Maintain unity

Whenever we talk about doctrine – and Christians really get into theology – we can run into the potential problem of very sharp disagreements. I think that’s one of the reasons people withdraw from theology or don’t even want to go: “This doctrinal precision will just divide us.” » This is not an easy question because although everything the Scriptures say is important, and I hope everything in this book is important and worth knowing, it is true that some doctrines are of prime importance and others may be secondary or tertiary.

1. We can be passionate about doctrine even if others disagree with us.

In fact, theologians of the past have paid much formal attention to it. They called these the fundamental articles. I have a short chapter in the book about this. They have given a lot of thought to how we understand the fundamental articles of faith. It is perhaps a little disappointing that no one has said, “Here are the ten doctrines of all,” but there is a fundamental unanimity on the doctrines which touch on the person and work of Christ, which touch on the Trinity, which have to do with our salvation – the doctrines that if we denied them, people will no longer be saved, or you are presenting a false gospel. So there are good categories and good guides from the past that can help us think about this, because we don’t want to set aside difficult doctrines even when there is disagreement.

If you think that because smart people with PhDs and some Bible verses disagree and we should just put that doctrine aside, you won’t have any doctrine left because there are 2 000 years of Church history. And even the most intelligent heretics in the Church were often intelligent, they had a few Bible verses, sometimes they led godly lives.

So we must be very thoughtful people and we must hold tenaciously to the truth. As J. Gresham Machen would say, doctrinal indifferentism does not make heroes of the faith.

2. Not every doctrinal hill is worth dying for.

At the same time, I hope we realize that not every hill is worth dying for. Sometimes you charge the hill, and you claim it, and you say, “This is the hill where the Presbyterians are going to stand, and this is the hill where the Baptists are going to stand,” and you have differences. You don’t need to shoot each other over differences. But you don’t overlook the differences either.

There is a way – and I’ve seen this with many of my friends, and some of them I disagree with on some of these important issues – to be charitable, to be kind, to ‘be kind to each other. and at the same time strictly inflexible on these articles of faith, even those which will sometimes divide good Christians. I think there is a way to not break the unity of the Church.

On this side of the sky we see dimly through glass. It’s just reality. We won’t agree on everything. And so we will have different traditions, different churches, different denominations. But I think there is a way to continue to love each other when we share the orthodox evangelical faith together without putting aside these differences. We can still have unity of faith while remaining passionate about the truth.

Kevin DeYoung is the author of Everyday Doctrine: A Year’s Guide to Systematic Theology.

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