I just returned home from a special Classis meeting which dealt with problems in one of the member churches. Though personalities do often enter the picture, the problem was by and large of a theological nature. Classis was called upon to adjudicate a number of appeals questioning the theological direction of the congregation.

In the course of the sessions which lasted for two and a half days I was again struck by something I had observed before at classical and synodical gatherings: the choice of Scripture passages read before the different sessions, and the content of the prayers offered at various times. Judging by the Scripture reading and prayers, one would conclude that the entire issue was one of personalities, a disagreement among brothers. The comments accompanying the Scripture reading were generally along the same line: let’s be sure not to judge each other, and be careful not to hurt each other or impugn each other’s motives.

Now to be sure, there is nothing wrong with admonitions to love each other as such. The Bible frequently enjoins that upon us. But what is disturbing is the one-sidedness of such remarks. Too often love of the neighbor is divorced from love for God and His Word. And that is still the first and great commandment. We are so afraid of hurting each other that we seldom stop to ask: Are we perhaps hurting God by compromising on His Word, and not upholding His truth? The second commandment has become the first. I think of the comment of one delegate in closing devotions: “Let’s not say to each other, ‘I am right and you are wrong.’” But Paul didn’t hesitate to say this to his brother Peter (Gal. 2:11ff.) and he told the Galatians he would even pronounce a curse upon an angel from heaven if it was necessary. He also warned about men “from among your own selves” who would speak perverse things (Acts 20:30). And the Lord Jesus himself condemned those in the church who were teaching false doctrine in his letters to the seven churches of Revelation.

My point is: Do we have as great a love for God and His Word as we do for each other? Why are passages like I Cor. 13, Eph. 4:1–6, & 25–32 such favorites at classical and synodical meetings, while passages like Gal. 1:6–10, I Tim. 1 & 4, II John & Jude are seldom or never used? Is this an honest use of Scripture? And is there a possibility that some of our pr ayers are less than pleasing in God’s sight, especially when we seem to be using them to pressure God into agreeing with us? Prof. K. J. Popma says in his work on the catechism that God’s name is taken in vain and blasphemed far more in the church than in the world. He probably has a point. Meanwhile we do well to keep in mind what Art. VII of the Belgic Confession tells us: We may not consider any writings of men or succession of times and persons “as of equal value with the truth of God, since the truth is above all.”

Jelle Tuininga is the pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.