Disagreements among Christians

Christians do not agree with one another on every matter of faith. As Christians, how should we handle disagreements among ourselves?

False Teachings

If an idea contradicts the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then it is a false teaching.

A person is saved only if he believes the Gospel (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1–2; Eph. 1:13). However, if a person believes a false teaching, then he does not really believe the Gospel, and so he is not truly saved.

Therefore, if a person believes a false teaching, then we should not consider him a Christian. Rather, we should treat him as an unsaved unbeliever, and we should seek to share the true Gospel with him.

Wrong Teachings

However, not every wrong idea is a false teaching! If an idea is wrong according to the Bible, but it does not contradict the Gospel, then it is not a false teaching, but at most a wrong teaching.

In Romans 14:1, the Apostle Paul wrote,

Welcome the person who is weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions.

In context, Paul was writing about a group of Christians who believed that Christians should only vegetables, and not eat any meat (v. 2). This vegetable-only teaching is wrong according to the Bible! Yet, it does not contradict the Gospel. Hence, it is a wrong teaching, but not a false teaching. Paul instructed the Roman Christians to accept these vegetable-only Christians, and not to quarrel with them over their opinions.

If a person believes a wrong teaching, he is still saved as long as he believes the true Gospel; he is still a true Christian. We should not judge or despise other Christians just because they have wrong ideas (vv. 3–4, 10).

Conclusion

We must never compromise on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Yet, we should disagree agreeably with one another over non-essential matters of the Christian faith.