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Introduction

We are told Job was a good man who “feared God and eschewed evil.” But does that mean that Job loved God and his fellow man? What do the scriptures say is the love of our brothers, and what do they teach us demonstrates a love of God? Here is what the scriptures teach:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Where did John get such a radical doctrine? Here is where John learned that we know that we love our brothers only if we love and obey God. Here is where John learned that we love our heavenly Father only if we obey His commandments. Here is the truth from Him who is The Truth:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Why the natural man rejects the words of Christ

Why would anyone not hear and do Christ’s saying? There are many reasons for this. Here are a few which the scriptures mention:

Isa 30:7  For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
Isa 30:8  Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

“Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease before us.” That is what we are saying when we refuse to hear any of the words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God. Israel wanted to make alliances with Egypt, just as you and I tend to do to this very day. We want to have friends in this world, and surely, we reason, the Lord will not mind if we ignore just a few of His Words, especially if we are doing so to not offend our friends in this world. So we make alliances with this world, and we ignore our Lord’s commandment to love our enemies, because we don’t even know what love is. “Love thine enemies” are words that will cost you a lot of friends in this world. Your “friends in this world” will always accuse you of putting your enemies above them, when you “love God and keep His commandments.”

Mat 13:18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Christ is that “root.” If He is in us, we grow and increase when the light of the Sun comes on us, We are not “scorched”, and we do not “wither away” as the light gets brighter and hotter.

Mat 13:5  Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Mat 13:6  And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

What are Christ’s sayings?

Are Christ’s sayings only to be found in the gospels? Is that what Christ tells us? Absolutely not! Christ tells us that He is the Word. He tells us that He is the Truth. He tells us that His words are spirit which does not compute with the natural man. He tells us that it takes the sum of His Word to know that Truth.  He tells us that His words never pass away, and He tells us that we will all live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He tells us that His sayings are not all revealed in the gospels alone.

Joh 16:12  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Does “guide you into all Truth” mean all the doctrines of the New Testament? It certainly does. Not one doctrine is to be considered “nonessential.” Christ is all of the Word of God.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It is “the natural man [ who] cannot receive the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.” What are these things which the natural man cannot receive?
Job believed that he also loved God, and he believed that the way he treated his fellow man was proof positive of his love for both God and man. Here is Job in his own words:

Job 29:4  As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
Job 29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
Job 29:6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.

“Going out to the gate… preparing my seat in the street,” is the modern equivalent of saying ‘All rise! The honorable Job is presiding.’ Job was a very prominent man in his day.

Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
Job 29:13  The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Job 29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
Job 29:16  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job 29:17  And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

These verses are a symbol of what we all naturally consider to be the proof of  “the children of God.” These words symbolize what we naturally consider to be the way we are expected to demonstrate our love of God. We do good to our fellow man, and we “put on righteousness” by being “eyes to the blind and feet to the lame”. That is the orthodox Christian definition of love of God and love of our fellow man. But nothing could be further from the truth. Just how impressed with all of our righteous works is our heavenly Father? Here is how all of this affected Job and his relationship with our heavenly Father:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

“Will you disannul My judgment?” It is not our wickednesses that cause us to “disannul God’s judgment.” No, it is “our righteousnesses” which make God’s judgments seem so unfair to us. It is the fact that, in our minds we love our brothers, that make God’s judgment on us seem so unjust. One of the greatest inhibitors of true spiritual growth is the fact that many Christians do not have so much as a clue as to what is Biblically, the spiritual, scriptural definition of ‘love’. We have all been told that God is love and that we should all love God and love our brothers. Here are Christ’s own words to us when He was asked about the great commandment in the law:

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

“Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind… is the first and great commandment.” Those are the words of our Lord, and it is clear that the love of God supersedes all, including the love of our neighbor. But the sad truth is that we, by nature, reverse that order and place the love of our neighbor above the love of God.
Don’t the scriptures teach that we are to “love one another”? That certainly is true. But putting “one another” before God we turn our love of one another into rebellion against God. Christ Himself made that clear:

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Under normal Biblical circumstances, and considering that a man and a woman are “one flesh,” there is no one on earth who deserves our love and our honor more than our own parents. God Himself tells us to “Honor thy father and thy mother.” But, like every word that comes out of the mouth of God, those words are first and primarily spiritual words,  and refer first to our heavenly Father and to “Jerusalem above which is the mother of us all.”

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

We are to honor God more than our father and our mother. If we fail to place the love of God above our love for our parents, then we are actually committing idolatry, because we have allowed something to come between us and our God. When we place anything or anyone between ourselves and God, we unintentionally harm the very people we profess so much to love.
In other words, it is impossible to truly love your neighbor without having your neighbor’s interests secondary to God’s interests. We cannot please both God and mammon or God and man.

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

If we love our brother more than we love God, we are, in Christ’s own words, hating Christ and despising Christ, and according to Mat 10:37, we “are not worthy of Christ.” If we don’t love God and Christ, then there is no way we can love the children of God.
So what then is love? Here is the Biblical definition of love. Here, and here alone, is how we love God and love His children, our neighbors:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  F or this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

There it is again; we know we love our brothers because we “… love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”
The love of God is not all the good works we do for our brothers and sisters in Christ. All of our good works towards our brothers and sisters in Christ are but a by- product of our obedience to God, who commands us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” But we must be very careful that we never allow the good works we do for the benefit of our brothers to become an idol that comes between us and our love and obedience of our God. In other words we must always acknowledge God’s Work in all of our ways, instead of taking credit for our own ways:

Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Our ways are not our ways, they are really His works:

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

The truth of these verses extends to “all thy ways,” and not to just our good ways. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy steps”  does not teach us that if we fail to acknowledge Him then we are taking His ability to direct our steps away from Him. Nothing could possibly be further from the Truth. “Man goings [ good or evil] are of the Lord.” God’s sovereignty in all things is not in question here:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all [ things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

We are discussing what is love, and how can we “love God with all of our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves?” What we have seen is that the only way to love our neighbor as ourselves is to place our obedience to God above our desire to accommodate, please, or love our mother, father, brother or sister. The reason why a true understanding of what is love is so important is that a misunderstanding of the meaning of  ‘the love of God and the love of our brothers’ has led to the apostasy of the entire Christian church, all in an attempt to save and unify the church. It is the desire for unity which has led to certain commandments of God being completely ignored and literally despised and condemned by most Christians. Those who see the need to obey these commandments are hated by those who do not, and because they are abused by many, they are therefore rendered as unloving and unscriptural. But they are neither unloving nor unscriptural. It is rather those who put unity above obedience who are both unloving and unscriptural. Here are…

A few such despised and rejected commandments of God.

There is not one Christian in one thousand who is willing to obey this commandment of God “by which we know that we love the children of God:”

1) 2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The failure to live by these words means that we place the love of our brothers, their opinions of us, and their fellowship with us, above the commandments of the Lord. By doing this we actually turn against those who place their heavenly Father and pleasing Him, about the love and fellowship of their brothers. Let’s return to the example of Joseph.

Gen 37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

“Joseph brought unto his father their evil report” is what we bring to our heavenly Father when we refuse to allow spiritual lies, contrary to the words of our Father into our spiritual house. What happens when we place obedience to God’s commandments about the love of our ten brothers? Our Father loves us and He displays that love by giving us even more of His Words and His Truths; “a coat of many colors.” How do our brothers always react to this situation? Do they immediately repent of placing their regard and their love for one another above their regard for and love for their Father and His Truth? No, they do not, and neither do any of us until after we come to see that we have “all sinned and have all come short of the glory of God.” In the meantime, we all act like this:

Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

It was not ‘Jews that believed not in Him’ that were crying out ‘Crucify Him.’ No, it was “those Jews that believed on Him.”

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

“The truth shall make you free,” but that very truth is the fact that “those… who believed on Him,” those who are fellow Christians, those who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, who are yet “carnal… babes in Christ,” are the very people who place the love of their fellow Christians above their love of the Truth, and will “kill you thinking they are doing God a service.”

Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38  I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39  They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [ even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

This is all of us in our own time. We are all “of our Father the devil,” we all “seek to kill” Christ and His words of Truth, until our eyes are supernaturally opened to the meaning of what  love is. “Why do we not understand Christ’s speech? Even because “we cannot hear His word” until our eyes and ears are supernaturally opened to see and to know what love really is. When our eyes are finally opened we come to see:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

We see that, like Joseph, our regard for our father and His ways must supersede our desire to accommodate the misdeeds and false doctrines and “evil report” of our ten brothers.

2) 1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Isa 1Jn 2:10-11 “the doctrine which is according to godliness?

2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Are the words of these verses in 1Ti 6:3-5 “the doctrine which is according to godliness? If so, then why are these verses so ignored and despised by the orthodox Christian world and by most of our brothers and sisters who believe in universal salvation.
What are these verses commanding us to do? Are they telling us not to allow a heretic into our physical home? No, a child of God knows that even a heretic is not responsible for the blindness in which he lives, and must be loved in spite of his heresy. But “bid him not into your house, neither bid him godspeed [ and] from such withdraw thyself,” must be applied at a doctrinal fellowship level, and must not be allowed to “leaven the whole lump… of those over whom the Lord has made you overseers.”

Which brings us to the third ignored and despised section of God’s Words.

3) 1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly [ that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1Co 5:10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

Throughout the Old Testament, Israel’s apostasy into the doctrines of the nations around her is call ‘fornication.’

2Ch 21:11  Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto
Eze 16:29  Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

Chaldea is the land of Babylon “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” Her sorceries with which she has caused the nations of the earth to commit fornication, are her false doctrines, one of the most effective being the doctrine of “Unity in the essentials and tolerance in the nonessentials.”

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

Part of “her fornication and her sorceries which have deceived all nations” has bee the doctrine of “Unity in the essentials and tolerance in the nonessentials.” That “go along to get along” attitude is just another way of saying that Christians should consider anyone who thinks these commandments of God should be obeyed is unloving, judgmental, and divisive. That brings us to our fourth section of supposedly unloving, judgmental and divisive segments of God’s Word:

4) 1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

“He that knows God hears us…[ who] confess that Jesus is come in the [ same] flesh [ as the seed of Abraham], and who try the spirits to see whether they are of God.” This is how we are to “know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Add to these verses the fact that Jesus Christ taught that every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God must be lived by every man who has ever lived.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Where does “Unity in the essentials and tolerance in the nonessentials” fit into Mat 4:4 or any of the other commandments we have quoted here? Which are the nonessential “words that proceed out of the mouth of God?” Are these sections we are quoting nonessential? Is “unity in the essentials” more important than “living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God? The answer is that these verses are not “nonessential” but the doctrine which teaches that false doctrine should not separate us from our brothers in Christ is “nonessential” and is in fact heretical. Throughout the New Testament we are exhorted by our Lord and His disciples to be one as Christ and His Father are one.

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are
Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

Christ never spoke one word which was not of His Father and based upon His Father’s Words.

Joh 14:24  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and t he word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Singleness of spirit, mind, mouth, and doctrine, are a huge doctrine of the New Testament:

Rom 15:6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 13:11  Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, t hat ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

1Pe 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Does that sound like “Unity in the essentials and tolerance in the nonessentials?” No, it certainly does not, and that brings us to one more very little quoted, and much despised verse which we need to consider:

5) 1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

“They which are approved… among you,” are only those who “are poor and of a contrite spirit, and who tremble at … every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Psa 34:18  The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

That “broken hearted contrition” is over the fact that we have so long preferred the milk of God’s Word to these more mature doctrines, and we have all ignored and despised the meat of the words of our Lord. Only when we love His words are we mature enough and near enough to Him, that He can teach us His doctrines.

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Conclusion

God will not give the strong meat doctrines of His Words to babes who cannot live apart from their ten unfaithful brothers. God will not have babies in positions of rulership in His kingdom within you or over the kingdoms of this world.

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

It is such “babes in Christ” who place unity and numbers above fidelity to Him whose doctrine is the Truth. The Biblical fact of the matter is that it is better to be divided by the Truth than to be united in the lie of “unity in the essentials and tolerance in the nonessentials.” This is the very lie that has produced over 30,000 differing and conflicting Christian denominations. It is the fear of being marginalized and excluded from the majority, or from a larger body, which leads most Christians to the conclusion that God could not possibly be deceiving that many people. It is this false doctrine of unity over truth, which is so appealing to our flesh, which has marginalized the truth that God wants His elect to be uncompromising in defense of His knowledge and His understanding and His doctrines. Only those who put truth above unity are the “us” of “they that hear us know God” because “we are of God” not because of who we are so much as to whom we listen and obey.

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jn 4:7  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Lest we forget and confuse our love of unity with the love of God, John immediately reminds us what really is true love of the children of God and what really is the true love of God:

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.