Doctrine Unites, Part 1

There is a common mantra held by some Christians, churches, and organizations. It is this: "doctrine divides."

What exactly do they mean? In practice, it means that if you hold to some view they disagree with, or they think you should not hold, then they will not fellowship with you. This is not mere speculation or empty assertion: it actually happened in the life of our local church. It means that they have a short doctrinal statement with the hopes of attracting the most people. It means they hope to avoid division.

But what is the statement "doctrine divides" but a doctrine itself? Is that doctrine found in Scripture? Doctrine simply means "that which is taught" or "a teaching." The teaching that doctrine divides is a doctrine. And when this doctrine is applied against a conservative Christian by a more broad-minded Christian, the latter sometimes divides from the former! In this case, their doctrine that doctrine divides has caused them to divide! What an ironic situation!

Of course, the more conservative person may separate or divide from another, but it is not usually because they love division or that they have a strange belief about "doctrine." They simply believe that there are some things that are wrong and ought not be held as true by God's people.

The common meaning of "doctrine divides" is a false teaching. False teachings are not only doctrines like "salvation by works" or "Christ is not God’s Son." There can be teachings like these:

• "our doctrine is that doctrine is not important" or
• "our doctrine is that we do not take a stand on things like that" or
• "our doctrine is that doctrine divides" or
• "our doctrine is that it is fine to believe many different teachings on a variety of theological questions" or
• "our doctrine is love and unity" or
• "our doctrine is that science and human reason are greater authorities than the Bible."

Those are doctrines, even though they would probably not be expressed in those terms by those who hold them. But those are wrong and sometimes dangerous doctrines.

If those things were true, why would God tell us to give close attention to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:3; Titus 1:9, 2:1)?

In part 2 we will see that some division is indeed bad, but other division is good.