The false dichotomy between doctrine and practice — or doctrine being purely intellectual

As it can be seen, I have added another blog category entitled ' "Reformed" downgrade', as these are some of the things I have heard coming from so-called "Reformed" circles which make me truly wonder whether it is better to go back to New Evangelical circles; at least there they do not claim to be reformed and are thus less hypocritical.

I would hereby comment on various things said in a sermon which I have heard recently. The sermon was with regards to the Diaconate ministry, utilizing the texts of Act 6:1-7. In this sermon, a couple of errors were made that has serious doctrinal consequences.

Firstly, a statement was made stating that doctrine appeals to the intellect (the mind) and thus helps us to grow in our (intellectual) knowledge of God. While true in and of itself, the contrast is then stated between knowing and doing, with the claim being made that apart from knowing more about God, we should also apply God's Word. What he meas by this is further clarified in subsequent statements. The preacher continues on in stating that we humans have three parts: our intellect, our emotions and our will. He then uses the analogy of Christ's offices to show how God ministers to us through Christ Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ has the office of Prophet, Priest and King, and therefore according to him, Christ's prophetic ministry ministers to our intellect, the priestly ministry to our emotions, and the kingly ministry to our will or volition. To make it even clearer as to what he had in mind, he later states that doctrine and the exercise of the prophetic office will make us intellectually satisfied while the ministry of the deacons will make us physically satisfied.

From what can be seen so far, it should be evident that what the preacher is saying is that doctrine is purely or mostly of the intellect only. Thus, he divorces the mind from the emotions, and doctrine from practice. Since doctrine and the prophetic office is said to deal only with the intellect, and not with the emotions and practice, doctrine is now isolated from practice. And preaching becomes purely an exercise in intellectual knowledge impartation. The reformed emphasis on correct doctrine within such a framework thus becomes a celebration of intellectual correctness as being something which God desires that all Christians should have.

To put it nicely, I was not pleased. Doctrine is not an exercise in intellectual correctness, and preaching is NOT giving an intellectual discourse! God also doesn't desire our intellectual correctness in and of itself. To be sure, the intellect is involved, but to make it purely intellectual is demeaning to the entire thrust of Scripture. The Scriptures are abundently clear that correct doctrine is very practical (eg 2 Tim. 3:16-17), not just for intellectual value. In fact, the remedy that Paul applies to a problematic church in Corinth is not a list of practical do's and don'ts, but more doctrines (1 Cor., 2 Cor.) and this can be said of any church problems which Paul or any of the other apostles handled as stated in their epistles. To make doctrine purely a matter of intellect goes against the entirety of Scripture, and it sounded more of a strawman created by anti-intellectual Charismatics than truth. I was thus shocked that some people who call themselves reformed actually believe and preached such a false dichotomy between doctrine and practice.

Of course, embrace of such a false dichotomy would have serious negative implications. Doctrine would therefore be only for those who are intellectual; the rest can just get by with practical topics such as "Ways of relieving stress" or "Coping with difficult people". When doctrine is treasured, it may not be applied but just taught as something which brings 'intellectual satisfaction' and thus somewhat akin as leading to self-actualization. The sermon becomes a time whereby the preacher will just give us his take on a passage, of course hopefully as much as possible faithful to the text, but the preacher cannot consistently see it as being a means for the Holy Spirit to use the Word preached for the transformation of souls, unless conversion is seen to be something not related to the emotions or will but just the intellect.

Along with such nonsense, another error was made by the preacher as he expounded further on this so-called analogy of Christ's office to the church's offices. Christ being Prophet, Priest and King, the prophetic ministry has been pass down to the Elders who preach the Word, ... while the priestly ministry has been passed to the Deacons? As Christ in His priestly ministry ministers to our emotions, the Diaconate should minister to the physical needs of the flock? What rubbish! Christ does NOT minister to our emotions through His priestly ministry. As our great high Priest, Christ offered the blood of sacrifice (His own) before God to save us (Heb. 9:11-12), and then intercedes on our behalf (Heb. 9:24), being the one and only mediator between God and Man (1 Tim. 2:5). Such is the duty of a priest, and not some 'ministering to physical or even emotional needs'! Obviously, deacons cannot be said to exercise anything even remotely similar to the priestly ministry, which has been done permanently and completed forever in our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 7:24). The closest thing to a deacon in the OT are the chiefs and elders of Israel who took care of the physical needs of the people (Ex. 18:17-26).

It is with great sadness that I witness such ridiculous nonsense from "reformed" circles. How can you pass on Christ's Priestly ministry to any human minister, let alone Deacons? In fact, how can you even dream up such nonsense?! It is totally beyond me, especially since we are talking about the NT church. It is sacrilegious to even think of such a comparison!

And with this I finish this post. I am grieved by such unorthodox nonsene being taught by a purpertedly reformed preacher. The only thing I hope for is that this 'deacons as priests' teaching is not some official teaching in any reformed church or denomination, otherwise they would be really off in this respect. May God convict that preacher of his error and lead him to repentance.