What does the Bible say about tolerance?

The unity of the Spirit may be maintained, and allow indeed for growth in knowledge, and in unity of judgment as to many things. The Church of God has room for all that are God's, of whatever stature — fathers, young men, and babes. It can allow of — nay, insists upon the largest charity for those who differ from us in aught that would not link the name of Christ with His dishonor. But that is a very different thing from what is implied in a creed, and indeed I may say, is its fundamental opposite. For the creed defines, in a way that, if rigidly adhered to, shuts out toleration as to points of confessedly minor importance, where the Spirit of God would teach, not indifference, indeed, but the largest charity, — forcing its definitions upon all in a way most felt by the most conscientious. It is as necessary, as far as the creed goes, to believe in a child's being regenerate when baptized as it is to believe in the Son of God Himself. I grant there may be practical laxity, but for a soul before God that does not do. For such an one, with his eyes open, the subjection to human institutions in the things of God is just what he cannot and dare not yield.

There cannot be a more serious principle for the practical and public walk of the church. Evil is here presented under the symbol of leaven. Not only may it exist among saints, but its nature is to work, spread, and assimilate the mass to itself. The apostle insists that it shall never be tolerated. Here it is moral evil, in Galatians doctrinal; and of the two the latter is the more insidious, because more specious. It does not shock the conscience so immediately, or strongly, if at all. To the natural mind evil doctrine is but a difference of opinion, and the generous heart shrinks from proscribing a man for an opinion however erroneous. The church stands on wholly different ground, because it stands in Christ on high and has the Holy Ghost dwelling in it here below. No assembly can guarantee itself against the entrance of evil, but every assembly of God is bound not to tolerate it. When evil is known, the church is bound to put it away. Elsewhere we may find details in dealing with it. There are those who may be specially fitted not only to discern but to apply moral power, and they are responsible to act faithfully to Christ whose the church is. It is no question, where known evil is persisted in, of exercising compassion, still less of cloaking it. This would be connivance with Satan against the Lord, and the ruin, not only of the individual already ensnared, but of the assembly. When the assembly knows evil, and either forbears to judge through indifference, or (still worse) refuses it when appealed to according to the word of God, it is playing false to the name of the Lord, and can no longer be regarded as God's assembly after adequate means to arouse have failed.

Forbearing one another

Longsuffering will lead to exactly this. To forbear the other does not only mean to be ready to bear the burdens of others, but also to bear with their weaknesses. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did with His disciples. They had a lot of flaws but He was ready to bear with them. It may even be that we must bear with the brother himself if he has become a burden to others. And we should not forget that Paul says: ‘forbearing one another’. This is not a ‘one-way street’. Today, I may be the one who must do this; tomorrow, I may be the one who must be borne with by others.

The question concerning brethren who were weak in faith, how they are to be treated by those who are strong is now taken up. Those weak in the faith had not the complete knowledge of their position in Christ, though they knew Christ and loved Him. They did not realize that certain observances of days, or abstinences from meats and drinks, could not affect their salvation in any way. There were scruples and conscientious difficulties, as there are still among God's people. One believeth he may eat all things, he knew his full Christian freedom--another who is weak eateth herbs. How are these two to treat each other? Were they to criticize and condemn one the other? "Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him." The weak in faith are to be received, but not to doubtful points of reasonings; these questions are not to be brought up for discussion, or worse, to make them a test of Christian fellowship. Judging a brother, or condemning him on such matters is forbidden, for inasmuch as God hath received him, he is the Lord's servant and not ours. The rebuke is "who art thou that thou judgest another's servant? to his own Lord he standeth or falleth." More than that, the Lord in His gracious power shall keep him in all his weakness. He bears with him, "the Lord is able to make him stand." Each is responsible to the Lord. Each does it as unto the Lord. No one lives to himself, and no one dies to himself, we are all the Lord's. There is also a day coming when we all must stand before His judgment seat and then He will judge, who knows the secrets of every heart. Therefore we must not judge. Every one, as stated in all these cases, should be fully persuaded in his own mind and should not judge another, but look forward to the judgment seat of Christ.

“Behold, I cast her into a bed.” The word “bed” is evidently used in sharp contrast to the bed of the harlot with its illicit pleasure. It will be a bed of affliction. “Those that commit adultery with her.” This is the first and only instance of the word “adultery” in the Apocalypse. Those who have tampered with the evil, who have defiled themselves by association with Jezebel, are the class here referred to — an increasing company in our times, a company born of the false spirit of toleration and of indifference to evil. Her children killed “with death” is a singular expression, and seems to denote the intensity of the Lord’s judgment. This finds its answer in Revelation 17 and 18 of the Apocalypse. Such is the character and doom of the papacy, and of all directly and remotely connected with it. There are varying degrees of guilt, but the main point to seize upon is that God judges evil according to the measure of each one’s responsible connection with it.

An advance of evil comes before us in Thyatira. If in Ephesus there was the righteous abhorrence of the "deeds" of the Nicolaitanes, so hateful to the Lord (Rev. 2:6), in Pergamos we have the sufferance in the midst of the "holders of the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes," etc. (Rev. 2:15); whilst here in Thyatira there is the "letting alone" of the woman Jezebel who "teacheth and deceiveth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols" (Rev. 2:20). How grievous where there is (by "letting alone,") this sinful acquiescence in guilty commerce with the world (what is here signified by "fornication"), instead of holy separation from it, and there is acknowledgment of other claims on the heart than those of the Christ of God (the eating of "things sacrificed to idols")! His eyes are as a flame of fire, and His feet like to burnished brass, and He will have all the churches to know that He searcheth reins and hearts, as well as ways and deeds. The indictment here is — not the personal guilt of the teacher only, but the suffering or allowing what another does. "But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel." To be personally clear of, and to condemn, the evil doctrine taught — important as this assuredly is for every child of God — is not enough. We see from these addresses that the Lord calls for more, viz., that where there are those that teach or even hold what is offensive to Christ, He demands that we "repent" of their presence in our midst, for all are affected by the tolerance of the evil within, whether actively taught or only passively held. Are we sufficiently alive to the defiling power of sin? Do we really believe that "a little leaven" — whether of doctrine (Gal. 5:9), or of walk (1 Cor, 5:6), leavens the whole lump"? It is not our measure of what is wickedness, but what God reveals in His word so to be. Our thoughts — even of "the wise of this world" — are vanity. "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable," etc.

If we have followed the line of this precious Discourse in the two previous chapters it will not be difficult to understand what is here. If we live before the Father in simplicity and sincerity, our dealings with others will be marked by kindness and consideration rather than fault-finding, which seems to be the sense in which judging is used in this first verse. It is not that we are not called to judge between good and evil, for had it meant that there could have been no abstaining from evil, but that we should be free from a censorious spirit, which is a very great evil. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:31-32). It is never right to judge motives unless it be our own, for love thinks no evil and will not condemn until it has proof. Should we be, on the other hand, judged wrongly and misrepresented by others, the way out is put before us in Matthew 5:44: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."

"Judge not, that ye may not be judged For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." A wrong spirit is soon seen and condemned by others. "He has digged a pit and hollowed it out, and is fallen into the hole that he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head" (Ps. 7, see also Esther 7). In the school of God where the daily exercises prove the imperfection of all, ability to look upon our brother for good should be cultivated.

John and James, indignant at this treatment of the Son of God, desired to imitate Elijah in calling down fire from heaven to consume these Samaritans (2 Ki.1:9-12). The Lord rebuked them (v.55). They did not understand the character of God's present dealings in sending His Son into the world. He had come in grace, not in judgment. For us the lesson is plain: we must not merely imitate what was right for another time, but should have some true knowledge of our own time and what is suitable for it. Christ had not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Therefore at the present time it is true faith to humbly submit to rejection with Christ. The Lord did not insist on forcing His presence on these Samaritans. He and His disciples went to another village.

I am sorry you find no guidance in this matter from the first two passages, for they are both full of light: that from the Old Testament, as a general principle of conduct for the individual; that from the New Testament, as expressly directing the Christian in a day of disorder such as ours. It is ridiculous to say that if a man really acts as Isaiah 1:16-17 directs, he can fall from one evil into a greater. For the word is, "cease to do evil" — not some one, but all evil. As long as that divine oracle is heard, evil, greater or less, is avoided. And what is this "greater evil?" "Refusing communion with those whom Jesus loves," &c. But there, again, are you not at fault? We receive every Christian walking as such, without reference to their connection with Nationalism or Dissent; we rejoice to have communion with them, whether privately or publicly. They may join us in the worship and the supper of the Lord; they are as free as any of us to help in thanksgiving, prayer, or a word of edification, if so led of God; and this, without stipulation either to leave their old associations or to meet only with us. Where is this done save only among "Brethren?" Were any of us, no matter how gifted of the Lord, to give out a hymn, to pray, or minister at St. John's Church, when you take the sacrament, the Canons (not Scripture) would treat it as indecent and disorderly; and so would it be, as far as I am aware, in any of the Dissenting sects, except by special courtesy. With us, on the contrary, if any godly Churchman or Dissenter thought fit to come when we remember the Lord together, he would be quite in order, if he did any or all of these things spiritually; and this, not from any mere permission on our part, but as a matter of responsibility to God and His Word. Which, then, is guilty of "the evil of refusing communion with those whom Jesus loves?" Certainly not we. If you mean that I, for one, would refuse, (not to have communion with God's children anywhere in a holy scriptural way, but) to join in the services of the Establishment, that is a very different question, and not a sin, in my judgment, but a duty to God, as I have already proved even on your own principles.

But He reminds us of what we easily forget. If others are a trial to us, are not we a trial to them? Are we not, unless walking according to the light, as dull to see our own faults as we are sharp to notice, and even imagine, wrongs in our brethren? How pungently the Lord puts the case that we may loathe ourselves! "And why lookest thou on the mote in the eye of thy brother, but observest not the beam in thine eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote from thine eye, and, behold, the beam is in thine eye?" The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls thus holily strips us of the mask which failure in self-judgment puts on. For if before God we discern not our own grievous shortcomings and sins, we do not know our brethren with anything like the same certainty and clearness. Love therefore and the fear of God call us each to deem others better than ourselves, judging ourselves for what we do know instead of others for what we know not and ought not to think. "Hypocrite," says the Lord with severe reproof, "pull out first the beam out of thine eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

Yet it is well to beware of the too common misuse of our Lord's warning. How often pious persons thereby deprecate any censure of their own position and any care against false doctrine, or evil associations, or responsibility for such discipline as scripture requires! But this is to fail in godliness; which assuredly covers not only personal conduct, but also public walk as members of Christ. The Corinthians were careless in this way and others, which grace has turned to the profit, not only of them, but of "all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." The apostle allows no excuse for carelessness congregationally any more than individually. There is no call to exercise discipline on the evildoers of the world; but Christians have the obligation of dealing with offenders in God's assembly. Paul, though absent, could not but judge that the wicked person should be excluded. It was due to Christ and His sacrifice. God must be vindicated Whose is the assembly. The saints were bound to clear themselves in the matter, taking up the offender's sin as their own; yet even here his ultimate good was sought, "that the spirit might he saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." "Do not ye judge those that are within? But those without God judgeth. Put away the wicked [man] from among yourselves" (1 Cor. 5:3-13). Here we are commanded to judge.

The selfsame principle expressly applies to sins far less gross. Our thoughts and reasonings are to be discarded on the one hand; and on the other God's authority to be recognised and conclusive. Scripture too is plain that, important as is right judgment of moral evil, the truth is yet more momentous; and this both because to slight and oppose it offends against the Giver, and it ruins those who thus err, whilst they have a fair appearance, instead of shocking men like immorality or unrighteousness.