Right-click to download this info-graphic from the LifeWay Research/Ligonier survey.

As my church prepares to begin walking through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings, I am already reminded of Solomon’s oft-repeated phrase:  “There’s nothing new under the sun.”

That phrase comes to mind as I read the results of a recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research for Ligonier Ministries concerning the theological beliefs of evangelical Christians. These views, heretical at best, show the lack of theological training and how it has caused a host of ancient heresies to resurface today.

Here is a list of some of the troubling statistics:

– 22% said God the Father is more divine than Jesus, and 9 percent weren’t sure.
– 16% say Jesus was the first creature created by God, while 11 percent were unsure.
– 51% said the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being. Seven percent weren’t sure.
– 68% said that a person obtains peace with God by seeking God first, and then God responds with grace.
– 67% said people have the ability to turn to God on the own initiative. Yet half (54%) also think salvation begins with God acting first.

Considering these percentages came from self-identifying “evangelical Christians” it is easy to see why they are disturbing. It is also not hard to understand why J.I Packer has famously remarked that he believes at least half of all people sitting in church week after week are not saved.

The reason I say these statistics remind me of Solomon’s “nothing new under the sun” phrase is that many of them are a rehashing of ancient heresies that have long-ago been entirely refuted.

Consider for a moment that 22% said that God the Father is “more divine than Jesus,” and that another 16% said that Jesus was “the first creature created by God.” Do you think these are new heresies dreamt up by wayward Christians? Think again.

Arianism, a popular heresy from the third and fourth centuries, said that Jesus was not equal with God because God created, so there was a time when Jesus was not, Jesus had a beginning. The Council of Nicea in 325 AD was partially a response to Arianism during which the council soundly rejected it as heresy. There’s nothing new under the sun with this false belief.

The reality is that the Son is of the same substance as the Father, the Son is co-equal with the Father in essence and being. The Son was neither created nor is He any less in His person and existence than the Father. Being the second member of the Trinity the Son is equal with the Father and the Spirit in all aspects of His Being enjoys the same measure of eternal divinity that does the Father.

Shockingly, 51% of evangelical respondents said the Holy Spirit is a force, not a personal being. But this belief is nothing new either.

Late in the fourth century a group known as Semi-Arians sought to reconcile their belief in the Holy Spirit with the ideas of Arianism. To this end they believed in a literal Holy Spirit but also believed the Spirit was not of the same substance or essence as the Father and Son, they believed the Spirit was either a creature created by God, or a force.

Once again, this belief is false. The Spirit, like the Son, is co-equal with the Father and Son in essence and substance and Being. This means the Spirit, as the third member of the Trinity, shares in the eternal and divine nature of the Father and Son. Much like the Son, the Spirit is neither created, nor is He less than fully God. The Spirit is indeed a personal Being instead of just an arbitrary force.

More than two-thirds of respondents say that salvation is something people initiate themselves, or that people have the ability to first seek God of their own will. But these false beliefs, like the rest, are nothing new under the sun.

In the fifth and sixth centuries a heresy known as Pelagiansim and Semi-Pelagianism became very popular. This view taught that Adam’s sin did not hinder man’s will from choosing God and that we could indeed, by our own will, choose to follow God. Semi-Pelagianism is simply an alternate view that affirms original sin but continues to believe that man initiates his own salvation.

The problem of course is that faith is a gift of God’s grace. It is only by God’s grace that anyone can have faith because no one seeks God, no one is good. Left to ourselves we can only choose sin and in doing so reject God and His grace and goodness. The Council of Orange (529 AD) rejected both Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagiansim in their creed by saying:

“If anyone says that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock, but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will, or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle who says, ‘What have you that you did not receive?’ (1 Cor. 4:7), and, ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am’ (1 Cor. 15:10).”

The bottom line is that a lack of sound doctrinal and theological teaching has created a generation (or two) of Christians that adhere to views that are unbiblical. Why is the church is such sad shape? Why are families breaking down left and right? Why are children walking away from their childhood faith? All these questions have one answer: a lack of clear doctrinal teaching in our churches.

We’ve replaced doctrine with feel-good messages or “Gospel messages” that invite people to “ask Jesus into their heart.” (Go ahead and find support for that in Scripture.) But these unbiblical sermons have served only to dumb down the rich doctrine of Scripture and left people unable to explain what they believe and why they believe it. Don’t believe me? Go into any average church on Sunday morning and ask people to explain their belief in the Trinity, the dual nature of Christ, original sin, of even salvation, and see what you get. Try not to appear shocked.

I one had a guy quote John 14:26 to prove our church didn’t need doctrinal and theological teaching. I was advocating for small groups that would focus on doctrine and theology and he was irritated and misquoted a verse to prove his point. My reply was, ‘then why do we have Sunday school?”

The lack of doctrinal and theological training in our churches is killing them from the inside. This might be one of the greatest needs in our churches today; one of the greatest crisis’ currently happening. How will we respond? Will we run form the challenges that come from teaching doctrine simply to keep people happy and avoid uncomfortable conversations? Or will we see the absolute need for doctrinal teaching to create mature disciples of Jesus?

I’m thankful for pastors that boldly engage the tough teachings of Scripture with humility and grace. The ones that don’t shy away from those tough conversations but openly admit that they are simply submitting their preaching to the authority of Scripture. Those pastors that invite people to come if they have questions. The shepherds that care enough about the sheep to wean them off the milk and throw chunks of meat at them on Sunday morning.

Prayerfully more churches will follow the example of Jesus and be willing to teach the rich, deep doctrines of Scripture.