Why Read the Bible: To Understand Living the Christian Faith Requires Accountability

If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

–2 Corinthians 2.5.-11 (NIV)

In the west, and especially in the USA, I think there is a mistaken tendency by some to view living the Christian life as primarily an individual effort. That, however, does not live up to the biblical standard of faithful Christian living. As we can see clearly in today’s passage, when we give our lives to Jesus we are expected to live our lives together so that there can be mutual accountability between Christians.

Accountability doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? It conjures up images of nosy neighbors and people prying into our lives, looking over our shoulders, and waiting for us to slip up so they can scold us. That is not Christian accountability, however. Real mutual accountability consists of when we behave in ways that demonstrate our concern for each other. It is motivated primarily by love and the need for accountability stems from the sad fact that we humans are prone to stray from the truth and get it wrong as much as we get it right. Real Christian accountability will always seek to assess behavior based on Christ’s truth as revealed in Scripture (yet another reason to read your Bible regularly). We have to love someone enough to be able to tell them when thy go astray so that hopefully the offender will mend his or her ways and return to living according to God’s standards and truth. Only then can we be confident that he or she is living in the light.

We see this illustrated clearly in the passage above. We don’t know if the individual to whom Paul refers is the dude from 1 Corinthians 5 or if he is someone Paul had to deal with during his “painful visit” to the Corinthians, but it really doesn’t matter. What matters is what Paul tells us regarding discipline and accountability. Clearly the offender, whoever he was, has repented of his unacceptable behavior and here we see Paul reminding the Church to restore him and stop punishing him. You see, punishment for the Christian should never be about exacting revenge or seeking to hurt the offender. It is all about restoration because it is driven by love, not malice.

This takes some doing on our part because love, mercy, and forgiveness don’t come naturally to us and so mutual accountability is hard to practice. We don’t like to hurt others’ feelings nor do we like it when people call us on our unacceptable behavior and ask us to stop engaging in it. But if we really love each other, then we must be willing to hold each other accountable. As Paul reminds us, if we don’t, we also give Satan a toehold within the Church and that is never a good thing. How so? Refusing to hold each other accountable means that we think it is OK to condone wrong or harmful behavior. It can also lead to rumor mongering and innuendos of all kinds if the offender is not directly confronted by the offended because we start triangulating others to help us solve our disputes and problems. This, in turn, provides Satan with an opportunity to further exacerbate an already bad problem.

When we give our lives to Jesus we must also be willing to give our lives to each other, especially fellow believers in our own congregations so that we can help hold each other accountable. As long as we have the requisite humility and Christian love, mutual accountability can be a wonderful thing. It reminds us that we are loved and can count on someone else to help us in our faith journey and its accompanying struggles. When I was a young man headed off to college, I wanted nothing more than to get away from my home town so that people wouldn’t have their noses in my business. After a couple of years living in an urban environment basically alone and in isolation, I gradually came to realize that having someone to love me enough to hold me accountable wasn’t such a bad thing after all. It sure beat living alone and having nobody care if I lived or died. And this love–Christ’s love manifested in part through his body–is exactly what the Church can offer us.

In a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented, this can be a welcome blessing in our lives. Will we always get it right? Everybody knows that answer. But just because we are imperfect does not make the idea of mutual accountability a bad thing.

At its best when we humbly submit to God’s Holy Spirit and seek to obey his will, we can have the further assurance that he will provide us with the necessary means of grace to help us live our lives as Christians. Mutual accountability is one of those blessings–yes, I said blessings–and we can thank God and our fellow believers that they love us enough to want the best for us. Not “best” as we define it, but rather best as God defines it. That’s a challenge. But living in obedience to God’s will inevitably bring us joy, meaning, and purpose in our lives, and that is nothing to sneeze at.

So if you have not yet given your life to Jesus, go ahead. Try it. Don’t wait to find out the hard way like I did that living your life together is much more desirable than living your life alone and in isolation. When you become part of  Christ’s body, the Church, you will soon learn that you are never alone and you will never have to worry about or wonder if anyone really cares about you or remembers who you are. Not only will you have your fellow believers to love on you (and be loved by you), you will also realize by God’s grace that they are tangible reminders of the wondrous and mind-blowing love that Jesus himself has for you.