incomprehensibility of God. He will never make sense to us 100% because of his infinitude. This ought to remove legalistic approaches to dogmatic theology that doesn’t change anyone’s heart toward God. I’m excited to take this class!
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Listen to what others have to say. We should be mindful that we all bring our preconceived ideas to the text. We all bring our own biases to the text, whether it is individually or a denomination. The other thing is that we can all learn from one another and so when we approach others openly, we can promote unity. We can interpret passages differently and still be on the same page about God’s overall message to us.
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Believers should relate to each other in a spirit of love even if they interpret a passage differently. Believers are defined by their love for each other not by their ability to interpret scripture the same way.