Like Button

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Basic Principles

There are voices today that bemoan the sorry state of the Church. Too many believers are fed pablum. Too many Christians don't know their own Bibles, don't know basic doctrine, don't know the simple truths of the faith. Too many Christians are "baby Christians", stunted in growth. I don't know that it's not true. But I do know that it's not new.

The author of Hebrews wrote about Christ.
In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Heb 5:7-10)
Lots of good stuff in there. How Jesus trusted His Father. How the Father affirmed the Son. How Jesus was perfected and is "the source of eternal salvation", our "priest after the order of Melchizedek". Good stuff. Perhaps a little heady, a little "over the top", even in need of more explanation, but good stuff anyway.

The author of Hebrews understood this. Good stuff ... but it needs more explanation. He knew it, but he didn't give it. Here's why.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb 5:11-14)
Welcome to the Church of the 21st century. Nothing much has changed. "By this time you ought to be teachers." You'd think, after 2,000 years, this would be the case. Every single Christian would be so well informed that there would be continuity, certainty, and depth. It's not so. It's not so because "you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God."

What are "the oracles of God"? The phrase appears in multiple places in the New Testament. Paul says, "The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." (Rom 3:2) Peter, in explaining that we need to exercise our spiritual gifts, says, "Whoever speaks, [let him speak] as one who speaks the oracles of God." (1 Peter 4:11) Fortunately, we're not left to figure this out for ourselves. Just before this we read, "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12) Stephen, in his last sermon (Acts 7), said, "This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us." (Acts 7:38) "The oracles of God", then, is a reference to God's Word. We have that in written form today. So, what are some of the "basic principles" of the Word of God?

There are, I suppose, lots of things in that list of "basic principles". It would include God's perception of Man's sinful nature, the nature of God as He has revealed Himself to us, the fact that there is salvation only in Christ, that salvation is provided on the basis of grace through faith, these kinds of things. The list would also include other certainties like the origins of the universe in God and the final return of Christ. Fundamental to the "oracles of God" would be the centrality of God (not Man) and His glory. It would include the error of Man-based religion (Mark 7:8-9; Col 2:8). There would be a need to "rightly divide" the Word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). At the bottom of these "basic principles" would be the basic principle that God's Word is right (Rom 3:4) and Man's philosophy is questionable (Jer 17:9), so truth would be predicated on God and not the other way around. Values, morals, ethics, right and wrong, all this would be based on God's Word and not vice versa. The "basic principles" of the oracles of God would be that God's Word would be the standard by which everything it touches would be evaluated.

Well, of course, we're not there today any more than they were back then. We need to learn again these basic principles. We cannot stomach "solid food", but still need to relearn this stuff. Again and again. If we did have these basic principles built into our thinking, we would be able to discern, trained by constant practice, between good and evil. We're not there. We're not even close. Well, we're close to that "baby Church" back in the first century. You'd think, after all this time, things would have changed, improved, matured. Look around. It ain't necessarily so. Too much of the time "dull of hearing" describes too many people in the church. Don't let it describe you.

No comments: