GraceLife Thoughts – Doctrinal and Practical

Grace Thoughts

GraceLife Thoughts – Doctrinal and Practical

Someone has said that doctrine (teaching) without practice (action) is dead. It’s knowledge without passion. The other way is not good either: practice (action) without (doctrine). That’s passion without knowledge. That can be dangerous. We need both doctrine and practice with equal emphasis.

Here’s an example.

We’ve quoted often in this series from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The letter is divided into two parts: doctrinal (chapters 1-3) and practical (chapters 4-6). Paul wrote this at the beginning of the second part (the practical):

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3

That is a strong call to action within the local church, but why would anyone do any of that unless they had learned doctrine connected with the practice? Here’s how Paul started the first part of the letter (the doctrinal):

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:3-14

Do you see it? The reason that Christians should walk worthy of the calling with which they were called with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is because God had chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having been predestined to be adopted as sons by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will and the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made them accepted in Christ.