Why Doctrine Matters

Titus 2:1, 15

February 26, 2006

 

There's an old dictum that has lingered in Christian circles for years: "Doctrine divides." This asserts that doctrine is dangerous to your relationships, so the best advice is to leave off doctrine, leave it out of conversations and life, and all will get along much better. One writer expressed the common sentiments regarding doctrine. "Theology seems often to the outsider just so much word-spinning, air-borne discourse which never touches down except disastrously" [Ian Ramsey quoted by David Wells, No Place for Truth, 97].

 

I must say that I don't totally disagree with the premise that doctrine divides, though I vigorously disagree with the implications the statement concludes and the way it has been used to promote doctrinal ignorance and aversion. Doctrine-good, sound, biblical doctrine-does divide. It divides the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, believers from unbelievers, uniting those of common confession in an enduring bond that transforms relationships.

 

It seems that hardly a week passes that we don't hear of a situation where doctrine divides. Our immediate reaction may be negative-that once again doctrine has split friends, families, and congregations. Yet I think this is a gross misperception. All doctrine does is reveal what was already present in the minds and hearts of the people involved. Sound doctrine exposes dangerous and damnable beliefs and practices. That's why it is so actively opposed. Without sound doctrine many will hold to a false assurance of Christian profession. Doctrine shakes the foundation of our lives, laying bare what our lives and faith is built upon. Unfortunately, some identify doctrine as sectarianism-simply the peculiar dogmas that make one religious group or denomination different from another. That skirts over the heart-and-soul of biblical doctrine. Doctrine is the clear formulation, explanation, and application of the Word of God that is "able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). This does result in divisions; that is inevitable. But this is nothing new. It is precisely what our Lord declared concerning His own ministry.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household (Matthew 10:3-36).


Do we shrink from such a picture? Jesus predicted that the good news would not be equally received by all. Some would be so offended by it that they would mount opposition against the gospel and those that cherish it. But what does this have to do with doctrine? Patrick Fairbairn explained this so clearly in the 19th century. "Christianity is primarily, indeed, a doctrine, but only that it may be in the true sense a life; and the two [doctrine and practice] can never be kept apart from each other in the public teaching of the church without imminent peril to both" [Geneva Series: 1 & 2 Timothy & Titus, 270].

 

A good dose of sound doctrine would do wonders for most churches, and for that matter, for most pastors! As we've noted in the past few studies of this text, and as Fairbairn points out, doctrine is foundational to one's understanding and practice of the Christian life. Experiential faith must be grounded in propositional truth or else it is merely sentimental fancy and not biblical faith. Since doctrine is foundational to practice, then doctrine is critical to the church's message and vitality. Neglecting doctrine affects everything we are called to be and to do as Christians. Diligence in understanding and discussing biblical doctrine is not the sport of the academy but the responsibility of the church. Just why does doctrine matter?

 

I. Doctrine identifies propositional truth

 

When we speak of doctrine we're only talking about the teaching of Scripture. The word translated "doctrine" in verse 1 is simply "teaching." The translation, "doctrine," (a word that comes from the Latin docere, to teach) helps us to understand that Paul was not talking about any kind of teaching but of a particular body of truth that he identified as "sound doctrine." The adjective implies that it is teaching that is healthy and vital rather than unhealthy, and thus detrimental to one's understanding and practice of the Christian faith.

 

Yet we must admit that doctrine has been downplayed in our generation as something that only stuffy, boring professors wrangle over. I remember hearing a well-known preacher say glowingly of another preacher, "He doesn't preach doctrine; he preaches Jesus!" But what this man should have known was that you cannot preach "Jesus" if you do not preach doctrine. Yes, that particular man preached "Jesus" and in so doing he preached doctrine! All that we understand of our Lord falls under the category of particular doctrines. You cannot speak of His deity or the Incarnation or His impeccability or His death and resurrection or His exaltation or His return without identifying particular doctrines that are essential to the Christian faith. Each doctrine involves a proposition, a statement that sums up a biblical truth. Yet all are not happy about doctrine!

 

1. Objections to doctrine

 

Christian doctrine faces opposition. We expect it from the world since our doctrine runs counter to the entire foundation and focus of the world. Unfortunately, we find doctrinal opposition from within-from professing Christians. Some, we admit with all kindness, oppose doctrine due to their own ignorance. Not having been trained in the Scriptures, they have embraced a Christianity that is strongly shaded by the world. Since the world objects to Christian doctrine, finding fault with it at every turn, so do these weak Christians. Others within the church oppose doctrine because they have no real place in the church. They are unbelievers that depend upon their false beliefs for assurance that they are right with God. Once sound doctrine is opened before them, they react vehemently because the doctrine lays bare their own spiritual deficiencies. Rather than see this as mercy from God to expose their unbelief and wickedness, pointing them to Christ and offering to them the gospel, they seek to oppose it-to silence it. Paul told Titus, with emphatic language, "But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." The things of God's Word that fit together the whole of life, speak these things. Paul's doctrine-speak stood in contrast to those making false profession of knowing God, evident by their worthlessness for any good deed. They bore testimony to the power of doctrine: their false doctrine produced disobedience. Yet the apostle understood that as the church was grounded in sound doctrine their lifestyles would be radically affected. They would begin to live gospel-centered lives. In spite of this, opposition still rages against biblical doctrine. Why does this happen?

 

Biblical doctrine pins down in propositional fashion what is true and what is false. Ideas about God, man, sin, Christ, heaven, and hell that lack biblical foundation are uprooted by "sound doctrine." This makes many uncomfortable since their lives are built on a false premise. Some try to argue against doctrine by objecting to any confessional or creedal statements, saying, "Just give me the Bible!" Tom Nettles told about a group of English Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists that met together in 1719 to deal with controversies over the Trinity and the deity of Christ. "When one group suggested that a composite confessional statement serve as a test of orthodoxy," Dr. Nettles explained, "others objected." The group that objected was led by a pastor that said they only needed the Bible. Some that agreed to the doctrinal statement and some that objected were Baptists, both Particular and General Baptists. Within twenty years, those objecting to the doctrinal confessional statements "had degenerated to the point that they no longer held to the uniqueness of divine revelation but subjected it to the "light of nature." By 1812, Joseph Ivimey observed that the churches of the non-subscribers... had all become either extinct or Socinian," denying the Trinity and the deity of Christ, and eventually becoming Unitarians ["Finding the Richest Confessional Treasure," The Founders Journal, Summer 2005, 1-2].

 

"Sound doctrine" regularly taught in churches exposes erroneous beliefs and practices that dishonor Christ. Paul warned Timothy of an opponent to doctrinal teaching in Ephesus. "Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching" (2 Tim. 4:14-15). The kind of teaching Paul spoke of here was doctrinal teaching. The reason for the opposition was due to the very nature of sound doctrine in narrowing the parameters of truth rather than broadening into an "anything goes theology." Paul's teaching eliminated room for the clever notions and superstitions that many securely held as the basis for their religious faith. The same happens today when we focus our teaching on sound doctrine.

 

It is not popular to "speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." Paul warned Timothy as well, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). "The truth" and "sound doctrine" are synonymous. Yet many prefer to have itching ears scratched, which is the literal idea conveyed in this metaphor. They are looking for something to make them feel good about themselves, to soothe their own cravings and desires. Sound doctrine reveals our wickedness and gives us nothing to cling to but the cross of Christ. It declares that those who do not believe what the Scripture teaches are wrong, their faith misplaced.

 

Far too many well-meaning Christians think that doctrine cannot be understood by anyone except the trained professionals. That's the same misconception that Martin Luther battled against in the 16th century, as he wrote the German nobility, warning against the false teaching that "no one may interpret the Scriptures but the Pope." Thus only the Pope and his delegates could understand and proclaim the dogmas of the church. The common man was left to doctrinal ignorance, and thus bondage to the Roman church. Luther dismantled this fallacy, and then exhorted, "Therefore it [sic] behoves every Christian to aid the faith by understanding and defending it and by condemning all errors" [http://www.bartleby.com/36/5/3.html]. This calls for all to be involved in the study of Scripture and understanding its teachings or doctrines.

 

Some say that doctrine is a waste of time since it offers nothing practical for real life. Yet Paul demolishes that argument by his explanation of the interweaving of doctrine and practice in vv. 2-14. Even the Christian's behavior in the mundane issues of life is to "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect."

 

2. Reasons for doctrine

 

Why was Paul so insistent on speaking "the things which are fitting for sound doctrine"? I found David Wells' explanation of theology to be helpful at just this point. He states that theology has three essential aspects whether applied in the church or the academy. First is a confessional element, which "is what the Church believes. It is what crystallizes into doctrine." Second is reflection on this confession, which "involves the intellectual struggle to understand what it means to be the recipient of God's Word in this present world." This reflection helps the Christian to grasp the connectedness of the whole of Scripture so that we begin to think biblically, and thus differently from the world. Further, it leads to an appreciation and evaluation of how God has worked in the past so that our present belief and practice is connected with believers through the centuries. Wells comments, "The present always needs to be deprived of its pretensions to being the most elevated moment in the story of the human spirit." This reflection on the truths we confess (our doctrine) enables us to distinguish God's truth from the worldly norms that constantly seek to squeeze us into its mold, and thus to live distinctly as Christians. Third, "theology involves the cultivation of those virtues that constitute a wisdom for life, the kind of wisdom in which Christian practice is built on the pillars of confession and surrounded by the scaffolding of reflection." This promotes the kind of Christian practice that is not artificial, following particular techniques for living but instead, "a matter of truth... that refuses to disjoin practice from thought or thought from practice" [Wells, No Place for Truth, 99-100]. That's how doctrine suites the whole of life for the Christian.

 

As the Christian disciplines himself to think upon doctrine he is able to understand what God has revealed concerning Himself, His plans for the world, the fall of man, God's work of redemption through Christ, and how this life prepares us for eternity. When we do this we begin to understand what is important for life and eternity. Our priorities change in response to our grasp of doctrine. This is quite apparent in the life of Paul. As the zealous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, his doctrine (the set of beliefs that directed his behavior) drove him to rid Israel of the gospel! But once converted, Paul's doctrine changed and so did his behavior. The very thing that he had hated and sought to eradicate became the thing he loved and the focus of his life. That's the reason so much emphasis is placed in the New Testament upon one's life as evidence of one's faith. There can be no right practice without right doctrine.

 

Doctrine defines truth; it puts parameters around what we believe and stand upon. So important is this that Paul told Timothy, "Retain the standard of sounds words [doctrine] which you heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:13). He described the godlessness of his day as "contrary to sound teaching" (1 Tim. 1:10). So important and so clearly defined was this doctrine in Paul's understanding that affected one's behavior that he warned, "If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing" (1 Tim. 6:3-4). He knew that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine," so Paul emphasized by sound words or "sound doctrine" that there is such a thing as unhealthy or unsound doctrine. Some believe perversions and distortions of truth, and like some in Crete, "they profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him" (Titus 1:16).

 

Sound doctrine insists on precision of definition. We don't just say we believe the gospel but we explain precisely what we mean by "gospel." A good Mormon will say he believes in Jesus Christ; but when we investigate precisely what this belief entails we discover that it is faulty and not belief in the Christ revealed in God's Word. Doctrine calls for defined truths that leave no doubt about what we believe. Certainly, many object to being pinned down to definitions and explanations. They gladly hold to a generic Christian faith that leaves doctrinal wiggle-room! As J. Gresham Machen wrote years ago, "Men discourse very eloquently today upon such subjects as God, religion, Christianity, atonement, redemption, faith; but are greatly incensed when they are asked to tell in simple language what they mean by these terms" [quoted by John Piper, Contending for Our All, 135].

 

In this regard, Christians through the centuries have formulated confessions and creeds to define precisely what they mean concerning the nature of Christ, the extent of the atonement, and the character of the Church. Such confessions, as far as they are dependable summaries of biblical revelation, state in tightly expressed language particular truths. That's a good reason to study confessions along with our reading of Scripture so that we have a clear grasp of what the whole of biblical revelation has to say on a particular doctrine. It's a good way to check our own beliefs to make sure that we are not straying from historic Christianity by adopting a faulty, novel belief. As we join in speaking "the things which are fitting for sound doctrine" and retaining "the standard of sound words," we are able to have a standard by which to evaluate our lives, beliefs, motives, and teaching.

 

II. Doctrine is always suitable

 

After charging Titus to speak the particular things suitable for sound doctrine that leads to right practice, Paul again establishes this doctrinal framework by setting forth the doctrine of the grace of God in salvation. That sets the stage for the three imperatives we find in verse 15. "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority." These things refer to the doctrinal truths that he had just set forth. The urgency in his tone, demonstrated by three successive present imperatives, implies that the habit of Titus' life and ministry must focus on sound doctrine. This was no time for timidity; just as there is no time for our being timid when it concerns doctrine. Notice the appropriateness of doctrine in every setting.

 

1. For conversations

 

Twice Paul commands Titus to "speak" sound doctrine (vv. 1, 15). The word insists on the regular talking about doctrine. This is not a term for preaching but one for regular conversation. As Titus interacted with the Cretan believers and unbelievers, he was to be mindful that sound doctrine would clarify the gospel and encourage godly behavior.

 

We're to follow the same practice in talking about the propositional truths of Scripture. That's how we will be able to impact those around us for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. As we live the truth and speak the truth in normal conversations, we find the effects of sound doctrine clarifying the meaning of the gospel, exhorting conformity to the gospel, and pointing unbelievers to the good news of Christ. We must never minimize the need for sound doctrine in our gospel conversations. If we are urging unbelievers to turn to Christ and trust in His death and resurrection, we must give them a clear, doctrinal explanation of who Christ is and what He accomplished in His death and resurrection. It is possible for someone to believe in a Jesus that is less than the Jesus revealed in Scripture. That leads to a faulty faith. Speaking sound doctrine concerning Jesus Christ points unbelievers to the true Savior of sinners.

 

2. For public instruction

 

The next term, "exhort," has two edges. First, it demands content. You are exhorting with regard to particular truths. "These things... exhort." The same word is used throughout the Pastoral Epistles. "Exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9). "Urge the young men to be sensible" (2:6). "Teach and preach these principles" (1 Tim. 6:2). "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction [or doctrine]" (2 Tim. 4:2). The word carries the idea of coming alongside someone, urging them on in a particular challenge or endeavor. This kind of exhortation carries a message with it. There's a biblical rationale behind the exhortation.

 

Second, "exhort" appeals to the hearer to act upon the message. It conveys urgency and the need for decisive action. It is not something to dally or to procrastinate with. The same is true whether speaking to an unbeliever in need of Christ as Savior or a believer that needs to live a gospel-centered life. As the writer of Hebrews asked, "How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" (2:3).

 

3. For public and private correction

 

"Reprove" is also translated as rebuke, refute, and convince. For an elder that persists in sinful practices, Paul declares, "Rebuke in the presence of all" (1 Tim. 5:20). Elders have the responsibility "to refute those who contradict" sound doctrine (Titus 1:9). Due to some of the Cretan Christians being shaped by the world, Paul told Titus, "For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in faith" (1:13). In this case, behavior affected doctrinal soundness. When the offense is at the early stages, a private correction may prove best. But if it continues or if it is sinful behavior broadly practiced or a doctrinal error that spreads, the reproof must be done publicly. Reproof aims at changing a course of action or stemming an error in doctrine. It is a merciful act done with a view to the spiritual vitality of the church as well as the individual.

 

Unfortunately, we see greater emphasis placed on not hurting anyone's feelings or not coming across as judgmental rather than so bearing one another's burdens that we're willing to reprove a brother or sister in error. This is no excuse for being arrogant or harsh. Even reproofs must be done "in a spirit of gentleness," realizing that we can fall prey to the very same sins or errors (Gal. 6:1-3). This doesn't give license for scolding! It is correction grounded in a clear biblical explanation and application.

 

III. Doctrine is essential to the Christian faith

 

We cannot live without sound doctrine, at least not in a right relationship before God. Doctrine is foundational to behavior. Skew the doctrine or neglect it or embrace unsound doctrine, and the lifestyle will reflect it. So it is no wonder, that Paul insisted that Titus engage the Cretan Christians with sound doctrine.

 

1. Proclaim doctrine authoritatively

 

The apostle uses a term translated as "authority" in the NASB that means an order or a command or an injunction. One lexicon [BAG] translates it as "with all impressiveness." When it comes to dealing with doctrine and its application to the whole of life, we must speak with authority. And we can speak with authority if we're speaking or exhorting or reproving according to Scripture properly interpreted. This does not give license to exercise authority regarding our personal convictions that have no clear biblical warrant. That's legalism and is dangerous. Doctrine has nothing to do with personal opinions. It is the explanation of the teaching of Scripture stated propositionally. It is authoritative because it is biblical.

 

A word of caution is due. Often, well-meaning Christians fail to understand biblical doctrine but that never slows them down in speaking authoritatively! Speak authoritatively when you've come to grasp a particular doctrine and you're applying it faithfully in your own life. That gives genuine authority when speaking to others.

 

2. Proclaim doctrine unabashedly 

 

Utilizing another imperative, Paul exhorts, "Let no one disregard you." The word literally means 'don't let anyone go around you in their thinking'. Obviously, you have no control over how someone feels about you or how they might react to you when you address them regarding sound doctrine. But this has more to do with making sure that you've thought through on the doctrinal issues that you address with others so that the ones hearing you will have no reasonable rebuttal. You've been faithful to address them biblically so that they cannot effectively counter your exhortation in like manner. They might disagree but they will have no biblical grounds for doing so.

 

Conclusion

 

Do you love sound doctrine? Do you value it and see how critical it is to every aspect of your life?

 

The church, and its ministry to the body of Christ and its mission in the world, will be only as effective as the soundness of its doctrine, and the passion its people have for this doctrine. Again, Patrick Fairbairn's words fittingly close this study in God's Word: "Christianity is primarily, indeed, a doctrine, but only that it may be in the true sense a life" [270].

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