Bedrock Reality and the Structure of the Church
Good and better options for orienting principles
Foundations matter quite a bit.
How would you answer the question: “what is the philosophical bedrock of your community?”
What is there at the bottom of all things that determines your church’s values and shape?
What animates the life of your community?
What might an outsider looking in have to say?
When it comes to churches, here might be the four most common answers:
Tradition
Doctrine
Love
Jesus
All these matter to different degrees. But the way they are prioritized in a church can change the way we answer critical questions like “Who are we?”, “Why do we do what we do?”, and “What are our orienting principles?”
Let’s take them one at a time.
Tradition
Tradition is an aspect of every community’s identity. Even so-called “nontraditional” churches still accumulate tradition over time. These traditions then become a big part of who they are.
Tradition is more than just rituals – it involves a church’s history, the ways they have adapted to their cultural context, and even their chosen sources of learning. In some church settings tradition is highly emphasized and “taste forward” in how they present themselves. In other settings tradition is downplayed or unconsidered.
But tradition can become a dangerous thing spiritually. Jesus rebuked the pharisees, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:7-8).
There is something about human traditions, even when based originally off good and Godly things, that over time they come to eclipse what matters most.
A friend of mine grew up in one of the most tradition-thick Christian denominations that exists today. He enjoyed his experience there – loved his priest, and had great relationships. However, somehow, he never got the Gospel message. He knew Jesus was important, but only saw him as one focal point among many. He didn’t realize the Cross’s role in his personal salvation. Eventually he came to a Bible study I was leading where he felt like “a chainsaw was taken to the overgrown religious tree” he had grown up with, so for the first time ever, he could “finally see the trunk.”
Tradition got in the way of him seeing the point of it all.
Most church traditions start as an attempt to put important biblical truths into regular practice. For instance, think about common traditional church features like fellowship halls or steeples. These weren’t always dry dead features associated with stale institutions. Fellowship halls were sheltered gathering spaces during a time when many people came a long way on foot to be together. Steeples reminded people that church buildings were ultimately there to point to God.
Regardless of how we may think about these structures now, they once held clear meaning and symbolized something good to the people that came up with them. But over time the meaning (for most) has been lost. Similar to making a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, quality degrades and at some point, you can no longer see the original image.
When tradition is too foundational, churches risk becoming self-referential and drawing people more to themselves and their way of doing things – rather than to God.
Doctrine
By doctrine I don’t necessarily mean scripture (although that is certainly what good doctrine should be based on). Instead, I am referring theological frameworks. Think Calvinism, Arminianism, Covenantalism, Dispensationalism, Millennial views, etc. These all are grids for understanding God and implementing spiritual truth. They function as sorting mechanisms, drawn from the Bible, that elevate and focus on certain distinguishing themes.
Such frameworks also aren’t bad in of themselves. In fact, they are necessary or at least helpful in organizing and communicating our beliefs. Systematic theology is important. We see this affirmed in essence by Paul when he reminds Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” And to the Ephesian elders, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole counsel of God.” Theological frameworks at their best are attempts to take seriously and fit together everything God has said.
However, doctrinal frameworks should not be at the absolute core of a church’s identity. Many broad theological distinctions are in areas in which there is significant room for disagreement between faithful Christians. They are of secondary or even tertiary importance.
For more on how to parse out what beliefs are essential versus those that are contingent or even non-essential, I recommend Gavin Ortlund’s excellent book “Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage.”
Love
Many churches claim love as their banner word. Love, when taken as a church’s foundational principle, suggests the focus ought to be more on what we do, then the particulars of what we believe. It’s not just the content of our faith, but it’s outcome – and the impact we have on those around us, that matters most.
There is a Biblical basis for this idea. As Francis Schaeffer argued, love is the defining mark of a Christian (John 13:35). Paul told Timothy, “The purpose [or goal] of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5).
But read carefully, and you will notice this verse is also saying something else – that in order to get to Godly love you do first need instruction. It’s love that comes from “genuine faith” that Paul is after. Love with content. Put another way “love” needs an external source to be definable and effectual. Otherwise, we only get love as a free floating culturally conditioned virtue.
If love is this amorphous, who is to say what we are doing represents God’s love at all?
Jesus
Jesus is the chief cornerstone upon which the church is built (Ephesians 2:20-22), and “the author and perfecter of our faith” according to Hebrews 12:2. It’s hard to imagine a stronger Biblical basis for determining foundation of the church. Even our very name (Christians) demonstrates we are followers of him.
Case closed, right?
Almost. There is some crucial nuance to explore. Jesus is God in human form; his person and teaching should orient everything we do as Christians. But it’s important to be aware that post-evangelical and progressive Christian thinkers tend to misuse this idea. In a nutshell, they argue that since Jesus is the only proper foundation of the church – Christians are then free to downplay or ignore much of the rest of the Bible’s teaching. Put another way if Jesus didn’t say it directly, then in their view, it’s not relevant.
Here is Marcus Borg, an influential and self-identified “progressive theologian.”
“Jesus is the Word of God. The Bible is a human response to the experience of God. It is not God’s revealed truth in a straightforward way…The authority of the Bible is derivative. It derives its authority from its ability to mediate the sacred—especially as it leads us to Jesus.”[1]
Borg’s statement is typical of Neo-Orthodox theology, in that it gives inspirational primacy to the “experience of scripture” rather than the propositional truth that scripture contains.
But Jesus cannot be separated from the rest of God’s self-revelation. While Jesus exists and has bodily revealed himself to many, he is primarily known to humans through the witness of scripture – written by men under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the eternal logos according to John, or fundamental reality made manifest (John 1:1-14). God is not less than Jesus – and to say so would be heresy. But God is more than Jesus. This is where the trinitarian nature of our faith matters greatly. God is the Holy Spirit. And he is also the Father, in addition to being God the Son (Matthew 28:19-20). We should never pit the members of the Trinity against each other or deny their distinctiveness. They are three persons in one unified essence.
God has revealed himself directly and come into our world as Jesus Christ. But he has revealed himself no less through scripture. In fact, we know all fundamental truth about God because he has revealed it by means of the divinely inspired written word. Literally “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (1 Peter 1:21). It’s through understanding God’s mind, presented in the layered complexity of scripture, that we then are able to interpret correctly our own experiences and the world around us.
And so, let us add a fifth option for the foundation of the church – what ultimately determines its structure, life, and purpose.
Truth
Truth is the raw divine substance. Our best traditions are containers that help us express truth. Doctrine summarizes truth. Love is shaped and guided by truth. Jesus himself is the climax and focal point of God’s truth.
The church must be a community characterized by truth.
It begins with the fact that we are saved by the truth. Ephesians 1:13-14 reads, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” The gospel is propositional; it is a message. And it is in believing the content of this message that we are saved. Our corporate relationship with God begins with truth.
After being saved, we are to be formed by the truth.
Giving out and receiving God’s truth results in Christ-like maturity. “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15).
This is also what Jesus prayed for his disciples, that they would grow through knowing and understanding the truth: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
But our commission is not just to be saved and formed, but also to go on and proclaim the truth to the nations. Jesus “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20). The church is God’s medium or delivery mechanism for life giving truth.
Here is Paul’s take: “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2). It’s not just proclaiming the truth but doing so clearly that matters. We must make ourselves understood so that God can be understood by others.
Finally, the church guards the truth. “What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
Even well laid foundations can shift. This is evident in how churches seemingly stagnate into stale forms over time, or overaccommodate to their culture. Occasionally we will need to dig down and reassess whether we are still building on stable bedrock. This process ought to be a discipline for the church, and result in fresh contextualization of the truth. We must also be ready for demolition of worn out forms and practices that no longer accomplish their purpose.
Formalism is a great enemy of truth. It is a rigid or external adherence to religious forms, structures, or rituals without corresponding inner conviction or spiritual vitality.
A key responsibility of leaders is to disrupt the calcifying influence of formalism by continuing to delineate between wine (truth) and wineskins (forms that express the truth).[2]
When this is done well, the church remains distinct, beautiful, adaptable, and empowered.
REFLECT: What are your personal rhythms for centering on God’s Word? (Psalm 1)
CONSIDER: What role does scripture play in the life of your community? (Colossians 3:16-17)
DISCUSS: What might be early warning signs of formalism in a church?
[1] The Heart of Christianity (2003), p. 78
[2] See Luke 5:37-39