Nicolaus,Steve,
I have a question about authority. Ultimately, if members of the church you go to, or even my church, have A disagreement, they go to the head pastor for the final decision. I guess you could call that decision binding. So then wouldn’t the ultimate authority of any protestant church be its head pastor? Just like the Catholics go to their priest, but really ultimately the pope for their final answer?
And then what obviously has happened in Protestant churches over the years, is once certain members don't like the pastors answer they either start their own church or go to a different church that agrees with them. Or a different church that agrees with their interpretation. So ultimately don't you need a Final earthly authority figure to avoid chaos? Like what has happened with the 30,000 or so Protestant churches since the reformation?
Nicolaus
My church does not have a head pastor—and neither did the churches in the New Testament. They had groups of men called elders, who served as teachers, but their opinions were not regarded as "final." Only Christ’s words were final. He is the Head of the church.
The Bible says that the ultimate teacher of every Christian is the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27). Teachers do what they can to make things clear, but they are not infallible. If your Protestant pastor requires everyone to agree with him, I would recommend finding a church where the leadership does not behave like cult leaders.
Steve
Nicolaus,Steve,
Yes but wouldn't that be contradictory to what Jesus said....if there's a dispute and it can't be resolved among the few men, take it to the church. And if they don't agree with the churches decision you cast them out and treat them like pagans or tax collectors. This sounds like a binding decision. If you don't agree you're cast out.
Nicolaus
"The church" is the congregation, or the community of Christians. It is not synonymous with a particular leader in the group. If there was a big boss in the group who could make such decisions on his own, then there would not be any need to take the matter before the whole church. Why bother so many people about it? The leader could simply be approached privately so that he could issue an edict. We know of only one church in the New Testament that had a cultic leader like that, “who loves to have the preeminence” (3 John 9). This was a bad situation.
In the passage to which you refer (Matt.18:15-17), the matters that are to be taken before the church are not theological differences between members. Jesus' instructions are addressed to a case wherein "your brother sins against you" (Matt.18:15). If a man has an interpretation of scripture different from mine, how is he sinning against me? Does he owe it to me to agree with me? I don't think so.
You wrote:
"Ultimately, if members of the church you go to, or even my church, have a disagreement, they go to the head pastor for the final decision. I guess you could call that decision binding...Once certain members don't like the pastor’s answer they either start their own church or go to a different church that agrees with them. Or a different church that agrees with their interpretation."
I would not attend such a church as you describe, where the "head pastor" makes all the decisions to settle disputes. Who authorized him to be the big boss? Certainly not God (see Matt.20:25-27). And if the church does run this way, and people cannot abide by his decisions, what better thing is left for people of conscience to do than to start or find a group that lacks such dictatorial leadership? If a pastor insists on being the brains of the whole operation, then he has made himself the "head" of the church. If so, that organization is not Christ's church, where He alone is the "Head" (Eph.1:22-23).
I think you are assuming that Christians all have an obligation to see everything the same way. This is flatly denied in scripture (Rom.14:5). You may be seeing the church as an institution that is to be characterized by monolithic agreement. The Bible sees the church as a family. Families are not characterized by total homogeneity of opinions, but by unconditional love (John 13:35). In Christ's church, there are no bosses who teach everyone what they must think about everything (1 John 2:27). There are only brothers and sisters (Matt.23:8-11).
Blessings!
Steve