Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16)
In Christendom, there has always been a tension between the importance of ‘orthopraxy’ (life) and ‘orthodoxy (doctrine/teaching). One of Christianity’s most central doctrines is that our righteous status before God is the result of Jesus’ selfless sacrifice on the cross and his subsequent resurrection. It cannot be obtained through our good life. The righteousness we have is the righteousness of Christ credited to our account and received by faith. What an incredible gift God has given to us! He now makes His home in us by His Holy Spirit to transform us from the inside out so that we are more Christlike everyday in the manner in which we conduct our lives. Our beliefs and practice are intended to work in harmony with one another.
However, my observation is that we have a tendency to place a premium on one’s doctrine over one’s lifestyle. For instance, if we find that someone’s life is not lining up with the fruit of the Spirit, we are more likely to excuse it by saying, “We’re all human after all”, provided they subscribe to the same doctrinal beliefs as us. Contrast this with a lovely, humble, well-respected man of God I know who has a high view of Scripture, whose faith was called into question just simply because he believes that women should not be barred from exercising leadership and preaching in the church.
I know Christians who are critical of anything they disagree with but think nothing of their behaviour because they believe they are being truthful. Let’s suppose that’s the case but in John 1:14, we discover that Jesus was full of grace and truth. One of the implications of this is when Jesus spoke the truth, he never lacked grace and when he showed grace, he never compromised truth. Unfortunately, as one Christian leader observes, our default seems to be toward either truth or grace, rather than truth and grace. In the pursuit of truth, we don’t need to be graceless and in the pursuit of grace, we don’t need to be wishy-washy either.
On any given subject, all of us have a view and an opinion. One of the precious gifts embedded in me from my culture is, just because you have an opinion, doesn’t mean you need to give it. There are times the loving thing to do is to keep these opinions to yourself. Proverbs 18:2 says, “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions”. If we need to share, then we are charged to speak the truth in love. As a writer (Wax) puts it succinctly, “Theological precision is vitally important, but never at the expense of failing to love our neighbours and never as an excuse for sin”.
We need to take seriously Paul’s caution to young Timothy, to watch our lives and doctrine, our practice and beliefs more closely. We are to be faithful to both historical Christian orthodox beliefs and to live a life bearing the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit.
Christ in us the hope of glory
Mark
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