Doctrinal Drift

In the famous story “Pilgrims Progress” by the Puritan John Bunyan, there is a moment in the story when the two pilgrims, Christian and Hopeful were journeying along the path that led to the Celestial City but they had become weary of the path that they were on and wanted to find an easier route. Noticing that there was a more scenic route in the adjacent field known in the story as “Bypath Meadow”, they hopped over the stile and walked along the new path. This initially proved to be much easier for them and it was on this new path that they also met a man called “Vain Confidence” who assured them that the path would lead them to the Celestial Gate. But when it got dark “Vain Confidence” fell into a pit that had been laid out as a snare, a storm came and the two pilgrims realised that they were stuck and could go no further because of the flooding and they subsequently fell asleep. The following morning they were accosted and caught by the Giant named “Despair” and locked up in “Doubting Castle.” [1]

I believe that there is a real parallel to this part of the story and many modern-day Christians, there is a shallow Christianity that seems to be an easy path, and yet it is fraught with snares and ultimately leads to despair and doubt. I have tragically seen many professing Christians who were not concerned about maturing in their faith who have fallen away into all kinds of false teaching and are no longer walking with God. In the letter to the Hebrews, the writer warns the Jewish believers:

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” (Hebrews 2:1 ESV)

He is urging them to be concerned about holding fast to their confession of faith because their very salvation depends on it. He then goes on to warn them “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” The Puritan John Owen, commenting on this verse warns that:

“Diligent attention to the word of the Gospel is vitally necessary to persevere in the profession of it. There are many different times and seasons, ways, and means in which men are in danger of losing the word that they have heard if they are not diligent in keeping it. The word that is heard is not lost without the great sin and the inevitable ruin of the souls of men.” [2]

One of the main reasons for this alarming drift is that there is the idea in many mainstream churches that doctrine isn’t very important and all that matters is your spiritual experiences and encounters in your walk with the Lord. So sound doctrine is often regarded in more charismatic circles as something that conservative Christians are more concerned about. Many charismatic Christians would appear to believe that doctrine isn’t just irrelevant but unhelpful and divisive, and so they jettison doctrine completely. Over the years, the lack of biblical expository preaching, use of historic creeds and confessions, and biblical hymns has led to a removal of theological “guide rails” which are there to keep the church fully orthodox. This rejection of doctrine for the most part can be traced back to the 1970s, when there was a considerable backlash to what had become a rather “dry” and dead religion in the UK Church. So the historic creeds and confessions, expository preaching, and biblical hymns were replaced with topical and prophetic preaching (often filled with stories and anecdotes) and modern songs that lacked the doctrinal depth of the old hymns. But in doing so, the guide rails to faith and biblical orthodoxy were removed, and as a consequence the charismatic church has typically become a breeding ground for false teaching.

One example of this is a particular phrase that I have often heard whilst ministering in charismatic church circles: "Christian discipleship isn’t so much about doctrine and what we believe but who we follow”, and many people in the modern charismatic church context would hold to a similar sentiment. But the problem with that kind of statement is that it divorces the Lord Jesus Christ - the One who is the Word, from His written word and the covenant relationship with God lived out in obedience. Jesus says in His Great Commission to His disciples:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matt 28:19-20 ESV)

The French theologian Francis Turretin argues that:

“It was necessary for a written word to be given to the Church that the canon of true religious faith might be constant and unmoved; that it might easily be preserved pure and entire against the weakness of memory, the depravity of men and the shortness of life; that it might be more certainty defended from the frauds and corruptions of Satan; that it might more conveniently not only be sent to the absent and widely separated, but also be transmitted to posterity.” [3]

There is this rather naive and dangerous idea in the charismatic church world that Christian discipleship and following Jesus mainly consists of having an encounter with God, with the outworking of this being a behavioural improvement, standing up against social injustice, or perhaps even performing signs and wonders. And yet there is often no real mention of growing in spiritual maturity and our knowledge of God, bearing the Fruits of the Spirit in our lives, and being devoted to prayer, worship, and studying the Scriptures. This view is not just immature and misinformed but it completely goes against what the Bible teaches us. The whole canon of Scripture provides us with the means to learn about God and come to know Him on a much deeper and personal level, as the Holy Spirit ministers to us, revealing truths and revelations to us from God’s Word. Having already established the importance of the written Word of God, Turretin goes on to make a very important point concerning the Holy Spirit:

“The Holy Spirit by whom believers should be God-taught does not render the Scripture less necessary. He is not given to us in order to introduce new revelations, but to impress the written word on our hearts; so that here the Word must never be separated from the Spirit. The former works objectively, the latter efficiently; the former strikes the ears from without, and the latter opens the heart within. The Spirit is the teacher, Scripture is the doctrine which He teaches us.” [4]

In this quote Turretin is also referring to God speaking through His prophet Isaiah:

“‘And as for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says The LORD: ‘My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,’ says the LORD, ‘from this time forth and forevermore.’” (Isaiah 59:21 ESV)

So if the main way that we come to God fully is through His written Word then the sobering truth is that so many Christians do not know God as they should because they are relying on a shallow, experience-driven faith. But the truth is that without being devoted to the Word of God we cannot know Him. In describing the connection between the Lord Jesus and the Scriptures the Dutch-American theologian Geerhardus Vos, writing in the early Twentieth Century, argued that:

“The genuine believer takes the whole of Scripture as a living organism produced by the Holy Spirit to present Christ to him. On every page of Scripture, he finds traits and traces of the Mediator. He regards each declaration of God in this light. One should purpose to grasp this close connection vividly — that we recognise and know nothing of Christ other than through and from Scripture.” [5]

So as we devote ourselves to reading and living God’s Word we come to a better understanding of His law, His character, what pleases Him and what angers Him, the incarnation and birth, earthly ministry, atoning death on the Cross, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also read about the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and the growth of the early church, the teaching, and doctrine in the letters to the early church, and the apostle John’s vision of the end times in Revelation. Through diligent biblical study, we come to understand that the whole of Scripture is about Christ and God’s plan of salvation for His people through Him, and God speaks to us today through His Word as we see how these promises in Scripture also apply to us, they are the assurance and benefits of the Gospel for the believer.

Footnotes:

[1] John Bunyan “Pilgrims Progress” (Banner of Truth, 2017) p127-131

[2] John Owen “Hebrews Vol.2” (Banner of Truth, 2018) p464 (my own paraphrase)

[3] Francis Turretin “Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol.1” (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1992) p58

[4] Francis Turretin “Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol.1” (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1992) p58

[5] Geerhardus Vos “Reformed Dogmatics” (Lexham Press 2012-2016) p727