This season of storms, chaos, and crises offer unprecedented challenge and opportunity, both within and outside of the church. Maximizing the opportunities of this season – including Christianity once again becoming the source of meaning and purpose in people’s lives – requires we address the problems created by our doctrines. Furthermore, the challenges we face will be exacerbated if we do not.

Let me say it again for emphasis: Doctrines are generally necessary, good, and serve an important function in the formation of Christians and the function of the Body of Christ. The problems with doctrines lie in the priority we give them, our restricted focus on them, and our misuse of them. The well-intended but flawed applications of our doctrines have truly damaged the Body of Christ and unnecessarily thwarted Jesus Christ’s purpose in building His church.

In summary, doctrines create problems for the Body of Christ in the following ways.

1. They provide a ready substitute for faith, good works, truth, etc.
2. They are used for the wrong purposes (e.g., defining and protecting our fellowships, relating to God).
3. They unnecessarily divide the Body of Christ, delaying the Lord’s return.
4. They inhibit us from spiritual growth in the truth, discourage stewardship of the mysteries of God, and lead to an ignorance of wonder.
5. They encourage living from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thereby trapping us in our heads and away from our hearts.

We flesh out each of these assertions in this series. As always, your comments, concerns, and questions are welcomed and appreciated. We are also available to speak on this topic.

In Part One, we argued that there are things doctrines simply cannot be (e.g., faith, truth, the will of God). In Part Two, we presented the eternal purposes of God which doctrines simply cannot accomplish. Part Three presented the most damaging problem with our doctrines: our divisive use of them. Part Four explores the detrimental effects caused by our restricted focus on our doctrines (see #4 above).

Here in Part Five, we will concern ourselves with the relationship between mankind choosing the knowledge of good and evil – in order to be like God (Genesis 3:5) – and our elevated prioritization and subsequent misuse of doctrines.

Living from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The following was first published in An Enemy Lies Within to explain how the carnal mind is our #1 enemy.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.  Romans 8:5-7

In the greatest of ironic tragedies, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil so they could be like God. In so doing, they not only condemned their lineage to spiritual death, but birthed in us an enemy of God. Their infamous decision forever linked the mind of carnal man to his rebellion. The carnal mind is enmity against God because it is rebellious – and cannot be anything else.

Mankind was not created to live from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – from reasoning about the right and wrong of things. Those determinations belong to God. The kingdom of God is not a democracy; He decides what is good and evil. His people take Him at His word and obey accordingly.

Mankind was created by God to live by another tree: The Tree of Life, who is Christ.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 14:6

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  Romans 5:10

One might ask, “Why would the omniscient and omnipotent God create the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” Two answers come immediately to mind. First, the knowledge of good and evil is important; it is the living by that knowledge – unto ourselves – that is enmity with our Creator.

Second, our choosing is important to God – and remains so under the New Covenant. At our rebirth, we are given a new heart and spirit, but not a new mind. It is with the mind that we choose to respond to our carnal will or the will of God.

God desires a people that will choose Him every moment of every day. It is one of the amazing things about God: that after our failure in the Garden, He would continue to give us the choice of submitting to His reign, or rebelling against Him. Choosing His reign and love requires and empowers a continual overcoming of our carnal mind.

An Enemy Lies Within goes on to suggest that overcoming the presence and influence of our carnal mind requires we live more from our hearts than from our heads. It is with the heart that man believes (Romans 10:10), and the heart – our new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) – is where the LORD has stored the desires He intends to give us (Psalm 37:4-5). Indeed, we live from the Tree of Life out of our hearts.  

Please, please, please note: We are not suggesting that doctrines are carnal, nor that the proper application of them is carnal. Again, our concern is priority and use. Doctrines are kept and considered in the mind, and operating from our minds is a particularly tricky thing in the Age of Enlightenment and Reason. Yes, doctrines can tell us what we should believe, but they are not faith, nor are they the spiritual organ of faith.

For those struggling with the notion of leading with your heart, let me suggest two things: First, we have not done a good job helping the redeemed trust in their new, God-given heart. Would He give us a corrupt one; a heart we could not trust? Of course not; our new heart contains the faith and desire for every commandment.

Secondly, consider this question: Would you rather understand every parable, precept, doctrine, and mystery contained in the Bible, or believe them? Which would best enhance and ensure your relationship with Jesus Christ? The truth of the matter is this: There is much kingdom mystery we cannot understand until we first receive the gift of faith for them.

The Consequences

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 5:14

Jesus healed on the Sabbath to put the leaders into a dilemma (Luke 13:10-17). They so held to their laws, which they believed God would not violate, that they could not accept Jesus being from God. Jesus forced them to either undermine their own authority over the truth or to remain confused and on the wrong side of history. Tragically, in their pride, they chose the latter. Jesus warns us:

Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Mark 8:15

Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:12

In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Luke 12:1

Later, Paul encourages us to avoid such high-minded thinking:

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another… Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Romans 12:10,16

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 1Corinthians 3:18

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Romans 12:3

Living out of our heads – from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – opens the door to thinking more highly of ourselves (and our doctrines) than we should; it opens the door to a subtle, pious pride. Now catch this: When we give priority to our doctrines over matters more important to God, we fuel this vile connection and process. Someone recently sent me an email devotion which made this point quite well.

Because the thing that we need to grasp about God is that we cannot grasp God. Whatever you’re gripping so tightly to, that’s not it. We’re all just hazarding guesses, cupping droplets of light in our hands, interpreting and reinterpreting vague revelation and always falling short. And that’s only a problem if you think it is. In the eyes of the divine, the distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous has nothing to do with labels, and everything to do with how we treat other people. Just love. Stop “othering.” Quit “us and them-ing.” Stop erecting all those semantic fences and white-knuckling all those precious definitions – they don’t, and can’t encompass the divine. Loving God isn’t about gatekeeping a religion; it’s about opening your heart to existence itself. Gideon Heugh

Of course, loving God and our neighbor need not be contrary commitments to pursuing, understanding, and teaching doctrine. However, given the time and resource limits we have placed on ourselves and our congregations, it behooves us to consider where we are making the greater investment. Should we not ask ourselves, “How much time and resource am I investing in teaching versus loving?” It seems important to note that we can teach by loving much more impactfully than we can love by teaching.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1

Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4

Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 2John 1:9

Furthermore, we are not called to the doctrines of men, but to the doctrine of Jesus Christ: enjoying the liberty of knowing that we don’t know (Isaiah 55:8-9); refusing to think more highly of ourselves (Romans 12:3); in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3); and in agreement with Jesus’ prayer for our unity (John 17:20-23), His vision for the church (Ephesians 4:11-16), and His desire for a whole and perfect Bride (Revelation 19:7-8).

Spiritually-minded people will never demand that you believe a certain thing or hold a certain opinion; they’ll demand that you square your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible; we are asked to believe the One the Bible reveals. O. Chambers

Always measure your life by the standards of Jesus. Bow to his yoke and to no other, and be careful that you never fasten a yoke on someone else that is not placed there by Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to cure us of the idea that if people do not see things the way we do, they must be wrong. 

This doesn’t mean you should water down God’s truth. Let His truth have its way, and never apologize for it. Simply recall what Jesus said: “Go and make disciples (i.e., of Him).” He never said, “Make converts to your opinions.” O. Chambers

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of what some might call “rock throwing.” I know, it is easier to throw rocks than offer solutions. I appreciate your patience; we will get to those in our sixth and final offering in this series. For now, let me conclude with another Gideon Heugh quote:

The key is to hold our traditions, but hold them lightly—to be welcomers, not gatekeepers. Can we treasure them without white-knuckling them? Because on the other end of that spectrum is fundamentalism, religious tribalism, and extremism.

God bless you with wisdom, discernment, patience, and courage for a life characterized by more than the doctrines you have been given, that you might live from the heart, by the Tree of Life, in loving relationship with the full Body of Christ.

Have a strong day in the Lord,

Rob

#iamjustthepen