The place of
doctrine & Jesus
in Christian faith
A
MONG CHRISTIANS, INCLUDING Adventists, there has recently been a renewed emphasis on the centrality of Jesus within the Christian faith. This focus has produced a spate of lyrics uplifting the name of Jesus. For example, “Jesus at the Centre of it all”, “Jesus, only Jesus”, “Christ is Enough”, “It’s all about Jesus”, “Jesus, all for Jesus” and “None But Jesus”. In some ways this is a refreshing emphasis, for it is certainly true that if you take Christ out of Christianity all you have left is “ianity”, which sounds too close to “insanity” to be comfortable. This focus on Jesus is a healthy reaction to theological nitpicking and disputes over the minutiae of doctrinal orthodoxy. Doctrine without Jesus is as dry as a rack of Norwegian stockfish, but the opposite, Jesus without teaching (that is, doctrine), is as vacuous as
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Adventist record |june 3, 2017
a hot air balloon. In fact it is impossible to proclaim Jesus without teaching (doctrine). The profound depth of the truth about Jesus cannot be captured in a slogan or a grab-line, no matter how often it is repeated. The name “Jesus” is not a magical charm that induces tangible transformation of one’s life simply by uttering it repeatedly. Matthew seems to be warning us against just such repetitious zeal in 6:7 and 7:21. As soon as we declare that Jesus is the answer or Jesus is all, we invite such questions as: “Answer to what?”, “Who is Jesus?”, “All of what?” Any attempt to answer such questions is immediately “teaching” or “doctrine” no matter how simply or briefly we word our responses. The first thing that any non-Christian seeker would want to know about Jesus is who He was, what He said and
what He did. On reading the gospels carefully any seeker of understanding would soon find that Jesus’ life and teachings do indeed dominate their narrative. But at the same time they would discover that God the Father is central to Christ’s mission. The most frequent use of the name “Jesus” is found in the Gospel of John, which refers to Him 244 times (27 per cent of the New Testament’s total usage), so there’s no denying that it’s all about Him in John. However, this must be balanced by the fact that Jesus’ purpose was to make known the Father who sent Him (John 1:18; 3:17, 34). Then, when he had finished the work of making His Father’s name known (17:4–7, 26), He returned to the Father who had sent him (vv 11, 13; 16:5, 17, 28). Generally, when the terms “Father”