When does compromise become apostasy?

Revelation 2:18-29

​The church at Thyatira was a good solid church but had one serious problem. First, however, the Lord tells them that he knows all the positive things that they as a church are doing. He knows that they care deeply for one another and faithfully carry out the responsibilities of their faith. All is well except for that one thing –their tolerance for a “Jezebel” in the congregation. Like her Old Testament counterpart she was influencing some to compromise their commitment to God. You will remember that the Jezebel of former days had encouraged the Israelites into an idolatrous worship of the Canaanite god, Baal. The current Jezebel had influenced many in the group into adopting a tolerance for a cultish movement. They claimed to be teaching the “deeper things” of God, but John renames it the “deep things of Satan,” probably a satirical rendering of what the group considered to be a more profound understanding of the divine.  God will visit people like that with great affliction so the church is to hold fast to true doctrine they had been taught.
         So it appears that todays’ parallel with first century problem in Thyatira is religious compromise. That first-century church was being judged by Christ for their tolerance toward Jezebel and the doctrine and life style she was promoting. I think we’d all would agree that a certain amount of compromise is good in that it provides a way to live together with others who see life from a different viewpoint. The question is, “At what point does compromise become defection?” According to biblical standards many things are either right or wrong, but certain things fall in between and you have to let conscience direct you in the choice. Theologians call them adiaphora, “nonessentials.” The problem is that in this area human nature always seems to move us to the left. As is so often case, C. S. Lewis expresses this most cogently, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” And it appears that was exactly what was happening in Thyatira. An idea pops up and seems to be a bit different, but acceptable. Unwatched it can slowly become what the person with insight might have detected at first.
         I believe the answer for this sort of problem is not to be continuously suspicious, but to view every new suggestion with appropriate reserve. Progress is not made when we spend most of our time correcting deviance that could have been recognized as such. In the case of Thyatira what probably started out as a “different idea” ended up as a serious error.