| Status of Topics Touching the Message of Salvation | | Scientific (Retroductive) Method and Human Reason | | Scientific Method and the Interpretation of Language | | Theological Method | | Theology and Hermeneutics | | Theological Method and False Doctrine | | Hierarchy of Bible Doctrines | | The Top of the Pyramid | | The Second Tier | | Ecumenism and Tribalism |
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Theology and Doctrine
by
Ronald R. Shea, Th.M., J.D.
A HEIRARCHY OF BIBLE DOCTRINES
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THE FAILURE TO PRIORITIZE DOCTRINE
Many Christians have a solid grasp of Bible doctrine, and yet, nevertheless, their ministry appears like a train wreck.
Consider, for example, the "North/South Galatian debate." Some Christians who have studied the Scriptures believe that the letter to the Galatians was written to a church in North Galatia. Others believe it was written to a church in South Galatia. Very scholarly arguments have been advanced in support of each of these theories. And there is nothing wrong with this. We are created in the image of God, with an ability to reason. An exercise of the gift of reasoning is a blessing and a pleasure. It is to exercise this ability to critically weight ideas that a seminary professor may assign a student to write a term paper on the North/South Galatia theory.
1. The most obvious danger in failing to prioritize doctrine is that believers, and whole churches can become feckless, misguided and eneffectual.
Imagine, for example, that after doing research on the subject and concluding that the North Galatia theory is the strongest theory, a young Bible College student, clear on doctrine, but unable to prioritize doctrine, is soon seen in the halls of his local church trying to 'illuminate' believers who appear unaware of this controversy. Imagine that another Bible College student student attends the same church, and the year before, in his term paper, he concluded the "South Galatia" theory was the strongest. Ego kicks in. And, after each has invested 20-30 hours of research into his paper, neither is willing to acknowledge that his conclusions may be wrong. And imagine that a "war" begins to take place in the church over the North/South Galatian theory. Each beging trying to convert church members to his position, as if the other position were great heresy!
(If you think this example is ridiculous, you have not been around church long enough.)
On a scale of one to ten, some doctrines are a ten, and others are a one. Some doctrines are so critical that error jepordizes the eternal life of one embracing such false doctrine. Some are so minor that they should amount to nothing more than an intellectual exchange at the local coffee house. Most fall somewhere in between.
The North/South Galatia controversy has been deliberately chosen to illustrate this point. Not all doctrines or truths are of equal importance. The frequency and urgency with which doctrine is taught and defended should be proportional to the its relative importance in the broad scale of Christian doctrine. Sadly, many doctrinally sound Christians have their doctrines 99% correct, but they have their priorities upside down. They are inable to meaningfully weigh the intrinsic importance of various Bible doctrines. As a result, amount of their tithe, time, gifts, and energies are disproportionately devoted in greater part to second, third, fourth, or fifth tier doctrines. |
THE CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO PRIORITIZE
2. A related but broader consequence is the failure of the church to meaningfully impact the world for Christ. We live in a mobile society. Many believers will stay at a church for six months, a year, or two years before moving to another geographic location, or simply changing churches out of preference. In formulating a program of Christian education, a church should ask itself, 'If someone told us he was a new convert living here for a one year contract job, what would be try to impart to him in that year? Let's get ten mature believers, make a list of every doctrine and topic they can think of, get in a conference room togehter, and arrange these in a pyramid, estaimating how much time we could devote to each. What would we teach? What would we decide to leave out?
We have all know people who claim to have been attending evangelical churches for many years. At their first church, they jointed a Bible study using a book called "How to Live Like a King's Kid." In their next church, they joined a home Bible study reading a book called "Why Men are Wild at Heart." In their third church, they were instructed in the finer arts of how to wag their tongues within their mouths to make a variety of uncontrolled sounds, and lead to believe that this practice is among the high callings of Scripture. In all this time, our intreped warrior has learned nothing of Christ crucified, of the centrality of Scritpuure, or a host of other vital Christian doctrines.
If churches cannot prioritize doctrine, they cannot establish a Christian education program that meaningfully addresses the realities of modern society.
In addition to crippling the effectiveness of churches and individual believers, failure to prioritize doctrine can actually cultivate false doctrine. The inability to prioritize doctinre results in relatively minor doctrinal errors eating up major doctrinal truths.
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Hierarchy of Bible Doctrines |
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