The Mind of Christ in His Word: Part 2 (6)

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith… 1 Timothy 1.5

Doctrinal let-down
Like many physical maladies that can beset us, the spiritual condition of doctrinal revulsion is sometimes triggered by a preceding condition. We might refer to that condition as doctrinal let-down. Here’s how it works.

We get excited about sound doctrine because, well, we’ve heard this is really good stuff. Then we begin to apply ourselves to learning it. We read some books, take a course or two, and share in some “doctrine conversations” with Christian friends. Feeling like we’re “in the know” can be a heady experience, and this intellectual high can last for quite a while.

After a while, though, all this begins to feel a little stale. We keep going over the same doctrines, affirming the same positions, condemning the same opponents, and reaching the same conclusions concerning what we’re supposed to believe. But the excitement is gone. The adventure of learning has become wearisome, and we just don’t feel like we’re growing in the way we think we should.

Doctrine, we conclude, isn’t helping us know the full and abundant life Jesus promised (Jn. 10.10). Perhaps we should look somewhere else?

This is doctrinal let-down. Unchecked, it can lead to a serious case of doctrinal revulsion.

The problem
What’s the problem here? How does this happen?

There are three primary reasons for doctrinal let-down. First, what we are reading, studying, and discussing is incomplete doctrine – not false doctrine exactly, but incomplete, doctrine that tends to dwell on intellectual categories but that never sinks into the heart so that it issues through the life. A merely intellectual approach to doctrine does not renew the mind, but dulls it instead.

The second cause of doctrinal let-down is misunderstanding the nature of sound doctrine. Sometimes it’s not the writer or teacher’s fault that our understanding of doctrine is incomplete. Sometimes we become too easily contented with the substance of sound doctrine – all those terms, definitions, and arguments – and not sufficiently concerned about what it all means or how it applies.

And this is linked to the third cause of doctrinal let-down: not understanding that the use of all doctrine, and all study of doctrine, is love, and that doctrine is not sound until it comes to expression in our lives in ways that demonstrate growing love for God and our neighbors. This is the goal of all sound doctrine, the aim of all Christian instruction.

More than a mind challenge
For sound doctrine to do this work in us, however, we need to see it as something more than merely an intellectual exercise. We must study the truth, as the Spirit leads us in searching the Scriptures. But learning the truth is more than an activity of the mind.

Paul says sound doctrine must penetrate our hearts, examining our feelings and aspirations, ordering and refining our affections, and helping us learn what to desire and what to hate, according to what God is revealing in His Word.

At the same time, sound doctrine will impact our consciences as well, equipping us with new values and priorities to guide our new insights and affections into a faith rightly lived.

And then sound doctrine comes out in sincere faith, as Paul puts it. The word in the Greek is “unhypocritical.” We might say: Sound doctrine accomplishes its purpose as it forms the mind, engages the heart, and moves the will to acts of self-denying love. Sound doctrine is only sound when it issues in the kind of love that Jesus exemplified throughout His earthly sojourn, and which He continues to demonstrate even now as He intercedes on our behalf at the Father’s right hand.

To ward off doctrinal revulsion, beware of the onset of doctrinal let-down. As part of your daily reading and study of Scripture, take a good dose of sound doctrine – doctrine that engages your whole person and issues in love.

For reflection
1.  What do we mean by “incomplete” doctrine?

2.  How does “incomplete” doctrine contribute to doctrinal let-down and doctrinal revulsion?

3.  How can church members help one another to overcome the effects of incomplete doctrine?

Next steps – Transformation: What are some questions you might ask concerning the work of your Personal Mission Field, that turning to sound doctrine might help you answer?

T. M. Moore

This is part 5 of a multi-part series on the Christian mind. To download this week’s study as a free PDF, click here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.