Ye often hear it said ...

by Dave Brown 

Ye often hear it said ...
                                                                     “Good men don’t argue.”

but Luke reported (Acts 15:39) ...
                                                    "And there arose such a sharp disagreement
                                                        that they separated from one another, ..."

No one can deny that these were good men — perhaps some of the best who have ever lived.  But don’t take us wrong — we are not advocating argument for the sake of argument.  That is contentiousness, and that is condemned (1 Cor. 11:16).  We should avoid contending at almost all costs, although we recognized that there are times when it cannot be avoided (Jude 3).

Acts 15 tells us that that just because a person disagrees with us, that does not make him/her a bad person.  Good people can disagree.  When Christians disagree they should look for a remedy that enables the work of Christ to continue unabated.  This is what Paul and Barnabas did.  The solution that they came to was surely not a perfect one in either of their eyes.  But it was one that would not hurt the work, nor would it hurt anyone who was involved.  This demonstrates great selfless wisdom on their parts.  How many times have we seen bitter strife and envy tear up a local work when it had nothing whatsoever to do with doctrine, or for that matter, anything of substance?  If Paul and Barnabas could arrive at a temporary arrangement that would bridge the gap to ultimate reconciliation, why can’t we?  We can, and that is another lesson that we can learn from this valuable example in the book of Acts .