A Pure Church: FrontLine Nov/Dec 2020

VOLUME 30 | NUMBER 6

Although biblical separation is not considered one of the foundational doctrines of Christianity even by most separatists, it is an essential topic as we consider the ongoing issues related to the publication of The Fundamentals and the rise of the biblical fundamentalists a century ago. There are theological, historical, and practical reasons for this. First, separation is a necessary consequence of belief in the fundamentals. A fundamental is not a fundamental to you unless you are willing to separate over it. For example, it is self-contradictory and absurd to say that you believe the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ is essential to Christianity and at the same to label “Christian” an institution or teacher that denies that very truth. Either it is not a fundamental belief, or the denier is not a Christian; both cannot be true. Thus, the split between the historic fundamentalists and the modernists was only a matter of time. Those who treat the fundamentals as truly fundamental and those who do not cannot coexist under the same ecclesiastical roof.

This of course leads to the historical consideration. One way or another, the split did occur, and the biblical fundamentalists began building their own institutions. Just as this question was finally being settled, the new evangelicals sought to undo the result and get back into dialogue and partnership with modernists in order to win them over. This led to a division within the fundamentalist coalition between those who pursued this strategy of “infiltration” and those who were convinced that it was naïve at best and treasonous at worst. Therefore, there arose the debate over whether faithful believers must refuse to endorse or associate with “indifferentists” who participate in ecclesiastical fellowship with heretics and apostates. This is one of the points that still divides fundamentalists from mainstream evangelicalism today.

The history, then, leads naturally to the practical question: does the failure to practice separation from those who promote known error lead to corrosion of the faith? The fundamentalists believe that the question has been answered decisively in the affirmative. Beginning only a few years after the decision to dialogue with the modernists, evangelical institutions began chiseling away at their own doctrinal foundations. This was lamented early on by Harold Lindsell in his critiques of Fuller Seminary and is echoed by the modern conservative and confessing evangelicals, who wish to reestablish some doctrinal lines between truth and error within broader evangelicalism. The result of the abandonment of separation seems to be consistent with both the nature or error and with common sense. Error has the tactical advantage of being deceptive, whereas truth will always be honest. False teaching sneaks into groups, and unless it is marked and expelled, like a cancer it will grow and metastasize. Both the biblical history of Israel and the subsequent history of the church bear abundant testimony to the corrosive power of failing to deal with evil and error decisively when it arises.

It should be noted that biblical fundamentalists, while seeing the force of these arguments, do not rely on them to support a doctrine of separation. Rather, we believe that this teaching and practice to be firmly rooted in the Scriptures. As with all biblical truths, we must be reminded of the basic principles undergirding biblical separation. Ben Heffernan’s article takes on this task with both clarity and passion. This basic theological study is complemented handsomely by an article by Larry Oats, who provides a fascinating and profitable historical study of how the biblical fundamentalists’ understanding of the church and the end times led them to emphasize and practice separation in opposition to the views of the new evangelicals.

We must be careful to avoid giving the misimpression that we separatists have not had our own set of problems and failures. Prominent among these has been the challenge of determining when, how, and over what we must separate. What about Calvinism versus Arminianism, church government, Bible versions, end-times interpretations, and music, to name a few? Although biblical fundamentalists agree on the necessity and importance of practicing separation, applying the biblical teaching is still an area of great disagreement and difficulty. In this issue Kevin Bauder provides a helpful framework for thinking about decisions of spiritual fellowship and separation, including decisions involving professing believers and Christian institutions. Along the way, he develops the helpful thesis that even within the Christian circle of the true gospel, the degree of spiritual unity necessarily determines the degree of practical fellowship professing believers can have with each other.

While in agreement on this point, an article of my own (condensed from an earlier issue of FrontLine) argues that it is important to distinguish breaches in practical fellowship that occur as a result of questions of wisdom and conscience from those that result from clear and serious disobedience. Layton Talbert and Robert Vincent add a further nuance in their article on church discipline. In their exegetically rigorous and thoughtful analysis, they distinguish between ordinary church discipline and a more serious form that requires that a professing believer not only be expelled from fellowship but also be spiritually turned over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. They also provide a recommendation for how this sad and extraordinary step can be carried out in a God-honoring way in a local church.

The issue is rounded out by two of practical articles. One is by a pastor of many years, John Vaughn, who helps us think through the context and, most of all, the appropriate attitude for the practice of church discipline. Finally, Kristopher Schaal provides us helpful condensation of a letter from John Newton that provides essential advice for how we should engage in these kinds of controversies, a reminder that is relevant in the present days of viral posts, virtue signaling, and outrage mobs.

It is our earnest desire that all of God’s people be committed to loving Him and remaining loyal to Him in a wicked and perverse generation and that we would practice biblical separation, as we should with all biblical teaching, with wisdom, holiness, and Christian charity.

—David Shumate

FEATURES

Separation: Honoring the Distinction between Good and Evil
Ben Heffernan

These evil days remind believers of the value of truth and goodness.

A Three-Dimensional Matrix: Applying Biblical Separation
Kevin T. Bauder

Christians sometimes apply biblical principles of separation wrongly.

Separation versus Limited Participation: Is There A Difference?
David R. Shumate

Separation has specific and important conditions and commands that do not apply to other areas of limited participation.

The Doctrine of the Local Church (Ecclesiology) and Biblical Separation
Larry R. Oats

A correct view of the church is essential for an accurate understanding of biblical separation.

Church Discipline: Purity in Love
Robert D. Vincent and Layton Talbert

We are reluctant to practice biblical church discipline, damaging the spiritual health of our people and the purity of our churches.

Church Discipline: Delivering Over to Satan? (Sidebar)
Robert D. Vincent and Layton Talbert

Accountability to the Local Church: The Case for Separation in Church Discipline
John C. Vaughn

Of all the ways that biblical separation should apply, the separation that occurs in church discipline is perhaps the most hopeful.

Lessons from John Newton’s Letter “On Controversy”
Kristopher Schaal

It is very easy to say something in the hearing of hundreds or thousands of people that you later regret.

DEPARTMENTS

Mail Bag & News from All Over

On the Home Front

On Language & Scripture
Mark Ward

At a Glance: A Biblical Theology of the Bible
Layton Talbert

With the Word to the World
Jim Tillotson

Walking on the Water
Claudia Barba

Bringing Hope and Comfort in Tragedy
LT Andrew Plais Hoyle, CHC, USN

Blessings through My Blunders
Jerry Sivnksty

(Originally published in FrontLine • November/December 2020. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)