Right Beliefs Versus Right Living?
In Christ's letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor (modern day
Turkey), we notice the importance the exalted Christ puts on right beliefs
(or doctrine) and right living. For example, He tells the church of
Ephesus that they got their doctrine right and refused to allow false
teaching to prosper, but that they had forgotten to love God ~ the one
of whom the doctrines speak (Rev. 2:1-7). Conversely, He alerts the
church at Thyatira to the fact that they had excelled in practically
outworking the faith, but were insufficiently knowledgeable and discerning
of it. The church suffered accordingly (Rev. 2:18-29). Clearly, then,
right belief and right living matters to Christ. His is a balance we
must always strive for. Christ's will for us is evidently that we grow
in both our knowledge of the faith (through Bible study and theological
instruction) and in its practical outworking (works of mercy and kindness
and evangelism and mission).
Right Doctrine
For some the very idea of doctrine leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Mental pictures of harsh, argumentative and divisive folk come to mind;
the type of folk who are nowhere to be seen when an expression of the
practical love of Christ is needed.
We need to distinguish, however, between the rejection of the doctrinaire
and the rejection of doctrine. Certainly we ought not to make the former
an excuse for the latter. It matters what we believe because as Christians
we follow the One who is 'the truth' (John 14:6). Doctrine ~ from the
Latin doctrina, a derivation of docere meaning 'to teach' ~ is merely
the word we use to capture what Scripture teaches about who Jesus is
and what He taught (John 5:39). Given the vital nature of this subject
matter, it is essential that our doctrine be orthodox (from the Greek
orthodoxia; ortho meaning 'right' and doxia 'belief' or 'praise'). If
what we believe is wrong, then we must ask God to lead us by His Spirit
into all truth (Jn. 16:13). Likewise, if our understanding is shallow.
Our doctrine matters, first, because of its subject matter. If God
has taken the trouble to reveal Himself to us in nature round about
us and in His Word (written and Living), then it is incumbent on us
to understand that revelation aright. To twist its data or to treat
it lightly is to fail to appreciate how lost we'd be without the light
we've received from God. God wants us to know the truth and to come
to Him.
Second, our beliefs or doctrine hold us fast in days of uncertainty.
The New Testament authors spoke so much of truth, precisely because
they were writing from a context of polytheism (many gods). Our day
is no better.
Third, believing aright is an important gauge of our loving faithfulness
to God. Indeed, in the OT we are told that the existence of false prophets
were a test of whether God's people love Him with all of their hearts
and their souls (Deut. 13:3).
Fourth, the better we grasp Christian doctrine the greater our usefulness
to Christ. Some need a mature understanding for leadership in the church,
but we all need it for explaining our Christian hope (1 Peter 3:15).
Indeed, our ineffectiveness in sharing and defending the faith and in
discerning error (Acts 17:11) is, in many cases, directly attributable
to the paucity of our understanding of Scripture.
Right Living
Attending to what we believe should never leave us careless about how
we live. Christianity certainly engages the head, but it does so that
the heart may be changed. While Christ was in need of no change of heart,
his life nevertheless stands as our abiding example. The prologue of
John's Gospel teaches us that He was as full of grace as he was of truth,
and as full of truth as he was of grace (Jn. 1:14). In other words,
He balanced perfectly the dual importance of Christian belief and grace.
To this day, His example is our ideal.
Right living is important, first, because it glorifies God. 'By this
my Father is glorified', said Jesus to His disciples, 'that you bear
much fruit and so prove to be my disciples' (Jn. 15:16). Right living
~ i.e. living as God intended (which is ultimately possible only in
relationship to Him) ~ demonstrates God's power in recreating fallen
sinners in the image of Christ.
Secondly, right living furthers the work of the church. While the world
is not looking for perfect Christians, it is looking for the changed
lives Christ promised. For the change is the evidence that Christ's
saving power is real.
Thirdly, right living is best for us. Our personal histories tell us
of the havoc of sin. When, through the power of Christ, we live as we
should, we come to realize more fully the blessedness of being a Christian.
In short, writes commentator J C Ryle, 'Christianity is eminently a
practical religion: sound doctrine is its root and foundation, but holy
living should always be its fruit.' Let's then seek, for all these reasons,
to live as much as we know, and then set about knowing and living some
more.
