Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy has various meanings depending on its use and application. For instance, the "Eastern Orthodoxy" refers to a particular group, while "historical orthodoxy" refers to a set of beliefs. Generally, I use the term to refer to "historical orthodoxy" -- the historical Christian faith. Not today. The word comes from two Greek terms. The "ortho" part refers to being right, correct, truthful. The "dox" part refers to belief, thought, or opinion. You can see, then, that the basic concept is thinking right, whether it is in religious terms or otherwise.

In observing people over my lifetime, I've discovered that there are two basic concepts that need to be right if we are going to be "orthodox" in our Christian faith. Get just one of these wrong and everything gets twisted, skewed, off the rails. These two basic concepts are "Who is God?" and "Who is Man?" Simple. And yet, so elusive. We have a clear explanation in our bibles about the nature of Man and we have lots of description about the nature of God. It should be simple. But if we don't get those two right, we can end up very wrong. Scripture says that the heart is deceitful (Jer 17:9) and describes Satan as "the father of lies" (John 8:44). Since this is true, it would stand to reason that we would very likely have faulty views on God and Man.

Take Man, for instance. (I'm not talking about males. I'm talking about mankind -- humans.) We have some very typical, very wrong views on human beings. A lot of us believe that people are basically good. Contrast that with Scripture that says, "There is none good" and emphasizes, "No, not one" (Rom 3:12). That's not "basically good." We believe that humans, intrinsically, are valuable. Biblically, humans are created beings possessing only the value that God places on them, not some inherent value (Gen 9:6). We tend to believe (and I've heard Christian songs declaring) that we are worthy of God's attention. The Bible describes us as dead in sins (Eph 2:1) and Man as "a maggot" (Job 25:6) and "a worm" (Job 25:6; Psa 22:6). We ask why God isn't taking better care of us and Scripture asks, "What is Man that You are mindful of him?" (Job 7:17; Psa 8:4; Psa 144:3; Heb 2:6). We think we can handle it ourselves and Scripture argues we cannot. We argue that we're not that bad and Scripture argues that we're worse than we know. We argue that it's all about us and Scripture says it is not.

How about God? What kinds of things do we get wrong with Him? Look at the Bible and find out how God describes Himself. He is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Sovereign, loving, just, etc. I don't know of a single, abundantly clear attribute of God in the Bible that is not denied by people, including believers. Instead of "King of kings," we tend to think of Him as our butler, required to do what we say and provide what we want. Many of us think of Him like a wise old grandfather, somewhat remote, somewhat kindly, somewhat of a friend, but certainly not the Transcendent God of the Bible. Others consider Him cruel and others as "my buddy." We're not convinced at all that God is as serious about sin as Scripture says He is. We think of Jesus as a nice guy, a good fellow, but not a payment for sin. Some think He was a social justice warrior and doesn't actually care much about sin. Some think He would make a good Democrat (if you're a Democrat) or a good Republican (if that's your political leaning). And to many the Holy Spirit isn't really a big deal at all. A spirit, a wraith, perhaps moving but not convicting by any means. Not really a person. All of these are faulty perceptions about the declared nature of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Most of our problems seem to occur when we come to our theology starting with humanity. We start with an inaccurate view of Man. We elevate human beings in ability, righteousness, and value. Then, through that filter, work our way through to an inaccurate view of God. Having elevated Man, we find a diminished God. As a result, we produce a theology that is not premised on what God has revealed about Himself and not accurate in its representation of our own natures. This is the orthodoxy I'm talking about. Before we begin to operate on false notions about Man that result from and produce false notions about God, we should begin with orthodoxy -- right thinking -- and discover what God says about Himself, first, and what God says about His creation -- Man. Going about it another way will only produce error ... of increasing proportions.