Some brethren are saying today that they believe the “walk” of the faithful saint is negated if he commits even a single sin inadvertently (or against his will). This, of course, would include the sin of teaching a point of error. I don’t believe those who insist they hold such a position have really thought it out.<\/p>\n
Consider the brother who believes a woman must cover her head in the assembly to be faithful to God. Not all believe this. Worse yet, not all teach it. Some teach the very opposite. Now, if a woman must cover her head, then those who say otherwise are teaching false doctrine, and any bareheaded woman is practicing sin. Who could deny it based on the premise? Let us put the two doctrines into practice. On the one hand, anyone who practices or teaches less than required of the “covering position” is out of fellowship with God and walking in the darkness rather than the light. May we fellowship them? Consistency demands that we break fellowship. Therefore, any man who believes in the covering and does not make it a test of fellowship is guilty of the worst inconsistency, for it borders on dissimulation; that is, if he also denies the consequences of “continuous cleansing.” (That is, the faithful saint may be cleansed of sin about which he is unaware.)<\/p>\n
Also, those who teach that wearing shorts and swimsuits is wrong must likewise make it a test of fellowship. That is unless one is willing to allow time for growth and trust God’s grace for the imperfect saint. According to them, this is contrary to what God does; therefore, it would be wrong for us to practice it.<\/p>\n
Because of the striking inconsistency of those who claim to believe that sinless perfection and perfect knowledge are required to walk in the light, I have a hard time taking them seriously. They preach one thing and practice something entirely different. Perhaps that is why it is all a tempest in a teapot. It is hard to take it seriously in light of such inconsistency.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Floyd Chappalear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 31, 1987 Some brethren are saying today that they believe the “walk” of the faithful saint is negated if he commits even a single sin inadvertently (or against his will). This, of course, would include the sin of teaching a point of error. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-84204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-perfection"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":605,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/command-or-custom\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":0},"title":"Command or Custom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"An Exposition Of I Corinthians 11:1-16 by Hiram O. Hutto The first sixteen verses of the eleventh chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Corinth has been the subject of much controversy. The verses themselves are not difficult to understand, and the controversy has not been so much over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6802,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-distinguish-between-sin-and-areas-for-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":1},"title":"How do you distinguish between sin and areas for growth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for your reply. That was helpful. I agree we need to be mindful of differing levels of maturity. The crux of the matter comes down to this: (maturity issues aside) when is sin involved? Let me frame this issue another way: the brother in Romans 14 who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-message-of-i-corinthians-11\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":2},"title":"The Message of I Corinthians 11","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry I would like to examine a passage that has caused many divisions and great strife in many churches of Christ. Many have simply disregarded this passage and do not wish to find any way in which to apply it to their own lives because of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5953,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-is-the-line-drawn-between-false-teachings-and-matters-of-conscience\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":3},"title":"Where is the line drawn between false teachings and matters of conscience?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've read your articles on false teaching and head coverings. My question is: How do we know if someone is engaging in false teaching? More specifically, where do we draw the line between false teaching and matters of conscience (Romans 14)? For example head coverings. There are a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-role-of-women-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":4},"title":"The Role of Women in the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson via Seeking Things Above The role of women in society has changed dramatically in recent years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some changes have been good, but many have not.\u00a0 Societal changes eventually filter into the church.\u00a0 Renewed discussion is occurring on this issue, and some are contending for an expanded role\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49776,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-woman-cant-lead-prayer-then-she-shouldnt-discipline-or-deal-with-finances\/","url_meta":{"origin":84204,"position":5},"title":"If a woman can’t lead prayer then she shouldn’t discipline or deal with finances","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am currently in a discussion with my brother about women praying with their husbands. I agree with your view of the matter and what the Bible says regarding a woman leading her husband in prayer. My brother takes the opposing view and states that if that were the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}