Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
“But he doesn't have anything on," a child announced in Hans Christian Andersen’s classic, The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Charlatans had convinced the emperor and townspeople that the cloth of the royal suit was invisible to those who were foolish. No one, not even the emperor, wanted to admit they couldn’t see the clothes. It required the innocence of a child to expose the scandal.
We need a child to expose the con perpetrated today concerning doctrinal knowledge.
When I train foreign pastors they ask many questions. Should we give Christian burial to unbaptized believers? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Was Jesus made divine at birth or at his baptism?
Honesty constrains me to admit intellectual nakedness on nearly every topic, except salvation in Jesus. In essentials—like the deity of Christ, the power of his blood, and the indwelling Spirit—we must have unity. In the hundreds of nonessentials, grace prevails. Paul calls these nonessentials disputable matters. (Romans 14:1)
Can we be childlike, drop the pretense, and admit that none of us is equipped to sort out noncore doctrine? There, I’ve said it—the emperor has no clothes on. We are all intellectually unclothed. On the issues that divide most Christian denominations, no human has the acumen or contextual background to stand inerrant. The only recourse is to risk everything on Jesus. That leaves us free to love instead of arguing, and laugh at ourselves instead of pretending we’re all grown up.
Prayer: Gracious Jesus, thank you for covering my ineptitude.