Finding the Right Hills to Die On E-Book

Gavin Ortlund

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 217

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

In theology, just as in battle, some hills are worth dying on. But how do we know which ones? When should doctrine divide, and when should unity prevail? Pastor Gavin Ortlund makes the case that while all doctrines matter, some are more essential than others. He considers how and what to prioritize in doctrine and ministry, encouraging humility and grace along the way. Using four basic categories of doctrine in order of importance, this book helps new and seasoned church leaders alike wisely labor both to uphold doctrine and to preserve unity.

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“A timely and well-written book on a vitally important subject. Ortlund reminds us that Christian theologians must see themselves first and foremost as servants of the Great Commission. He shows us how much of the Christian academy has been divorced from the gospel mission. The Bible is a theological, pastoral, and evangelistic book—and those must never be separated, lest one become malformed. I am immediately using this book with our elder and pastoral team!”

J. D. Greear, President, Southern Baptist Convention; author, Not God Enough; Pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

“Gavin Ortlund is a scholar and leader who both wields the sword of the Spirit and exhibits the fruit of the Spirit. He not only stands up for Jesus but also stands with him in love, holiness, and mission. In a sadly contentious time, this book shows us how to love each other and stay on mission together even when we see some nonessential doctrines in different ways. This is a wise and needed book.”

Russell Moore, President, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

“To put it simply: this is an important book. With a historian’s insight, a theologian’s precision, and a pastor’s wisdom, Gavin Ortlund has given the church an invaluable handbook for navigating our ongoing doctrinal challenges and for healing our ongoing doctrinal divisions.”

Jared C. Wilson, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Spurgeon College; Author in Residence, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, The Imperfect Disciple

“Some seem to think that faithfulness to God is measured in how much we argue about things. I am so grateful for Gavin Ortlund’s book, which reminds us that faithfulness can be defined in far more biblical ways. Ortlund does not pretend that he has the answers to end all church arguments, but he helps us understand that failure to distinguish critical matters from secondary and tertiary concerns is an abandonment of the pastoral prudence that is essential to Christ’s mission. Even Jesus said, ‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.’ For pastors operating with the care and courage of Jesus, patience is not compromise, kindness is not weakness, and Christ’s mission supersedes our personal victories. Ortlund honors Christ’s manner as well as his message in this fascinating and challenging book.”

Bryan Chapell, Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church, Peoria, Illinois

“There are few needs today as urgent as the one Gavin Ortlund so ably addresses in this wonderful book. Healthy theological perspective and poise are all too absent in an age of immediate escalation and rage. This book could transform our thinking, our capacity for fellowship, and our witness to the world. I pray it is read widely and heeded deeply.”

Sam Allberry, author, Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With? and 7 Myths about Singleness

“Gavin Ortlund helps us think well as brothers and sisters in Christ on where we must staunchly defend the truth and draw immovable lines. He also helps us know where to extend grace and lovingly disagree while working together for the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the building up of the Lord’s church. This book is much needed in our day. May our Savior use it for our good and his glory.”

Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“In this age of theological infighting and compromise, Gavin Ortlund issues a clarion call for wisdom. You don’t have to agree with him on everything to appreciate his sane and clarifying advice. This is an important book for our time, helping the church as we struggle for both faithfulness to God’s word and a proper Christian unity.”

Michael Reeves, President and Professor of Theology, Union School of Theology, Oxford, United Kingdom

“As best I can tell, this is the first book of its kind and is long overdue. Gavin Ortlund has done the church a tremendous service by providing a clear, irenic, and well-reasoned (not to mention biblical) perspective on the comparative importance of our many Christian doctrines. Some in the church today have waged vigorous war and ‘died’ needlessly on virtually every hill, while others, in the name of unity, don’t find any hill worth ‘dying’ on. To both, and to everyone in between the two extremes, I say, ‘Read this book!’”

Sam Storms, Senior Pastor, Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Finding the Right Hills to Die On

Other Gospel Coalition Books

Christ Has Set Us Free: Preaching and Teaching Galatians, edited by D. A. Carson and Jeff Robinson Sr.

Coming Home: Essays on the New Heaven and New Earth, edited by D. A. Carson and Jeff Robinson Sr.

Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, by Rebecca McLaughlin

Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day, edited by Kevin DeYoung

Faithful Endurance: The Joy of Shepherding People for a Lifetime, edited by Collin Hansen and Jeff Robinson Sr.

15 Things Seminary Couldn’t Teach Me, edited by Collin Hansen and Jeff Robinson

Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God, by Courtney Reissig

God’s Love Compels Us: Taking the Gospel to the World, edited by D. A. Carson and Kathleen B. Nielson

God’s Word, Our Story: Learning from the Book of Nehemiah, edited by D. A. Carson and Kathleen B. Nielson

The Gospel as Center: Renewing Our Faith and Reforming Our Ministry Practices, edited by D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller

Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry: A Practical Guide, edited by Cameron Cole and Jon Nielson

Here Is Our God: God’s Revelation of Himself in Scripture, edited by Kathleen B. Nielson and D. A. Carson

His Mission: Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, edited by D. A. Carson and Kathleen B. Nielson

Joyfully Spreading the Word, edited by Kathleen Nielson and Gloria Furman

Missional Motherhood, by Gloria Furman

The New City Catechism: 52 Questions and Answers for Our Hearts and Minds

The New City Catechism Curriculum

The New City Catechism Devotional: God’s Truth for Our Hearts and Minds

The New City Catechism for Kids

The Pastor as Scholar and the Scholar as Pastor: Reflections on Life and Ministry, by John Piper and D. A. Carson, edited by David Mathis and Owen Strachan

Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer: In Our Homes, Communities, and Churches, by Megan Hill

Pursuing Health in an Anxious Age, by Bob Cutillo

Remember Death, by Matthew McCullough

Resurrection Life in a World of Suffering, edited by D. A. Carson and Kathleen Nielson

Finding the Right Hills to Die On

The Case for Theological Triage

Gavin Ortlund

Foreword by D. A. Carson

Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage

Copyright © 2020 by Gavin Ortlund

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

Cover image: Sheet 62Dd SW, 1:20000, GSGS 2742, April 1918 (colour litho), English School, (20th century) / National Army Museum, London / Bridgeman Images

First printing 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-6742-1 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-6745-2 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-6743-8 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-6744-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ortlund, Gavin, 1983– author.

Title: Finding the right hills to die on: the case for theological triage / Gavin Ortlund; foreword by D. A. Carson.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020. | Series: The gospel coalition | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2019041185 (print) | LCCN 2019041186 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433567421 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433567438 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433567445 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433567452 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Theology, Doctrinal. | Pastoral theology. | Christian leadership. | Church work.

Classification: LCC BT78 .O7835 2020 (print) | LCC BT78 (ebook) | DDC 230—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041185

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041186

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2021-05-17 04:34:41 PM

To Covenant Theological Seminary

and Immanuel Church, Nashville,

two institutions that display beauty

in their theological culture

Contents

Foreword by D. A. Carson

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1 Why Theological Triage?

 1  The Danger of Doctrinal Sectarianism

 2  The Danger of Doctrinal Minimalism

 3  My Journey on Secondary and Tertiary Doctrines

Part 2 Theological Triage at Work

 4  Why Primary Doctrines Are Worth Fighting For

 5  Navigating the Complexity of Secondary Doctrines

 6  Why We Should Not Divide over Tertiary Doctrines

Conclusion: A Call to Theological Humility

General Index

Scripture Index

Foreword

Some years ago I watched with interest as a senior minister I greatly admired resigned from his ministry in Canada and left to serve in France. He already spoke French with some fluency, and he was greatly stirred by the smallness and low number of evangelical churches in that country. So, not long before the age when many people would have been dreaming of retirement, he felt called of God to address this great need, and off he went. 

He lasted just over thirty months before he was asked to leave by the same group of evangelical churches that had warmly invited him to come and help them. 

About the same time, I got to know a youngish man who became a missionary to a Slavic country that could have certainly used his help. He too was asked to leave. He lasted less than two years.

The first man had come from a North American denomination that was adamantly opposed to the use of alcohol by Christians. Believing this stance was morally right, he tried to convince his French brothers and sisters in Christ of the rightness of this position. From their point of view, not only was he wrong, but, even if they could imagine he might be right, they felt he was making a mountain out of a molehill. He dug in and brought up the subject so frequently that pretty soon his position became untenable. 

The second man came from a freewheeling North American denomination from which he had derived many of his ethical practices (one hesitates to call them principles). The Slavic brothers and sisters in Christ found him to be loose and undisciplined: imagine going to mixed swimming sites! That’s what unbelievers do, exposing acres of bare flesh and undermining Christian efforts to follow the ways of chastity and holiness. Sadly, he interpreted their stance as interfering with his Christian freedom, and pretty soon he was urged to return to California.

Both of these examples deal with something not directly addressed by Gavin Ortlund, namely, the challenges of cross-cultural church practices, cross-cultural codes of conduct, cross-cultural communication. Nevertheless, behind these issues lies a still larger issue, the issue that Dr. Ortlund powerfully tackles in this insightful and probing book. It is the issue of theological triage.

As far as I know, the expression “theological triage” was first coined by R. Albert Mohler, who draws analogies with medical triage. At the scene of a terrible accident or some other violent event, there may be too few first responders to deal with all the victims immediately. Decisions have to be made: should the first concentrated attention go to the victim with severe burns, the victim who is bleeding profusely, or the victim with a couple of broken limbs? It is the responsibility of the initial triage teams to make these hard choices. Similarly, in the realm of theology some theological issues are more important or more urgent than others, and Christians who have to decide on how best to deploy their energy need to exercise godly judgment as to where their theological priorities should go.

Ortlund usefully develops four tiers in his theological-triage system: (1) doctrines that are essential to the gospel; (2) doctrines that are urgent for the health and practice of the church, such that Christians commonly divide denominationally over them; (3) doctrines that are important for one branch of theology or another, but not such that they should lead to separation; (4) doctrines that are unimportant to gospel witness and ministry collaboration.

Of course, some believers distance themselves from such triage grids. If the Bible asserts something, they avow, it is God’s truth and not to be relativized or declared more (or less) important than any other part of God’s truth. Others resort to what might be called “LCD theology” (Lowest Common Denominator theology). The question that interests them is this: What is the least that any person should believe and adhere to in order to be a Christian? Both of these strategies will readily dismiss all attempts at theological triage.

It is precisely here that Ortlund is a helpful guide. He helpfully points out that Paul (to go no further) can designate certain doctrines as matters “of first importance” (1 Cor. 15:3), while other beliefs allow for difference of opinion (Rom. 14:5). Certainly when the apostle finds himself in different cultural settings, he feels free to emphasize slightly different things as he takes his audience into account (compare his sermons in Acts 13 and Acts 17 respectively, one in a synagogue and one in the Areopagus). This book seeks to establish clear thinking about such questions. When he comes to concrete examples, Ortlund is less eager that you should agree with all his conclusions than that you learn how to think about the importance of theological triage. And this becomes all the more important when theological triage is overlaid with the challenges of cross-cultural communication.

This book is a little exercise on how to read and use your Bible humbly, carefully, faithfully, and wisely, like workers who do not need to be ashamed.

D. A. Carson

Acknowledgments

One of my goals in this book was to write with a sensitivity to the real issues affecting local churches. So I conducted a number of interviews with various pastors in order to learn how different doctrines have played out in their ministries. I want to express my appreciation for the insights of Brad Andrews, Jeremiah Hurt, J. A. Medders, Ben Vrbicek, Simon Murphy, and Hans Kristensen. Kristensen and Murphy were particularly helpful in giving a sense of the scene in Australia and Singapore, where they respectively minister.

I am grateful to Collin Hansen and Jeff Robinson for the invitation to write this book and their collaboration along the way. Greg Strand offered helpful feedback as well. Justin Taylor and Andy Naselli directed me to several helpful resources. The entire team at Crossway did, as always, an incredible job. Special thanks to Thom Notaro for his careful editing.

Introduction

There’s an old saying (I can’t remember where I heard it): “There is no doctrine a fundamentalist won’t fight over, and no doctrine a liberal will fight over.” Strictly speaking, that’s not quite fair to thoughtful liberals and fundamentalists. But we can probably recognize these two instincts. Most of us have a tendency in one direction or the other—to fight over doctrine too much or too little.

This book is about finding the happy place between these two extremes—the place of wisdom, love, and courage that will best serve the church and advance the gospel in our fractured times. In other words, it’s about finding the right hills to die on.

Albert Mohler has developed a helpful metaphor for this idea: theological triage.1 Triage is essentially a system of prioritization. It is often used in medical contexts. For instance, if you are a doctor on the battlefield, you cannot treat every wounded soldier simultaneously, so you must develop a process to determine which injuries you treat first.

Using the concept of triage in the context of theology assumes two things. First, doctrines have different kinds of importance. Some hills are worth dying on. Others are not. As basic as this might seem, plenty of people, either in principle or in practice, deny this—more on that in a moment. Second, triage assumes that the needs are urgent. You can spend more time fixing a broken arm when no one is hemorrhaging ten feet away. If you have neither a broken arm nor a dying man to attend to, you can give more attention to a chipped tooth or bad bruise. But the more demanding the issues, the more you have to make hard decisions.

Similarly, if souls were not perishing, if our culture were not seeming to escalate into a whirlwind of confusion and outrage, if the church did not have so many languishing needs—I suppose, if these were not the conditions we faced, we could do away with theological triage and work on every doctrine all at once. But the dire needs of the times require us to make strategic decisions of prioritization in order to be as effective as possible at pleasing Christ, serving the church, and advancing his gospel.

Now, everyone understands how important triage is in a medical context. Just think what would happen if you didn’t have triage! One person would lose a limb so another could have his arm set. In the worst scenario, one person would die so another could have a bruise bandaged.

But we often forget to think in the same way about theology. Sometimes we flatten out all doctrine—either because we want to fight about everything or because we want to fight about nothing. More commonly, we have some kind of functional theological triage, but we have not thought it through very self-consciously. As a result, it is determined reactively by our circumstances and temperament rather than proactively by Scripture and principle.

There are all kinds of ways to distinguish doctrines.2 In this book I suggest four basic categories. We could explore further subcategories as well, but this fourfold ranking should help as a starting point:

First-rank doctrines are essential to the gospel itself.Second-rank doctrines are urgent for the health and practice of the church such that they frequently cause Christians to separate at the level of local church, denomination, and/or ministry.Third-rank doctrines are important to Christian theology, but not enough to justify separation or division among Christians.Fourth-rank doctrines are unimportant to our gospel witness and ministry collaboration.

In this book I consider the Trinity, for example, to be a first-rank doctrine, baptism a second-rank doctrine, and the millennium a third-rank doctrine (more about that later). An older term, borrowed from Greek, that roughly corresponds to category 4 is adiaphora, literally meaning “things indifferent.” In Lutheran and Puritan circles, this term was used to identify practices or views that are neither commanded nor forbidden by Scripture. An example of a fourth-rank issue is the musical instrumentation used in worship or the number of angels that exist. Fourth-rank issues might be practically relevant or intellectually stimulating, but they are not theologically important.

Not everything will fit neatly into one of these four categories, of course.3 But at least they provide a basic framework from which we can make further specifications and nuances as necessary.

You might be interested in this book if you have wrestled with questions like these:

How do we pursue the realization of Christ’s prayer for the unity of the church (John 17:21) without disobeying Christ’s charge to obey all that he commands (Matt. 28:20)?What partnerships and alliances are appropriate among Christians of different denominations, networks, or tribes?What kinds of attitude and speech are most helpful in our interaction with those in the body of Christ with whom we have significant theological disagreements?What does it look like to handle, with integrity and transparency, personal differences of conviction that may arise with your church, boss, denomination, or institution?

Or, perhaps you can relate to one of the following fictional scenarios:

1. You are relatively new on the pastoral staff at a local church. In a particular song the congregation is accustomed to singing, you have a reservation about some of the lyrics. You wonder whether it’s a big enough deal to address and, if so, how soon in your time at the church you should tackle this, and what the process and communication should be like.

2. You have been working at a parachurch ministry for several years. As part of your contract, you have to annually reaffirm your commitment to the statement of faith of the denomination with which the ministry is associated. The statement of faith affirms a particular view of the end times that you had not studied much when you took the job, and you were happy at that time to affirm it. Over the years, however, you’ve grown unsettled about this view, and at this point you lean away from it, though you are not fully decided. You hesitate to keep studying it, for fear of landing in a place that threatens your job. In your conscience, you wonder at what point you need to communicate your reservations about this doctrine. Is it only when you have fully decided? If so, what does this process look like, and how do you go about it?

3. A group of churches in your community is putting on a joint service of worship and outreach. You have significant theological differences with some of the other churches participating, and you wonder whether you can take part with a good conscience. How do you decide what to do? And what does it look like to approach this situation with graciousness and humility without compromising your convictions?

4. You love listening to a particular Bible preacher on the radio. His sermons are both convicting and uplifting. But one day you learn that he speaks at conferences that have a “health and wealth” emphasis, and you start to notice aspects of his teaching that can be interpreted in this way. How should your perception of his preaching be altered (if at all) by his broader ministry associations? How clearly must his own teaching veer into a “health and wealth” gospel before you stop listening?

5. You are dating seriously and thinking about marriage. However, you and your companion hold different views on the proper expression of gender roles within a marriage. You have talked through the issues with other trusted Christians and studied the question with your prospective spouse, but the two of you have not reached a resolution. Should you break up? How should you think about your differences?

These are some of the scenarios I have in mind while I write this book, though what we arrive at will hopefully be more than a series of “how to” answers to questions like these. Instead, we are after a set of theological instincts that can guide us in various situations of real life and ministry. Thus, the variety of issues addressed in this book are meant to be illustrative, not exhaustive.

Some of the doctrines I’ll cover are ones I’ve personally agonized over, like creation and baptism. But I want to make it clear up front that my desire in this book is not to convert you to my view on these doctrines (really, I mean that). Rather, I’m trying to get at the whole way we go about theology, in both forming our convictions and then navigating life and ministry in light of them. I sincerely hope that this book will help you as you form your own convictions about how theological triage should function in your life and ministry.

I’m writing from an evangelical Protestant perspective, and I draw particularly from resources within the Reformed tradition. Nonetheless, the principles and topics covered here have a broad relevance, and I’d be delighted if Christians from other traditions, or non-Christians, found value in this book.

One note of caution: some of the most divisive issues among Christians concern not theological matters per se but cultural, wisdom, and political issues. For example, should Christians send their children to public schools or private schools or do home schooling? Under what circumstances, if any, may Christians drink alcohol? When and how (if at all) should reference to current political and cultural events be made in a church service? These are all important questions, but in this book I am focusing more on specifically theological matters.

In the first two chapters, then, I will identify two opposite errors to provide an overall framework for thinking about the importance of doctrine. Then, in chapter 3, I want to share a little bit of my story. This will help explain how this whole topic came up for me and why I think it is so important. It will also start to get us into specific doctrines. Chapters 4–6 will work through a number of specific doctrines in light of theological triage, attempting to identify criteria for ranking the importance of different issues.

1. For instance, see R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2009), 1–8.

2. Erik Thoennes, Life’s Biggest Questions: What the Bible Says about the Things That Matter Most (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 35, suggests a similar fourfold categorization: “Absolutes define the core beliefs of the Christian faith; convictions, while not core beliefs, may have significant impact on the health and effectiveness of the church; opinions are less-clear issues that generally are not worth dividing over; and questions are currently unsettled issues.” Another gradation is dogma, doctrine, and opinions (Roger E. Olson, The Mosaic of Christian Belief: Twenty Centuries of Unity and Diversity [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002], 44). Daniel B. Wallace, “My Take on Inerrancy,” Bible.org, August 10, 2006, https://bible.org/article/my-take-inerrancy, provides a helpful and slightly more nuanced list of four kinds of doctrines (italics his):

1.  What doctrines are essential for the life