Verses to ponder and reflect on:
"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching [i.e., doctrine]" (1 Tim. 4: 13, ESV).
"Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity ..." (Heb. 6:1, ESV).
The body of Christ is one no matter where you go and you can have fellowship with a believer no matter what church he attends (fellowship actually could mean two fellows in the same ship). We truly are "one in the Spirit." But there must be commonality and unity (not necessarily uniformity) to have fellowship and you can fellowship with someone of a different denomination or doctrinal persuasion, but never think this implies doctrine is not important and that God doesn't expect us to learn the truth and be dedicated to its dissemination. You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand--you can agree to disagree and find common ground to fellowship on--All Christians have Jesus in common and should not get so sectarian that they don't love the brethren, regardless of affiliation.
The Bible refutes the notion that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere--the common fallacy of today's worldview. Paul exhorted Timothy to "Keep a close watch on [himself] and on the teaching [literally, doctrine]. Persist in this, for by so doing [he] will save both [himself] and [his] hearers" (1 Tim. 4:16, ESV). You can be sincerely wrong, though sincerity is important. We can be singing kumbaya around a campfire and learn to get along because we're all Christians (members of one church should have no internal dispute--yes--but cross-town rivals might!).
Timothy was told not to neglect the gift he had--he reportedly was a church troubleshooter, and I believe this is a sort of theologian. Mainstream denominations are highly ecumenical in that they believe in interdenominational cooperation despite differences of doctrine. Sure, there are major doctrines we should not compromise, but we should never major on the minors and divide Christ. This was the mistake of Corinth that had become highly sectarian. There is a place for forgetting our differences and let love be the rule of the day, like when we translate Bibles and don't want to have a sectarian bias, or charitable and outreach programs that they can concur on. But nowhere does the Bible authorize that we neglect doctrine or its value to make us grow up in the Lord. "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine ..." (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16).
Ignorance is not bliss and God puts no premium on it and expects believers to responsibly study according to their abilities and become genuine students of the Word: "... If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples" (John 8:12, ESV). What is implied is this: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free [Jesus called God's Word Truth and said we are sanctified by it in John 17:17]." We are not born free as humans, but in bondage to sin and must be set free by Christ ("If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed," cf. John 8:36).
Paul exhorts Titus: "But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1, ESV). Notice that Paul says in v. 1 that the knowledge of the truth accords with godliness--there's a correlation! It is by the acquisition of truth that we become sanctified as I quoted in John 17:17. He also says, "... give instruction in sound doctrine ..." (Titus 1:9, ESV). We need to know doctrine, according to Paul in Ephesians 4:14 so that we will not "be tossed to and fro ... by every wind of doctrine ...."
I don't know if there is a gift of being a theologian or if some people just have the knack for it and seem to excel in organized, systematic thinking and analysis of Bible teaching or doctrine. But no one in the body is superfluous and unnecessary--the body needs theologians too, no matter what the gift may be. A good theologian can identify a false doctrine a mile away and organizes his teaching and be thinking so as to be able to categorize it and disseminate it in an orderly way--let everything be done decently and in order according to 1 Cor. 14:40. Theologians have a viewpoint because they usually belong to a certain school of thought and tend to interpret things partially--remember, there is no such thing as perfect objectivity, except with God.
It has its limits: For instance, you aren't going to convince a devoted Arminian that he can't lose his salvation--he has interpreted the whole Bible while denying that premise. I remember that when God opened my eyes to the truth of eternal security it seemed like scales came off my eyes and the whole of Scripture was opened in meaning to me with a viewpoint (I previously had no opinions or didn't know what to believe or even who to believe). Soli Deo Gloria!
"Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching [i.e., doctrine]" (1 Tim. 4: 13, ESV).
"Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity ..." (Heb. 6:1, ESV).
The body of Christ is one no matter where you go and you can have fellowship with a believer no matter what church he attends (fellowship actually could mean two fellows in the same ship). We truly are "one in the Spirit." But there must be commonality and unity (not necessarily uniformity) to have fellowship and you can fellowship with someone of a different denomination or doctrinal persuasion, but never think this implies doctrine is not important and that God doesn't expect us to learn the truth and be dedicated to its dissemination. You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand--you can agree to disagree and find common ground to fellowship on--All Christians have Jesus in common and should not get so sectarian that they don't love the brethren, regardless of affiliation.
The Bible refutes the notion that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere--the common fallacy of today's worldview. Paul exhorted Timothy to "Keep a close watch on [himself] and on the teaching [literally, doctrine]. Persist in this, for by so doing [he] will save both [himself] and [his] hearers" (1 Tim. 4:16, ESV). You can be sincerely wrong, though sincerity is important. We can be singing kumbaya around a campfire and learn to get along because we're all Christians (members of one church should have no internal dispute--yes--but cross-town rivals might!).
Timothy was told not to neglect the gift he had--he reportedly was a church troubleshooter, and I believe this is a sort of theologian. Mainstream denominations are highly ecumenical in that they believe in interdenominational cooperation despite differences of doctrine. Sure, there are major doctrines we should not compromise, but we should never major on the minors and divide Christ. This was the mistake of Corinth that had become highly sectarian. There is a place for forgetting our differences and let love be the rule of the day, like when we translate Bibles and don't want to have a sectarian bias, or charitable and outreach programs that they can concur on. But nowhere does the Bible authorize that we neglect doctrine or its value to make us grow up in the Lord. "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine ..." (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16).
Ignorance is not bliss and God puts no premium on it and expects believers to responsibly study according to their abilities and become genuine students of the Word: "... If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples" (John 8:12, ESV). What is implied is this: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free [Jesus called God's Word Truth and said we are sanctified by it in John 17:17]." We are not born free as humans, but in bondage to sin and must be set free by Christ ("If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed," cf. John 8:36).
Paul exhorts Titus: "But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1, ESV). Notice that Paul says in v. 1 that the knowledge of the truth accords with godliness--there's a correlation! It is by the acquisition of truth that we become sanctified as I quoted in John 17:17. He also says, "... give instruction in sound doctrine ..." (Titus 1:9, ESV). We need to know doctrine, according to Paul in Ephesians 4:14 so that we will not "be tossed to and fro ... by every wind of doctrine ...."
I don't know if there is a gift of being a theologian or if some people just have the knack for it and seem to excel in organized, systematic thinking and analysis of Bible teaching or doctrine. But no one in the body is superfluous and unnecessary--the body needs theologians too, no matter what the gift may be. A good theologian can identify a false doctrine a mile away and organizes his teaching and be thinking so as to be able to categorize it and disseminate it in an orderly way--let everything be done decently and in order according to 1 Cor. 14:40. Theologians have a viewpoint because they usually belong to a certain school of thought and tend to interpret things partially--remember, there is no such thing as perfect objectivity, except with God.
It has its limits: For instance, you aren't going to convince a devoted Arminian that he can't lose his salvation--he has interpreted the whole Bible while denying that premise. I remember that when God opened my eyes to the truth of eternal security it seemed like scales came off my eyes and the whole of Scripture was opened in meaning to me with a viewpoint (I previously had no opinions or didn't know what to believe or even who to believe). Soli Deo Gloria!
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