by Marilynn Chadwick
We live in an age where false teaching is rampant. Cults, counterfeit religions, and even Satanism are on the rise. You might be surprised to learn that the early church also battled false teachers and heresies. Then, as now, sound doctrine is a powerful weapon against the lies of the enemy. Throughout Scripture, spiritual leaders are exhorted to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1 ESV). More than ever, believers need to know how to defend their faith.
I used to think the term “sound doctrine” sounded rather uninteresting. That is, until I explored the original Greek words for the term. Sound is hygiene, or “healthy.” Doctrine is didaskia, or “teaching.” Healthy teaching leads to a healthy mind. And who doesn’t want a healthy mind? Moreover, sound doctrine equips believers for ministry and brings us to maturity. Sound doctrine, or “healthy teaching,” also gives us the essential guardrails “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).
Our age is dark and getting darker. Many call this the “age of anxiety.” It’s marked by confusion about everything from truth to identity. No longer is our culture defined by a commonly accepted moral framework. Rebellion is rampant, giving rise to tremendous spiritual warfare. This provides fertile ground for heresy, or denial of the core doctrines of biblical Christianity. Paul issued this sober warning about false teachers to spiritual leaders in the New Testament church at Ephesus:
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears” (Acts 20:28-31 NIV).
Throughout Scripture, sound doctrine prepares believers for spiritual warfare. As my WWII submarine veteran daddy likes to say, “The best way to avoid a war is to prepare for it.” One important weapon of combat to prepare us for war is the “Doctrine of the Trinity.”
Simply put, the Trinity helps us know God better. In it we see the unity of the triune God—One God in Three Persons. The Trinity also helps us understand realities behind the name of God—"God the Father,” “God the Son,” and “God the Holy Spirit.”
Famous 13th century theologian, Thomas Aquinas, believed the name “God” referred to the whole of the Trinity. So, when we pray, we are praying to the Trinity. When we worship, we are worshiping the Trinity. When we witness, we are animated by the Trinity. Our major creeds were written to refute heresy. All affirm the Trinity. Tomorrow, we’ll learn about a second century creed written to combat false teaching in the early church.