Doctrine is not Gospel

As I drive a fair amount, I try to catch as much ‘thinking’ radio as possible.  Recently I was able to catch the last half of one of my favorite preacher’s radio programs.  As I did so, to my surprise I heard him explain why he believes the Trinity is a necessary doctrine for salvation.

I won’t get into the fact that the Trinity (God being Father AND Son AND Holy Spirit all at once – one God, 3 persons) is a doctrine that is poorly understood by even the very best theologians.  After all, if God were totally explainable than He wouldn’t be God, would He?  Besides, believing in the Trinity is a matter of faith (that God can reveal His character in ways we accept but do not fully understand), not a matter of a full working knowledge of the miraculous and divine. 

Rather, what disturbed me is that the Scripture is very clear; “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13).   It doesn’t say, “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord and also has mature doctrine”. 

To call on the Name of the Lord is to seek Him, and to seek Him you have to be willing to come to Him on His terms.  Fortunately, and very much unlike earthly kings, God does not require you to have a powerful position, or a lot of wealth (or any possessions at all, actually), nor does He require that you have the mental capacity or maturity to understand all the wonder and depth of the truth of Scriptural doctrine.  All you need is a right heart attitude (characterized by humility and repentance) and a willingness to be found by Him (which implies knowing that He will change you, because every encounter with God changes you).    These are the same prerequisites any earthly father would have of his estranged children, so we can all understand that.  Thus, all the prophets, including John the Baptist and Christ Himself, all preached the same Gospel, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  Peterson's "The Message" puts is in the vernacular, "Change your life. God’s kingdom is here." (Matt 4:17).

If you’ve never met God before, that first real encounter with Him will change you profoundly.  It moves you from death to life -  from darkness to light.  We call that ‘salvation’.   What it doesn’t do is automatically upload good and appropriate doctrine into your head.  That part is for you to do through Bible reading/study, prayer and fellowship with the saints who do likewise. 

My personal experience is that it was probably two or three months after I got saved that I even heard about the Trinity.  I subsequently looked up references to it in the Scriptures.  Of course, you won’t find any references to ‘trinity’ in the Scriptures, because that word wasn’t used – not by the Old Testament prophets, nor by Christ, nor by the New Testament apostles.  What you will find is very clear teaching on the divine character of the Father, and of the divine character of the Son, and of divine character of the Holy Spirit.   You will also find the Son (Jesus Christ) teaching that He and God are One, and that the Spirit is from God and sent by God as He was sent.  Thus, the ‘trinity.’  Such a study ought not be overlooked by any follower (or would-be follower) of the Lord.  It is necessary to know the nature of the Godhead (another word for ‘trinity’) and to go deeper in relationship with Him.  But it is not necessary for basic salvation.

Of course, salvation as an end in itself (without subsequent growth in Him) is about as pointless as pretending you can be a 10yr old forever.   You can try, but it’s embarrassing, and it will not gain your Father’s approval, even if it also means He will not disown you.