THE BALANCE

We see in the Bible a perfect balance. We also see this in the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus. The Bible, written to fallen man emphasizes two things. They are God’s hatred for sin and at the same time His love for fallen man. It seems that Jesus’ denunciation was primarily for the leaders. The concern He seemed to feel was towards the common people, even those who were led astray by false teaching. The same thing was true of Paul and the other apostles. Here we must be careful not to excuse the laity, (so called). This is what the Bible is for, written very simply, (the common people “heard Him gladly”; the same people who were “baptized of John”) but often confused by the hierarchy. Remember the illustration of the blind leading the blind. They didn’t have to follow, you know.
When confronted by the religious leaders, Jesus told them that He had not come to call the righteous but sinners. He told the woman in John 8: “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more”, On the other hand Jesus told the leaders that not only did they not enter the Kingdom of heaven themselves but also kept their followers out:
Matthew 23:13. We must remember that the followers went to the same hell that the leaders did, but the heaviest punishment is on the leaders.
There is another example in Galatians 1:8 and 9. Here Paul pronounces a curse on the one who brings in the false doctrine. The curse is not on the one who believes it. If one has sincerely received Christ he is not necessarily lost because he adds on some false teaching, but the teacher is denounced. He is causing much harm even to the point of causing some to be lost. Another passage along the same line is in Revelation 3:1-6. This is about the church in Sardis which had “a name that thou livest, and art dead”. There was much activity but no spiritual life. But “even in Sardis” there were those who had “not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white”. They did not follow the blind.