Beloved followers of the Way,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I write to you with both concern and love, mindful of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:5: “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
The apostle is clear—our calling is not to promote ourselves, nor to build followers around our own ideas, but to exalt Christ alone as Lord. The church is not sustained by human arguments, intellectual pride, or claims to special knowledge. It is upheld by the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, proclaimed in humility and in truth.
Yet it grieves me to see how secondary debates over Bible translations and human theories are being elevated above Christ Himself. When positions such as “Verbal Plenary Preservation,” the “Perfect TR,” or exclusive allegiance to one English translation are presented as tests of true faith, they risk becoming burdens that divide the body rather than doctrines that unite it. These positions may be borne out of zeal, but zeal without humility and gospel-centeredness can unwittingly mirror the very gnostic spirit that Paul and John warned against—a spirit that exalts secret knowledge, human certainty, and rigid sectarianism over the simplicity of Christ.
Brother, hear the Lord’s call: return to the pure gospel. The church does not exist to defend human systems or to magnify a particular translation. The church exists to proclaim Christ crucified, to preach the Word faithfully in the languages of God’s people, and to serve one another in love.
Paul himself, once a Pharisee of Pharisees, could have boasted in many things. But in Philippians 3:8, he says: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” This is our posture too: to lay down pride, to count as loss our intellectual trophies, and to lift high Christ alone.
Please consider: are your words pointing others to Christ, or are they drawing attention to your own certainty, your own positions, your own cause? If the latter, then repent and return to the humility of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve. Let us be servants of one another for Jesus’ sake, not masters over one another in debates that fracture His body.
As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” That is the true treasure—the glory of God revealed in the face of Christ, not in the promotion of ourselves or our own theological constructs.
I plead with you, in the love of Christ: return to the Lord’s simple call. Set aside divisive speculation. Fix your eyes again on Jesus, and let your teaching, your life, and your ministry exalt Him alone.
With sorrow and hope,
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