What is Orthodoxy?
Oct. 4 2007
What is the “orthodoxy” in our “humble orthodoxy” anyway? What do we mean when we say “orthodoxy?” It’s a question that we often explore in parts on the Na blog, but this week we wanted to pause and define the most essential of the essentials.
Mark Dever answered this question recently in his message on doctrinal discernment last May at New Attitude. We really like his answer. In fact we like it so much that we’re rewinding to let it sink in.
This is one post you don’t want to skip.
__________
“What must we agree upon? What are the basics, what are the essentials?”
Now this is a dangerous question. And we have to proceed very carefully here, because if you take this wrong, this question can sound a little like the teenager in the youth group asking, “How far can I go? What’s the least I have to believe and still be considered a Christian? What can I get away with?” Friends, that is not the spirit in which I’m posing this question. You want to pursue truth in every single matter about which God has revealed Himself in His word. If He’s gone to the trouble of revealing Himself, you should care as a Christian, you should want to understand it, so that you can know more about who this God is that you’re worshiping.
Christian fellowship though can only be had with those who share the Christian faith. In Acts chapter 2, Luke describes the fellowship between those first Christians right after Pentecost and he says in verse 42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship.”
If we’re going to have Christian fellowship with one another, you must have the same understanding of the basic truths that are taught in God’s word.
Part of what we need for doctrinal discernment is to understand what must be agreed upon and how serious errors are. Because you know not all errors are created equal--they’re not all the same. We need to understand the significance of the doctrine that is in question.
For example, some organs in your body are more important than other organs. I mean you can do without your appendix; you can do without a wisdom tooth. You can’t do without your heart. So you need to understand that some doctrines can go awry and a person can continue to serve as a very fruitful Christian. It doesn’t mean it’s ok but it means God will deal with that person, that is up to Him. Other doctrines however, if they go awry, mean that there’s a problem at the very heart of that person’s claim to be a Christian.
So, how do we learn what we must agree upon?
Three ways we learn what we must agree upon:
_Through our Bible
_Through our church
_Through our conscience
Let me consider each one of these briefly.
For one, the Bible: We learn the truth fundamentally, supremely, finally and mostly through the Bible. This is God’s word written. So study your Bible. Get to know God’s word well. Always be growing in your understanding of it. We love the Lord and because we love the Lord, we love the Lord’s word. We must give ourselves to know it, to meditate on it, to appreciate the great gift that God has given us in His word.
Second, the church: God does not intend us to be earthly orphans—self-taught, self-regulating, self-centered. God has called us to be in local churches that teach the Bible well, and accurately, and that are full of people whose lives show the fruit of faith in God and of the work of His Spirit. We should submit ourselves to them and their teaching.
Christians together in our churches should have a clear grasp on what the Gospel is that saved them. Paul assumes this in Galatians 1:8-9 that these young Christians, the Galatians, could sit in judgment over him, an apostle, if he comes and teaches a different message.
So friends, there is a simplicity and a clarity to the Gospel itself that every true Christian knows. It’s the duty of the Christian church, and particularly the elders of that church, to define what we must agree upon to be a Christian and to be a member of that congregation in particular. Pray for your elders, submit to them, thank God for them and their ministry.
Third, we also learn through our conscience: Now each of us has a conscience. But because of the fall, our conscience has been radically harmed. This important part of God’s moral image is not lost, but it’s not all right. It’s not been eliminated, but it’s not always accurate.
We all have an inherent sense of right and wrong, but the conscience is inherent, not inerrant. You cannot assume that your own conscience always tells you the truth. And so you need your conscience to be educated, we need our consciences to be trained and taught according to God’s word.
So, let me suggest a fourfold test you can put on a doctrine to see if it is of great importance and see how important it is to understand and seek agreement on. Very simple:
A Fourfold Test for Doctrine
1. How clear is it in Scripture?
2. How clear do others think it is in Scripture? (Especially those that you respect as teachers of God’s word and trust.)
3. How near is it to the Gospel? (Or how near are its implications to the gospel itself?)
4. What would the affects be doctrinally and practically if we allowed disagreement in this area?
Now friends, one of the best words for Christians is the word “evangelical.” An evangelical is one who is defined by a certain specific news, Good News. That’s what the “evangel” means, the “ev” is good, and the “angel” is news – “evangel” is “Good News.” That’s what we are as people.
Jesus was all about news. That’s why he warned people about false prophets, people would give false reports. He said in John 8:24 that correct belief in his identity was necessary for someone, otherwise they would die in their sins. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 shows what we should stand for--what is of first importance.
Do you feel uncomfortable prioritizing some truths above other truths? Paul didn’t. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the first four verses:
Now brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand, by this Gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you, otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I have received, I passed on to you, as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve.
Do you see how it’s centered on Christ, in particularly on His death for us and His resurrection? Are you clear in your understanding of what things you must believe in order to be a Christian? “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,” Paul says in Romans 10, “and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul urged the Romans specifically to keep to the teaching that they’d already received. He told the Galatians, “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach other than the one we’ve preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.”
Paul referred to the truths of the faith, and he encouraged Timothy to devote himself to teaching. He warned in 1 Timothy 6 that if anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to Godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. That’s why heresies become destructive because knowing and believing the truth is necessary for our salvation.
In fact, the apostle John taught that we are from God and whoever knows God listens to us. But whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Now remember as he said in 2 John 7:
“Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world, any such person is the deceiver and the anti-Christ. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching has both the father and the son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not bring him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him, shares in his wicked work.”
In the letter to the church of Pergamum, the Lord Jesus himself in Revelations 2 and talks about a particular teaching, a teaching of the Nicolaitans, that he hated.
In all of this you see that doctrine is important. You can’t simply dismiss it and say, “Well that’s for other people.” No. Brothers and sisters, in fact it seems here that godlessness and falsehood often go together.
We Christians are those whose understandings are shaped by the good news of Jesus Christ and so are our lives. That’s why Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, “You must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral, or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, or drunkard, or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” And Peter quotes the book of Leviticus, saying, “Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy.’”
Now, I would say we must agree upon three things in order to be effectively putting our trust in God to be saved. So here I’m down to the essential of the essentials.
Ready?
God. The Bible. Revelation.
God
We have to believe in the one true God. We have to believe that God is one, and that he is Triune: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have to believe that He is uncreated, that He is self-existing, that He is not dependent upon anyone else. And we must believe that He is morally perfect, that He is characterized by holiness and by love, that He is by His own will our Sovereign Creator and our Lord and our Judge. He is the one that we’re called to believe in.
As the Lord says to His people in Isaiah 53, “You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me. And understand that I am He. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.”
There are theologians today that talk about “anonymous Christians” and how even atheists can truly be trusting in God. Well, that’s not true according to the Bible. According to the Bible, you have to believe in God.
In Acts 15 we read of the Phillipian jailer’s family who rejoiced because they’d come to believe in God. We read in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists.
Now, believing in God is essential but it’s even more than that. James tells us that even the demons believe in God, and shudder. So this belief that saves us transforms us increasingly into a reflection of God’s character. That’s the kind of belief that the Bible tells us about.
So John writes, “Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows Gods. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. So you must know God.”
You must believe in God.
The Bible
The Bible is how we know the truth about God.
If you’re talking to a friend who’s not a Christian and you tell them about God, who knows what they’re thinking of when you say “God.” In all goodwill and sincerity they could be thinking of something very very different than what you’re thinking about. So how do you know what God is like?
Well friends because He’s spoken, because He has revealed Himself. We know about God because of the scriptures—they are God’s revelation of Himself. And therefore they have authority in our lives and in our teaching. (That’s why the church you want to go to is a church that practices expositional preaching—a church that is regularly bringing up passages of God’s word and teaching you what God’s word means.)
The Bible is how we know the truth about God and what he calls us to be. 1 John 4:6 says “We are from God and whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” And this seems to be what Jesus taught in John 10, where he said the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd, they recognize it and follow it. Thus Paul could command the Thessalonian Christians to follow his instructions and to ostracize those who didn’t.
So God, the Bible, and then third, we must believe the gospel.
The Gospel
We must agree on the gospel—the good news.
The “good news” is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God became incarnate—he took on flesh. As Paul said to the Colossians “In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form.” And not only do we confess Christ’s incarnation but also His substitutionary death on the cross, and his bodily resurrection and His return in power and great glory.
Again let’s go back to that summary Paul gave in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. You know, if you read 1 Corinthians you find that for fourteen chapters Paul had been instructing the Corinthians about all kind of divisions they were having, and correcting them for dividing on all the wrong issues. They kept dividing and dividing and dividing… But now here finally toward the end of his letter Paul is saying, “Here is what you should stand for. Here is what you should contend for. Not who your teacher is not whether or not you’re eating meat sacrificed to idols, not whether or not you have this or that belief on this or that secondary matter. But this is what you should contend for:”
”Now brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand, by this Gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you, otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I have received, I passed on to you, as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve.”
Now you see here these facts are associated with the gospel: Christ has died for our sins. Christ was buried. Christ was raised. There it is. There’s the gospel. You see how clear Paul is on the centrality of the cross.
Friends, if you center your own understanding of Christianity and especially of the gospel on the cross, you’ll find that will promote fellowship with others. Why? Because you’ll find others who are also centered on the cross even if you have some disagreements with them over “here” or “here” or “here.” You see you have the same center so you have the same fundamental joy in your understanding of how God has come to forgive you of your sins. So this centrality of the cross is clear in the gospel—that Christ died for us. And this is what we have in common.
Friends, we’re justified only by trusting in Jesus. Someone who does not believe the gospel that I’ve been talking about very clearly for the last five minutes is not a Christian. Let me say that again. If you get more help in discernment out of this talk than this sentence, you must have this. This is the basis for all true Christian discernment.
Here’s the sentence: Someone who does not believe this gospel is not a Christian.
That doesn’t mean they can’t be a friendly person or that you can’t love them very much or that they can’t contribute a lot great things to your life, but they’re not a Christian. A Christian, most fundamentally, is someone who believes this gospel, who is trusting Christ alone for their salvation. Even people who call themselves Christians who are sitting in churches all around this country who call themselves evangelicals are not Christians if they don’t believe this gospel. Calling yourself something doesn’t make you that.
Jesus taught that in the gospels when he said that these wolves would appear in sheep’s clothing. We have to have discernment. If we would follow Jesus, Jesus taught us that we have to know that some people that would come to us and look like sheep were in fact wolves.
And how do we know the difference? Well friends fundamentally it’s by the gospel. Get to know the gospel well. Practice sharing the gospel with your friends, with your Christian friends, even better with your non-Christian friends. Practice sharing this good news, the good news that God has used to restructure your life, to change you entirely, to use Jesus’ radical image to give you a new birth, a new life. Share this good news with others.
So God, the Bible, the gospel.
Those are the things that we must agree upon to have meaningful cooperation as Christians. True Christian fellowship cannot be had with someone who disagrees with us on these matters. These are the essential of the essentials.
_________
Mark Dever is senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist church and a regular speaker at New Attitude. This material is taken from his message Discern your Doctrine given at the Na 2007 conference.