  Q&A: Can the doctrines be layered? Written by Staff Posted Friday, June 01, 2007 In an effort to better understand questions related to cooperation and doctrine, the TEXAN spoke with four Southern Baptist theologians and asked their viewpoints. They are: Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Denny Burk, assistant professor of New Testament at Criswell College in Dallas, Ron Rogers, IMB missionary in Brazil and former assistant professor of missions and theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., and Stan Norman, who was associate professor of theology, occupying the Cooperative Program Chair for SBC studies, in addition to being the director of the Baptist Center for Theology and Ministry before moving to his current role as vice president for university development at Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Mo. TRONG>TEXAN: To call someone a Christian, which doctrines, in your opinion, are essential? TRONG>Denny Burk: I think usually when this question is asked, one wants to know what bare minimum is required to ensure that one is going to inherit eternal life rather than judgment. I don’t think that kind of minimalism appears anywhere on the pages of Scripture. Biblically speaking, the name Christian only properly belongs to those who are disciples. I think of Acts 11:26. Everybody knows that a disciple is not someone who merely embraces the minimum of what is required. A disciple is one who is willing to go to the death for Jesus and the gospel. So the essential question is this: Are you a disciple? Are you following Jesus and his gospel? Doctrines, essential doctrines, are helpful in so much as they help us to clarify who Jesus is and what his gospel consists of. I don’t think it will do just to affirm the doctrines held to be essential if you are not a disciple of the one to whom the doctrines point. Christianity cannot be reduced to a rote affirmation of doctrines. Nevertheless, right doctrine points to the biblical Christ and gospel and it’s absolutely essential for a person to be trusting in and submitting to the authority of both in order to be called a Christian. TRONG>Russell Moore: I think the question points to which Jesus one claims to believe. So I think the humanity of Christ is necessary for one to be a follower of Christ. Also, a belief in the deity of Christ, a confessing of Jesus as Lord, a belief in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus—those things the apostle Paul says he delivered to us as of first importance. And so I think that the key issue here has to do with the identity of the Lord Jesus. Who is the Jesus one claims to trust in? I think the irreducible minimums include a recognition of Jesus in his person and in his work. And I think the question can be confusing simply because often, as Denny mentioned, we’re looking for the bare minimum. So for instance, you can have the question, can someone be a Christian and reject the virgin birth?—something that the church has always held to be foundational. Well, I think you can have people who can believe in Christ who do not yet know about the virgin birth. But I think it’s an entirely different matter to have someone who claims to be a Christian who consciously rejects the notion of the virgin birth. So I think that’s a bit of a complicated discussion. I do not think anyone can be saved who does not recognize and understand the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. TRONG>Ron Rogers: I would agree with the statements of the two brothers ahead of me and simply say that Christology—the person of Christ, who he is and what he did—is the very heart and soul of what it means to be an authentic Christian. I would include in addition to his deity, humanity and virgin birth something specific about his incarnation because John said that he who does not confess that Jesus has come in flesh is not of God. I think that is very crucial for us. TRONG>Stan Norman: There are two ways of addressing the question as it is stated. One is an historical, traditional way. How have people regarded themselves historically within the broad spectrum of Christianity, and probably what we’re more interested in is how is someone born again unto the life of a disciple of Christ. Reflecting on Dr. Mohler’s article, I believe when he talked about theological triage he mentioned categories of doctrine. I think Dr Mohler has used a classical, two-model approach where he talks about major doctrines and minor doctrines. I have kind of modified that a little bit with the three tiers of doctrines, with, of course, the primary tier as the orthodox doctrines. I would put in that the doctrine of the Trinity. As has been said, if you aren’t Trinitarian, you aren’t Christian, or as a country Baptist preacher once said, if you aren’t Trinitarian, you ain’t. Of course, assumed in Trinitarian theology is the full humanity and the full deity of Jesus and along with his substitutionary atoning work—all of that in my opinion is subsumed in that first tier of doctrines, which are essential, I think, for a robust, meaningful, genuine life of discipleship. Going back to what Denny was saying, really, the ultimate quest is, are you born again? And so I would look at those doctrines probably along with some others that tend to be classified with evangelical beliefs of conversion, justification by grace through faith and so on—those would be clustered as what constitutes a meaningful, regenerated disciple of Christ. TRONG>TEXAN: What is essential for one to be a useful, effective Christian disciple? TRONG>Moore: Well, I would say all of the doctrines revealed in Scripture are essential to authentic Christian discipleship. That’s not to say that one cannot be a disciple while having a faulty view of a number of given doctrines, but I do think that all Scripture is given for everything that is needed for life and godliness. So while we may say that there are some doctrines that are minor in a relative sense, we cannot say that there are any doctrines that are minor in an essential sense. And that’s where I think Dr. Mohler’s theological triage argument has been so terribly confused in some quarters. What he is saying is not that there are some doctrines that are minor and therefore not to be quibbled about. What he is saying is, the doctrinal categories that are necessary in terms of agreement have to do with what a particular group or church is actually doing in terms of cooperation with other Christian groups. It doesn’t mean these doctrines are minor. So often you will have people, for instance, say, well, we have a great deal of disagreement over minor issues such as the millennial question. Well, the millennial question is something that I think that many of us can disagree on who believe the Bible and who hold to the authority of the word of God, but we cannot say that it’s a minor issue. If the Lord Jesus spoke to us about a 1,000-year reign of Christ, then it is necessary for us to hear him and understand what it is about which he is speaking. It’s not a minor issue. Now, relatively speaking, it’s a minor issue when compared to issues such as the Trinity and justification by faith, the deity and humanity of Jesus, but it’s not a minor issue. Baptism is not a minor issue. I go can door-to-door witnessing with a paedobaptist believing him to be grievously wrong on baptism, but it doesn’t mean the issue is minor. It’s a very major issue that has been given to us by our king, our Lord Jesus. TRONG>Burk: I would agree wholeheartedly with that. I think submission to every biblical doctrine is important for a disciple of Christ. You can’t claim to be a disciple and then not be submitting to something that he’s spoken to. The Bible tells us when Jesu ISSUE: CONTENTS
Tammi Reed Ledbetter, News Editor LifeWay Tammi Reed Ledbetter, News Editor Craig Bland, Staff Writer Art Toalston, Baptist Press Craig Bland, Staff Writer Special to the TEXAN Gary Ledbetter, Editor Gary Ledbetter, Editor Gary Ledbetter, Editor Jerry Pierce, Managing Editor Jim Richards, Executive Director Tammi Reed Ledbetter, News Editor David Roach, TEXAN Correspondent Staff Bart Barber, Special to the TEXAN Mark M. Overstreet, Special to the TEXAN Bonnie Pritchett, TEXAN Correspondent Tim McKeown, TEXAN Correspondent Staff Kay Adkins, TEXAN Correspondent Jerry Pierce, Managing Editor MORE... |
||
|
||