Keep doctrine in its place!

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household’. Acts 16:29-31

We maintain that a person is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law. Romans 3:28

The man responsible for keeping Paul and Silas under lock and key was in fear of his life.

In spite of the very strongest precautions (they had been dumped “in the inner cell” and their feet were fastened “in the stocks”), an earthquake in the middle of the night had torn the prison open and set the prisoners at liberty. His bosses, the Roman authorities, were likely to show no mercy if any of them got right away, so he was as good as dead. Sensing that Paul and Silas were more than your usual run-of-the-mill prisoners, he cried out in fear, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And back came the wonderful answer that has echoed down the centuries, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”.

It’s worth noticing that the man who spoke those simple, glowing words is the same man as the one who wrote the letter to the church in Rome: the apostle Paul.

Now, Romans 3, from which I have quoted, is quite a dense and complex chapter, much of which takes a bit of grappling with by our modern minds - multiple Old Testament quotations; rhetorical questions that we may find it hard to see the point of; the use of theoretical-sounding words like “law”, “righteousness”, “sin”, atonement” and “justified”… Not easy!

The result is that many Christians rarely ever read Romans 3, much less get seriously to grips with it. This is a shame, because what Paul is talking about is right at the heart of the Christian faith, with roots going way back into the pages of the Old Testament. The essence of it is in fact summed up in verse 28: “We maintain that a person is justified [which means “put right with God”] by faith apart from the works of the law”.

We might heave a sigh say and say, “Look, Paul, if it’s that simple, why bother with all the theological stuff!” But he has his reasons, and like the rest of scripture even the stuff that seems heavy to us is valuable and ultimately nourishing.

But it’s a fact that the heart of what he is explaining is indeed simple. And this is nowhere better demonstrated than in the story of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, the story of a man wonderfully “justified by faith” – witness, please, the wordy theologian doing the work of a street evangelist!

Romans 3, like many other passages of Paul, is what we often call “doctrine”. This is really just a fancy word for “scriptural truth in a systematic form”, and, yes, it can sometimes seem pretty heavy going. But it’s important to try and get an overall grasp of what God has done (and is still doing) in Christ, to provide a solid foundation for our faith; so, Christian, persevere!

But – and this is the key point - thank God that the Bible also provides very down-to-earth illustrations of what it all means in practice. For me, the story of the Philippian jailer is the perfect example. When he cries out in alarm “What must I do to be saved?”, Paul doesn’t reel off a brief summary of his complex argument in Romans 3; no, he gives a simple word of comfort and hope: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” In essence, that’s all the jailer needed, or anyone else needs, to know.

True, further teaching followed – “they spoke the word of the Lord to him” (verse 32) – but, given that it was the middle of the night and they’ve all been through a pretty traumatic experience, I doubt if that did much more than enlarge on a few essentials. This night was a night for sheer rejoicing, not a time for furrowed brows and an attempt to understand heavy doctrine. (No wonder, by the way, that the gospel is called “good news”.)

As I’ve said, doctrine is important – but it needs to be kept in its rightful place. Tragically, wars have been fought over it; people have been killed for it; churches have divided over it; friends have quarrelled over it. But: “Believe in the Lord Jesus…”; it’s hard to imagine two Christians falling out over that, isn’t it!

Sadly, we in the church can be guilty of turning Paul’s beautiful gospel invitation into something like an ultimatum, even a veiled threat delivered with a wagging finger: “If you don’t believe in Jesus, you can’t be saved, so you’d better start believing!” Whereas it should be a glad response to a cry of need: “You want to be saved? Wonderful! Just believe in Jesus!”

In effect, we can be guilty of turning “faith” itself into just another “work” that the would-be-convert needs to do. And, as the jailer discovered that memorable night, that’s exactly what it isn’t!

Our God is a generous God. He welcomes all who turn to him in simple, child-like faith; he doesn’t hand us a tick-box which we must complete in order to “qualify”.

A Christian friend and I had a conversation where we disagreed. We knew our disagreement was unimportant, so we smiled and let it drop. My friend remarked, “Well, it’s not a salvation issue anyway”.

I’d never heard that expression before, and it lodged more and more insistently in my mind. It prompted the nagging question, What precisely does qualify as a “salvation issue”?

That happened some months ago; and I’m still wondering. Any suggestions?

Father, we recognise that the good news of the gospel is deep enough to plumb the deepest depths, but also simple enough to be grasped by a little child. Please help us, when talking to non-Christians, to get the balance right, and so enable them to receive Christ in all his love and compassion. Amen.