If you read this blog even semi-regularly you know that I have been thinking a lot about unity and truth. In particular, after blogging through Lloyd-Jones, I have been thinking about what are the essentials of our faith. We all have our list of essentials, and Christians will probably never completely agree on which issues belong on this list. But, even if that’s the case, we aren’t completely in the dark. The Bible isn’t totally silent on the issue.
In particular, the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) talk a lot about the importance of right doctrine and give us some indication of which doctrines matter most.
Theology Matters
Paul tells Timothy to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). He warns against false teachers who have swerved from the truth and don’t really understand what they are so confidently asserting (1 Tim. 1:6-7; see also 6:3-4, 20-21; 2 Tim. 3:7; Titus 1:16). According to Paul, these false teachers have made shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim. 1:19-20) and departed from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (1 Tim. 4:1). They are opposed to the truth, corrupt in mind, and disqualified regarding the faith (2 Tim. 3:8). Their teaching “will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene” (2 Tim. 2:16-17).
The importance of doctrine for pastoral ministry cannot be overstated, and anyone who says doctrine doesn’t matter is not paying attention to the Bible. Timothy is enjoined repeatedly to guard the deposit of apostolic truth entrusted to him (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:13, 14) and pass it on to others (2 Tim. 2:1-2). He must keep a close watch on his life and his teaching, so that he may be saved and his hearers (1 Tim. 4:16). As the Lord’s servant, Timothy must be able to teach (1 Tim. 3:2), correct his opponents with gentleness (2 Tim. 2:25), reprove, rebuke, and exhort from the Scriptures (2 Tim. 4:2; 3:16). In short, he must be “able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9, 13). Church people will not always endure sound teaching, but that’s what they desperately need (2 Tim. 4:1-5).
Clearly, then, for the Apostle Paul, there is a core of apostolic teaching that must be embraced by the Christian, a deposit of truth without which our gospel message is no longer the gospel. Anyone who departs from these truths, Paul argues, has departed from the faith and is no longer a Christian.
Theology Matters, But Not Always
So what are these truths? This is the crucial question, because Paul is just as clear that not every debate is worthwhile. Not every piece of knowledge is profitable. Timothy is supposed to steadfastly avoid myths and endless genealogies, which do not build up the faith but only promote speculation (1 Tim. 1:4; cf. 4:7). It is possible to have an “unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words” (1 Tim. 6:4; cf. 2 Tim. 2:23; Titus 1:14). Such a person is warped and sinful (Titus 3:9-10).
So, on the one hand, we are to avoid pointless controversies. But on the other hand, many controversies have a point. Some truths are essential. There is a core of apostolic truth that we must embrace if we are to be Christian. And the Pastoral Epistles give a pretty good sketch of what (at minimum) this core of truth includes.
The Core
There are four categories of passages in the Pastoral Epistles that give us a sense for what Paul considered the core of apostolic doctrine. We’ll look at the first two categories tomorrow (I know, I know, the suspense is killing you).
