There are many who will tell you that it does not matter what a man believes, that what matters is what he does and how he lives. But is this so? In truth it matters a great deal what a person believes. Here is a lad brought up in a Christian home, attending the Sunday School from his tender years and believing the Gospel. Is he not likely when he grows up to be very different from the lad brought up in a slum, going nowhere on a Sunday, his parents quarrelling, drinking, gambling seven days a week?
Take the case of the great Apostle Paul. He could bear witness to his “doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience” (2 Tim. 3:10).
Was not the great apostle a shining proof that conduct does depend on and spring from what we believe? Look at him, as Saul of Tarsus, before he was converted. What did be believe? He believed that our Lord was an impostor, that His reported resurrection was a lie, that His body lay somewhere corrupting in the grave.
And what were his actions? Did not his beliefs influence his conduct? He tells us that he verily thought that he “ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). He tells us, that at that time of life he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious, that his conduct constituted him “the chief of sinners” in God’s sight; that in him God showed forth His whole long-suffering (1 Tim. 1:13-16). This was the manner of life resulting from his beliefs at that time.
But Saul got gloriously converted. The chief of sinners was snatched as a brand from the burning. The vision of the ascended Christ on the road to Damascus, when the light above the brightness of the sun struck him down; and the voice of the Lord, which could not be mistaken, asking the searching question, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?” (Acts 26:14), revolutionised his mind and beliefs instantly. What a changed life was his! Was there ever a more consecrated life? The love of Christ constrained him from the moment of his conversion. He henceforth did not live to himself, but to Him, who died for him, and rose again (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
Likewise was not Abraham’s life very different, once the God of glory appeared to him? (Acts 7:2). He was changed from being an idolater to being the friend of God, a stranger and a pilgrim, pursuing a life of faith in this world. Instances can be multiplied by the million.
The same thought is enshrined in what is said of the converts on the great day of Pentecost: “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).
There would have been no apostles’ fellowship, if there had not been the apostles’ doctrine. It is surely true that what we believe determines the life we live.
On the other hand there is something very seriously wrong when what we profess to believe does not rightly control our lives. In that case there is something wrong with how we believe what we profess to believe. If right beliefs are only held intellectually they affect nothing; nay, often they affect the life of the shallow mind in a sad way. Take for instance the plain teaching of Scripture as to separation. If the doctrine of separation is only held superficially in the mind, it will work untold evil. It may bring, and has again and again brought, division into the church of God. It may breed hard intolerant men, men of the Diotrephes type. The best truth can be turned into a danger, if not held rightly in the soul. It has been well said, “A wise policy of separatedness to safeguard Christian conduct from the influence of pagan contacts can become in process of time less a safeguard of purity than sanction for exclusive pride, and fierce race hatred.”
The fact is, no one really knows more truth than that which he practises. To grasp this undeniable fact is to give us a great pull-up. Doctrine and manner of life cannot be separated, when doctrine is rightly held. Apostolic doctrine, rightly held, leads to apostolic fellowship. It is the old story that no objective truth is held rightly, save as it produces a corresponding subjective result in the life.
Photography illustrates this. The sensitive plate is adjusted in the camera, and as the distant object falls on its surface there is a corresponding result on the plate.
We read of the young men in the family of God, that they were strong and that the word of God abode in them (1 John 2:14). Note carefully, it does not say what we have often suffered from, viz., that by the help of a good memory, and a certain amount of brain power, they were able to glibly unfold doctrine, but that, abiding in them, the truth held them; that is, the truth was manifestly seen controlling their lives. The writer remembers many years ago being shocked by an old brother speaking at a great conference on the subject of grace in a most ungracious manner, showing that the truth did not hold him. His address only repelled.
Christianity is eminently practical. And unless we are practical Christians our profession of Christianity will only be a stumbling block. May the truth of God in its beauty and power so grip our souls, that we may become like Him, who said, “I am … the truth” (John 14:6), and so we may indeed be epistles of Christ, known and read of all men (2 Cor. 3:2). It is humbling but salutary to say to oneself, “You only know what you practice.”
How much do you know? It is a good thing to be honest with ourselves.