Shortly after I was introduced to the man who serves faithfully as my pastor, and who I am privileged to call my friend, he began a series of sermons that staked out the cornerstones of sound theology which would direct the ministry of our church body. (This was in his first year as pastor of our church.) The subjects of the four sermons were:
- A High View of God
- A Correct View of Man
- A Pure Gospel
- The Authority of Scripture
From time to time in the years since the first time I heard this series, he will return to the topic as a refresher for those who have long been part of our church, and as a primer for those who have joined our fellowship more recently. To some, these principles would seem elementary to the point of eliciting a "duh." To others, they are revolutionary.
Each of these ideas is vital to holding and teaching sound doctrine. The neglect or ignorance of any one of them will radically distort the ministry of a church.
I had not given much conscious thought to the teaching of these sermons in several years - they've seemingly become part of the fabric of my pattern of thinking, as the way I analyze everything now passes through this grid. As I have spent more time examining the teaching and practice of the Emerging Church, I have been spurred to ponder these cornerstones again. It is my belief that those in the Emerging movement almost universally get all four areas wrong.
This led me to wonder where Emergent first left the narrow road. What erroneous (or demonic, or heretical) doctrine did they first embrace, thus allowing the Emergent train to jump the tracks?
Have you ever seen a loose tire get away from someone? It might have happened at a racetrack, or a tire store, or even your own garage. A tire rolling by itself has one big problem - it is very prone to wobbling. Once the wobbling begins, the tire is virtually certain to eventually fall over on the ground. What prevents a tire mounted on your car (and reasonably well balanced) from exhibiting this same behavior? The axle. The tire is mounted on the rim of a wheel, and the wheel is then fastened to the hub with lug nuts. The hub in turn revolves around the axle. The tire, wheel, and hub essentially become one, and they all rotate at the same rate. The axle, however, stays fixed, and the hub/wheel/tire assemble revolves around it.
So the key to having a tire rotate in a stable fashion is for it to have a fixed point, or axle, around which to rotate.
If we were to take the four cornerstone ideas above and place them in this tire and wheel analogy so that our doctrine operated (rotated) in a stable fashion, which would function as the axle, providing a fixed point for the rest of the assembly? Let's take a look at each.
A correct view of man by itself cannot reveal a pure Gospel, nor produce a sufficiently high view of God, as one would be dependent only upon natural revelation to form this view of God. So a correct view of man cannot be the axle.
A high view of God is vital to having a correct view of man, as God is the only truly useful point of reference to which man can be compared. However, a high view of God alone cannot go very far toward discovering or identifying a pure Gospel. A high view of God cannot be the axle.
What about a pure Gospel? The essence of the Gospel is that man is sinful and cannot be reconciled to a righteous, holy, perfect and just God, and so God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the worthy, perfect sacrifice so that God's just wrath over man's sin might be satisfied for the benefit of all who repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ. This contains the seed of a high view of God, and a correct view of man. So is this our axle? I say no.
The authority (and availability) of Scripture is the one thing that can foster all of the others. The Scriptures reveal a holy, righteous, patient, loving, just God. His glory is on display as His wrath is satisfied in the sacrifice of His Sin Jesus on the Cross of Calvary. These truths are communicated in Scripture. Man in all his depravity is likewise on display throughout the Scriptures, and thus a correct view of man is possible from studying the Scriptures. Finally, the Gospel in all its purity is communicated nowhere else as in the Scriptures. So, we have our axle - the authority of the Scripture.
It is belief in the authority of the Word of God, and the diligent study thereof, that allows man to hold correct doctrine concerning God, man, and the Gospel. Any step away from this core truth - this stabilizing axle - puts man and the Church in peril. Once man has rejected the Scriptures as the revealed truth of God, useful for teaching, correcting, reproof and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17), every other doctrine is open to debate, to question, and to rejection. When experience trumps truth, right doctrine cannot endure.
This, then, is where the Emergent/emerging movement jumped the track. You will hear Emergent disciples speak of the Scriptures as a changing collection of teaching. God's word, however, declares itself unchanging and eternal.
Often, questioning the meaning and authority of the Bible will be presented by Emergents as a outgrowth of humility. In saying this, Emergents are faulting all who would express certainty about the teaching and meaning of Scripture for arrogance. (Indeed, this very post is liable to elicit condemnation as the work of an arrogant evangelical.) Is this criticism legitimate?
Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and a brilliant thinker, addressed this issue of how we view and respect the Word in a
blog post some time ago. His words issue a blunt challenge to all who would veil their rejection of the truth of Scripture in supposed humility.
What we need is humble theology--theology which submits itself to the truth of God's Word. "Liberal" theology--theology which does not view Scripture as finally trustworthy and authoritative--is not humble before the Word. Churches which are tentative and decry dogmatism may sound humble, but it is not truly humble to do anything other than to submit to God's Word. Christian humility is to simply accept whatever God has revealed in His Word. Humility is following God's Word wherever it goes, as far as it goes, not either going beyond it or stopping short of it. …
The humility we want in our churches is to read the Bible and believe it–everything God has said, dogmatically, and humbly! It is not humble to be hesitant where God has been clear and plain.
What about you? Are you willing to accept the Word of God as His revealed truth, and conform your life and beliefs to its teaching? Or will you subjugate the Word of God to the "truths" revealed through your own experience?
The Bible, the very Word of God, must be our source and measure of all that is true. Apart from this, we cease to be the Church, and become idolaters, worshiping the creation of man.
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