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It was nothing like the kind of question I would have expected.

There I was, talking theology with a young lady friend. We were students at the same seminary, but I was the more experienced of the two of us. I had chosen this seminary because it purported to teach the same Reformed faith to which I already held tenaciously. She, on the other hand, had chosen this seminary because it was in the town in which she already lived.

I had two goals for the conversation. The first (or at least I hope it was the first) was to help the young lady jettison some of the error she had picked up from an unusual, and definitely not Reformed, teacher, a well-known parachurch leader. The second was to show her what an insightful young man I was. I explained why her guru, who had less theological training than she had, was out to lunch on this thing and that. I stacked Bible verse upon Bible verse, syllogism upon syllogism. I was being gentle, but firm.

Then came that unexpected question. She looked up at me, with genuine pain in her eyes, and asked, “If you and he have the same Spirit, why do you not agree?”

I understood this wasn’t an angry denunciation of doctrine because of doctrine’s supposed tendency to divide. I think she knew I at least wasn’t guilty all by myself, since if I disagreed with her guru, her guru disagreed with me. This was instead a sincere epistemological question. Why do we disagree, when we have the same Spirit dwelling in us?

I explained to her that having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit not only does not mean that we are infallible, but that it never has meant that. I explained that the promise of the Holy Spirit was not a promise that no child of God would ever err. His Word is true, while every man is a liar. We all err because not a one of us is fully sanctified yet. The kingdom is here, but it is not yet consummated. In like manner, we are remade, but we are still sinners. We all err because we believe wrong things, for all the wrong reasons. Such was true of both me and her guru. We who have the Spirit yet have sin. What we are left with, then, is what we’ve always been left with—searching the Scriptures. When confronted with a disagreement, we don’t get puzzled or frustrated, we get our Bibles.

I felt as if I had dodged a bullet in my explanation. The bullet had missed, but it had been close. Even now her question continues to haunt me.

As Paul begins to close out his arguments in his epistle to the church at Rome, as he winds down this towering monument of doctrine, as he finishes with his controversies, he prays, “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:5–6). If Paul prays such under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t it follow that like-mindedness is something we not only should pray for, but work for?

But how? We live in an age in which there not only is disagreement over God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, but over how to handle those disagreements. Then we add disagreements over the very Scriptures to which we go to settle our disputes. Is it the older texts, or the more numerous? Is it this translation, or that one?

The solution is two-fold. The first step is counter-intuitive. We tend to think that if we jettison the doctrine, we will be of one mind. History shows, however, that doctrine actually unites rather than divides. Thus, we are actually working toward greater unity the more we work to be sure that our doctrine is in line with Scripture. Think of it this way: For each passage of the Bible, there are many possible applications, but only one true meaning. The only way to bring people together is for everyone to strive to find that one meaning. If we ditch the idea of only one meaning, we have no reason to come together. We cannot reach our target of togetherness unless together we use the same target. That both sides fail to hit the bulls-eye is an argument for keeping the target, not for jettisoning it.

The second step is to remember all that we already have in common. If our goal is to share in the riches of the wisdom of God rather than to impress the one we are speaking to, then even our disagreements will be done in the context of agreement. We agree that we are being remade into the image of the Son, and that this work will be complete when we are glorified. We agree that the Bible is God’s Word, true in all that it teaches. We agree that as God’s children we must believe what His Word says. Let’s look together to see whether we can agree on what it says. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit moves both parties in the dispute toward that wisdom.

As the angels sang before the shepherds, “ ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.’ ” When we are in disputes with our brothers, it is vital to remember that they are our brothers. (And in like manner, when we wrestle with wolves, it is vital to remember that they are wolves.) We need to come to these disputes with all the joy of the holiday season. Because we seek the glory of God in the highest, and not our own glory, we ought to act with goodwill toward men.

Unity Among Believers

Acceptance Commanded

Keep Reading What Child Is This?

From the December 2002 Issue
Dec 2002 Issue