This
morning I was reminded of two truths that must be considered together. They are
like the positive and the negative side of a particular coin. One side tells us
what to do, and the other side tells us what not to do. Each side helps us
understand the other.
The
negative thought is, “that you may learn
by us not to go beyond what is written…”[2] The
point of this instruction is that we cannot go beyond the Scriptures to teach
the Church how to live. God will not reveal distinctive insights to one
denomination or another. We never have to take the word of a particular Bible
teacher that something is so if we can’t see it is so in the breathed-out words
of God. What is written puts a boundary around the Church. We cannot step outside
that line into science, culture, philosophy, tradition, or anything else we can
imagine. Rather, we can rest within the boundary of Scripture in interpreting
everything that goes on around us, including all of the above.
The
positive, other-side-of-the-coin instruction is, “But as for you, teach what accords with sound
doctrine.”[3] This tells us that there is “sound
doctrine”, and there is what “accords”
with sound doctrine. There is the Bible full of the sound doctrine of God’s
breathed-out words, and there are things we need to teach on about life in our
generation that may not be directly addressed in Scripture, but can be faced in
a thoroughly Scriptural way.
When we put these two sides together, we can teach on
anything that comes up in life according to what we are taught in Scripture as
sound doctrine, without ever having to go beyond what Scripture has written. For
example, we can teach on the effects of childhood sexual abuse in a way that
accords with sound doctrine, and stays within the bounds of what is written,
even though we are addressing an issue not mentioned in the Scriptures. All the
doctrine about ministry to people who have experienced childhood sexual abuse
is in the Scriptures. All the hope that abused people need is in Jesus Christ,
just as Scripture teaches.
So, we can teach about how God “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,”[4] remaining true to Scripture, staying within the
bounds of what is written, dealing with something very prominent in the church of
the twenty-first century, while teaching in a way that accords with the sound
doctrine given to us twenty-centuries ago.
No matter what any of us is facing today, God’s word gives
us both the sound doctrine that will help us understand what we are going through,
and the boundaries that will keep us thinking in a thoroughly Biblical
worldview. We can face every advancement in science, every discovery of the
magnificent working of the human brain, every new description of trauma to the
soul, and know that God’s word already gives us the bounds of sound doctrine to
make us feel absolutely secure in addressing whatever new and scary and painful
things we are facing.
We do not need to flip the coin and think we can only teach
what is written, leaving out so many contemporary issues that need to be faced
with the authority of God’s word. Neither do we need to accept teachings that
give all kinds of worldly reasons why they accord with sound doctrine even
though they require us to reject clear teachings of Scripture just to keep up
with the times.
Only when we teach about everything in life in a way that
accords with sound doctrine, and that never takes us beyond what is written,
can we rest in the worldview we hold about any contemporary issues, no matter
whether they seem to be the first time we have ever heard of such a thing, or
one more example of Scripture’s declaration that there is nothing new under the
sun.[5]
From
my living-on-both-sides-of-the-coin heart,
Monte
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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