The following happened to me, and I think it makes for a good example.
I went to Target one day, and when I parked my car, I pulled into the first spot after the handicap spots. When I was done shopping, I came out, and discovered that in fact I had parked in the last handicap spot – the sign was missing, but the paint was there on the ground – both blue lines, and the wheelchair emblem (the blue line on the driver’s side had the yellow line for the next space alongside it.) When I had parked, not seeing a sign (as there was one in all the other handicap spots), I hadn’t really looked at the ground too close – I saw a yellow line and turned in. Now, this was an honest mistake, and I was glad I didn’t get a ticket. But I have a question: if I had only come out to my car for whatever reason, with the intent of going back inside the store to continue shopping, would it still have been an honest mistake, if, seeing where I was parked, I didn’t move my car? Would not any of us, in that situation, move their car? Otherwise, we would be rejecting the authority of those who put the law in place (but even if we rejected the authority, they would still possess it, and we would pay the price).
Now, had I gotten a ticket, even though I was not purposely parking there, would it have been justified? Yes. Even though I was not purposely parking there, it was in carelessness that I didn’t notice the paint.
Now, let’s look at a similar situation.
Most of the denominational world teaches that if you pray to God, asking for forgiveness, you will be saved, in spite of the fact that this clearly contradicts what Jesus teaches. There are those in the church who say that those who believe this false teaching just have an “honest misunderstanding” regarding baptism, and that God will overlook this.
Are we relieved from the responsibility to be careful when it comes to God’s word? Does not Paul say, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:21? Again, Jesus was careful to teach exactly as God delivered the word to him, and did it at the cost of his life. Seeing as our eternal lives are at stake, are we not responsible to be careful (exceedingly so) when it comes to what he has delivered to us?
And is his word not understandable?
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved,” Mark 16:16. This is very clear, and very understandable.
When the denominations of “faith only” are shown that their teachings of “faith only” are not the truth, and they continue in it, they are no longer mistaken – they have rejected the authority of the one who established the church. Even so, if the authority finds them in the “handicap spot,” will the penalty be just? Yes; it was in not being careful that they were found there, and it is on us to be careful.
Someone will then say to me, “You certainly have misunderstandings when it comes to Scripture.” Yes, I am sure I do. “Then you convict yourself, you condemn yourself, according to your own words.” No, and I will explain why.
“[If] we walk in the light as He is in the light…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7. What does it mean to walk in the light? It means that we are living our life in accordance with the teachings of Jesus (which includes the entirety of the New Testament; see the article, “On Biblical Authority”). Revelation 1:5 states, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” Therefore, in order to live according to the teachings of Jesus, in order to walk in the light, one must be washed in the blood of Christ, in order that his sins may be washed away. The question, then, is when are we first washed in the blood of Christ, when do we first come in contact with it? The conversion of Paul clearly shows us when that moment is, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” Acts 22:16. It is in baptism that we are first washed in the blood of Christ.
Therefore, since I have been baptized for the remission of sin according to the teaching of Jesus, I am in the light; therefore, as long as I am sincerely, from a pure heart, pursuing him in faith, and I repent of it when I find I am wrong in something, I am cleansed, for I am walking in the light. “But they are honestly pursuing him, and you condemn them!” First, I have no authority, I do not condemn them; I don’t sit in that chair, so I neither judge nor condemn, nor loosen the law, nor overlook it. But I am to judge of things according to his ways (otherwise, how could we ever apply church discipline, for example). Here is the rub: they have never been cleansed by the blood of Christ, because their “honest misunderstanding” has caused them to reject the only place it is found, for if we are not “born of water and the Spirit,” we cannot be saved. Unless we are washed in the blood of Christ, it doesn’t matter how good we are, or how much good we do, or what we believe – our sins still cling to us, and we have no forgiveness, which is the whole crux of the matter.
It is written, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God,” 1 Peter 4:11. We cannot fellowship false teaching as if nothing were wrong; rather, we must speak as God’s word does, and show them their error. And if they will not hear, then as Jesus said, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me,” Luke 10:16.