The Sin of Tolerance

The number one sin of conservative Christians today appears, from the public outcry, to be intolerance. We just won't embrace the behavior of certain folks (think "LGBT" or "gender-identity," for instance) as perfectly acceptable. And, in fact, we won't. But ... is that "tolerance"? No. Tolerance is not "accepting people or behavior as acceptable" because tolerance requires disagreement. You don't tolerate what you affirm; you tolerate what you don't agree with.

But there is an interesting text in Revelation. In it Christ, in His Seven Letters to Seven Churches, says to the church in Thyatira, "I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel" (Rev 2:20). The word, in Greek, is ἀφίημι -- aphiēmi. The word is a compound word beginning with "a" meaning "not." Not what? Not hiēmi -- not sending away. That's the tolerance that Thyatira did. And Jesus considered it bad. Thyatira had offended Jesus by being tolerant.

Perhaps one of the most neglected texts in the Bible among Bible churches is the Matthew 18 text on the same topic.

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matt 18:15-17)

What do we do when a brother (a fellow believer) sins against us? Well, we complain to others. Or we complain to the pastor. But we do not deal with it one on one. And if that doesn't work? How often have any of us approached such a person with "one or two others" and tried again? And if that doesn't work? When was the last time you sat in church and had a public declaration that so-and-so is refusing to repent of such-and-such a sin and needs to? I've heard of a few churches that have "evicted" such a one, although usually it is done quietly, but we know that the normal response is ... cover it up.

If sin is defined as a violation of Christ's commands and this text is a command, I would submit that tolerance -- the failure to send away -- qualifies us as sinning; that tolerance in these cases is sin. Now, this is not a cry for "righteous indignation" or "vigilante justice." It is a heart of love for the restoration of a sinning believer in gentleness and fear (as in Gal 6:1). And our failure to follow Christ's instruction on these things is sin and has resulted in a "leavened lump" (1 Cor 5:6), a diffused and spreading sin that affects the whole church ... and leaves sinning believers without the help they need. Surely, brothers and sisters, we can love better than this.