Wait. What? Yes, you heard me. My name is Andy Brewer, I am a preacher, but I say down with church doctrines. I know to many that idea is crazy. After all, as a Christian and a preacher the assumption is that I rely on church doctrines to provide myself with material week after week to step to the pulpit and attempt to leave the people with something worthwhile. But that’s actually where the problem lies. There is not a single church doctrine that is worthwhile. In fact, I dare say that one of the single greatest threats to pure New Testament Christianity is church doctrines.
Now before I go any further it might be beneficial for me to define my terms. When I say “church doctrines” I’m talking about those doctrines (traditions) that are unique to different churches because those churches originated them. Their roots cannot be traced all the way back to the Bible, only to the movement that formed that particular religion/church. Really they are nothing more than opinions, whether of consequence or not, that have been turned into doctrines. They are divisive and they are wrong. All of them.
Looking for an example? Think back to Matthew 15. One of Jesus’ primary enemies throughout His ministry was the Judaic sect of the Pharisees. These high and mighty legalists considered themselves the saviors of the law but realistically they were self-serving, opinionated, and mean spirited enemies of God. They bound their traditions while ignoring “weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23). But it was after one particular run-in with these hard hearted individuals that Jesus condemned their self-made doctrines in this way – “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). In other words, if the Pharisees were a church their legalistic approach to their traditions would have been church doctrines; having no root in the Bible, only in their minds.
There is a whole lot of the same thing in our world today; religions that have concocted their own belief system with little to no attention given to its Biblical validity. These are what I refer to by church doctrines. And the reason I wish for a world without church doctrines is because no church should have any doctrine that is not directly rooted in the Bible (Revelation 22:18-19). In other words, we should have no interest in church doctrines.
We should, however, have a great interest in and reverence for Bible doctrine. Bible doctrine is not rooted in man’s opinion. Bible doctrine is God’s law, plain and simple. But what’s the difference. After all, there are a whole lot of church doctrines being passed off as Bible doctrines and few people seem to even notice. It all has to do with authority. Think of it through the filter of these words: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the father by him” (Colossians 3:17). Was that doctrine given by God? Was that doctrine approved by God? Was that doctrine implied by God? If not it is not a Bible doctrine. It is an opinion that has been turned into a church doctrine and that is a mighty dangerous thing.
I wish for a world without church doctrines. If a belief or practice cannot be traced beyond the Reformation Movement to the Bible, I’m not interested. If a belief or practice cannot be traced beyond the Restoration Movement to the Bible, I’m not interested. What I am interested in, and what you should be interested in, is Bible authority. Truth. God’s word. Nothing more and nothing less. And if we all spent a little more time in that word searching out that truth defined by that authority then there would be less church doctrine and more New Testament Christianity. And what a wonderful world that would be.
-Andy Brewer
Kudos good sir. This seems similar to a discussion we’ve had on another one of your blogs.