"In doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. . ."

by Phil Johnson @ http://teampyro.blogspot.com

The FIRE National Conference ended last night, and I'll be back in the office before noon today, Lord willing. I preached last night about how it's impossible to make a clean dichotomy between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, and neither one is either primary or optional. Defending the faith and getting the truth right is part of holy living (Titus 2:7), and holy living is the proper and necessary dress for sound doctrine (vv. 1, 10).

It made me think of this:

o one would argue that everything in the Bible is crystal-clear. The inspired text itself contains an acknowledgement that "some things [in it] . . . are hard to understand" (2 Peter 3:16). But some of our Emerging friends give the impression they think most of the Bible is sheer mystery—so lacking in clarity that every interpretation and every opinion about every doctrine deserves equal (or automatic) respect.

That's hard to square with the many biblical commands urging us to defend the truth against those who twist it (Acts 20:28-31). There are plenty of people like that, you know. Some of them drop by and post in the comment section of this blog from time to time—and one or two of them are regular gadflies here.

I'll go even further: As politically incorrect as this might sound to postmodern ears, there are abroad and within the church "many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers . . . . They must be silenced" (Titus 1:10-11). Or, in the more picturesque imagery of King James parlance, "[Their] mouths must be stopped."

How false teachers are to be silenced is one of those things in Scripture that is crystal-clear. It is not by physical force or auto-da-fé. But they are to be refuted and rebuked by qualified elders in the church who are skilled in the Scriptures, "able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it" (v. 8). That presupposes that vital truth is clear enough to know for certain. And it prescribes a clear remedy involving exhortation, reproof, rebuke, and correction.

This is to be done patiently, not pugnaciously: "The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

And yet even within those boundaries, the defense of the faith sometimes requires a kind of spiritual militancy (1 Timothy 1:18; Jude 3). The Christian life—especially the duty of the leader—is frequently pictured in Scripture as that of warfare (2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 2:3-4).

So the defense of the faith is no easy task. But it is an indispensable duty for faithful Christians. Again, Scripture is not the least bit vague or equivocal about that.