Doctrinal Triage Is Doctrinal Divorce

I came across this passage of Scripture and noticed how Christ said Scripture can't be broken:

John 10:34  Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS'? 35  "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 6  do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? 

"broken" = luo, G 3089 = to loose, release, dissolve, annul. Used in:

Joh 7:23  "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 

It's also used here: 1Co 7:27  Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 

It is in this verse that made me think about divorce in regard to marriage, Christ, and doctrine.

Mat 5:31  "And it was said, 'WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE'; 

The word for "divorce" here is apostasion G 0647= forsaking.  

Matt. 19:3-9 uses the same word, different form: Mat 19:3  And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?" 4  And He answered and said, "Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, 5  and said, 'FOR THIS CAUSE A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL CLEAVE TO HIS WIFE; AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? 6  "Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 

Now while the context is marriage, the application, I believe, goes further. God is faithful, full stop. Forever. In all things. To Himself, to His Word, to His covenants, to His elect (both Jew (Rom. 11:25-29). Even in punishment, He is faithful. What He says, He will do. He cannot forsake His Word nor His children (true, not illegitimate ones--see 1John 1-3). In other words, God cannot be divorce from His children (born from God), His bride, His Word, nor Himself.  What HE joins can never be separated. Christians are sealed and indwelled by the Holy Spirit, forever joined to Christ Himself. He is our sustainer (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17-18). Scripture is joined to God because it comes directly from Him ("the mind of Christ" 1 Cor. 2:16), and His nature. 

Joh 6:37  "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38  "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39  "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40  "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." ...Joh 6:44  "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 

Rom 8:33  Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; 34  who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 

Eph1:13  In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise

Eph4:30  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

2Ti 2:13  If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself. 

Heb 13:5  Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 

That's why the true Christian cannot become an apostate or divorced from God, because we were bought by Him, sealed by Him, justified by Him, and Christ is our propitiation (satisfied the wrath of God, thus fulfilled God's absolute justice). 

1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. 20  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 

Moreover His Word shall be entirely fulfilled thus it cannot be broken:

Mat 5:17  "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 18  "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. 

1Pe 1:25  BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ABIDES FOREVER." And this is the word which was preached to you. 

So doctrinal triage is doctrinal divorce. It’s a severing of doctrine by man when in reality all doctrine is married not only to each other, but to God’s very nature. His doctrine is true reality and reveals His mind (1Cor. 2:16).

What God has joined or bound together, no man can separate, though he try . This is true for marriage (physical) and spiritually (Christians to Christ, doctrine to doctrine, doctrine to practice, and doctrine to God).

Just as man and wife are one unit (Matt 19), so is Scripture and it's doctrines (earthly analogies are always limited, mind you). I deal with this more in these posts. But the main verses that show this are:

Jas 2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 

Joh 17:17  "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. 

2Ti 3:16  All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 7  that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

Act 20:27  "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 

Doctrinal fidelity in all doctrine proves one's fidelity to Christ Jesus:

2Co 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Joh 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

Mat 28:19  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 

2Jn 1:9  Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11  for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. 

That destroys doctrinal triage. His Word = His doctrine. If you treat it lightly as non-essential--any of it--you aren't His disciple. You're a mere man's disciple. You've fallen for the cult of personality and have the spirit of the Pharisees and Scribes who did the same thing (the Scribes, by the way, denied the Resurrection).

Spurgeon rightly said, "Faith which accepts one word of God & rejects another is not faith in God but faith in our own judgment, faith in our own taste." Indeed, this is exactly what the Scribes and Pharisees did (see for example, Matt. 15).

Doctrinal triage of prioritizing is sitting in one's own judgment on what doctrines of Scripture one sees as "essential" or "non-essential" and thus the "non-essentials" (aka "secondary" doctrines) are pushed aside for "unity". This is the height of arrogance to tell the King of kings His teachings are optional when they say it is!

Doctrinal prioritizing does two things: it dulls the double-edged sword down to a butter knife and it fires blanks at the enemies of Christ Jesus and His Word. In other words, it can't save, sanctified, or protect the true Christian, nor can it fight against the arguments set up against Christ or cause spiritual growth. Scripture is a UNIT OF TRUTH. It all stands together or falls together. It cannot be divided into pieces and still stand. It's a body, unit, corpus of Truth. The Truth. The Faith. We are to feed on it's "whole counsel" as Paul taught to the Ephesians. He didn't shrink back for doing that. Today, most teachers or pastors do for the sake of a fake unity. This only creates division and strife. 1Co 1:9  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10  Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

Act 1:14  These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. 

Act 2:46  And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 

Php 1:27  Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 

Eph 4:1  I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2  with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, 3  being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4  There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6  one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 

Jud 1:3  Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 

And while we all grow and are at different stages of spiritual growth, we all have a new heart created in and by Christ Jesus so that our NEW DISPOSITION is one of faith, acceptance, and trust in all the Word and its doctrines. We grow in our understanding of its teachings, but we accept them by faith to be true and we are not hostile to them. In essence we do as the Thessalonians did: 1Th 2:13  And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.