Articles
New and Improved
One of the most effective marketing strategies is to advertise something as “new and improved.” Why are we drawn to that which is new? Amid the struggle of life we seem to be always searching for something easier, more efficient or effective, in helping us manage our tasks, whether it be cleaning a toilet bowl, cooking a meal or keeping our armpits dry.
But something else marketed as “new and improved” which is of great danger to Christians is doctrine. Some scour the Scriptures for novel ideas that they think no one has thought about before, and then they try to sway others to their viewpoint. We aren’t told the rationale behind Hymenaeus and Philetus’ doctrine “that the resurrection is already past” (2 Tim 2:17-18), but we can only imagine how convoluted it must have been since the whole tenor of new testament teaching supports a connected resurrection and judgment event at the return of the Lord.
Anyone who has studied the history of Christianity should not be naïve enough to think they have discovered some insight that no one else has thought of before. I’ve often been amazed to learn that some “modern” controversy had already been debated in the centuries immediately following the completion of the new testament. Original thoughts are hard to come by.
There is a fine line between keeping one’s mind open to legitimate insights and being grounded in the basic framework of Scripture. On the one hand, we don’t want to assume that we understand every nuance of the gospel, and on the other hand we don’t want to be vulnerable to teaching that seems attractive or intriguing but is actually a perversion of truth (cf. 2 Pet 3:16).
