“It’s not who’s right, but what’s right.” That was the statement I heard someone make that keeps ringing in my ears. How often have we seen the reverse–it’s not what’s right, but who’s right –lived out in front of us? It is a temptation to every group in Christianity, and Independent Baptists certainly have their struggles with it too.

When we live under the canopy of who’s right we are reduced to Christian politics. I can think of no two words more ill suited for each other than “Christian” and “politics”. It no longer is what Christ actually said that drives us, but which group is best at following what He said. That may appear a subtle distinction to you, but it is vast.

When I follow Christ by following which group or clique best follows him, I am no longer listening directly to Him. Now that is an incredible mistake to make. It is adding a middle man where none is needed. It is denying that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. It is exalting those to priests in your life who are not worthy of the role.  

Over time it makes us forgetful too. We forget we answer to Him. We forget to seek Him. We feel right with Him when we are right with them. We forget that if they are wrong, we will be too by default. Sadly, then we are in a place to not even realize it. 

That same gentleman also said, “It’s fraternity instead of orthodoxy.” We must realize that those two things are not the same. Orthodoxy is holding to Scriptures because God said it while fraternity is holding to something because either my buddies or my heroes said it. See the difference?

Orthodoxy is me following an infallible Book. Perhaps I will misinterpret it, but I do so from a pure source. Fraternity is me following fallible men who range from sincere to duplicitous. Again, see the difference?

This is not to say that some group may not be right–only that is not the point. That is not to say that I may not associate with a group that I feel most closely aligns with God’s Word–only that is not the deciding factor in what I do or believe. No, fraternity, for all its good features, must bow to orthodoxy. And we will answer at the end of the way not for who’s right, but most assuredly, for what’s right. May God help us to never forget it. 

Find all articles in the series here.