How should we handle differing opinions within a Bible study group?

My husband and I partake in a Bible study on Sundays with my niece and her husband. Lately, they have been sharing insights such as that the law doesn’t apply to those who put their faith in Christ, that the Lord’s Prayer is not for the current day, fasting is not necessary, that the gospel is simply about loving people, and ongoing repentance is not necessary. And in fact, my husband and I do not agree with any of this. How can we approach this? We have been in prayer for discernment at how to have a fruitful conversation with them about this, also that Jesus lives within us. This sounds like red flags. How do you deal with this?

The idea is just fine that Jesus lives within believers, but it needs to be understood properly. This sounds like it could be a weird form of hyper-dispensationalism. I do believe that the Bible teaches that there is a distinction between the church and Israel, but there are people who make these distinctions far beyond what the Bible teaches. I’ll give you an example. There are people who think that the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t apply to believers. They argue that the Sermon on the Mount was given only to Jewish people under the Old Covenant. I don’t agree with that. I think that the Sermon on the Mount is pretty much Jesus’ manifesto of the kingdom, telling us how God wants us to live in His kingdom.

These people may start excluding parts of the Bible, with the exception of certain passages where the Bible clearly tells us things have been fulfilled. For example, the Bible does teach that under the Old Covenant, the Jewish people were not to eat certain things such as pork and shellfish. That meant no bacon and no lobster under the terms of the Old Covenant. Undisputedly, the Bible specifically tells us in the New Testament that those dietary laws are abolished under the New Covenant. They’re gone. We don’t have to guess about that.

However, the commandment, “Do not commit adultery,” is affirmed in the New Testament and by the New Covenant. It is not abolished one bit. There are certain aspects of the ceremonial law, under the Old Covenant in the Old Testament, that are abolished. But for the most part, the moral law of the Old Testament remains binding upon believers under the New Covenant. It’s not the source of their justification before God, nor is it the ground of their approval before God. But it’s real.

We are commanded to not lie, to be honest, to love our neighbor, to tell the truth, to not commit sexual immorality, to not murder. Many aspects of the Old Covenant were very specifically continued on and repeated in the New Covenant.

Now, how do you talk to these friends at your Bible study? I agree, It’s difficult. If this is a friendship that should just be broken off, then it’s easy enough to do it. You just eliminate it. You break off the friendship. But maybe this is a case where you’d like to keep a relationship with these people. If that’s the case, then this is what I would suggest you do. I’m not claiming any particular wisdom from the Lord on this. I’m just trying to apply some practical wisdom to this. I would recommend that you simply and clearly say, “We disagree with you on these things, and we disagree with you pretty strongly. We’d like to remain your friends, but this issue is not something that we agree with.”