“Doctrine is Important, But …”
“Doctrine is Important, But …”
In a culture that looks with skepticism about any claims of truth, it is not surprising that even in some Bible-believing churches there is little promotion of the need for doctrine. The sentiment in many places seems to be, “Doctrine is important but …”
I heard a good sermon once where the preacher made that very comment, “Doctrine is important but …” He never explained why it was important but quickly moved on. Later he told a story about his own growing rage at another driver. In frustration, he wanted to stop his car, get out, and verbally, if not physically, pound the guy. His candor was appreciated. But he kept his cool, stayed in his car, and drove on.
I asked myself, “How did he know to move on?” He applied so many positive aspects of Christian conduct: love your enemy (Matthew 5:44), be angry and do not sin (Ephesians 4:26), say “no” to ungodliness (Titus 2:12), get rid of bitterness and rage (Colossians 3:8), treat others the way you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12) and more. All of these are Bible doctrines. Although he said earlier, “Doctrine is important but …” there was no “but” about the need for it in that situation. The application of Bible doctrine saved the day, not to mention possibly a fight or jail time!
Part of the bugaboo is the complexities of language. Language changes and words take on different nuances, and sometimes totally different meanings. Many get the impression that doctrine is basically what churches and Christians fight about. As long as Christians still sin, and our doctrine says we will, some of that will show up in misguided contentiousness.
However, we should not allow that to deter us from understanding what doctrine is. Nor should we minimize the importance of intentionally presenting doctrinal studies in the work of the church. That said, we need to be more precise in how we talk about it. For years I have mirrored what I was taught about several New Testament letters, that the first part of them is about doctrine, whereas the last part is about how we live. For example, I have taught that the first eleven chapters of Romans are about doctrine, what we believe, whereas the last five chapters are about life, how we live out Christ’s teaching.
I now believe that dichotomy is a misnomer. The foundations of our faith (what we know intellectually), and the practical application of that understanding in life (what we do) are both Bible doctrine. For example, without the Bible defining love, people can twist its meaning to engage in unspeakable sin. On the other hand, to understand biblical love and then choose not to act on it is also sinful. We need both understanding and application.
So, what is doctrine as it relates to Christianity? In translation work, there has been a shift relative to using the word doctrine. Whereas the KJV uses it 51 times and the NKJV 37, newer versions have shied away from it. Representative examples are the NASV using it only 10 times, the ESV 11, the NET just once, and the NLT not at all1. This coincides with what Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary indicates2. Doctrine, which was once commonly understood to mean teaching or instruction, is now considered an archaic use of the term. That is why the newer versions have moved away from the word doctrine and replaced it with the words teaching or instruction.
The key biblical Greek words once predominantly translated as doctrine (didaskalia, didache) are defined as follows in BDAG3: Didaskalia means “1. the act of teaching, teaching, instruction; 2. that which is taught, teaching, instruction.” Didache means “1. the activity of teaching, teaching, instruction; 2. the content of teaching, teaching.”
If we hang on to the archaic meaning of doctrine, we really need it. However, the word doctrine may carry an unwanted connotation to contemporary audiences of “what Christians fight about.” So, if we use the word, we should define it to mean “the teaching and instruction of Christ.”
A prudent move may be to simply use the words teaching and instruction referring to that body of biblical knowledge that defines and directs our understanding and application of the faith. The teaching and instruction of Christ, directly from his lips or through his inspired writers is of paramount importance. Do we need an intentional and sustained focus on it in our churches? We will discuss that in our next blog so stay tuned.
Notes:
1KJV (King James Version); NKJV (New King James Version); NASV (New American Standard Version); ESV (English Standard Version); NET (New English Translation); NLT (New Living Translation).
2Merriam-Webster Unabridged. https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/
3A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Third edition. Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker. The University of Chicago Press.