Although this is similar to the previous item, it means that we are not afraid of people having opinions, but we are afraid of people being divisive. As long as they are willing to not be divisive and are willing to abolish any existing division, any opinion or view can be accepted. We do not require other believers to drop their views before meeting with us, but we require them to abolish their divisions. We can tolerate anything, but not division. Whether immersion or sprinkling, large cups or small cups, leavened bread or unleavened bread, head covering or no head covering—all these are not a problem. We can tolerate all such things. However, there is one thing we cannot tolerate; we can never tolerate division, because once there is division, the ground of the oneness of the church is lost.
We receive all believers, regardless of their views. As long as they are saved, we are willing to receive them. However, we cannot accept any believer who meets the conditions for removal from fellowship.
There are only two categories of believers that meet the conditions for removal from fellowship. In the first category, referred to in 1 Corinthians 5:11, are sinful men who are extremely filthy and who insult the Lord’s name, such as fornicators, coveters, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, and the rapacious. In the second category, referred to in 2 John 7-11, are those who go beyond the teaching of Christ, speaking heresies that Christ is not God, that He did not become flesh, that His death did not bear our sins, that His blood cannot redeem us from our sins, and that He did not resurrect from the dead. Such heresies can be seen in today’s so-called Modernism, which promotes the belief of the antichrists, who are an unbelieving sect. Those who accept this heresy claim that they believe in Christ but in fact resist Christ. This is a pernicious sin. We cannot receive anyone who is related to either of these two categories of sins, even if he is a Christian in name. If he has already been received, he must be removed. Apart from these, we would receive anyone who is saved, regardless of his views or opinions.
We are willing to fellowship with all the brothers and sisters in the Lord, regardless of the sects they are in, even if they are in the Roman Catholic Church. We are willing to have fellowship with them, but we absolutely do not want to have a part in the denominations to which they belong. Brothers and sisters as individuals are one thing, but the denominations and sects that they are in are another. We must differentiate between the two. Sometimes when we forsake the denominations and sects, we forsake the brothers and sisters who are in them. At other times we do just the opposite. As we receive the brothers and sisters from the denominations, the denominations to which they belong are also brought with them. This is because we have not differentiated between individuals and organizations.
This can be compared to eating fish. When we eat the flesh, we must spew out the bones. We should not spew out the flesh because we do not want the bones, nor should we swallow the bones because we want to eat the flesh. We should be able to distinguish between the two: the brothers and sisters belong to us, and we want them, but the denominations and sects do not belong to us, and we refuse them. We want neither the Protestant churches nor the Roman Catholic Church. We want all the saved brothers and sisters in them. We should have fellowship and contact with them.
The degree of fellowship and contact we have with them depends on the relationship, effect, and consequence that this kind of fellowship brings to the denominations and sects. If the fellowship causes the denominations and sects to be built up or the testimony of the local church to suffer loss, it should not be carried out. Therefore, no one can predetermine the degree of contact and fellowship that should occur. It must be carefully considered before the Lord for the sake of the Lord.