{"id":592,"date":"2016-09-11T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=592"},"modified":"2016-09-10T21:10:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T02:10:59","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2016\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about compromise?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cI have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel\u2019s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.\u201d 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09:23<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Most things in life require some sort of compromise. The purchase of a car generally entails compromise. Weighing cost and utility against need and desire generally forces a compromise that gets adjusted by what is available in the car market. Without compromise there would be very few cars bought since there is rarely the \u201cperfect\u201d car at the \u201cperfect\u201d price.<\/p>\n

Compromise has its purpose when a relationship is at stake. The whole idea of a marriage is wedding two totally different people of the opposite sex together. For the marriage to survive there must be compromises. For nations to get along and forge agreements, for friends to proceed in friendship, for participation in elections, sports, business, and a myriad of other human interactions, willingness to compromise must be in play for the sake of the relationship.<\/p>\n

Compromise is never acceptable when God\u2019s Word is at stake. Some would say that it is important for Christians to compromise together in order to get more things done for \u201cthe greater good.\u201d They tell us we must recognize that there are some doctrines that are not as important as others precisely because they tend to divide believers, and divisions can never be good among churches because the \u201cname of Jesus Christ suffers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who among us can determine that one doctrine is cardinal and must never be compromised and another is peripheral and is subject to debate? Are we not to preach \u201cthe whole counsel of God\u201d? And is not the whole Bible verbally and plenarily inspired (2\u00a0Timothy\u00a03:16f)? If every word and everything about every word in the original autographs of Scripture is \u201cGod-breathed\u201d then it sounds to me that every \u201cjot and tittle\u201d is of equal importance (Matthew\u00a05:18). I do not believe Christians have the luxury of emphasizing one doctrine above another. Compromise is fine in the world of relationships, but it is disobedience in the world of Bible doctrine.<\/p>\n

There are two basic definitions of compromise. The word can be defined as settling differences by each party making concessions in order to find middle ground. It can also be defined as eroding, degrading, diminishing, and jeopardizing, as in \u201cintegrity has been compromised.\u201d Just how is a godly man to determine where compromise is appropriate and where compromise is out of the question?<\/p>\n

A quick review of Paul\u2019s words in 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09 clearly identifies the key to discerning good compromise from bad. Paul clearly puts doctrine out of the reach of potential compromise by keeping \u201cthe Gospel\u201d intact (the only instrument that can save anyone is the unvarnished and unchanged truth of God\u2019s Word) while leaving his own personal tastes up for grabs. He is essentially identifying that convictions must never be compromised but opinions and convenience may always be muted for the sake of gaining a hearing for the Gospel message. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Scripture the principle of uncompromising conviction is upheld while issues of personal preference are vacated. Obedient believers, filled with biblical convictions, drive the meaning of 1\u00a0Timothy\u00a03:15: \u201c\u2026the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.\u201d The church is the earthly keeper of the truth. Psalm\u00a0119 starts with these words, \u201cBlessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD!\u201d The psalmist goes on to say, \u201cBlessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently.\u201d The longest chapter in the Bible goes on, verse after verse, extolling every part of the Word of God as virtuous and to be obeyed. Verse\u00a0128 reads, \u201cTherefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right [straight, direct]\u2026.\u201d The take home principle is this: Bible-referenced conviction and morality are always of higher consideration than personal convenience and keeping the peace, especially if you want to avoid the negative definition of compromise (degrade, damage, and diminish).<\/p>\n

But, when it comes to my own preferences, tastes, and desires, compromise is well within reason. Paul often exhorts believers to be \u201cgentle.\u201d He uses a Greek word that means \u201csweet reasonableness, kindness, sensitivity of disposition, not pressing my own legitimate rights, each instance of gentleness founded in strength and acted upon in love.\u201d Believers are to exemplify the same reasonableness as Christ (Matthew\u00a021:5) by the aid of the Holy Spirit as Galatians\u00a05:22f says: \u201cBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.\u201d Precisely the same grace is required in restoration of an errant believer (verse\u00a06:1) and of a Christian\u2019s deportment in general (Titus\u00a03:2).<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s expression of gentleness in 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09:19ff is the same as his direction to all saints in their witness. \u201cAnd a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will\u201d (Timothy\u00a02:24ff). Truth, especially God\u2019s truth, must never be compromised, but we should gladly allow our own taste to be modified for the sake of the Gospel. Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the Gospel\u2019s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.\u201d 1\u00a0Corinthians\u00a09:23 Most things in life require some sort of compromise. The purchase of a car generally entails compromise. Weighing cost and utility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}