We are continuing our review of the Mission Statement and the Founder’s Statement in order to refocus on the essential emphases of The Sword and Trumpet. In the previous article we briefly talked about what is meant by “the whole Gospel of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ” and about the essence of doctrinal error. By doctrinal error, we mean “anything that is inconsistent with or opposed to the clear teaching of Scripture.” We at The Sword and Trumpet aim to “defend…the whole Gospel” by “exposing and opposing doctrinal error” (Mission Statement).
In future articles we will expand on what it means to expose and oppose doctrinal error. As we move in that direction, we need to ask the question, “Where does doctrinal error come from?”
This question would be unnecessary in a perfect world. God’s inspired Word is clear and sufficient, and if everyone understood it and received it error would not exist. But in reality we will always face some measure of error because our minds and hearts will always be tainted by sin on this side of eternity. Even those who are being renewed day by day are not free from the blurring and distorting effects of the fall. We will deal with error in one form or another until Christ returns and makes all things new again.
Until then, we need to be aware of the causes of error. We will examine these along a progression, from outright rejection of Scripture to the subtle misunderstandings which come from ignorance or improper teaching.[1]
Rejecting Scripture
First, some doctrinal error comes from an outright rejection of Scripture. Some people are unwilling to submit to the truth when confronted with it, totally rejecting any authority Scripture may have over them. They have no regard for truth, no regard for the claims of Scripture, no concern to submit themselves to God.
This is exemplified in Paul’s interaction with the governor Felix as recorded in Acts 24:24-25. “Felix…sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.’” Felix was curious about the truth and asked Paul to come and tell him about “the faith in Christ.” But when Paul spoke the truth clearly and it began to make demands on Felix’s life, he rejected it. He would not listen to the truth—though he understood it—because the price was too high. In the end, he rejected salvation. Felix was of the type described in Romans 2:5, those who have hard and impenitent hearts and are “treasuring up…wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” This is open-faced opposition to biblical truth.
Distorting Scripture
Second, some doctrinal error comes from an intentional distortion of Scripture. This is perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when we think of doctrinal error—those who willfully twist the Bible to make it say things God never intended it to mean. They abandon the clear meaning of the words and all sensible hermeneutics, choosing to squeeze Scripture into their preconceptions rather than conforming their ideas to the word of God. Peter identifies them in his second epistle: “Untaught and unstable persons [who] twist (the Scriptures) to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). They may sprinkle Bible verses through their teaching to validate it, but they are out of step with what the verses actually mean. J. C. Wenger said, “It is sometimes said that one can prove anything from the Bible. This silly statement is true only if people sufficiently depart from sound principles of interpretation.”[2] Much error stems from deliberately disregarding the actual content of the Bible.
Lopsided Bible Knowledge
Third, some doctrinal error comes from lopsided Bible knowledge. When this happens, certain truths of Scripture are pushed while others are neglected. A perennial example of this is the tendency to juxtapose God’s righteousness and His love. Sometimes God’s perfect character is so emphasized as to leave sinners helplessly distant from God’s mercy toward them even in their imperfections. They know that God is holy, and that they are not, and they either futilely attempt to be good enough for Him or they collapse in despair. Likewise, God’s love (defined merely as His leniency toward sin) can be emphasized so that the sinner feels he does not need to repent of his sin in order to experience God’s favor. Distortion in either direction (toward God’s love or toward God’s righteousness) constitutes grave error.
It is rightly said that most heresy results from pushing one truth to the extreme to the exclusion of all other truth. Universalism (the belief that all men will eventually make it to heaven) makes much of Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 2:4: “God desires all men to be saved.” Rob Bell famously asked, “Does God get what God wants?” If God gets what God wants, and He wants all men to be saved, doesn’t that mean that everyone will eventually make it to heaven? This idea makes sense if this verse is isolated from other relevant passages. But it falls apart when we take it alongside the manifold passages which make plain that only those who believe in Christ will be saved. The rest will depart into everlasting torment, from which no second salvation exists. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
Underdeveloped Bible Knowledge
Fourth, some doctrinal error comes from an underdeveloped understanding of Scripture. Those who fall into this error sincerely want to be faithful to Scripture, but they (for various reasons) have not correctly understood what the Bible says. As compared to the previous reason, these people are not deliberately distorting Scripture, but they have misunderstood it nonetheless.
We see an example of this in Acts 18:24-28. Apollos, a Jew described as eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, comes to Ephesus. He “spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord.” Yet it was necessary for Aquila and Priscilla to take him aside and explain the way of God to him “more accurately.” We aren’t told exactly what was deficient in Apollos’ preaching, though we can surmise that it had to do with his understanding of Christ. When he came to Ephesus, he taught the things of the Lord—probably deduced from the Old Testament. But when he traveled on to Achaia after Aquila and Priscilla explained the gospel to him, we find him “showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” Apollos needed to have his doctrine corrected and expanded in light of the New Covenant. So too, sometimes we need our errant understandings—even those which stem from a sincere study of Scripture—to be corrected and expanded.
Improper Teaching
Fifth, some error results from improper teaching. God has in His wisdom appointed spiritual shepherds for His people. All believers are expected to live under not only the authority of the Bible but also under the authority of God’s appointed leaders. The reality is, sometimes these shepherds mislead their sheep. Sometimes they intentionally distort the truth, other times they replicate their own errant understandings. In either case, trusting church members are taught to believe things which are out of step with scriptural truth.
This is complex, and I must be careful. There is something intrinsically good about pastors who diligently lead their people and Christians who obediently follow them. Yet we cannot deny that much of the error which roams among us results from pastors who have either preached error or have failed to guard against it. Even men who are regarded as trustworthy ministers of truth may be found to minister a partial gospel or an adjusted gospel rather than the “whole Gospel of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Those who believe what they are taught by these men may be led to believe things which are out of step with “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
The solution is not to dispense with biblical leadership but rather for these leaders to recover the biblical gospel, then to lead their people into it. We need a revival of Bible-saturated, Christ-centered, Gospel-focused shepherds who love the Word and love the Christ of the Word.
Conclusion
Where does doctrinal error come from? This article provides only a brief survey of its sources. The Sword and Trumpet is committed to expose and oppose doctrinal error by pointing its readers back to the Bible. It alone will lead us aright. It truly is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).
[1] I follow a similar track in my Theological Touchpoints article released in the same issue of The Sword and Trumpet. There I look at external factors which mislead our search for the truth: Philosophy, Tradition, and Assumptions. Here we are looking at factors intrinsic to our interaction with Scripture.
[2] J. C. Wenger, Introduction to Theology, (Herald Press, 1954), 172.