Light Brings Salt
Volume 3, Issue 01 January 02, 2005
Dedicated to the Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Evidence for the Importance of
Doctrine
The preeminence that God designed
doctrine to have in the life of His Church is amply illustrated also by the
doctrinal emphasis found in the Pastoral Epistles. The three pastoral letters
of 1-2 Timothy and Titus represent the section of the New Testament that was
specifically written for the purpose providing instruction concerning “how to
do church.”
One cannot escape the emphasis
that these books place upon the priority of doctrinal dissemination.
Regarding the book of 2 Timothy,
New Testament scholar Daniel Wallace makes the following observation: “By my
count, there are twenty-seven explicit commands given in the body of this
letter. In 27 words Paul tells pastors what to focus on. You have to be blind
to miss the thrust of Paul’s instructions here, because eighteen of those
commands - fully two-thirds - have to do with the ministry of the Word.”
These commands are especially
significant given the fact that Paul wrote them with his impending death in
mind (2 Tim. 4:6). Therefore they represent in a sense his last will and
testament. The focus of the elders of the early Church upon doctrine can also
be seen in their unwillingness to leave the ministry of the Word in order to
wait on tables (Acts 6:1-4).
We can also observe the priority
that the Pastoral Epistles place upon the preeminence of doctrine in the pastoral
letters by noting the criteria for the selection of elders as given in Titus 1.
Verse 9 says that an elder/Pastor
must hold “fast to the faithful word
which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may
be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”
How much should a person know
about doctrine before he is selected as an elder of a local assembly? He
obviously must understand the doctrinal content of his faith well enough in
order to communicate it to others and exhort others in it.
However, his breadth of knowledge
does not end there. He has to also understand competing belief systems well
enough in light of his own faith in order to refute theological opponents.
Thus, Paul indicates that
doctrinal knowledge was a key attribute that a candidate was to possess before
he could occupy the office of elder. Sadly, many churches look for other
qualities in an elder such as how “successful” they have been in the business
world and consequently place doctrinal knowledge toward the bottom of the list.
Unfortunately, the “MBA preferred, seminary not required” mentality is the norm
in many places.
Here, however, the importance of
doctrinal knowledge can be seen in Paul’s criteria for the selection of church
leaders.
The doctrinal emphasis of the
pastoral letters can also be seen in Paul’s command to Timothy to preach the
Word (2 Tim. 4:2). A few verses earlier Paul explained to Timothy why the Word
must be preached. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Scripture
is “profitable for teaching, for reproof,
for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be
adequately equipped, for every good work.”
Thus, if the faithful proclamation
of Scripture is substituted for something else, the ministries of teaching,
reproof, correction, training, and equipping within a local assembly disappear
since these ministries are inextricably linked to the faithful proclamation of
Scripture.
The notion of equipping in 2
Timothy 3:17 conjures up memories regarding what Paul had told the Ephesian
Church a few years earlier regarding the function of a pastor. In his earlier
letter to the Ephesians, he explained that the gift of pastor-teacher was
necessary to bring the Church to maturation (Eph.
Putting Ephesians 4:11-12 together
with 2 Timothy 3:17, we learn that the pastor matures the church through the
systematic exposition of Scripture. Thus, the primary function of a pastor is
that of an equipper. An equipped, matured, and gifted body is then capable of
carrying on the work of the ministry (1 Cor. 12; Eph.
An awareness of a pastor’s primary
role is needed in our day when so much confusion abounds concerning what the
role of a pastor actually is. Many see the function of a pastor as that of a
CEO, marketer, motivational speaker, or resident psychologist.
However, the Pauline definition of
a pastor is that of an equipper. Perhaps
the reason why so much immaturity exists in the body of Christ is that modern
pastors have strayed away from their primary task of being an equipper who
leads the church into maturity through the faithful exposition of
Scripture.
The emphasis upon “all Scripture” (2 Tim.
Paul’s emphasis upon “all
Scripture” (2 Tim. 3:16) also brings to mind what he had told the Ephesian
elders about ten years earlier on the Island of Miletus
toward the end of his third missionary journey.
There, he gave the Ephesian elders
his farewell address in which he declared that he was innocent of the blood of
all men because he had declared to them the full counsel of the will of God
(Acts 20:26-27).
This statement may be a direct
allusion to God’s admonition to the sixth-century prophet Ezekiel. On two
occasions, God
told the prophet that if he warns the wicked man who dies in his sin, then the
prophet was not responsible for the wicked man’s blood.
However, if the prophet does not
warn the wicked who does die in his sin, then God would hold the prophet
accountable for the wicked man’s blood
(Ezek. 3:17-19; 33:7-9).
In alluding to God’s admonitions
to Ezekiel, Paul was modeling for the Ephesians elders that their primary
function as spiritual leaders was to disclose the totality of divine
revelation.
To the extent that they did not,
God would hold them accountable (James 3:1).
To the extent that they did, they
had exonerated themselves. This emphasis upon the totality of biblical truth
stands in stark contrast to the previously mentioned seeker movement, which
selectively uses the biblical text for the purpose of appealing to man’s felt
needs.
In sum, any honest reading of the
pastoral letters demonstrates the great influence that God expects doctrine to
have within the local church.
Sadly, we live in a day when the
relevance of doctrine to the vitality of the Church and the individual believer
is being questioned as never before. However, a fresh Scriptural look into
God's design for doctrine argues convincingly for its restoration to a place of
preeminence.
Most significantly, bad doctrine
has the potential of damning the soul. Moreover, the influence of doctrine is
linked to proper Christian living.
The relevance of doctrine can also
be seen in the way Paul did not shy away from using it for the purpose of
addressing pragmatic concerns within the churches to whom
he was ministering.
In addition, the pastoral letters
place an inordinate emphasis upon doctrine. As servants of the Lord, let us not
follow contemporary trends but rather work to restore doctrine to its rightful
place of preeminence within modern evangelicalism.
Note:
As we
move into 2005 may we do so with great thankfulness for the awesome provisions
that God has provided for us this past year as a Church and individually as we
responded to and applied His faithful Word.