The Church as Pillar and Buttress of the Truth
oxen to a task and, in rabbinic imagery, it referred to a rabbi's teaching. To take Christ's yoke is to submit to His didaché. And His didaché, He says, is gentle and lowly. It does not crush. It carries.
The church will face her fiercest battles in the next century not over buildings or budgets, but over definitions. What is a Christian? What is the gospel? What is sin? What is love? What is a man? What is a woman? What is the church? The world will offer new dictionaries. The Spirit will point us to the old one: the trustworthy word as taught. To remain at the Teacher's feet is to let Him define our terms. It is to read the world through the Word, not the Word through the world.
This is not anti-intellectualism. It is the highest use of the intellect: to be illumined by Christ, to be corrected by Christ, to be captured by Christ. The mind that will not bow, will not see. The heart that will not kneel, will not know. And the church that will not sit at His feet will not stand in the day of trial.
The Church as Pillar and Buttress of the Truth If the Spirit continues Christ's teaching, He does so through a body. The church is not the source of truth, but she is the steward of it. Paul calls her
"the pillar and buttress of the truth." Pillars do not create roofs. They display them and hold them up. A church that will not hold up the truth has forfeited her calling, no matter how many other things she holds well.
This stewardship demands four commitments from every congregation that would be faithful in the last days.
First, catechesis. The church must teach the didaché on purpose. We cannot assume the gospel will pass from one generation to the next by osmosis. It passes by instruction. Line upon line. Command upon command. From the pulpit, in the home, around the table, in the language children can understand and elders cannot forget. If Balaam has a curriculum, how much more should Christ?
Second, confession. The church must say what the Scriptures say, together.
Creeds are not infallible, but they are indispensable. They summarize, clarify, and guard. In a world drowning in impressions, the church must have expressions—clear statements of what we believe concerning Father,