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Alexander McLaren, childlike, creed, doctrine, faith, Genesis, intellectual assent, Joseph, love
Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” – Genesis 50:25 (NASB)
Incomplete as his creed was, Joseph may have been a better Christian than some of us, and was so, if what he knew nourished his spiritual life more than what we know nourishes ours, and if his heart and will twined more tenaciously round the fragments of revelation which he possessed, and drew from them more support and strength than we do from the complete Gospel which we have.
The antithesis which is often eagerly urged upon us—not doctrines, but Christ—is a very incomplete and misleading one. ‘Christ’ is a mere name, empty of all significance till it is filled with definite statements of who and what Christ is.
Brethren, what makes us Christians is not the theology we have in our heads, but the faith and love we have in our hearts. We must, indeed, have a clear statement of truth in orderly propositions—that is, a system of dogmas—to have anything to trust to at all. There can be no saving faith in an unseen Person, except through the medium of thoughts concerning Him, which thoughts put into words are a creed. The antithesis which is often eagerly urged upon us—not doctrines, but Christ—is a very incomplete and misleading one. ‘Christ’ is a mere name, empty of all significance till it is filled with definite statements of who and what Christ is. But whilst I, for my part, believe that we must have doctrines to make Christ a reality and an object of faith to grasp at all, I would urge all the more earnestly, because I thus believe, that, when we have these doctrines, it is not the creed that saves, but the faith. We are united to Christ, not by the doctrine of His nature and work, needful as that is, but by trusting in Him as that which the doctrine declares Him to be—Redeemer, Friend, Sacrifice, Divine Lover of our souls. Let us always remember that it is not the amount of religious knowledge which I have got, but the amount which I use, that determines my religious position and character. Most of us have in our creeds principles that have no influence upon our moral and active life; and, if so, it matters not one whit how pure, how accurate, how comprehensive, how consistent, how scriptural my conceptions of the Gospel may be. If they are not powers in my soul, they only increase my responsibility and my liability to condemnation. The dry light of the understanding is of no use to anybody. You must turn your creed into a faith before it has power to bless and save.
What is the use of your saying that you believe in God the Father Almighty, when there is no child’s love and happy confidence in your heart?
There are hosts of so-called Christians who get no more good out of the most solemn articles of their orthodox belief than if they were heathens. What is the use of your saying that you believe in God the Father Almighty, when there is no child’s love and happy confidence in your heart? What the better are you for believing in Jesus Christ, His divine nature, His death and glory, when you have no reliance on Him, nor any least flutter of trembling love towards Him? Is your belief in the Holy Ghost of the smallest consequence, if you do not yield to His hallowing power? What does it matter that you believe in the forgiveness of sins, so long as you do not care a rush whether yours are pardoned or no? And is it anything to you or to God that you believe in the life everlasting, if all your work, and hopes, and longings are confined to ‘this bank and shoal of time’? Are you any more a Christian because of all that intellectual assent to these solemn verities? Is not your life like some secularised monastic chamber, with holy texts carved on the walls, and saintly images looking down from glowing windows on revellers and hucksters who defile its floor? Your faith, not your creed, determines your religion. Many a ‘true believer’ is a real ‘infidel.’
-Alexander McLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture
There is for some of us a propensity to love doctrine and theology. Without a little honest introspection, this affection for study can transcend our “practical side.” Genuine faith is always and forever the fundamental issue, but this faith never need be at odds with an informed theological understanding. The outworking of informed faith in service to Christ, His people, and those whom God providentially brings into our lives – must be our primary goal. Surely nobody sets out to deliberately embrace a “dry” doctrinal undersatnding, but for some it is certainly a danger. I have wrestled in this area, with mixed success. Sometimes I have even envied those for whom passion and zeal and emotion and obsessive practicality seemed to dominate. (McCoy envy?) Sustained balance is almost never an easy goal, but a worthy one.
what good is objective truth without the subjective experience? Nada…The truths of scripture need to produce in us the corresponding subjective actions or all our believing is just dead religion and un-effective head knowledge.
As summed up in James, faith without works is dead.
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