Type:
One day during a heated doctrinal debate at presbytery my wife walked into the back the church sanctuary where we were having our meeting. She was supposed to meet me for dinner so she arrived a few minutes early. When we broke for our recess my wife greeted me and said, “So, you were debating supralapsarianism, eh?” I was surprised. My wife has been a Christian her whole life, loves Christ, and is knowledgeable about the Bible but doesn’t have much interest in the finer points of technical doctrine. So I asked her, “How did you know what we were debating?” She smiled and said, “The elder in front of me Googled, ‘What is supralapsarianism?’” I was quite surprised and at the same time I learned an important lesson that day.
I realized that even though ministers and ruling elders are supposed to be well-versed in theology and their Bibles, this doesn’t mean that they all know their doctrine equally well. Moreover, sometimes debates and discussions can get quite technical. This isn’t by design but by circumstance. In this case a seminarian was up for licensure and he presented his own unique views on election that, frankly, were way above his pay grade. Nevertheless, the presbytery then became embroiled in a debate over aspects of this technical issue that some believed disqualified this young man from being licensed. The fact that one of the elders had to Google the concept under discussion reminded me of the important point of knowing the audience.
You can’t always assume that your entire audience, even at Presbytery, is up to speed on the latest theological debates or some of the more technical doctrinal issues. A ruling elder can know his Bible well, and be well versed in theology, but given the lack of academic training, he might not know the technical aspects of certain doctrines. Given this knowledge-gap, it’s important that when you debate such issues you break things down, explain your terms, and even briefly survey the history of the doctrine. These steps are important because someone could be voting on a matter without a proper understanding of the issues at stake. Remember your audience—humbly explain the truth, and don’t assume that everyone in the room understands the concepts under debate.
