Doctrine Matters

Biblical interpretation matters. We saw in last month’s editorial that many sincere Christians have read the same Bible as we have, and yet have come to the conclusion that God has forever cursed the Jews. For many years, the majority of Christianity believed that He had replaced them with Christians as His people (a teaching called replacement theology or supersessionism).

This notion is why doctrine matters. Hatred against the Jews originated with false doctrine. This isn’t just some kind of guess that I’m making here—early Christian leaders themselves tell us that. In the second century, Melito of Sardis wrote about the Jews:

Many Christians came to despise the Jews because they believed in the deity of Jesus. Thus, they created a new term for the killing of Christ: “deicide,” or the killing of God. As the false doctrine of a supernatural Satan developed, the Jews became roped into that slander as well; who besides the Devil would want to kill God? Therefore, Christians began to see Jews as demons and the verse, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44), was misused and misapplied for generations to say that Jesus saw all Jews as demonic (without noticing that the very same gospel states that Jesus himself was a Jew. (John 4:9). In fact, Hitler specifically used this misinterpretation to his advantage. The photo below shows John 8:44 posted in Nazi Germany, intended to remind the people that even the Bible taught that the Jews were demons.

One lie built on the next. As those ideas developed, Christians began to think that by segregating the Jews, oppressing them, and eventually killing them, they were honoring God. Indeed, they believed they were fighting against the powers of darkness.

I’m not writing any of these things to say that Christians are bad people; you probably know many Christians who push themselves to act according to their faith and have a zeal for their beliefs. Rather, my point is that doctrines matter. When we look at prophecy, we see Babylon depicted as God’s enemy. These doctrines led highly sincere groups of people to think they were serving God by killing Jews. When something like that happens, any reflective person should stop and ask themselves what kind of person their beliefs have caused them to become.

What does our belief in the Kingdom of God cause us to do? How do we live differently because of it? What choices have we made, specifically because we know that this life isn’t our primary focus? How do we interact with others? How do we raise our children?

Doctrines matter. That doesn’t mean that just because someone believes a particular doctrine that they will always act in a particular way (humans aren’t that consistent!) or follow that doctrine to what we might see as its “logical” conclusion. But it does mean that truth isn’t just something to see as unimportant. It’s something to love (2 Thessalonians 2:10). It’s something to share. It’s something to live.

And so we have a number of articles to encourage you to grab on to that gospel and put it into practice. For our Life Application section, Faith Imhof writes about learning to manage reactive anger and develop self-control. Joanne Grey writes for us again, this time telling the story of her late husband and how he became a Christadelphian. In the Exhortation and Consolation section, Jane Hewitson shares thoughts on how to encourage one another.

For Back to the Original, Matt Baines parallels the structure of Hebrew with the structure of New Testament Greek, showing how God used Greek to remind us of Old Testament passages. In Stuff that Works, Olivia Keene and Moriah Billington, two grade 12 students, write about the Christadelphian Secondary School in Ontario. In History and Prophecy, James Asbury continues “Bronzepocalypse,” exploring the historical context in which the Old Testament was written. Some of these articles encourage us to go deeper Scripturally, adding to our understanding of the Bible, and others encourage us to take that understanding and live it out—because our beliefs and our understanding affect our actions.

Ben Brinkerhoff continues to work through Romans 7 and Paul’s argument there. Aaron and Ann Riegle add an installment to our series on schooling by discussing some pros and cons of public school. Various authors contribute to our preaching and teaching section, this time discussing the Mid-Atlantic Bible School, a debate held in Australia, and the Easter Camp in Jamaica. Finally, we finish with George Booker’s story of one of the Magi.

May you find what you read here stimulating—both for your mind and for your heart. Doctrines and beliefs matter, and so may you find that this issue builds up your beliefs, and gives you that inspiration to show those beliefs in who you are and what you do.

Jason Hensley