Doctrine is Not Our Mission

Doctrine is the shadow cast by the light of Christ as it falls across a culture. It is an indicator but not a manifestation of the nature of that light.

I was confirmed as a member of the Methodist Church in 5th grade. My instruction came from an old fashioned fire breathing Texas pastor amd I confess I remember little of the doctrinal content. I said my vows at age 10 and became a full member of the Methodist Church. If It had been 30 years earlier there would not have been a confirmation class at all - just stand up at the revival like my parents had and give your life to Jesus. That was the normal process of catechism until the middle of the 20th century.  

Less than 20 years after being confirmed I was examined by the North Texas Annual Conference BOM and went on to become a pastor in the now United Methodist Church. I don't recall the much about the process, but satisfying the BOM with regard to the orthodoxy of beliefs was far easier than satisfying Schubert Ogden and John Deschner at Perkins School of Theology. 

When it comes to orthodox Christian belief the questions asked at confirmation and those asked at ordination are the same. And they are the same as those repeated by the congregation in the service of baptism. They align with the affirmations of faith both pastors and congregations say every Sunday. 

And honestly, in the 47 years since I was confirmed I've never had someone stop the worship service by saying, "NO! I don't believe he was raised from the dead." Nor have I heard a pastor preach unitarianism or that Jesus was not raised from the dead. And I've never heard of a pastor telling a congregation that they won't be saying the Apostle's Creed any more because she has problems with the wording. 

I’m not saying it hasn't happened, just that it's vanishingly rare in my rather wide experience across 5 theological schools and thousands of worship services over 3 continents. 

What I have heard, both from my seminary students and in the countless Sunday school classes and Bible study groups, is questions about just what it means when we say the creed. How is God both One and Three? What happened on the cross that changed my relationship with God? What does it mean that Jesus was raised from the dead? 

And I've seen both lay persons and students (and pastors) struggle with how to articulate in meaningful contemporary language just what these affirmations really mean. Given the rather rigid constraints on Trinitarian orthodoxy we learned in Perkins I'd guess that 90% of the lay people I've met, all of whom were asked and continue to answer those basic confirmation questions, are heretics. 

Formal heresy is less likely among pastors because, well they went to school. But accidental heresy is pretty common in the sermons I've heard, especially children's sermons. "God is like an egg, which is one thing but with a separate shell, white, and yoke." 

But I invite anyone reading this to explain the Trinity in 5 minutes without just reiterating the words of the creed. If you think it is easy to get it right on Sunday morning then figure out how to reduce Anselm's "On the Trinity" to an elevator speech, or perhaps Bruce Marshall's "Trinity and Truth."  If getting it right were easy there wouldn't have been a succession of church councils that resulted in the expulsion of half the Christians on earth. 

Try explaining to a modern lay person how Jesus, after the resurrection, has both had a tangible physical body ("feel my hands and my feet") and yet appeared and disappeared unhindered by the constraints of such a body ("with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders.") It is easier to explain why it is important than how it happened. Paul helps us on the former, but not so much on the latter. 

But Paul was willing to admit seeing only a dim reflection of the truth of God, and didn't claim the omniscience of contemporary heretic hunters. 

So given the prevalence, real or ostensible, of heresy past and present how has the Church survived, converted countless persons, peoples, and lands to Jesus Christ, and overcome its divisions to last into the present day? The answer is simple. The followers of Christ, uncomprehending, doubtful, weak, and often misled have chosen to witness to Him rather than to their own doctrines about him. They have borne witness to his birth, ministry, death and resurrection rather than to their theological astuteness in formulating the creeds and following them up with endless volumes of systematic theology. 

They have offered the witness possible for them to offer while praying that the Holy Spirit will overcome their inadequacy. 

Because spreading orthodoxy is not our mission. Achieving theological uniformity is not our mission. Our mission is to communicate in relevant contemporary language the love of God revealed and decisively enacted in Jesus Christ. Such a response as is possible within God's providence is the work of Holy Spirit.

You will notice, I hope, my avoidance of Christian jargon. “Christ paid the price for my sins” is an example of such jargon. It may mean something in a culture that understands sin to be similar to money, and therefore subject to the rules of economic exchange. Or it may be meaningless because a culture doesn’t understand sin as a debt owed a bookkeeping God. (Have you seen Carousel?) Doctrines of the atonement have always been enculturated explanations of an event that transcends culture. As indeed are all Christian doctrines. They are as limited as the language and culture in which they are originally formed and articulated, and suffer the limits (and possibilities!) of every subsequent translation across cultures.  

Doctrine is the shadow cast by the light of Christ as it falls across a culture. It is an indicator but not a manifestation of the nature of that light.

That is why we don’t witness to doctrine, but to the One whose life, death, and resurrection both underlie and transcend doctrine. Doctrine is not our mission, but an important secondary means by which, through dialogue, we seek a unity possible only when, as Paul imagines, we see God face to face. Until then we have work to do on the one thing about which we should all agree - sharing the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ to a world in need.