Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy?
Emergents love false antithesis. They love to pit two non-contradictory concepts against one another in the form of a question. They’ll ask, “Experience or Truth?” Or they’ll ask, “Orthodoxy or Orthopraxis?” To the Christian, these are stupid questions. They’re stupid because the question reveals a severe lack of biblical understanding. Take, for instance:
Experience or Truth? I was so impressed with how D.A. Carson dealt with this, I blogged my notes from his lecture and offered some additional commentary of my own. That post can be read here. I especially liked Carson’s grand finale when he yelled: “DAMN ALL FALSE ANTITHESIS TO HELL!!!”
But what about Orthodoxy (right thinking) or Orthopraxis (right living)? Could this be yet another false antithesis? In light of Scripture, I answer YES. Many places in Scripture we are told that right thinking leads to right living, and that either of them without the other is dead. James said that faith without works is dead, and Paul said that zeal for God without knowledge is someone needing to be saved!
If right thinking leads to right living and right living is evidence of right thinking, then it should be said that right thinking is right living. This is what Paul was meaning when he wrote to the Colossians:
“And so, from the day we heard [of your faith in Christ Jesus 1:4], we have not ceased to pray for you, asking [God] that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” - Col. 1:9-10 ESV
Paul is linking knowledge and living. He says that knowledge (given by God) is the cause and living (fully pleasing to God) is the effect. This principle is true, not only for Christians, but for the heathen as well. Using the same principles reversed, wrong thinking leads to wrong living. Equally, if wrong thinking leads to wrong living and wrong living is the evidence of wrong thinking, then it should be said that wrong thinking is wrong living!
This is but one passage that illustrates this biblical truth. When dealing with Emergents, we must be like Paul in Romans 10, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” - Romans 10:1-2 ESV
“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Col. 1:28-29 ESV
18 Comments, Comment or Ping
Drew
Stephen wrote,
“This principle is true, not only for Christians, but for the heathen as well. Using the same principles reversed, wrong thinking leads to wrong living. Equally, if wrong thinking leads to wrong living and wrong living is the evidence of wrong thinking, then it should be said that wrong thinking is wrong living!”
Don’t read this too fast or you might pop a brain cell!
Apr 7th, 2008
Stephen Macasil
Drew, I must have been extra inspired yesterday. I guess that’s what happens when you get lectured by a guy with nine or so earned degrees, three of them PhD’s! But, what are the chances of you making a comment like this? It is equivalent to stacking silver dollars in a pile two feet high across the state of Texas, marking one of them, mixing them all up and having a blind-folded guy pick the right one on the first try! Amazing; thanks Dr. Lehman!
Apr 7th, 2008
Glenn Leatherman
Agree whole heartedly. It frustrates me to see people not want to deal with truth because they want to be more spiritual or they want to live rightly.
Could this issue also be the reason that people are turning away from scripture into secular phychology for help in areas already addressed by scripture? Ultimately, it is the attitude that we approach scripture with - either with an attitude to obey or not.
Apr 7th, 2008
Fusion!
As I read Rob Hell’s book, “Velvet Elvis”, I’m amazed that someone could so emphasize right living, yet be so cavalier about right thinking. He’s like a child playing with a loaded weapon when he shows so much disdain for doctrine. Thanks for the post Stephen, keep em coming. I might add, my review of Keller’s book is going up this week.
Apr 7th, 2008
Stephen Macasil
“Ultimately, it is the attitude that we approach scripture with - either with an attitude to obey or not.”
Very astute and timely observation to mention, Pastor. My lecture this Wednesday Night at the Apologetics Class will be on the Reformed doctrine of Scripture; an Exposition on Chapter One of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I will try and work in the above quote!
You asked, “Could this issue also be the reason that people are turning away from scripture into secular phychology for help in areas already addressed by scripture?”
Yes. First, it is their rebellion to the light and not the pursuit of it that causes them to seek humanistic solutions to man’s problems. They want their earthly problems solved, but do not want to turn from their sin and live right in a manner commanded by God. Thus they turn to others like themselves, with the same problems, with the same nature, and expect a “qualified expert” to arise from amongst themselves. This is as absurd as a dog becoming a dog-trainer. Or, to put it in even more visual terms, it is like saying an apple can know that it’s an apple by learning this from another apple.
Whenever man looks to himself as the origin of truth and morals, he will only get so far as man’s truth and man’s morals - which (because of their subjective, relativistic, and sinful nature) lead only to dispair and ultimately, death. What man needs is an outside perspective that tells him how things “really” are. Scripture is that outside perspective that is given directly from the divine and infinite mind of God - the giver of all things. This is the only way to escape the infinite regression of humanism, which is in and of itself worthless.
Wednesday night we will discuss what the Bible teaches about itself. I guess you can say it will be a “Bible Study!”
Apr 7th, 2008
Reformed Mama
Double Standard Emergent Chad issued a warning on his blog to our Travis to “be careful” and also made these comments about BT:
“The stuff they spout there is as close to a cult as I think I’ve ever seen. Just be careful…this is the kinda stuff that happens when people endorse a doctrine of God that makes “hate” into an attribute.”
And…
…”I would say they are doing worse than misrepresenting the word of God (who does this perfectly anyways?) but they are misrepresenting the Christ revealed in the Word of God.”
Emergents…they wouldn’t recognize the kick-ass Jesus Christ of the Bible if they met Him on the street and He…well…kicked them in the…
Apr 7th, 2008
agogley
“I would say…” Chad says a lot, but never once have I seen him support what he says from Scripture. I don’t care what I, myself, have to say much less what others say. Man’s heart is desperately wicked and as I progress in my “spiritual formation” the more I see that. I look into my own heart and I am disgusted. I really only care about what God says and he revealed that in Scripture. So he can say what he wants, but don’t expect me to listen unless Scripture supports it.
Apr 8th, 2008
Mario
Beautifully said! Grace and Truth is sweet to the soul! Coming from a Calvary Chapel background, we are not taught what to believe or how to live. Day after day, month after month, year after year a scripture is read and then we’d be given examples of how to live/application. I would say the average person (Glenn, I don’t have a statistical analysis for this claim, I don’t have the time to figure a bell curve or the standard deviation for every believer:) has a mystical zeal that is not according to true knowledge in Christ. Most are trying to model their pastor and have these visions of having a mega-church like Greg Laurie or Raul Ries. Much more to be said on this…..I fully agree with the post! Great serving in the battlefield with you fellow soldiers! Waiting to see those that God is working on who will jump into the trenches with us!
Apr 8th, 2008
Danny Pelichowski
if right thinking leads to right living and right living is evidence of right thinking, then it should be said that right thinking is right living. This is what Paul was meaning when he wrote to the Colossians:
“And so, from the day we heard [of your faith in Christ Jesus 1:4], we have not ceased to pray for you, asking [God] that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” - Col. 1:9-10 ESV
Steve, the examples that we have seen from people who reject orthodoxy leading to orthopraxy are merely people who obviously have wrong thinking in the first place. I don’t care how theologically astute a person claims to be, if they have quote “good orthodoxy” they should be struggling against their sin and seeking to grow in sanctification. The true Christian cares not only about fighting against their sin but also living their lives for the glory of God. So when you pointed out that right thinking is right living I think you really clarified the whole discussion that was happening at the Sundeos blog. And Col 1:9-10 is a great passage to refute any who disbelieves the age old view that right thinking is foundational to right living.
Apr 8th, 2008
Danny Pelichowski
Sorry, I was in a hurry this morning when I left my post. The above quote should have been in parenthesis and attributed to Steve.
“if right thinking leads to right living and right living is evidence of right thinking, then it should be said that right thinking is right living. This is what Paul was meaning when he wrote to the Colossians”
I’m sure it was obvious however I just wanted to clear that up. Thanks Steve for the great article and your ongoing involvement in my life. I’m bumbed I’m going to miss your lecture on Biblical revelation Wednesday night but I’m glad to have been there this past Sunday for your morning lecture. You did a fine job expounding the Westminster confession. Good providence.
Apr 8th, 2008
b-radino
Love this post Stephen and Mario! Many blessings to you my brothers in Christ. Greg Laurie in a recent Sunday sermon spoke out (indirectly of course) against the Emergent Church and the seeker-friendly movement. He quoted a few of these individuals (again, not sighting names) and spoke out in defense of the faith and tied together Jude 3 and it being exploited by this movement. While I disagree with some of Greg’s doctrinal views on evangalism, it’s good to see someone from the Calvary circle speaking out against the heresy of the Emergent Church.
Blessings, Brad
Apr 11th, 2008
Stephen Macasil
Hey Brad!
I totally appreciate your comments about Laurie. He actually has some pretty good stuff to say (sometimes). Thanks for the encouragement!
Apr 11th, 2008
Dusman
Hey guys,
Great blog and great subject. I too grow weary about the false antitheses set up by the emergents and this “orthodoxy/orthopraxy” distinction is just another example of it. I agree with D.A. Carson when he says in his book Conversation on the Emerging Church, “Damn all false antitheses to hell!”
So, the biblical data reveals that it’s not an either/or but it’s a both/and relationship. They way that I practice my Christian life (my orthopraxy) flows out of the fact that I am internally motivated by the power of the Holy Spirit through clear propositional truths called *DOCTRINE* (codifed as orthodoxy) to deny myself (the doctrine of killing sin), take up my cross (again, the killing sin doctrine), and follow after Him (discipleship proceeding from my internally motived Holy Spirit driven desires).
The real problem is this: Most of the emergents I’ve read (MacLaren, Burke, Bell, Chalke, Rollins, etc.) simply are wolves in sheep’s clothing and the modern day Christian church has been so baptized into the stream of postmodern/humanistic thought, they they see any objective, religion claim and foolish, stupid, and arrogant. May God have mercy on their souls.
Apr 22nd, 2008
Stephen Macasil
Dusman,
Thanks for stopping by! You’ve hit the nail on the head - it all boils down to humanism…
Apr 22nd, 2008
Joel Taylor
Stephen,
Great posts, great blog. Kuddos all around. This particular post triggered a question, or request for assistance actually, on what I think is a related issue at our fellowship. You said ‘right thinking is right living.” Bingo, nailed it again. I’ve taught adult Sunday School for years, and even now, especially, whenever I mention propitiation or the necessity of God’s justice being satisfied and His wrath placated before wicked man can be forgiven, I see heads swaying back and forth as if to say “There he goes again, wrath wrath wrath!”
They are very vocal. Afterwords I hear the same comments over and over. “God is love, why don’t you focus more on that?” To which I’ve always replied, “Yes, God is love, but love is not God!”
It’s an ongoing battle. Some of our people are so caught up in ‘love’ that its almost become their god! I kid you not, they scrunch their faces when I talk about God’s absolute abhorence over even one sin.
Bottom line, what is the best approach to dealing with this? It is my position, and will remain so, that the holiness of God is the primary attribute of Him, and all other attributes flow from that.
Any input would be appreciated. I would have emailed you personally, but didn’t know your email.
In His service,
Joel
Apr 23rd, 2008
Dusman
If it’s o.k., I just posted Dr. Bob’s You Tube video “Does God Love Everyone?” on our church blog and how this directly relates to the universalism/inclusivism of the Emergent Church gurus. Here’s the link for those who may be interested in reading: http://graceinthetriad.blogspot.com/2008/04/video-does-god-love-everyone.html
Apr 23rd, 2008
Stephen Macasil
Hi Joel,
First, let me commend you for not selling out. The pressure you are facing is generally a motivating factor for those idiots that throw their hands in the air and say, awe, what the heck, and go out and but Rob Bell and Brian MacLaren! Before too long, their congregations love them, never sway their heads, and never complain. That’s because weak men in the ministry cater to their critics rather than boldly proclaim God’s word. To do the latter requires faith that God can and will transform whoever He chooses, even through the preaching of the word! So, in other words, I’ll pray for your ministry out there, brother! Here’s an idea – I just sketched this out real quick.
Try this.
Open up the study in prayer.
Begin by announcing that for the next few weeks you’ll be discussing
God’s love.
Inform them that the topic will be addressed based on what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture.
Then ask if anyone has a problem with that.
If there are any objections, handle them (anticipate them).
Ask if anyone knows how many verses contain the word “love” (788 I think) in the Bible.
Ask if anyone in the study can tell you what “love” is or means in these 788 verses. Ask if they all have the same meaning.
The purpose here is to establish that:
a) Some Christians can’t define love as easy as they can criticize one for not having or being it (whatever “it” is).
b) Some Christians are familiar with the fact that love has multiple meanings (give examples of this).
c) Some Christians have not ever taken a close look at what Scripture has to say about the “loves,” and have rather interpreted their personal subjective experiences in life through the world’s definition of love. Will not the two collide at points?
Close by reaffirming to your class that you regard God’s holiness as His essential attribute. Define that for them (briefly) and quote the *text I used for this post while offering a brief summary that says:
a) Because God is holy, we should aim to please Him in a way that He has revealed as acceptable (*Col. 1:9-10, Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 2:5, Hebrews 12:28, Philippians 4:18, et al) to Him.
b) In order to live in a manner that is acceptable to God, we must (by grace) adjust the way we think to what is revealed in Scripture (filled with knowledge from God, spiritual wisdom).
c) Being filled with the knowledge of God’s will bears fruit in every good work.
d) The process of being filled is continual, and since God’s will is only revealed in Scripture, the reading of Scripture is essential for spiritual wisdom and understanding.
e) Spiritual wisdom and understanding is maturity.
Then remind them that the study will be on God’s love, but since it is such a confused topic these days, and since you want for them to be mature Christians with spiritual wisdom and understanding, you had to set the ground rules because you will be continually shaping the discussion on God’s love by what Scripture says. In the closing prayer, ask God to send the Holy Spirit to enlighten your class’ minds because there will certainly be some things that the natural mind will naturally not like to hear. Preach it, then go home and trust God to work the rest. If you ever want to email me, send it to stephen at this website.
Apr 23rd, 2008
Stephen Macasil
Joel, I almost forgot. Then you have to bring a biblical study of God’s love to the table next week! The purpose of the interactive portions (Q’s) are for you to gauge your groups intellectual level. So pay close attention to that so that you don’t teach so under them that they’re bored, or that you don’t teach so over them that they feel stupid and discouraged. You want to gauge as accurate a reading as you can, then aim above that - but not too much. So, it’s good to get their feedback so you can better prepare. Lastly, make it doxological!
Apr 23rd, 2008
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