The word ‘accountable’ is a secular buzzword that has crept into our churches.
But the bible only uses it when God’s people account to him. Not each other.
You only find person-to-person ‘accountability’ in Daniel 6:2, in the godless Babylonian regime, with its tyrannical hierarchies and systems.
The Hebrew word for ‘accountable’ is ‘taam’. It refers to a command structure, something that has no place in church.
Instead, the bible encourages sharing our successes and our failures, walking in the light, and confessing our sins to one another.
What’s the difference?
Everything.
If church accountability involves compulsion, hierarchies, systems and a command structure, you have the Babylonian version. Reject it.
But if it’s based on voluntary transparency, humility and mercy, with people submitting to each other, you’ve got the Jesus version.