Preprogrammed Bias

Preprogrammed Bias

It is possible to see, when examining the history of Christian theology since the beginning of the church, that some influential pastors or teachers (or bishops, as they were called) struggled to let go of their loves of the past. By loves I mean either philosophy, human morality, licentiousness, culture, tradition, taboos, etc. When they refuse to let go of them they attempt to intermix them with the doctrines of the New Testament. God’s word and the Holy Spirit work to rid us of our biases, and often times He is successful, but only to the student who is humble. Every teacher is tempted to slightly twist truths in order to incorporate his own personal view. 2TI 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

When the word of God reproves and corrects our past biases, we must be careful not to resist it. We are finite, not wise, not noble or strong, and so we must not alter or add to the word of God for our own satisfaction. The word of God is sufficient. It is clear and not complex. It can be easily translated and interpreted as it has been for centuries. It does not need anything outside of itself for assistance, addendums, or additions. It is the mind of Christ and it is pure truth inspired by God.

In a book about the history and progress of the church, The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez, I read about the progress of the teachings of the church in different parts of the Roman Empire. These can be roughly divided into Alexandria, which was the intellectual center of Egypt and Northern Africa; the East, consisting of Asia Minor and eastward; and the West, comprising of Greece to Britain. It is interesting to see how each of these areas evolved theologically.

In Alexandria the most influential Christian teachers in the second and third centuries were Clement of Alexandria and his greatest disciple Origen. Clement was probably born in Athens. He was born to pagan parents. In the mind of Clement, philosophy was given to the Greeks just as importantly as the Law was given to the Jews. He saw the philosophers as being the same as the prophets of the Old Testament. In order to arrange this impossible marriage between Moses and Plato, Clement concluded that there was something beyond the literal meaning of scripture. Therefore, he allegorized the text of the Bible in order to make it fit with the teachings of Plato.

In contrast to Clement, Origen was the son of Christian parents. He was extremely smart. He devoted himself entirely to running a school of Christian philosophy. While many of his doctrines were accurate, much of what he taught was in the tradition of Plato. This watering down of the immutable truth allowed Gnosticism and Docetism, which is the late first century heresy that Christ's human body was a phantasm, and that his suffering and death were mere appearances, to grow more easily.

In the first few centuries, the East took a markedly different path than Alexandria or the West. In the church at Syrian Antioch we find Ignatius (martyred around 107), at Smyrna we find Polycarp (martyred around 155), and a student of Polycarp named Irenaeus of Lyons (martyred around 202). From what writing we have, we conclude that these were sound doctrinal men who understood grace, salvation by grace, spiritual growth through the Spirit and the scriptures, and the angelic conflict. Irenaeus was not interested in philosophical speculation or delving into mysteries hitherto unsolved, but rather in leading his flock in Christian life and faith. For reasons unknown, he was led to Lyons in southern France where he served as pastor until his death.

In the West, Tertullian of Carthage was converted to Christianity in Rome when he was forty years old. He returned to Carthage and wrote a number of treatises in defense of the faith against pagans. He was a lawyer trained in rhetoric and he argued with an intense legal mind in favor of orthodoxy against various heresies. Yet around the year 207, for reasons unknown, he joined a movement known for its rigorist ways. Perhaps his legal mind sought for perfect order. Tertullian was the first exponent of theology that was profoundly concerned with moral issues - sometimes to the point of legalism. This theology was formed on a salvation which was attained by moral purity. This would become the great influence of the West.

Philosophy, grace orientation, and moral purity migrated to various parts of the Empire and over centuries they matured and further fractured into the various denominations of our day. This all happened because Christians refused to let go of their preprogrammed biases and rather attempted to blend them with the word of God, the one and only blueprint for building theology.

1CO 3:10-11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation [blueprint], and another is building upon it. But let each man [the pastors coming after him]be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

What do these historical trends show us? Human biases can greatly influence the truth in a negative way. A believer who has had a past filled with immoral degeneracy will be more apt to believe that grace is a license to sin. ROM 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

A believer who has lived a past of moral degeneracy and legalism will be more apt to judge and condemn other believers for their failures rather than bearing the burden of another and helping to restore him in a spirit of gentleness. He will also be more apt to believe that there must be works in salvation. He is more susceptible to going back to the Mosaic Law as a rule of life, as the Galatians did. It is not unheard of to be a believer that starts out in grace and then turns to great legalism, believing that they are saved due to their works. GAL 3:1-4 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain —  if indeed it was in vain?

We all bring environmental, biological, and emotional handicaps into Christianity. This means that every believer, without exception, brings in biases. Our hearts must be transformed by the renewing of our minds by consistently learning the word of God as teachable students. Over time, our biases will be corrected if we can release our grip on them, and then we will think with the mind of Christ.

Another example of this type of thinking are those who claim to be Christians and reject the creation narrative of Gen 1-3 in favor of evolution. They erroneously believe that God created the first matter and then let it evolve. Sound science (evolution is a flawed theory), philosophy, sociology, psychology, and politics are all wonderful studies, and each has its portion of truth, but none of them should ever be a tool for interpretation of the scripture. Exposition is based on the Spirit of God and the word of God alone. 1CO 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Peter was so immersed in the ways of the Law that he had to be shown dramatically and definitely that it was no longer in force over the believer. ACT 10:9-16 And on the next day, as they were on their way, and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry, and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he beheld the sky opened up, and a certain object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, "Arise, Peter, kill and eat!" But Peter said, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean." And again a voice came to him a second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." And this happened three times; and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.

Immediately after this, Peter was called to the house of a Gentile in order to give the gospel to him and his family. Peter witnessed them believe and when the Holy Spirit came upon them, Peter witnessed them speak in tongues (temporary gift for that time) and exalt in God. One would think that this was enough for Peter to determine to never again let the ways of the Law alter his thinking concerning the grace plan for the church, but this was not so. Sometime later, at the church in Antioch, Peter again fell into his bias formed by the Mosaic Law. GAL 2:11-13 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

Peter was immediately corrected by Paul. If anyone was likely to have maintained his bias toward the Law and legalism, it would have been Paul since out of all the apostles he was a Pharisee, but he did not. This shows that a background, even a very strong one, does not have to maintain its hold upon us, for by the grace of God, God has overcome all of our weaknesses and has given us the power to lay them aside. 2CO 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

We are to evaluate our work, but it must be done in the light of God’s righteousness alone. Righteousness is the divine standard. Human and worldly opinions are not a standard. GAL 6:4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting [Greek: rejoicing] in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

The standard of truth is the canon of Scripture. Canon means rule or standard. We are to evaluate our thinking based on it and not on the opinions of the world or our own old opinions. God is not trying to confuse us. He has clearly revealed Himself and His will. His will and ways are superior, and ours are nothing. ISA 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

So then, check your biases at the door and come and learn of the Lord and His ways. All things that we concluded to be of the truth in the past should be suspect. We will find some truth in the way that we once thought, but we will also find much error, and the truth that we do find will only have been snippets that the world system of Satan has borrowed from God, meaning, though they are true, they didn’t find themselves in their rightful place under the mind of Christ. God has much to change in our thinking and He will take us along at His pace. Ours is to remain as humble students who are always ready to reproved and corrected.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries

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