{"id":1246,"date":"2012-04-10T02:57:09","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T02:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/april-qcan-we-separate-from-brethrenq\/"},"modified":"2014-01-13T07:37:15","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T07:37:15","slug":"april-qcan-we-separate-from-brethrenq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/april-qcan-we-separate-from-brethrenq\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Separate From Brethren?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Separation is a topic that will not go away.\u00a0 It will be discussed by believers until God separates us all from the world at the rapture.\u00a0 Since Baptists have been called Baptists, and along with several other independent groups, we have been dissenters.\u00a0 In London we visit Bunhill Fields, \u201cthe dissenter\u2019s graveyard.\u201d\u00a0 Here you find the markers of those who dissented from the Church of England and were therefore not allowed to be buried in church yards.\u00a0 Among those are John Bunyan, John Gill, John Rippon, John Owen, Isaac Watts, and even Susanna Wesley.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spurgeon could have been buried there if it had still been open for interment in his day.\u00a0 Isaac Watts called Bunhill Fields \u201csacred dust.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are some who never see a need to separate from anything.\u00a0 To them, separation is only in your head, i.e., a believer never needs physically to leave a situation, he only needs to separate the good and bad in his mind and then think properly about it.\u00a0 Others would admit that there is a time when a believer must separate himself from unbelievers, especially when outright immorality, heresy, or apostasy is taking place.\u00a0 Even the most ardent evangelical who disdains fundamentalists\u2019 actions over separation, probably would not himself be forced into feigning agreement with such things.\u00a0 However, the discussion among evangelicals continues as to how and how far believers can walk with unbelief.\u00a0 Is it a bounded set, a centered set, or something in between?\u00a0 Is it enough to be merely looking toward the center of our faith, or does one have to actually be within the faith?<\/span>1<\/sup><\/span> And so the discussion continues.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most fundamentalists (and I would like to think, therefore, most Baptists throughout history) quibble little over separating from apostasy.\u00a0 It is a \u201cgiven\u201d in our circles.\u00a0 But separating from a brother in Christ is another thing.\u00a0 Some would say that the Bible never asks the believer to separate from another believer.\u00a0 To many, this is just incompatible with Christian love and is to become judgmental.\u00a0 The inclusion of descriptions and labels such as \u201csecondary separation\u201d has not helped a lot.\u00a0 While these can be helpful when all agree on their meanings, seldom do we see such agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

My own trek in fundamental groups and schools on both sides of this issue has brought me to a place where I see that separating from a brother is necessary and biblical in proper circumstances.\u00a0 The clear statements of 2 Thes. 3:6 & 14 make this mandatory to me.\u00a0 \u201cNow we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us\u201d (3:6).\u00a0 \u201cAnd if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.\u00a0 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother\u201d (3:14-15).<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think these verses can be limited to the precise problem in Thessalonica (of quitting one\u2019s job to wait for the rapture).\u00a0 Paul repeatedly says that the reason for separating was the brother\u2019s refusal to obey the Word (epistle, commandments), an action that repeats itself in many ways.\u00a0 Neither is the action to be limited to the discipline of a local church member (though included) but to any of the false teachers that had spread the error concerning the coming of the Lord.\u00a0 From such these brothers and sisters are to \u201cwithdraw\u201d (vs. 6), and \u201chave no company with\u201d (vs. 14), which literally means \u201cdo not mix with.\u201d\u00a0 Other passages fit this scenario as well (Rom. 16:17; 2 Tim. 2:16-22; 1 Cor. 5:1-5). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The basis of separation<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The basis for separation is the holiness of God.\u00a0 Ernest Pickering wrote, \u201cSeparation, both personal and ecclesiastical, is grounded in the nature of God.\u00a0 God is the great separatist.\u00a0 He is absolutely separated from all evil and error.\u00a0 Do His people err in emulating Him?\u201d<\/span>2<\/sup><\/span> God says, \u201cFor thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit\u201d (Isa. 57:15).\u00a0 Verses could be easily multiplied that speak of God\u2019s apartness from a sinful world due to His holiness including broken fellowship with His own children because of their rebellious spirit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

God\u2019s holiness is His controlling attribute.\u00a0 Many shy away from separation because they think it is incompatible with God\u2019s love.\u00a0 Holiness, however, is always the large circle and love a smaller circle within the larger.\u00a0 We do not have holiness in love, but love in holiness.\u00a0 A.H. Strong wrote, \u201cThat which lays down the norm or standard for love must be the superior of love.\u00a0 When we forget that \u2018righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne\u2019 (Psa. 97:2), we lose one of the chief landmarks of Christian doctrine and involve ourselves in a mist of error.\u201d<\/span>3<\/sup><\/span> If God Himself can separate from, and punish sinners while still being a God of love, surely we can speak the truth in love.\u00a0 It is His holiness that demands that He separate Himself from sin, though He remains a God of love, mercy, and grace. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We believers are good at using phrases such as \u201cwell, I just believe that . . . (fill in the blank).\u201d\u00a0 Somehow we think if we believe something hard enough, or sincerely enough, it just has to be true.\u00a0 What does it matter what we think when it comes to God\u2019s holiness?\u00a0 As much as we may not like separating from sin in a brother, we must because God does.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The requirement of separation<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The simple proposition is that if God must separate Himself from sin so must we.\u00a0 Though God never disowns His children, He does discipline, chastise, punish, and withdraw blessings from them when they walk disorderly.\u00a0 The only standard for this can be the Word of God.\u00a0 It cannot be subjective with us according to the way we feel, but must be based on the unchangeable standard of His Word.\u00a0 Peter quotes Leviticus when he writes, \u201cBecause it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy\u201d (1 Pet. 1:16).<\/span><\/p>\n

A further requirement for separation will be conflict.\u00a0 This goes with the territory of separation because nothing in this fallen world: men, demons, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, wants to be reprimanded.\u00a0 Paul required Timothy to \u201cendure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier\u201d (2 Tim. 2:3-4).\u00a0 The Corinthians had a hard time coming out from among the sins of Corinth because they could not \u201cenlarge\u201d their hearts toward the things of God.\u00a0 They were \u201cstraitened\u201d by their own \u201cbowels\u201d or emotional attachments to the world (2 Cor. 6:11-18).\u00a0 A believer who says he loves God but won\u2019t \u201clower himself\u201d to fight for God, doesn\u2019t have a strong love for God. <\/span><\/p>\n

The pursuit of holiness, which is fellowship with God, must be the highest priority of our lives.\u00a0 Nothing must stand in the way of that fellowship.\u00a0 Jesus Himself said that even our own family must not come between us and Him (Lk. 14:26).\u00a0 If we disobey God\u2019s Word by saying \u201camen\u201d to those who walk disorderly (even brothers), our own fellowship with God is impaired.\u00a0 There are those times when separating from a friend, a local church member, or a national figure, is an uncomfortable thing to do.\u00a0 But that is when we must put our walk with God ahead of our walk with other people.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The areas of separation<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The areas of separation (as well as the levels of separation) have been enumerated by many separatists.\u00a0 First, The believer must separate from known heresy.\u00a0 The book of 2 John was written for this reason.\u00a0 \u201cWhosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.\u00a0 He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.\u00a0 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds\u201d (2 Jn. 9-11).\u00a0 To \u201cbid him God speed\u201d is to say \u201camen\u201d to what he is doing.\u00a0 This makes one \u201cpartaker\u201d (from <\/span>koinonia<\/span>) or fellowshipper in all of his deeds. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Second, we must separate from apostasy, those who claimed to be Christian but left the faith because they were not of the faith.\u00a0 The harlot ecumenical church of Revelation 17 and 18 is already growing today.\u00a0 John heard the angel command, \u201ccome out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues\u201d (Rev. 18:4).\u00a0 This ecclesiastical area of separation is one that has fallen on hard times.\u00a0 Our inter-connected world makes it easy to communicate but harder to separate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Third, we must separate from alliances that are unholy or unscriptural in obvious ways.\u00a0 This is clearly taught in the 2 Corinthians 6 passage.\u00a0 \u201cBe ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?\u00a0 And what concord hath Christ with Belial?\u00a0 Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel: and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?\u201d (2 Cor. 6:14-16).\u00a0 This is not speaking only of marrying an unbeliever nor only about idolatry.\u00a0 The applications from this passage ought to be easy to see.\u00a0 This is the reason for not participating in those city-wide campaigns that include unbelievers or liberals.\u00a0 I believe it is a reason to not participate in concerts where there is no difference between Christian music and the world\u2019s music.\u00a0 Separatists could not agree with the ECT document or the Manhattan Declaration because in signing those, they would be allying themselves with the other names on the list.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourth, we must separate from those who will not separate themselves.\u00a0 This is the reason for the biblical instruction to separate from a brother.\u00a0 The believers in Thessalonica were following false doctrine and therefore the other believers were to separate from those brothers.\u00a0 In effect, all local church members have separated themselves from other believers when they have set doctrinal and practical standards for membership.\u00a0 There are many who cannot join that church because they are not living in a way the people in the local church feel scripturely they must believe and practice.\u00a0 Church discipline is a form of this principle also. <\/span><\/p>\n

Jehoshaphat is an Old Testament example of one who, though listed as a good king of Judah, failed to separate from the backslidden northern kingdom.\u00a0 Rolland McCune concluded a survey of him by writing, \u201cImbued with good intentions, Jehoshaphat\u2019s policy of inclusivism became one of prolonged entanglement that undid his positive contributions after his death, a legacy he never intended to leave.\u201d<\/span>4<\/sup><\/span> That is a tragedy that has happened to too many believers.\u00a0 C.H. Spurgeon, knew he had to leave the old Baptist Union in England, an organization with a good history that went back a hundred years.\u00a0 But when the Union began admitting known liberals, Spurgeon chose to separate from his minister friends and his own brother saying, \u201cFellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin.\u201d<\/span>5<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The levels of separation<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

A believer must pay attention to the various levels of his involvement.\u00a0 The first level is his own personal or individual life.\u00a0 A believer cannot let sin dwell in his life because it will break his own fellowship with his Lord.\u00a0 Again, Paul admonished the Corinthians in this manner, \u201cKnow ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy [judge]; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are\u201d (1 Cor. 3:16-17).\u00a0 This often demands that we not participate in what another individual does.\u00a0 It should be noted, however, that we may also maintain communication with a sinning brother on an individual level which we couldn\u2019t do on a higher level.\u00a0 The danger here is that, out of personal friendship, we may acquiesce to his sin by privately saying \u201camen\u201d in a way we wouldn\u2019t corporately. <\/span><\/p>\n

A second level of separation is our local church membership.\u00a0 As has been stated, this creates a certain separation by its very nature.\u00a0 We should join a church that has stated their doctrine and practice with which we are in agreement.\u00a0 This is honest both for the church and the individual.\u00a0 Church discipline, of course, is separation from a sinning brother or sister.\u00a0 This is done corporately by the whole church always, of course, with the hope of regaining the brother or sister. <\/span><\/p>\n

A third level of separation is the inter-church level.\u00a0 Local churches need to fellowship with other local churches in order to maintain certain ministries.\u00a0 Missions cannot be done by a single church.\u00a0 It takes a fellowship of churches to do this.\u00a0 Bible colleges and seminaries, youth camps, city-wide meetings, and such things need the cooperation of a number of like-minded local churches.\u00a0 Yet the local churches, though they may stretch their comfortable zone in ways that do not violate their convictions, cannot participate in things that are an affront to their very existence.\u00a0 How many youth pastors have had to spend a year overcoming the damage that was done by one week at youth camp?\u00a0 It is always right to not go down that path in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

A fourth level of separation has to do with national or world-wide association with known error.\u00a0 Again, in our day of easy communication and travel, the individual (or the local church) can find himself involved in unscriptural things very quickly and easily.\u00a0 We are constantly asked to sign petitions and documents online which probably involve all kinds of people and groups.\u00a0 On the other hand, we have the advantage of easily hearing and reading of situations from which we should separate.\u00a0 My Google reader allows me to see what national figures believe long before I am even asked to participate with them in some ministry.\u00a0 I have an obligation as a pastor to warn and shield God\u2019s people from entangling alliances that would violate biblical principles of separation.\u00a0 It is a difficult task, because it is so easy to use materials, recommend books, invite instructors, and a host of other venues, which represent a compromising ministry.\u00a0 But this is the day in which we live and we must be as vigilant as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And so . . . <\/span><\/h2>\n

Space does not allow us to speak to every objection to the doctrine of separation.\u00a0 Some will always wrestle with whether it is loving or judgmental.\u00a0 When, however, we realize that separation is not our idea but God\u2019s, we have only to be disciples following our loving Master in His example. <\/span><\/p>\n

We should purge sin from our midst where this is possible, but when it is not, we must separate.\u00a0 We must walk away from situations where there is no hope of correction.\u00a0 We ought not to cross the threshold of many \u201crooms\u201d where it is best for us not to enter, even though the majority of things in the room may be fine.\u00a0 As someone said, 97% of rat poisoning is good old-fashioned corn meal.\u00a0 It\u2019s the 3% arsenic that will kill you!\u00a0 We should never condone sin by saying \u201camen\u201d to what is ungodly.\u00a0 We should never set anything above God\u2019s blessing on us and our fellowship with Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. See <\/span>The Spectrum of Evangelicalism<\/span>, a 2011 Zondervan Counterpoints book which sets forth four points of view including the fundamentalist point of view.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Ernest Pickering, <\/span>Biblical Separation <\/span>(Schaumburg:\u00a0 RBP, 2008) 196.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. A.H. Strong, <\/span>Systematic Theology<\/span> (Old Tappan:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fleming H. Revell, 1970) 272.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Rolland McCune, <\/span>Promise Unfulfilled<\/span> (Greenville: Ambassador International, 2004) 141.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Quoted by McCune on p. 151, and many others.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Separation is a topic that will not go away.\u00a0 It will be discussed by believers until God separates us all from the world at the rapture.\u00a0 Since Baptists have been called Baptists, and along with several other independent groups, we have been dissenters.\u00a0 In London we visit Bunhill Fields, \u201cthe dissenter\u2019s graveyard.\u201d\u00a0 Here you find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[163],"class_list":["post-1246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-separation"],"yoast_head":"\nCan We Separate From Brethren? - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/april-qcan-we-separate-from-brethrenq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can We Separate From Brethren? 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