In Acts 10, you can read the account of Peter’s vision of a sheet being lowered down with all kinds of animals and God commanding him to take and eat. Acts 1o is the definitive moment in Acts where God corrects the understanding of the early church and commands them to go to the Gentiles. Acts 10 culminates with Peter going to the house of Cornelius, proclaiming the gospel, and the Holy Spirit moving among Cornelius’s household.
If we aren’t careful, the only change we see in Acts 10 is the change experienced by Cornelius and his people from death to life. But, it isn’t only the members of Cornelius’s household who change. Peter is changed in this chapter. Peter is moved from Jewish/Christian bigot to inclusive evangelist. Peter moved from seeing Gentiles as unclean enemies to viewing them as image-bearers of God who needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is a good chance that Peter’s shift was not met with celebration by all who knew Peter. In fact, there were Jewish Christians with Peter who were “amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out, even on the Gentiles.”
Peter’s shift toward greater devotion to the Lord and obedience to his word ran counter to Peter’s upbringing and his culture. Peter may have been ridiculed or even ostracized. Perhaps there were those in Peter’s family or his circle of friends who accused him of being a liberal or who asked questions like, “If we start with allowing them into the church, what comes next, our children marrying them?”
Had Peter stepped onto a slippery slope?
The “slippery slope” objection comes often when we wrestle with a new understanding or interpretation of Scripture. The warning might go like this, “If we begin to believe “X”, then “Y” is sure to follow.” Consider some that I have heard in the past:
- If you believe in predestination and election, then you will stop caring about evangelism.
- If you believe in free-will then you can’t believe in God’s sovereignty.
- If you allow alcohol, then you celebrate drunkenness.
Slippery slope arguments have merit in some areas of life–think abuse of prescription drugs or the use of elicit drugs or pushing the line of intimacy in non-marital relationships. But, when it comes to biblical faithfulness, the Bible has no slippery slopes.
When a person is seeking to be faithful to the Word of God, they are not in danger of sliding down a slippery slope. When Peter changed his mind about the Gentiles, he was not suddenly in danger of watering down the gospel message, as some would have accused him. Peter gained a deeper understanding of God’s word. Peter grew in intimacy with Christ. Peter grew in obedience to God’s commands.
There is a signifiant difference between seeking to understand God’s word and seeking to undermine God’s word. Undermining God’s word is dangerous. Understanding God’s word is life-giving and powerful. As you grow in your understanding of God’s word, you may change your views on certain important doctrines (the end times, or the process of salvation, or the rapture, or the role of covenant).
A person reading Paul’s words in Timothy related to a “one-woman man” and wrestling with whether Paul meant that a deacon must be married, or couldn’t be divorced, or must be a faithful man at this particular time is a wonderful effort. If a faithful reader of Scripture digs into that passage and comes out with a new understanding, they aren’t on a slippery slope.
If on the other hand, a person is reading Paul’s words about homosexuality and decides that Paul is wrong or that Paul should have chosen different language, that person is not wrestling with the truths of God’s word, but is instead seeking to subvert God’s word. This is a slippery slope and one that can quickly lead to destruction.
There is a difference between trying to stand firm on the Word of God and trying to move beyond the Word of God. But, a willingness on the part of a Christian to change their view in order to better conform to the realities of God’s word is godly. Christians must live with the kind of humility that leads them to be willing to change and shift their life to be more conformed to Christ.
Slippery slope objections are easy, but they do no always promote humility. If you, or your brother or sister in Christ, is trying to better understand what Paul meant with a particular verb construction, or is wrestling with the exact meaning of “blessed” in Psalm one, you are not on a slippery slope. You are digging deeper into the foundation that is the Word of God. As you dig in, you may be challenged to change. You may be challenged to admit that you do not know everything and you should be molded by the Word. You might get called a liberal or a fundamentalist. That is OK. Just make sure that more than anything else, the world calls you a follower of Jesus and a lover of his Word.
There are no slippery slopes in the Bible.
Photo by Caleb Ralston on Unsplash
