Good Doctrine and the Gospel of Grace

I look back and am thankful to have been discipled by people who took doctrine seriously.  All of the pastors, professors, InterVarsity staff workers and others who shaped my faith were intent on having their faith and mine be well grounded biblically, clear, comprehensive in scope and with historical roots. 

From those beginnings, it was my conviction that there was a great divide between those (I confess: “of us”) with Good or “True” Doctrine and those with Bad or “False” Doctrine.  Forget where we draw that line between good and bad.  The point is that there was a line, and one should be concerned to be on the right side of it.

Now though, the Gospel has pointed me in a different direction, and given me a new challenge.  I have come to see that whatever line there might be is not between people, and less about Good Doctrine or Bad.  Instead, the gulf exists between those whose heart is being shaped by the Gospel of Grace through means of Good Doctrine and everyone else, regardless of doctrinal conviction.  Even closer to the truth is that the line runs through my own heart.  Is Good Doctrine shaping my own motivations to conform with the Gospel of Grace?  Or is my heart using Good Doctrine to pursue a self-salvation project of my own effort?

I’m just as committed to Good Doctrine as I ever was, because faithfulness is never less than Good Doctrine.  It’s just that now I see that faithfulness is always more than Good Doctrine alone.

A concrete example: To be confused about the nature of Christ will cloud the majesty of the Gospel of Grace.  But to simply repeat a doctrinal formula as a certification of orthodoxy, intelligence or righteousness is to miss the Gospel entirely.

In the Parable of the Two Sons – Luke 15:11-32 – Jesus shows us that each son is far from their Father.  One ran away in rebellion.  The other stayed home and obeyed the rules.  Both had lost contact with their Father – just in different ways.

If the Prodigal Son represents the life of those with Bad Doctrine, then the Elder Brother clearly presents us with the narrow, joyless, hard-bitten and self-righteous attitudes that so many experience from those of Good Doctrine without grace.

Finally, notice that I’ve not mentioned the content of Good Doctrine.  My own convictions are no shame or secret, but the content of Good Doctrine is for another time.  Here I want to focus on the purpose of any doctrine, namely to make the Gospel of Grace clear and firmly rooted in our lives.