No Doctrine But Love?
I just heard a song by Nichole Nordamen (I think that is how you spell her name). In this song, “Be Real,” she is talking about God being real to her. There is a line that caught me by surprise: “put away the doctrine and love a little bit more.” I must say I agree with her and yet totally am insulted by this statement.
I agree with this statement because here in America the church is very caught up in doctrinal debate while more of the culture slips into utter sin. My history prof. at the seminary was born in France and he says that there is no debate over Calvinism and election. That is funny because Calvin was French. Why? They don’t have the time or the money to do that. They are so busy trying to preach the gospel that they don’t have time to actually sit around the table and debate this. They know what the Gospel is and they are out sharing with people. To them, that is a secondary issue and not necessary to spreading the Gospel of the Glory of Jesus Christ. We need to remember our purpose as a church: to preach the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
But I am utterly insulted by that line in the song because it is the doctrines that makes God come alive. Through the doctrine do we know him and fall in love with him. It is through doctrine that we know that Christ bore the wrath of God in our place. It is the doctrines that tell us that Christ removed our unrighteousness and put in its place his own righteousness so that we might have eternal life. It is doctrine that tells us that we will be raised from the grave when Jesus comes back again. It is because I know that truth that I love Jesus. I know Jesus through the teachings, the doctrines, of the Holy Scriptures. But also, we would not have the correct gospel if it weren’t for the doctrines. Paul warned against false gospels in Galatians 1:8-9
that they would condemn a person to hell. What was wrong with the gospel in Galatia: a misunderstanding of the doctrine of justification. If we aren’t preaching the correct doctrine, we don’t have the right gospel. If we don’t have the right gospel, we are sending people to hell. It is very important to make sure we have right doctrines so that we might know the true Gospel.
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Let me say first that my response is no way an attempt to disrespect you. But I believe the doctrine we preach is, or at least should be, the Gospel itself. Every part of it works together to form “The Doctrine of Jesus Christ.” Anytime you read in scripture concerning the teachings of our Lord, it is singular. All doctrines of truth are a part of THE truth. Believing and acting according to those things are esstentially living THE faith. Every doctrine we believe or don’t believe is going to affect us in some way or another.
Getting these doctrines straight are a vital point in actually understand what the Gospel (or good news) is all about. Take an Arminian versus a Calvinist. Their understandings of Bible doctrine produces two different Gospels. Yes, they may both preach the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but even the Lord taught the importance of every single detail of God’s Word…down to the last jot and tittle.
Just a couple of quick thoughts.
That was one point I was trying to make. We need to get the doctrine right to make sure we have the Gospel right. Those are excellent thoughts.