What Controls Your Doctrine?

A friend of mine recently spoke of a motto that used to be said in the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ: “if doctrine doesn’t control our vocabulary, vocabulary will control our doctrine.” Consider the implications of that statement. Essentially, if we don’t say Bible things the way the Bible puts them, our doctrine will follow man-made rules. But this isn’t new. We (mankind) have been doing this from the beginning:

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17

It’s fairly straightforward, right? God blessed Adam with any tree of the Garden save one, and told him that on the day he eats from it, he would die. When Eve repeated the rule to the serpent, she added to the law:

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:2)

Can you spot the addition? God said nothing about touching it. Why the addition? Why add to God’s command? What purpose could there be for it? I surmise that it is this: Adam and Eve desired the fruit they could not have. It is written:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1: 13-15)

Adam and Eve were tested and tempted, not by God placing the tree there, but by their own desire for it, and so, to help themselves avoid the tree, they added “do not touch” to the command. We know that when they spoke to the serpent, they were in proximity to the tree, so this command would be necessary, wouldn’t it? But had they obeyed the command of God, the one Law they were given, sin, and thus death, would never have entered in to the world. The world would not be cursed. Children wouldn’t get sick, storms, and earthquakes and other such disasters wouldn’t occur, pain, sorrow and suffering wouldn’t have a place. But Adam and Eve added to the Word of God. Fast forward to Jesus’ time, the Pharisees had additional traditions to “help” them follow the 613 points of the Levitical law, and those traditions often trumped the Authority of Scripture in their view.

In the same way, we try to help God’s word along. We add to the commands, we let illustrations become tools to help our doctrine along, and we treat those illustrations as good as Scriptures. Why is this important? Why does HOW we say things matter so much? Because, as Scripture proves, our nature is to try and do things our way, and the language controls the doctrine and belief. If we do not hold the things of God to the language of the Bible, we will add to it, as our ancestors once did, and those additions will rule over our faith. Following God’s word as He dictates it is vital! Otherwise, we’re trying to find a way to control our faith, instead of surrendering to the will and word of God. Be careful! Dig in to your Bible! Let the language of the Scripture dictate the terms, not the commentaries or notes in the margins, or even how a preacher puts it! Let the Living Word of God through the Holy Spirit lead! He doesn’t need our help!

John 14

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.