By C. D. Plum
“Faith is that which comes by hearing the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
“Opinion is what men think when the Word of God has not spoken.”
That God appeared to Moses in a burning bush is a matter of faith. It is written. (Ex. 3: 12). Why God appeared to Moses in a burning bush is a matter of opinion. Because the reason is not written. That Nicodemus came to Jesus by night is a matter of faith. It is written (Jno. 3:1-2). Why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night is a matter of opinion. Because the reason is not written.
Opinions Divide Brethren
It is some brethrens opinion that the church treasury may be used to support any good work. They say the college is a good work, so the money in the church treasury may be used to support such. This is an opinion. This is what men think when the Word of God does not speak. They lack scripture that would make such a statement a matter of faith. They may give you a reference to Galatians 6: 10, but they know when they do it that this scripture is describing individual action, and not church action. They give their opinion that what the individual can do, the church can do. It would be a matter of faith for me to support a widowed mother, but it would not be a matter of faith for the church to support my widowed mother. Here is individual action on my part that is right, but the same action on the churchs part would be sin. It is written, “Let not the church be charged” (I Tim. 5:16).
And some brethren will allow opinions to tear the church to pieces. No one that I know of denies brethren the right to have and to hold an opinion, to keep it to themselves. But when they go to teaching this publicly, or from person to person, that is a horse of a different color, and such will stir up a lot of balking and kicking. And the fellow that gets hurt is not always the opinion peddler, but the fellow who wants to “walk by faith” (2 Co. 5:7) and not by opinion. Persecution came to Jesus, and to the apostles, but they continued to walk by faith, and not by sight, or by opinion. I am not so good, or so little, that I shall accept error in order to get somebody off my back. I can still “fight the good fight of Faith.” And I am not ready or intending to surrender to error.
TRUTH MAGAZINE, XVI: 36, p. 13
July 20, 1972