Secondary, Tertiary, or Essential? (part four)

What About the Passages Used to Defend the Ranking of Primary and Secondary Doctrines?

One will not find the "doctrine" of primary and secondary, essential and non-essential, in the history of Christian doctrine. I once heard a preacher say, "If it’s new it’s not true, and if it’s true it’s not new." This doctrine is a new one and it isn’t true. The modern compromiser invented it to allow for a false unity among all those who profess to believe in Christ. Now many espouse it and agree that it is found in Scripture. They take the doctrine primarily from a handful of texts and then a few other principles. At no time in history until relatively recently has this been a doctrine or taught from these texts.

Matthew 23:23, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Luke 11:42, "But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
Matthew 5:19, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 23:23 does not condemn tithing. What the Lord Jesus Christ does denounce is tithing to the neglect of the weightier matters. The Pharisees were particularly fond of tithing on mint and cummin, two rather small condiments, especially in light of other more significant profit they had gained that required tithing. They were guilty of acting as though they cared about the most intricate details of law-keeping, when they did not actually care to keep the law. They were hypocrites. They chose the laws that were the most showy yet with the least cost to themselves.

Keeping God’s laws was a means by which an Israelite could love God and his neighbor. However, the love of God and his neighbor were the internals that really mattered to God. The Pharisees passed over love for God (Luke 11:42). They wanted just to look good. If someone kept all the law only to be impressive not out of a desire to please God, he was missing the point of the law. His lack of earnestness would very often manifest itself in leaving the laws unkept that most revealed that love for God and others. Jesus mentions those: " judgment, mercy, and faith." He says that these were "weightier" (barus). Barus is found only six times in the New Testament, and its understanding was "heavy, burdensome, grievous, or difficult." Some parts of the law were more difficult than others. Tithing of mint and cummin wasn’t the heavy lifting of the law, the more difficult portion. It was easy to tithe on these tiny herbs. Pharisees were more disposed to do the easier things that they could do in their own strength. It would count as law-keeping without being as difficult as obeying other of the laws.

Of course, this was not a basis for not tithing or disobeying any other law of God. The Lord Jesus Christ taught that it all was important, which was in line with what we have already seen throughout Scripture. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, "[W]hosoever shall do and teach [the least of my commandments], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." The tertiary doctrine people react to what Jesus said with "Look, look, look! Jesus said that some of the commandments were lesser than others." Then they build a whole system of belief and practice from it. Matthew Henry writes concerning this: "It is a dangerous thing, in doctrine or practice, to disannul the least of God's commands; to break them, that is, to go about either to contract the extent, or weaken the obligation of them; whoever does so, will find it is at his peril." This is exactly what these ‘non-essential’ people do with their attitude and teachings. They "disannul the least of God’s commands."

The laws were not given by God for His people to pick and choose what they wanted to obey and what they didn’t. What is ironic is that this is exactly what the essential/non-essential and primary/secondary proponents want to do. They are involved, just like the Pharisees, in ranking the laws and choosing what is important to keep and what isn’t, what is vital over which to separate and what is not. They are especially fond of obeying those laws of God which are very difficult to measure. They want the strong emphasis on the internal because the internals are impossible to judge by anyone else. Their "sincerity" instead, among other things, is what is most important. Not necessarily that they even do what God says, but that they really do "love Him," despite their disobedience.

1 John deals with this mindset. "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:2, 3). Interestingly enough, "grievous" (barus) is the same word translated "weightier" in Matthew 23:23. People who love God will not find any of his commandments to be weighty. What makes them weighty is attempting to keep them without loving God. Certain teachings of Scripture are more difficult because the world hates them, and as a result, Christians will become more unpopular when they keep them. Certain truths do not fit into the culture. Some are just hard to do.

One of their points is: "Why should we let certain teachings in Scripture keep us from getting along with one another? It is more important, greater, that we have unity with one another than that we do every single thing that God said." Where is this found? Where is this view of unity found? It isn’t found anywhere in Scripture. It’s another invention. This is how and why these primary/secondary folks turn these passages on their head. They don’t want to be judged in every matter by others. It’s tough being in the minority, knowing that most people don’t get along with you because of what you believe. There is a false sense of security that we feel in numbers. This same kind of feeling was what often lead the king of Israel and Judah to make alliances with pagan nations as a means of protection. It was a chief reason why David numbered the people in 2 Samuel 24; you know, "strength" in numbers. People look for the affirmation of popularity to make them feel good. Of course, it isn’t living by faith, so it doesn’t please God (Heb. 11:6).

We don’t determine the truth by popular vote. We shouldn’t relegate certain truths to lesser status because they won’t be as easy to agree upon. We believe them and practice them because God said them. We should understand that the truths that could most hinder our numbers and affect "unity" will be the ones that are the very ones upon which God wants us to take our stand. It isn’t so much that those truths are more important than other ones. They require a stronger stand because they are the ones being opposed, so we have more at stake in their protection. That probably makes them weightier, that is, more difficult to keep. We should not abandon them because they are difficult.