LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Piety and Doctrine
"If anyone teaches otherwise, and does not conform to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, and knows nothing, and raves about questions and strife of words" (1 Tim. 6:3-4).
Much progress has been made in doctrine from the days of the apostles until today. Many good books have a privileged place in bookstores and libraries of the Christian world. The inspired words of the biblical writers have been the object of study for many generations. Neither Peter nor John could have systematized the biblical truths as rigorously as some biblical scholars.
However, theological scholarship does not always go hand in hand with piety. In Paul's last days, things within the church had begun to show deterioration, the deterioration proper to knowledge without the fear of God. That is, knowledge for knowledge's sake, without the necessary backing of a life behind it.
Today things seem to be at the same point. Biblical truths touch the intellect more than the heart. The sayings that the apostles transmitted from their own experience, today are debated in doctoral papers in theological schools. That is why the words of the Apostle Paul ring out so peremptorily at this time: "The doctrine that is according to godliness". Doctrine must be endorsed by godliness. As it were, godliness is the hallmark of true doctrine. Doctrines were said to be lived, not to be systematized.
The apostle says the same thing again at the beginning of the Epistle to Titus: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness" (1:1). There in Timothy it is doctrine; here it is knowledge. Both are "according to godliness". And it is that when man succeeds in understanding certain spiritual truths, and can defend his position against other forms of understanding, he is proud of it and raises himself up as the defender and apostle of his own interpretation, as if this were the interpretation of the Holy Spirit.
If we make truths the object of study, rather than the object of experience, then we are going astray, and we expose ourselves to a sure fall. Piety must reach the classrooms of theological study, in the same way as the humblest hut where the truth of the gospel has reached. With the same holy fear, with the same devotion and consecration.
The days we live in are days of trial for the faith, and the test does not consist in answering correctly a test about Luther or Calvin. The test of faith is whether it succeeds in translating itself into godly conduct or not. If it does not, then the apostolic exhortation is entirely applicable: "If anyone... does not conform to... the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, knows nothing, and raves about questions and strife of words".