{"id":147,"date":"2005-03-23T09:50:25","date_gmt":"2005-03-23T17:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tgdarkly.com\/blog\/?p=130"},"modified":"2005-03-23T09:50:25","modified_gmt":"2005-03-23T17:50:25","slug":"orthodoxy-orthopraxy-and-first-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2005\/03\/23\/orthodoxy-orthopraxy-and-first-john\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy, and First John"},"content":{"rendered":"

Messy Christian<\/a> writes thoughtfully about how “weary” she has become with Christian in-fighting in the blogsphere. I feel her pain. It’s too bad that some folks in the blogsphere seem to think that right doctrine (and here in America, right politics) is the sine qua non of the faith. Doctrine is important, but what’s more important is how we live (as McLaren likes to say, “orthopraxy”).<\/p>\n

In fact, our doctrine tells us so. I remember leading a Bible study on First John years ago and being unsettled by its emphasis on orthopraxy<\/em> and it’s relative lack of emphasis on orthodoxy<\/em>. Can it be more clear than this: “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. . . . Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3, 6).
\n
\nAnd again: “This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10.)<\/p>\n

And again: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:18.)<\/p>\n

And again: “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” (1 John 3:23-24)<\/p>\n

Notice here that the “belief” command isn’t a command to believe in a propositional doctrinal statement — we’re commanded to “believe in the name of … Jesus Christ” — to have a living relationship with a living Lord.<\/p>\n

And again: “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:7-12)<\/p>\n

And again: “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.” (1 John 4:13-15)<\/p>\n

Notice again that the proposition to be acknowledged is one of relationship<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And again: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:1-5)<\/p>\n

Notice again that the only proposition to be believed is one of relationship<\/em>, and that by faith in the person<\/em> of Christ we gain the victory to live as God commands.<\/p>\n

And finally: “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true\u2013even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”<\/p>\n

Again, the understanding is not primarily propositional, it’s primarily relational<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ok, I know the response — “right doctrine leads to right practice.” The problem is, I’ve know too many people, both online and in the “real” world, who had every jot and tittle doctrinally but were nasty S.O.B.’s. Sometimes — often? — too much “right” doctrine leads to arrogance.<\/p>\n

So let’s discuss doctrine, let’s strive mightily to learn and understand the richness of the propositional truths of our faith, let’s humbly but skillfully point out tends towards serious doctrinal error, but at the same time let’s remember that our greatest<\/em> task and the first<\/em> test of our faith is relational<\/em>: an acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ and a living faith in him which manifests itself in actions characterized by love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Messy Christian writes thoughtfully about how “weary” she has become with Christian in-fighting in the blogsphere. I feel her pain. It’s too bad that some folks in the blogsphere seem to think that right doctrine (and here in America, right politics) is the sine qua non of the faith. Doctrine is important, but what’s more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-2n","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}