I’ll be the first one to admit that theology can be confusing, overwhelming even. Since the time I started studying theology in 2002, I’ve changed my position more times than I can count. That seems pretty wishy washy for the study a God who never changes, huh?

I have held each of my theological positions as adamantly as the last. Truth is truth and there is no compromise. Except, you know, when you get deeper revelation of an existing truth. That tends to change things.

As you delve into doctrine, you will see that there are some pretty crazy teachings going around. It’s not just today, false teachings have been around as long as the truth of Christ has been revealed. Much of it has so much truth to it that if you don’t look closely, you cannot see the falsehoods.

I remember as I started identifying these false teachings, I felt it my personal mission to let everyone know about it. I fancied myself a bit of a heresy hunter, if you will. I wasn’t very nice about it either.

Thinking back on this period in my life made me wonder about where we came to be so contentious about doctrine.

Back To The Roots

The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century was led by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other self-described reformers. In an effort to break away from the wrong teachings in the Catholic church, they led this revolution which had an incredible impact on Christianity.

The work of these reformers made more of an impact on our faith than any other movement since the first century.

But was it all good?

If you look at the root of the word Protestant, you find the word “protest”. The very genesis of the protestant movement is rooted in disagreement. That’s not to say that disagreement is bad, but it is important to understand how this mindset has affected our culture today.

While the Protestant movement righted so many wrongs and established doctrine like the five solas: “sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, solus christus, soli deo gloria” (by Scripture alone, by faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone, glory to God alone), it also set a dangerous precendent of breaking fellowship when disagreeing on doctrine.

If the goal was to correct problematic doctrine, the Reformation was initially successful. The church split and the Protestant movement was able to thrive with the foundation of solid Biblical doctrine. Everything was now as it should be. Except for one thing. You guessed it…the reformers had trouble agreeing.

“The reformers soon disagreed among themselves and divided their movement according to doctrinal differences — first between Luther and Zwingli, later between Luther and John Calvin — consequently resulting in the establishment of different and rival Protestant Churches (denominations), such as the Lutheran, the Reformed, the Puritans, and the Presbyterian.” ~Wikipedia

The Protestant movement was birthed out of protesting incorrect doctrine in the Catholic church. Subsequently, denominations were birthed out of disagreement among the reformers. This splitting and dividing continues to this day.

The Catholic church thrived for hundreds of years because of one thing: Relationship. It’s interesting how priests are called “father”. Once I became what I considered a “real” Christian, I was repulsed at the thought of calling someone in the church father. How sacrilegious! I have one father on earth and one Father in heaven. I don’t need a “father” in church. I would soon come to eat my words.

Today I find myself in a healthy church. The foundation of our church community is relationships and I notice that those most intimately connected to the leaders call them “Daddy D” (Pastor Darren) and “Papa Gui” (Pastor Gui). They are like fathers to us. They treat us like sons and daughters and we feel safe and protected under their leadership. Maybe the Catholics had that part right, just with some questionable doctrinal practices. It’s definitely something to think about.

Is The Priority Agreement or Relationship?

Basing our interaction in the body of Christ on relationship sounds nice, but what happens when someone starts teaching some crazy, of the wall doctrine? Imagine how many will be led astray! Plus, you can’t deny this passage:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” ~Galatians 1:8-9

A couple of things stick out to me in this passage:

• The Message – Paul’s not talking about a particular teaching or doctrine here. He’s talking about the Gospel (i.e. the GOOD news). Paul is talking about the saving acts of God, centered upon the person of Jesus and his atoning work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. That was what was in question. He’s not handing out curses on a whim. This was reserved for the deal breaker.
• The Audience – Paul is talking to the people with whom he has a relationship. That was his main concern. He was writing directly to the church in Galatia, not everyone within ear’s reach.
• The Heretics – Paul never addresses the heretics personally. He didn’t have a relationship with them. He doesn’t ask the church in Galatia to put posters up of these heretics and spread fear throughout the land. He focuses on the facts and those with whom he has relational ties.

Paul didn’t address the false teachers directly because there was no relationship. He knew that he didn’t need to invoke fear in the Galatians. He simply addressed the wrong and corrected it.

I call people who publicly accuse others of being false teachers or heretics, “fear mongers” (Mostly because I like the word monger). If your claims are true or not, the only thing that can be accomplished by publicly denouncing someone is to stir up fear and cause division and confusion within the body. You cannot properly address wrong teaching in love without a relationship. I am confident that stirring up division is not always the goal when people do these kinds of things. However, they are still responsible for their actions.

I read this quote in the book “Culture of Honor“. When your priority is doctrine rather than relationship:

“we end up trying to teach people to defend themselves against other Christians, to defend their lives as believers, and to defend their choice of and participation in this particular church.” ~Danny Silk

Many times the need to defend our position is rooted in fear. Fear then triumphs over love. In essence, Fear Wins.

The Measure of Maturity

Truth is bigger than just simply stating what is right or wrong. Truth is more than facts. If doctrinal truth was God’s priority, the pharisees would have recognized Jesus immediately.

In an earnest effort to battle all the crazy teachings that are swirling around out there, many have exalted doctrine and made it the highest priority. Unfortunately, there is a big difference in knowing the word in the Bible and knowing the Word of the Bible.

Jesus was all about relationships. Chiefly, relationship with Him. That’s why He said I am the truth, the way and the life. You know truth when you know Christ. That only comes from relationship. First prirority is relationship with Him. Second priority is relationship with others. Everything else flows from these two realities (Matt. 22:37-40).

If you base your unity on doctrine, you haven’t lost anything when you disagree and sever ties. We simply perpetuate the divisions that began with the Reformation for the sake of “correct theology”. Moreover, we feel justified when we do so! The doctrine of relationships is painfully ignored. Relationships (as God intended them) require an investment. It requires time and energy to work through differing viewpoints and disagreements.

Spiritual maturity isn’t measured by how well you agree, but how well you can maintain relationships.

When you work through disagreement, you build bonds that cannot be easily broken. We build true unity in the body through relationship with Christ and others, not agreement in doctrine. The truth of Christ is relationships, not facts and theology. When we live that reality, we create an irresistible testimony to the world.

I long for the day when the body of Christ is known for how well she loves rather than how much she protests.

What value do you place on doctrine? Have you ever broken fellowship because of a disagreement?