Theological Growing Pains
When I began to study the Bible in earnest, I knew there was a lot of material to learn. The Bible is a big book. Having the Holy Spirit as my teacher, there was such joy in learning the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ. I was on the fast track to knowing God.
As time passed, there was a growing paradox in my experience. I was aware that I had underestimated the number and amount of doctrine contained in the Bible. My experience was like me setting out to cross a lake in a small boat. The further I traveled, the bigger the lake.
The other side of the paradox was the ground I had covered. I really was growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). My ability to navigate my way through the Bible was ever enhancing. I could explain the progression of thought and themes of individual books. Eventually, the arc of the “big story” became clear.
Love for the biblical text was ever-increasing, along with the joy of adding a new text to a certain doctrine I was meditating on. All the while, peace enveloped me, as I reveled in the truth, revealed by God to man. Still, I was keenly aware that others were not embracing the Bible with me.
When given the privilege of teaching Scripture, I realized the hostility people have toward true biblical doctrine. At one point, I was team teaching with an elder and long-time teacher of the Word. The book of doctrines we were teaching through had a chapter on God’s providence. He absolutely refused to teach the chapter or the doctrine. He did not believe in the sovereignty of God, nor the outworking of God’s eternal decree in time (providence).
There were others who believed and taught ideas, they claimed were rooted in Scripture, such as: perfectionism, annihilationism, rapture theory, speaking in tongues, Saturday Sabbath, women elders, etc. Christian theology produced three, four, and sometimes five views on one doctrine. Theology and theologians were all over the proverbial map, claiming they had found gold where others had not.
The Bible teaches that there is one Christ, one church, one Spirit, and one faith common to all the saints. I was reminded by the New Testament epistles and Revelation 2–3 that in the world, the church has trouble…lots of trouble. Theology was clearly a trouble spot.
My experience of confusion and disappointment with Christianity was common. Even more paradoxes were observed. Some churches had (and maybe still have) aspirations to take over (Christianize) the world. Others were convinced they could change the world (still popular, today). The ambition of sheep, to rule the animal kingdom, might be our picture here. It is never going to happen. I had to learn that.
Many pressed obedience to the Law, and in time, my own failures were so voluminous, I needed a “re-read the Bible reality check,” to correct that impossible goal. My body of death, in a fallen world, was not equipped for such lofty ambitions. In fact, most of what I had been taught about Christian living, only sunk me further into failure after failure. Like many, I flirted with leaving the impossibility of the Christian life.
By God’s grace, there was always someone or some book that crossed my path, bringing correction to my wrong understanding of this or that doctrine. I am always grateful when I can put wrong teaching behind me. Still, I am humbled, moving forward in my theology, for all that bad teaching behind me: popery, KJV-only, Arminianism, Zionism, and countless other ideas I was taught, practiced, and later discarded.
I am fully aware that theologians, far more learned and wiser have gone before me. I am a twig among Sequoias, even among my contemporaries. One verse from the Bible seems fitting, for the close of this musing on theology growing pains. Despite all the deficiencies in my doctrinal understanding, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him, until that day (2 Tim 1:12).
Theology is not a performance or a competition among men. Rather, it is an exercise of God’s grace, leading each one of us through the quagmire of lies, deceit and false doctrine. God is leading His people through the valley of the shadow of bad theological ideas.
The student of theology and lover of Christ is encouraged to press on. Never be discouraged by the silly theology you once held dear. Rather, give thanks to God for the trail of carnage, laden with discarded, doctrines of demons. Move on. Keep growing. Your subject is Christ Jesus, and it does not get more promising than Him.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 3, 2020
