Getting the Gospel Right
The irony of those who boast in a “plain reading of the Scripture,” is how much they get wrong. Getting the Gospel right is no easy task. I have earnestly been searching the Scripture for 25 years now, and I am still finding treasure, to meld into my understanding of sound doctrine.
Theology shifts. On occasion, there is an earthquake, as when an Arminian begins to see the sovereignty of God and the Doctrines of Grace. It was amazing when I realized the church was the Israel of God, or when my understanding of eschatology moved from Pre-Trib/Pre-Mill to Amillennialism (which made much more sense).
It is far more common to be meditating on a phrase in a verse that suddenly adds another support to the doctrinal truth one is musing on. Now there is even more joy, more boldness that comes from the added support. This is especially important as one notes the thinning crowd, as the difficult doctrines become clearer.
As John the Baptist decreased in ministry scope, so the purer one’s doctrine becomes, the fewer the people who tolerate it. The world certainly wants nothing to do with a pastor/theologian, who labors for sound doctrine. The other reality is how little the church wants to deal with earnest men of the Word.
A.W. Pink was a classic case of a pastor, who was rejected by church after church because of his ever-improving view of the Scriptures. I once stood in the pulpit of Thomas Boston, in utterly rural Ettrick, in the Scottish Borders. I marveled at the small status of everything there, even today, some 400 years after his ministry.
Some men of God must get the Gospel right. It is their life’s ambition to really and truly know the truth from God’s Word. Solitary confinement is a friend to men of this type. The pastor/poet, George Herbert, died in the same type of obscurity. Christians would be wise to ask their English literature acquaintances about Herbert.
Articulating what is known is an entirely different challenge. One should be apt to confess the faith handed down to all the saints. Some traditions know the immense benefit of catechism, confessions, and creeds. Our neglect of those giants, from days gone by, is almost an unforgiveable sin.
When hard pressed by deceitful enemies of the cross, our forefathers in the faith came together as equals, to craft the precious documents the church possesses, today. Instead of visiting the produce of Nicaea, Constantinople, Dort, and Westminster, today’s stunningly shallow church is babbling on about wet kisses, in lyrics from by Hillsong and Bethel. How far we have fallen, and most do not care.
Sound doctrine is hard work. God has given us a lot of raw material to work with in Scripture. If the goal of our instruction is love, then, false teaching is the epitome of hate. May it never be that I should lead anyone astray. False teaching makes one’s sojourn that much more difficult.
Gospel sermons used to be long-forgotten by everyone, except maybe the preacher and his wife, but now, it seems as if everything is recorded and stored for future defamation. Theology is fluid and theologians are growing. The one who embraces doctrine without thought, impressed upon him by a cult or a denomination, is not wise.
What does the Scripture teach? What does that word, verse, book of the Bible mean? Does this piece fit with the whole of sound doctrine? How then should we live? These are important questions when we open our Bibles.
Woe to the man who is lax in the things of God. Woe to him, who is careless in handling the Word of life. Woe to him, who puts anything above the feeding of Christ’s sheep with the Word of truth. It is improbable that any theologian dies having cornered the market on truth, but it should be our ambition. This is for the sake of souls, one’s own…and those who pay attention to the ministry of the Word, stewarded by the one called to this work.
It will be my passion, if I am delivered from sleep, tomorrow, to engage in the noble task of getting the Gospel right, once again. Verses will be pieced together, in order to explain the meaning of doctrines that may be understood to some degree of veracity, but there is always more to know and always clearer expressions of biblical truth to be uttered or scribed.
Every Christian should share in this desire for getting the Gospel right. We should include this on our prayer request list. Knowing sound doctrine means we are knowing Christ Jesus more accurately, more intimately, as we delve deeper into the mysteries of the Gospel, graciously revealed to us by our God.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 15, 2020
