Disagreements are a natural part of life, and the church isn’t immune from having its members see things in different ways. In the earliest days of the church, Christ-followers had disagreements. Chloe’s people reported disagreements from Corinth. In Acts 15, we read about a major point of theological difference resolved in the Jerusalem Council. In Philippians 4.2-3, Euodia and Syntyche seemed to be in the middle of some feud and the epistle urges them to get along.
The Bible is full of this kind of humanity, and this continued throughout the history of Christianity. Often these disagreements led to clearer definitions of faith. For example, Docetism—now recognized as a heresy—is the belief that Jesus only appeared to be a person but was really a spirit or illusion. The First Council of Nicaea rejected Docetism in 325 CE.
Who cares? Why bring up Docetism almost 1,700 years after a group of Christians condemned it as a heresy?
Here’s why: Rejecting Docetism emphasizes the humanity of Christ. Then, when we read about Paul’s instruction to make Jesus our common denominator, we have a better picture of what it’s like to live like Jesus. If he only appeared human and lacked any physical characteristics, how could we see the cross as the power of God in the way Paul references it in 1 Corinthians 1.18?
Heresies can be a blessing because when we think them through, we articulate what we believe in a clearer way. The First Council of Nicaea not only rejected Docetism. They began writing the Nicene Creed. This is a familiar expression of our faith: “We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible…” Even though we’re not creedal people (we’re confessional), we can learn from vibrant articulations of orthodoxy, like the Nicene Creed. The council convened to answer some questions and concluded with greater clarity about what it means to follow Christ.
Disagreements continued in the church, and at each stage, they helped believers better understand what this is all about. The Reformation challenged unquestioned papal authority and introduced the Bible to people in the church. One of the greatest revolutions of the Reformation was when Martin Luther translated the scripture into German and handed it to the German people. Before that, people really didn’t have access to scripture in their own language. The Latin Vulgate was available if you read Latin. Now, we take 2,000+ English translations for granted.
At each of these moments of profound disagreement, the outcome was a game changer for those who were trying to follow Jesus.
Crystalizing our belief isn’t the end though. After a disagreement, we better understand what it means to follow Jesus, and we do something with that improved understanding. It doesn’t matter if we know what Docetism is and why we don’t believe it, if we don’t do anything.
If we ignore the humanity of Jesus, we live out the first part of 1 Corinthians 1.18, “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.”
If we try to embody the humanity of Christ, then we can experience the second part of 1 Corinthians 1.18, “to us who are being saved [the message of the cross] is the power of God.”
Faith is living. It’s what we do, who we are, and how we think. This is the power of Paul’s letter. Chloe’s people weren’t tattletales with some whiny report. She could see the problem, and she might have tried to address them or she could have started with this appeal to Paul. Either way, she was a prominent figure in Corinth and someone Paul already knew. We know this because Paul mentions her by name.
