A wise person (and probably with the sense of humor to enjoy watching people squirm) asked how much correct theology a person must have in order to be saved. This is one of those questions that I answered in my head and then thought something like "of course nearly everyone close to me would think the same”. Since I am married to a man who loves to see people squirm in uncomfortable conversations, I’ve had several opportunities to find that this is not the case. In fact, the answer is as varied as the dietary palettes of my children. (Update: One of them would still rather starve than eat quinoa, one of the most demure foods on earth. Another would prefer to eat salad for 2/3 meals a day.)

I was recently visiting with a pilgrim who has been traveling this path quite a bit longer than I have and who has lead and loved many people. I asked him, “What is God teaching you at this point?” Essentially, he told me that God continues to teach him the same lessons, deeper and wider and better all the time. It gave way to some conversation about our theology, all of ours, and how God doesn’t stop teaching us about a particular topic, for example

In scripture, we are instructed to know what we believe. We’re not to be “tossed about by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching”. What does that look like? Did Paul imagine carefully crafted doctrinal statements? Camping in the “right” school of thought? I think we should go to the context surrounding the aforementioned verse for direction. It would be amazing if you could grab a Bible and read most of Ephesians 4, but here’s the surrounding passage from the LEB if you don’t have time:

11 And he himself gave some [as] apostles and some [as] prophets and some [as] evangelists and some [as] pastors and teachers
12 for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all reach the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to a measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be infants, tossed about by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of people, by craftiness with reference to the scheming of deceit.
15 But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow into him [with reference to] all [things], who is the head, Christ,
16from whom the whole body, joined together and held together by every supporting ligament, according to the working by measure of each single part, the growth of the body makes for the building up of itself in love.

I think most everyone who sets out to write a doctrinal statement, whether individually or for a group, has good intentions. I’m willing to bet that the majority of them don’t want to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. When it comes to functioning within a ministry or church, operating by such a document could potentially alieviate certain pressures or head off some amount of conflict. That makes sense!

If you look at Ephesians 4, Paul bookends both our passage and the whole chapter with the concept of Unity. A brief outline might look like this:

• One God, one united body

• Christ fills all things and gave the church individual gifts

  • These are for unity

• So we should grow into mature believers, not tossed about by doctrines

  • This is to grow into that healthy united body

• Don’t return to the old ways, continue to be renewed

• End with list of ways to build up the individuals and the united body of Christ

I’m kind of sensing an important theme here. Anyone else? To be fair, there is so much more in this chapter. Woven throughout it all though, is unity. In fact, we had a “guest” speaker a couple Sundays ago (more akin to an apostle returning to a beloved church he helped to plant") who showed this this same ribbon of harmony in the body laced through all of the new testament letters. He powerfully and eloquently reminded us that this harmony is God’s heart for his people.

Some of my friends’ bowels are getting turbulent, to use a phrase from Jeremiah. They’re concerned for me, If you don’t have good theology, you could fall for anything! or How will you be saved if you don’t know who God is? The study of God is theology! Take a deep breath, Karen. I’m pro-studying. I’m even pro-”having a position” if that helps. Here are just a couple of limiting factors for me as far as these statements go:

Are we called to be united only with those individual groups whose doctrinal statements match (or nearly so) our own? I believe Scripture cries a loud, NO. We are called to be united with everyone who has been brought into the family of God.

Long doctrinal statements (beyond the very bare necessities of salvation through faith in the God of the Bible) or dogmatic positions on such topics set us apart from other believers. I believe the more of these lines, camps, circles etc we have and the stronger we hold to them, the less likely they are to be obedient to our New Testament instructions, especially those from the latter half of Ephesians 4.

The problem remains, we’re not to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine!

I know, so here is what I propose. Study away friend. Go ahead and read to find out what the scholars think! But we get to choose our close-handed theology very prudently and even scantily. Why? First and second, because his Word and his Spirit are alive and active! But the word causes division you say? Yes, even between unseen things- but not between believers. In fact, where conflict arises, he gives us what we need to overcome. Agree? Not always, but to always remember there is one body, one Spirit, one God and Father of us all. God’s spirit is always teaching us more! We can’t even comprehend the work that could be done in our hearts and minds! Go ahead and write out that bullet point, but instead of clinging to it we can think, “This is how I understand this today. I wonder what God might teach me about it tomorrow.” This goes for churches too. God’s Spirit is not too small for a church to operate efficiently without 3,947 points on a doctrinal statement. (<- those this might be the 3,947th good reason for a plurality of leadership within said churches:)

Third, our doctrine should always be held with the same bookends Paul used: unity. God’s heart for his people (as individuals and a whole) is harmony. It is a reflection of his kingdom come and his will done. May people look at us and see us clinging to one another and the hope of glory! When we disagree or fall, I hope people see us bearing with another in love, clinging to the “already but not yet”ness of salvation, sanctification and renewal. We have been made new. We are being made new. And we will be made new once and for all.

When I ask myself if/how our growth is building the body up in love, I feel like our doctrinal statements should go something like this:

• a brief statement about who GOd is and what’s he’s done

• a brief statement about who that make us and what we’re to do about it

• a statement allying us with all of God’s children, looking forward to the day he makes all things new and we bend our knees together before his throne.

Well, that’s what I think today anyways, who knows what God will teach me about this tomorrow. :)