Of Carts and Horses

Copyright 2007 by Shea Oakley

All rights reserved

“If we insist that a man must believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and the inspiration of the Scriptures before he can be saved, we are putting the cart before the horse. All that is the effect of being a Christian, not the cause of it; and if we put the effect first we produce difficulties because we are putting thinking before life”. -Oswald Chambers

Theology, even accurate theology, can become a barrier to salvation if it is elevated above the vital encounter with the reality of Jesus Christ that is at the heart of salvation. This is something we who profess to be witnesses to the lost must remember if we are to be effective vessels of the Holy Spirit in bringing human beings to God.

God rarely works through doctrinal textbooks in the initial wooing of a soul. A drowning person needs a rescuer to pull them from the water, not a human book that attempts to describe all the characteristics of that rescuer. It is not that such a book is without use, but its use comes later when the person who has been pulled from the water thankfully wants to learn more about who saved them. It is Jesus Who saves us from drowning spiritually, not an extra-biblical scholarly description of His nature.

If just before the time of my conversion I had been asked by someone whether I believed in the doctrine of the Trinity or the inspiration of the Scriptures I would have been at best bewildered and at worst angry. It is true that during this dark period in my life I was beginning to learn about Jesus through both the witness of believers He put around me and my first readings in the Bible, but it was the supernatural presence of His Holy Spirit that first brought me into direct contact with my Savior. Being completely “un-churched” I knew little or nothing of the nature of the Trinity or the inerrancy of the Word of God or just about any other doctrinal issue. What I did know was that the Man on the cross who the Christians I had just met and the Gospel of John spoke of was looking more and more like my only hope. When I dared believe that Jesus might be real and cried out to Him in my spirit He came to me and quickened my heart. It was the beginning of my salvation. I did not know much doctrine but I was coming to know the One right doctrine would later, and only later, be helpful in further explaining to me.

Believers sometimes engage in debates with non-believers about doctrinal issues that are not primary to communicating Who Christ is. It is a significant question as to whether a spirit of debate that can easily degenerate into a prideful contest of wills is even appropriate in the loving presentation of the Gospel. Beyond that we must remember that peripheral questions about doctrine not pertaining to the core truths of biblical passages like John 3:16 and 14:6 are best left for the life-long pursuit of sanctification that follows salvation.

Theology was once rightfully called “The Queen of the Sciences”. The quest for intellectual knowledge about the God we worship is undeniably an important one. We are commanded to love the Lord with, among other things, our mind and biblically sound theology has its place in the Church. But we must remember that doctrine, even right doctrine, does not save. Salvation is a matter of establishing an experientially redemptive relationship with God through the person of His Son. The key phrase is relationship with God. We can know much about God without knowing God Himself and such knowledge can be worse than useless if it has not been preceded by an authentically saving encounter with His Son that establishes such a relationship.

Truly the cart cannot be put before the horse.