Teaching alone does not achieve the goal. This is so in the Bible and life experience shows it. While the focus on teaching is helpful, it should not be considered the only component of importance. Teaching is merely the foundation. It serves as the foundation for the way of life.

In the Western Church, decisive impulses were given from Tertullian. For example, he invented “endless eternity” and fundamental ideas about the doctrine of the Trinity. He also infiltrated ideas of a hell into the Western church. To this day, Western Christian thought in many communities is shaped by him. This is not only the case in terms of content, but also in the way we look at things.

In the first centuries, various theological schools emerged. One of them was based in Carthage, North Africa. There Tertullian gained greater influence and his ideas had a significant impact on the Western Church. Tertullian was a lawyer. His language was legalistic. He was rhetorically skilled and had made his mark in polemical arguments. To this day, these features are found in Western beliefs: It is about doctrine, about certain “things” (dogmas, ideas), more than about where the doctrine leads or what the doctrine was given to do.

Tertullian. Image: Wikimedia.

From doctrine to the practice of faith

The Apostle Paul’s letters to the church are not about a focus on “right or wrong” or just doctrine. Here it is often easy to see how doctrine and faith practice go hand in hand. Instead of faith practice, one could also speak of “way of life”, “lived faith” or simply of “everyday life”. This is neither detached nor ideological. Life change is about ensuring that one’s ideas and everyday life lived are congruent. You lead a life of one piece. Here are some examples:

• Letter to the Romans
  Chapter 1-11: Teaching
  Chapters 12-16: Faith practice
• Ephesians
  Chapter 1-3: Teaching
  Chapter 4-6: Faith practice
• Letter to the Colossians
  Chapter 1-2: Teaching
  Chapter 3-4: Faith practice

Looking at this development in the epistles, one discovers that Paul lays the foundation with doctrine, while the practice of faith is a logical consequence. What are you supposed to imagine? Imagine becoming aware of being loved by God. What are the consequences for your own relationships? Or: One has discovered that everything in this world is a gift, given to us by God in grace, how would one like to treat other people oneself?

Life change is about ensuring that one’s ideas and everyday life lived are congruent. You lead a life of one piece.

The central point here is not the observance of rules, but the question of what faith does in you and me. This is an open question that we do not shape with our lips, but with concrete steps in our daily lives. As Paul writes to the churches in Galatia:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but only faith working through love.”
Gal 5:6

So the practice of faith is not about whether we “believe the right thing” but about what our faith does. Just as Paul elsewhere writes to Timothy:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and useful

• • For instruction,
  • for transfer,
  • for rebuke,
  • to education in justice,

so that the man of God may be prepared,
equipped to do any good work.”
2Tim 3:16-17

This is indeed about the Scriptures (for Paul these were the then recognized Scriptures of the Old Testament, the Tenach), but these Scriptures serve a purpose, namely, so that man can work God’s good. It is the practice of life that should be shaped from Scripture. The goal is not Scripture, but life practice. Scripture is something like a tool for the “man of God.”

The emptiness of the teaching

Tertullian has spread a harsh doctrine. He was engaged in disputes with “heretics”. His hard stance and focus on right or wrong can still be found in many communities today. The more sectarian the imprint, the quicker reference is made to supposed “safe teachings” that are to be “distinguished” from other views. The focus is on the letters. Hard teachings lead to hard hearts and reckless opinions, assuming one is serving “the truth” and one is saying “what God wants.” You go to war against others and think God is on your side.

One problem with dogmatic doctrines is that only religious formulations stick in the minds of community members. The teaching is superficial. The doctrine imprints a void that no longer holds water in today’s world. For example, preaching on the street that everyone “needs Jesus” has support in the theological narrative of the community, but is hardly heard on the street.

What is the cause of the emptiness of teaching?

First, we need to think back. The Bible speaks of God and people. It talks about things that we experience as human beings and things that God does in this world. In it, there is a glimpse of a better future. We could also say that the Bible formulates a response to the reality of life. It defines this response from the relationship with God and shows how this God realizes His solution and redemption in the harsh reality of this world. It’s a mind-blowing message and story told in many separate steps.

Here now is the context:

The real experience in this world > described in the Bible and answered > leads to the realization of a better future.

This whole trajectory is viewed against the backdrop of God’s activity and from the perspective of relationship. Whoever assents to this proclamation, makes known his trust in this God and this history, believes. Those who go out into the world with this treasure in their hearts no longer stand there empty-handed, but have experienced how a message can shape their own lives and possibly the lives of others as well. It is the prospect of a future marked by God’s action, towards the reconciliation of the universe (Col 1:20).

If this background is missing in the teaching, only empty words remain. “Death by phrases” is then the problem of a focus on teaching.

The emptiness of the practice of faith

There is also a void of faith practice. This arises when there is no more preaching and everything is focused only on “practical” things. However, it does not require a “Christian” community. People are moral even without religion (cf. Rom 2:14-15). Therefore, those who only refer to the practice of life, but neglect the doctrine, can practice this just as well in a secular association. That would be more sober.

A superficial emphasis on everyday life is what I have seen in some communities. Faith quickly becomes kitsch, as can be traced in almost any Christian bookstore. Just ask what the revenue is generated from. As a rule, they are greeting cards and books with life help. While this is important, it contrasts sharply with the “spiritual” presentation in the community. In many a national church, people are almost embarrassed to talk about the Bible and about God. In free churches, Jesus becomes a buddy who helps with life issues. Both are superficial.

See also: “My people perish for lack of knowledge”.

A fulfilled life and a fulfilled faith go hand in hand. Considered individually, they do not lead to success. This requires a more conscious approach to both teaching and life issues. They are allowed to cross-fertilize.

Instead of a legalistic approach

The jurist Tertullian provoked a legalistic approach in the Church. The one-sided emphasis on teaching leads to the sidelines. Teaching should always be experienced and lived. Experiencing doctrine is achieved in many traditions, for example, through a liturgy. In it, the congregation, together with others, celebrates the pillars of communion and thus the foundations of doctrine. Orthodox communities, for example, or even the Catholic Church manage to do this. I can acknowledge the function of the liturgy, even though I may choose a different direction in doctrinal matters. For Christian community to succeed, it takes more than teaching. Some communities have long understood this and integrated it into their shared experience.

If you look at free churches, they are more accessible, but also more superficial than many a traditional church. Emphasis on feelings (such as through worship) cannot make up for the lack of content as carried in a liturgy. When people disappointed in evangelical churches seek a new direction, you can see the richness of liturgy and Orthodoxy. Others turn away because of the emptiness of the doctrine, often leave the community disappointed and become post-evangelicals, ex-evangelicals or wish to think faith again in a completely new way because previous ideas are no longer in harmony with today’s world.

Those who come from communities wherein doctrine (those assumptions of community) is central do well to consider the characteristics of their own faith. To do this, you can ask yourself questions like:

“Is the Bible as focused on doctrine (and “believing the right thing”) as my community is?”
“How is the common calling in Christ celebrated? Is it primarily a feeling?”
“Why do dogmatic ideas leave a stale aftertaste in everyday life?”
“Is it enough to do good? Then do I still need the gospel?”

These are provocative questions, but they can help clarify the relationship between doctrine and faith practice. Nothing should be thrown away, but rather rediscovered. Doctrine is not the most important thing, everyday life is not the most important thing, but in a Christian community both belong together. In what way? This can be deepened.

Believe with enthusiasm

When a message touches my life, gives my thinking a new outlook, then I can be carried away with enthusiasm. This statement is general. Nothing has been said about the content of faith. When older statements and insights appear only as empty phrases, when enthusiasm falls by the wayside, it is a normal and healthy urge in life to look for something better.

Enthusiasm is missing because the old phrases don’t carry on. This happens in traditional churches as well as in free churches. If a new community is established today, it is likely to experience the same kind of phrases and challenges over time. There may be common characteristics for this: It is about the subculture and therein about the connection between doctrine and faith practice. When faith and life are no longer of one piece, when life questions fall by the wayside or deepening and reflective questions are evaded, the foundation of community atrophies. True humanity and true spirituality then fall by the wayside. However, these two must be reflected and kept alive in ever-changing times.

Sparks should fly between doctrine and lifestyle.

Sparks should fly between doctrine and lifestyle. People should be able to ask each other questions without fear, even those that are uncomfortable, that deviate, that seem “heretical”. It is not we who should think like the community, but the community, that is ourselves.

Between teaching and life practice

About 40 years ago, I mainly wanted to replace false teachings with better teachings. That’s valuable. This has given my faith a wide horizon. That’s where many people still stand today. In this process, I discovered that many “ideas about the Bible” are not necessarily what the Bible itself says. There are often striking differences between the supposed “biblical” positions and the Bible itself. This discovery was like a liberation.

Today I think further than I did then. It’s no longer just about right or wrong. I gained a different perspective on my life and on my faith. Today I confidently recognize that the Bible is sober and not as ideologically obdurate as some ideas about the Bible. I have gained confidence in what the Bible says, but am no longer so focused on black and white ideas. I recognize the testimonials as reliable, but increasingly ask not just “what” is written there, but “what it was written for.” Teaching is not a goal. What is the goal?

Doctrine and faith practice have evolved in my life. In many a community this is frowned upon, but I have found it to be healthy. I am sure that in terms of church history, one also once looks back at our time and then classifies some views as an intermediate stage of a larger development. Aliveness sees and lives the healthy tension between doctrine and faith practice.