“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of  an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

II Timothy 4.1-5

Christian doctrine is under attack. 

The words of Paul to Timothy are being proven true in our day: many in the church of Jesus Christ cannot endure sound doctrine. Entertaining stories, yes. Strong doctrine, no. 

Many in the Church today are teaching that doctrine is less rather than more important. “Yes,” they say, “doctrine has its place, but it’s getting in the way of the work of the Church.” These assert that focusing on doctrine has weakened the Church and its witness. Interesting. So, what then is this black leather book, and why is it cluttering up my pastoral desk and pulpit? More to the point, why has the Church so allowed it to clutter its history?

So-called experts tell us we need to rethink or “evolve” in our thinking when it comes to what have been the cardinal doctrines of the church for 21 centuries, the message of the people of God since our beginning. Even many of America’s “must hear” preachers advocate for a lesser-rather-than-greater emphasis on doctrine during this time of relativism. As if Paul didn’t have to deal with relativism, multi-culturalism, and pluralism in his time. What was he thinking, writing epistles of strong doctrine when the Roman Empire offered a full range of self-service religions and philosophies?

That calls for the disdain and dismissal of doctrine would come from American culture is not surprising – the world is offended by even the idea of absolute truth. But the Church itself seems to be nodding off in agreement. That these calls for the reduction and rejection of doctrine would come from within the Church is absolutely stunning. In fact, for the Church to diminish the vital importance of doctrine is nothing short of suicidal. We owe our very existence to doctrine – without it, we are not the church. And we have no Gospel to proclaim:

“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ (1 Cor. 12:3; Rom. 10:9) without speaking in a deeply doctrinal way, because this simple statement rests on profound biblical truths. It assumes that Christ is the eternal second member of the Trinity, who became uniquely God incarnate, was set forth as our substitutionary atonement, was raised from the dead having conquered all evil, and is now reigning sovereignly over all reality” (Ephesians 1:20–22).

Tim Challies

Recent polls reveal these attacks on doctrine have been frighteningly successful: large numbers of Americans reject cardinal Christian doctrines. Many are ravenously taking bite after bite of the apple of Eden, amening each other, “Has God really said?” (Genesis 3.1)

Not only do vast numbers of Americans now reject Christian doctrine, but studies of the Evangelical Church are not at all encouraging. Increasing numbers of Evangelicals reject cardinal Christian doctrine as well. If these multiple studies are accurate, our churches are filled with people who do not know Jesus Christ. Seated in the presence of God, they are far from Him. Why? For lack of knowledge – the absence of doctrine – the “people of God” are perishing (Hosea 4.6). 

Dorothy Sayers was a 20^th-century writer and philosopher. She was a close friend of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, and a “satellite” member of The Inklings, the renowned circle of thinkers and writers. Writing seventy years ago in an England that went the way of apostasy ahead of us, Sayers had this prophetic word for England in her time and America in ours:

“Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as a bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.”

Dorothy L. Sayers

“Dogma – doctrine – IS the drama.”

Pastor, preach and teach the Word. Do not yield to the pressures of the culture around your church or the culture within your church. As a soldier of Jesus Christ, preach the Word. As a faithful undershepherd of Jesus Christ, teach the Word. As one who speaks for God, preach the Word to a lost and dying world. 

Preach the Word. 

 (Unless the church embraces theology and teaches doctrine) “Christianity will remain simply a cultural convenience that will be discarded every time its teaching threatens our way of life. It will be powerless to yield the meaning that we need, powerless to preserve us in the way of God as we seek.”

David F. Wells

1. Challies, Tim. “What Is Doctrine and Why Is It Important?” Challies.com. Tim Challies, 2002-2021, 25 September 2017, https://www.challies.com/sponsored/what-is-doctrine-and-why-is-it-important/. Used by permission. 
2.  Sayers, Dorothy. Letters to a Diminished Church. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), p.1. Used by permission.
3.  Taken from No Place For Truth by David F. Wells. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993), p.254. Used by permission.

NOTE: This article comes from D. Alan Baker’s book, “Pensées: A 40-Day Devotional for Pastors,” available for purchase here or at your favorite online bookseller. 

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