Having grown up in the Roman catholic Church and then moved into the Lutheran Church, my life has been steeped in theology and church customs and traditions. I have invested years of my life studying theology, deeply, deliberately, and with great joy. I have also invested all of my life in the practices, customs, and behaviors of the church. One of the most important distinctions I have lived in the heart of is the distinction between orthodoxy and orthopraxy. In fact, I just had a brief conversation with one of my sons about this distinction. For me personally, the question of orthodoxy concerns the study of the faith of people throughout the generations — the faith of people coming to understand the basic foundational truths of God and His desire for all of creation. The classic definition of theology, faith seeking understanding, should be at the heart of the questions of orthodoxy. But orthopraxy concerns the practices, behaviors, and traditions of the church, congregation, cultures, and geographical regions of the world. It seems to me that in some matters the orthodoxy question impacts and influences — even designs and defines — the orthopraxy. In other words, what we believe defines how we act. Our theology defines our practices, customs, and traditions. Yet in other instances it is the opposite — the practices, customs, and traditions define and influence the theology. What we do, in other words, defines what we believe.
There is always a tension between orthodoxy and orthopraxy, sometimes a healthy tension, others times an unhealthy tension. In some cases the orthodoxy is quite strong while the orthopraxy is weak or distant from the orthodoxy. What we believe and think, in other words, represents such a strongly-held belief that the practices that have evolved from these beliefs throughout the centuries seem to have distanced themselves significantly. Sometimes what we have grown accustomed to doing has to be backed into a theological construction — and orthodoxy — that does little, if anything, to support the practice, the orthopraxy. In the institutional church, regardless of denomination, changes in the practices — the orthopraxy — have sometimes become so entrenched that the underlying theology no longer seems strong enough to support the practice. We do old things in an old way, and that often denigrates the orthopraxy!
It has been my experience that a Christian, or any holy person, is an individual in whom the Holy Spirit can work — equally true in both men and women. But I have also seen that you don’t have to know consciously what you are doing, nor do you even have to know. You also don’t even have to follow a particular custom or habit or knowledge of a “group” or “culture”. The Apostle Paul says it so well when he points out that “The God whom I proclaim is in fact the One you already worship without knowing it” Acts 17:23. In Matthew 25 the dead say to God, “When have we seen You hungry? When have we see You thirsty” Matthew 25:37. And Christ says in return, “Because you did it for one of these little ones, you did it for Me” Matthew 25:40. In each case, they did not know, at least consciously, that they were doing it for God or Jesus or even love. They just did it, and presumably from a pure heart, without any obvious religious affiliation or impure motive, and often without any knowledge of the Bible or the Word of God. The orthopraxy was influenced by the presence of the Holy Spirit, without any knowledge of the orthodoxy.
I have come to see that it never depends on the right words or the right practice, but whether you live the right current reality. The Holy Spirit is present and active in a mysterious manner, and the orthodoxy and orthopraxy distinctions, recede to the background because what matters is the influence of the Holy Spirit, not those who cry “Lord, Lord” Matthew 7:21! What matters for all of us is this: the one who acts, even if you don’t say the correct words, “does the Father’s will,” not the one who says the formulated — or right — words and does not act.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28.
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” Psalm 103:1-22.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” Acts 1:8.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”
1 Corinthians 10:21.
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