When doctrine replaces the gospel, it becomes an idol. Replacing the gospel with doctrine results in the belittling of the Word and a lack of zeal for the Word.

Source: Una Sancta, 2012. 6 pages.

When the Good Doctrines Become Bad...

Is it possible for the good doctrines to become bad? Is it not the case that something good remains good always, especially when it comes to doctrine? In my opinion, it is possible that good doctrines can become bad. However, this does not mean that there is an intrinsic change in the good doctrines themselves. The good doctrines remain good always. I emphasize again that the good doctrines remain good all the time. Then, what do I mean when I argue that the good doctrines can become bad? My point is that the good doctrines become bad, depending on the way we use them. In short, we can use the good doctrines badly.

In order to make my point clearer, I want to use Timothy Keller's discussion on the concept of idols. According to Keller, we make idols by turning good things into ultimate things.1 It is a perceptive obser­vation by Keller: the things that become idols are not bad in their own right. Rather the opposite is the case. These things are meant to be good in our life. But when we turn any good thing into the ultimate, it becomes an idol for us. With such an insight, Keller notes that Christians can make idols out of family, friends, and even the Christian ministry. Keller's point is that these good things become idols to us when we expect hope, comfort, and joy from them instead of God. In a similar way, I want to argue our doctrines are good gifts from the Lord. But they become bad when we do not use them properly. And such is the time when good doctrines become bad.

When do we use good doctrine badly? How can we perceive when this is the case? When it comes to idols, we can say that good things become idols when we expect from them our ultimate joy and hope instead of or in addition to God. Then when do our good doctrines become bad? Certain good doctrines become bad, or, more correctly stated, we use the good doctrine badly, when they replace the gospel. A good doctrine becomes bad when it replaces the gospel among God's people. When God's people regard a certain doctrine as the gospel, the good doctrine becomes bad. Meanwhile, in our Christian life, it should be the case that nothing can replace the gospel. For that reason, the gospel should be what we are identified with. The gospel should be the one which shapes the way we act and the way we speak. The gospel should be what we talk about the most in our discussion.

But is this the case? Unfortunately, the gospel can lose its importance among God's people because of certain good doctrines. An example can be seen in Paul's description of the Corinthian churches in 1 Corinthians 1. Needless to say, the doctrine of baptism is an important one. But it should not substitute the place of the gospel in the churches. Nevertheless, it was regarded as more important than the gospel among the Corinthian churches. For these Christians, the doctrine of baptism was the very one which shaped their identity. Thus, they said; 'I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ' (1 Corin­thians 1:12). It is generally agreed that the Christians in Corinth were divided in such a manner based on the people who baptized them. For these Christians it is not the gospel which shaped who they were. Rather they formed their identity based on who baptized them.

For that reason, there was a division among them. What is Paul's response to the situation? Paul's reaction is well expressed when he wrote in passing that: 'Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas' (1 Corin­thians 1:16). Here the likely scenario is that after giving the names of the people he baptized, namely Crispus and Gaius in verse 14, on second thoughts Paul realized that he also baptized the household of Stephanas. What is Paul's point? It is as though he is saying: I do not care whom I have baptized. I even do not remember them properly. And that is not important. Why? Because Christ did not send him to baptize! Rather Paul was sent to preach the gospel. It does not mean that the doctrine of baptism is not important. As a matter of fact, Paul himself gives a detailed explanation in chapter 10. Paul's point is that the gospel should be the one with which God's people are to be affiliated. The gospel should be the one which shapes God's people's identity so that God's people can say "we are of Christ".

At this point, it is good for us to ask one question: what shapes our identity? To which doctrine do you belong? Is it the doctrine of election? Is it the doctrine of covenant? Or is it the doctrine of the true and false church? Which doctrines shape our identity as the members of the Free Reformed Churches? Let me emphasize again that these doctrines are good and important doctrines. We need to develop them further in our understanding of God's Word. Nevertheless, they should not replace the gospel. We should not be identified with these doctrines at the expense of the gospel. These doctrines should not be the ones we talk about the most in our discussion. If someone asks us why we are doing what we are doing as the Christian churches, what kind of answer can we give? Can we say that it is because of the gospel that we are doing what we are doing? Can our neighbor or fellow believers see that our life is motivated by the gospel? Regret­tably, when the gospel is replaced by certain doctrines, or when we regard a certain doctrine as the gospel, we would not be able to conduct our life according to the gospel even though Paul says 'conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ' (Philippians 1:27). Rather we will be ruled by certain doctrines instead of or in place of the gospel.

A Common Symptom🔗

What is the problem when the gospel is replaced by a certain doctrine? The problem would not be that the gospel is not preached at all. The problem would not be that God's people do not know the gospel any more. Rather the problem is that the gospel is belittled. The gospel is not honored among God's people. How so?

One common symptom occurs when the gospel is replaced by a certain doctrine. God's people regard the gospel as a kind of preliminary course to a Christian life. The gospel is regarded as an elementary teaching which the mature Christians should grow out of. For these so called mature Christians, knowing the gospel is not good enough to be good Christians. It is too basic. When they hear the gospel preaching, they regard it as something they already know. Thus, there is no need to listen to the gospel any more. They are quite happy when they hear the sermons or speeches about certain doctrines which they think important. But the gospel does not excite them anymore. The gospel and its message do not mean too much in their decision making. They have grown out of the gospel.

According to Paul, however, the gospel is not something we can grow out of. Rather it is something we need to learn more and more. In that sense, Paul's treatment of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 is telling. According to Paul, the gospel is:

That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scripture (...)1 Corinthians 15:3-4

It is simple enough. You might say we already know this stuff.

What is interesting is that Paul has to remind them of this gospel before he deals with one of the crucial doctrines: the Resurrection of the Dead.

Thus, Paul writes,

'Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel which I preached to you'. Here an important word is 'remind'.

Why did Paul need to remind them of the gospel? Did the Christians in Corinth forget the gospel? Hardly likely! The Christians in Corinth were known for their spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Corinthians 12-14). There were many people who could speak the prophetic words and tongues. They were not short of knowledge. It is not the case they forgot the gospel.

Nonetheless, the Christians in Corinth were in need to be reminded of the gospel. By reminding them of the gospel, Paul shows an important characteristic of the gospel. The gospel is something we cannot grow out of. The gospel is not a kind of elementary course which we do not have to know any more after finishing it. Rather in terms of its meaning and implication, the gospel is something we need to be reminded of again and again. It does not matter how much we are spiritually gifted. It does not matter how much biblical knowledge we have. The gospel has still something to tell you.

Consequences when the Gospel is replaced by a certain Doctrine🔗

In what follows, I would like to talk about what happens when the gospel is replaced by certain doctrines. Many negative things can occur. However, I want to single out two things which are relevant to our churches. The first negative thing we need to be aware of is this: God's people do not strive to learn God's Word better any more. It happens because God's people wrongly think that they already know what they have to know about God and His Word when, in fact, they know only certain doctrines which have replaced the gospel. Thus, some people think they know enough about God and His will when they know only the so-called five points of Calvinism. But does not the Canons of Dort deal with only one article of the Belgic Confession? What about the rest of the articles? Nevertheless in the history of our Reformed churches, in some circles we have acted as if the Five Points of Calvinism is the entire gospel. In a similar way, sometimes some of us act as if we know everything we have to know about the Lord if we know the teaching of the covenant. In our Bible study, discussions and other conversations can center on the covenant without mentioning its relationship to the gospel. Do we need to conduct our lives according to what the gospel says or according to what the covenant says? What do you teach your children? Are they expected to lead a Christian life based on what the covenant teaches or what the gospel teaches?

The covenant is a good and biblical teaching. Neverthe­less, we should not talk about it for its own sake. That is not what a good and biblical doctrine is intended to do. Rather since it is a good and biblical doctrine, it should lead us to understand God and His Word better. But unfortunately we tend to speak about the covenant for its own sake without bothering to make use of it to increase our understanding of God and His Word. What makes me think in that way? I think in that way since we have not attempted to understand better what the covenant means in our life. Rather we are busy repeating what previous generations talked about it. We do not bother to understand it better since we think we have enough knowledge about it. I cannot find any other better explanation for our lack of zeal to under­stand better this important and biblical doctrine. But don't forget! We are talking about only one teaching in the Bible. When we have not tried to better understand one of our favorite teachings, what about the other teachings in the Bible?

In that sense, I think it necessary to talk about the Bible study clubs. Are they effective enough? Can you tell that there has been an increase in the knowledge of God through your study clubs? Looking back, can you tell your knowledge of God's Word has increased more in the last year? Can the people around you testify that they have seen the growth in your Christian life? Or do you find that somehow your members are excited when they talk about a certain topic, but not so much when it comes to other topics? Do you find that certain topics are repeatedly mentioned in the Bible studies whether they are related to the main topics or not? Once again it is high time to examine whether our Bible studies are effective. Dr Van Dam, the emeritus Old Testament Professor in Hamilton commented on the way Bible study is conducted when our sister churches deliberated on the causes and consequences of the Liberation in 1944. At one point, Van Dam stated that even though we have gained much through the Liberation, we have lost much as well. This loss has some consequences in our church life. Here is what van Dam says: 'I had mentioned the danger of getting in a rut and talking about one topic all the time'.2 Can you hear 'getting in a rut and talking about one topic all the time'? This is what happens when the gospel is replaced by a certain doctrine and teaching. Then, according to van Dam, it has a negative consequence for the Bible studies as well:

My concern is that in far too many cases the tradi­tional study of Scripture in Young People's Society and Men's and Women's Societies does not function the way it should. Also the official place of the minister in his teaching office is not always utilized as effec­tively as it could be.3

Why is it that replacing the gospel with a certain doctrine has an impact on the way we study the Bible? By replacing the gospel with a certain doctrine, we tend to talk about that specific topic all the time, as Van Dam notes. We talk about one topic all the time at home, at the Bible studies, and at church. What happens when we talk about one topic always? The people find it boring. Here there is a danger! Keep in mind that the gospel loses its power not because people find it offensive! The gospel loses its power not when people find that its message is ridiculous. History shows that the gospel works rather effectively even though people find it offensive or ridiculous. However, history also testifies that the gospel loses its power when the people think that the gospel message is boring and irrelevant. The people find that the Church's message is boring since the Christians talk about only one topic all the time. Why does it seem some members of our churches are not excited by the gospel? Is it because maybe we have replaced the gospel with certain topics, which we talk about all the time, so that our people regard these topics as the Christian gospel itself?

Nevertheless, the entire message of the gospel cannot be conveyed by one or two teachings. When Paul explains the gospel, he repeatedly says, 'according to the Scripture'. We find the same point in Romans as well.

Romans chapter 1, Paul says,

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in His Holy Scriptures.Romans 1:2

Can you see the gospel is something God had promised before through His prophets in His Holy Scriptures? It means that we should not think that we know the gospel by knowing only one or two doctrines. Meanwhile, it also means that we need to be diligent in learning God's Word in order to understand the gospel better. In this aspect, there is something we can do at our Bible clubs. We should not go to the Bible studies without any expectation to learn something new and to be challenged. We should be able to develop further our understanding of some important doctrines and their connection to the entire message of God's Word. We should be able to learn God's Word better in order to understand the gospel better.

So far we have dealt with one negative consequence when the gospel is replaced by a certain doctrine: God's people do not show zeal in learning God's Word. Instead they talk about one topic all the time. There is one more negative thing which requires our careful attention. When the gospel is replaced by a certain doctrine, in general, there is a lack of true spirituality. It is as if we are fine because we believe certain doctrines. At this point, Van Dam can help in making my point again. In fact, Van Dam also appeals to what the late J. Kamphuis had noticed in his churches. Both Van Dam and Kamphuis pointed out that we sometimes act as if everything is fine as long as we come to church twice every Sunday. We do not emphasise enough the experiential side of our spirituality. Is everything OK if we know and do one or two things properly? Sometimes, much of our discus­sion is concerned about whether one belongs to the true church or not. If you belong to the true church, everything is fine. With such a mindset, we do not urge the members to seek for a better spiritual life. We do not question what it means for us to walk with the Lord in our daily life. We act as if it is fine to hurl some unchristian comments when someone disagrees with us on certain topics. Some of us even attend the Lord's Supper while they have not reconciled with one another. While busy sorting out which church has become the false church, we do not spend much time to find out what it means to be spiritually mature. We do not talk much about what it means to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we continue to focus on whether our members believe and do according to one or two doctrines, our members would not be able to know what it means to be led by the Holy Spirit and the Word in their daily life. In my opinion, such lack of emphasis on the spiritual life also comes from a lack of under­standing about the gospel.

What is the gospel? As you saw previously, the apostle Paul states what the gospel is in summary. But what do the gospel writers such as Matthew, Mark, Luke or John say about it? I think there is a significant insight in why we call these four books the Gospels. What do you read in the gospel according to Matthew? What do we read in the gospel according to John? We read nothing more than the life of Jesus Christ. These gospel writers introduce nothing more than Jesus Christ in their gospels. It means that Jesus Christ is the gospel. If someone asks what the gospel is, they would point to Jesus Christ. In such a way, to know the gospel is to know Jesus Christ. Such kind of knowledge cannot be replaced by one or two doctrines. Meanwhile, it also means that knowing the gospel is getting into a personal relationship with Jesus since Jesus is a Person. For such a personal relationship, our risen Lord has sent the Holy Spirit to us. By using the imagery of vine and the branches, our Lord makes it clear that we can do nothing without him and we are attached to Him. In terms of our identity, Paul clearly says that we are in Jesus and the catechism repeats it by saying, I am not my own but belong to Jesus Christ. All these biblical imageries are designed to show the intimate personal relationship between the Lord and his people.

At this point, we can also see why the gospel is God's power (cf. Romans 1:16). God's power is something we need to experience. We cannot know one's power properly when we only read about how powerful one is. But we truly understand the power when we expe­rience it. As one Puritan theologian correctly put it, it is one thing to know that the honey is sweet, but it is a different matter to taste how sweet the honey is. In a similar way, it is one thing to gain knowledge what Jesus did in the past, but it is a different thing to experience Jesus Christ as a Person who works in us through the Holy Spirit now. For that reason it is important for us individually to strive to rejoice in our walking with the Lord by reading the Bible, praying and meditating in our daily life. We are to be ruled by the Word and by the Holy Spirit in our life. When that is the case, we will experience the power of the gospel.

However, there is an important role the Bible study clubs can play in our spiritual life. First of all, we should be able to share our personal spirituality with the fellow believers. Especially we should be able to share our spiritual struggles. It has two purposes. Firstly, by showing your own challenges, you can inform other members concerning certain spiritual dangers in our days. Secondly, you can also share how to overcome such spiritual challenges. Our enemy is the same one. For that reason, our spiritual battle has some similarities. The way you overcome or battle some challenges can encourage other believers how to fight their own battles. When we do that it is especially important to share how the Lord is working in you and through you. It is the Lord who has demolished Satan, and we can win against the evil one only through the Lord Jesus. In the second place, our study clubs can be the place where we pray for each other. The Lord has promised that he will be where two or three people gather in His name. We need to make a good use of such promise. Such communal prayer can prevent our spirituality from becoming individualistic. We pray for each other, and we pray for the churches in general, and we pray for the government and the world. In such prayer time, we should experience the Lord's presence among us.

Up to this point, we have dealt with a few negative things which can occur when the gospel is replaced with a certain doctrine. But we should not forget that we can talk about the negative things since the positive things are expected to happen. It should be also clear that we can see good positive things in us only through the work of the Lord. In that sense, make no mistake that it is to us that the Lord has assigned his precious gospel. The Lord could have entrusted his gospel to the angels. Yet the gracious Lord has given his churches his gospel. As a result, we have become God's partners in sharing and promoting his gospel. Meanwhile it also means that the gospel should be honored among us. It should be the topic we desire to understand more and more. It should be the mirror we strive to reflect in our lives. The gospel should be the one which shapes our identity. As a Christian, we should not be identi­fied with any doctrines however good they may be. As Reformed believers, it is the gospel in which we find our identity, since we belong to Jesus Christ. Such was the understanding of one great Reformer, John Calvin.

Without the gospel
     everything is useless and vain;
without the gospel
     we are not Christians;
without the gospel
  all riches is poverty,
  all wisdom, folly before God;
  strength is weakness, and
  all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.
But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made
   children of God,
   brothers of Jesus Christ,
   fellow townsmen with the saints,
   citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,
   heirs of God with Jesus Christ,
by whom
   the poor are made rich,
   the weak strong,
   the fools wise,
   the sinners justified.,
   the desolate comforted,
   the doubting sure, and slaves free.
The gospel is the Word of life.4

Endnotes🔗

  1. ^ Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010), xvii.
  2. ^ Cornelis Van Dam ed. The Liberation: Causes and Consequences (Winnipeg, Canada: Premier Publishing, 1995), 108.
  3. ^ Van Dam, The Liberation, 109.
  4. ^ The translation is found in Joseph Haroutunian ed. Calvin:Commentaries (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), 66. Calvin wrote the quotation in the preface of the translation of the French Bible by Pierre Robert Olivetan in1534.

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