The Need for Religion in a Relationship with Jesus

Why do we need doctrine and religion in a relationship with Jesus? Why can't I "Hate religon and love Jesus"?

The life of a Christian is embedded in the doctrine. Faith, in fact, begets doctrine, however, it does not end there.¹ Christian doctrine is not a boring, dead, or “must do/not do” law. “His commandments are not burdensome.”² On the contrary, the doctrine is a living creature, as Saint John Henry Newman points out in his Fifth Note of a Genuine Development: Anticipation of the Future in His An Essay on the Development of Doctrine. Christian doctrine also provides a lens through which we see Christ in our own personal relationship with Him. In such a relationship love is a vital quality, for it is love which is the essential nature of God. We cannot love what we are ignorant of; therefore we must incorporate good and true doctrine into our own view, lest we misunderstand.³ We are, in fact, invited to participate in the sacrifice of Christ and follow His example.⁴ We must also know precisely what that example is in its essence. “Knowledge must ever precede the exercise of the affections.”⁵ The Church is the place we find this doctrine, the Church is the pillar of faith in which the faith is guarded and passed on. She remembers the words of Christ and instructs Her youth as a Mother in the understanding, practice, and the life of faith.⁶ Just as our relationship with Christ is based in love, so also is the doctrine of the gospel. It is clear that the doctrine of faith and the relationship with Christ build on and sustain each other. The doctrine is the first context of the relationship, which brings about the friendship in its fullness. Doctrine being a living creature grows in and through that relationship with Christ. However, following Him is not just a casual friendship, but it is a path of perpetual conversion. One must constantly renew one’s conversion, choosing Christ perpetually over the path of the world. This is seldom an effortless move, but is often challenging, and can at times be very difficult. Christ is, of course, always there giving His grace and freedom, helping us to continue choosing Him.7 This is the cross which we are instructed to carry.⁹ As Saint Clare of Assisi, is famously quoted as saying, “Love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name”.¹⁰ Yet it is the love for Christ that makes the worst of torments worth suffering.¹¹

Personal revelation is that which is revealed through a relationship with Christ. One can come to know Jesus more fully by walking with Him. However, this cannot be divorced from the doctrine of faith. Propositional revelation, or doctrine, is the path to and the context/ first foundation of a relationship with Christ, the source of personal revelation. An example of propositional revelation is the revelation of the identity of Christ, what He is, what He did, who He loves, how He loves, where He comes from, where/how we can encounter Him, how He exists, His relationship to us/the church/heaven/creation, etc. John the Baptist, had a personal relationship with Jesus. John the Baptist knew Jesus in a way we will not, until our birth into Heaven. He knew how Jesus walked and talked. He knew his humility, gentleness, compassion, and love in its action. This relationship was viewed by John the Baptist, in light of Sacred Scripture. Namely, Isaiah’s prophesy of the suffering servant, as he proclaims, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Through John the Baptist’s relationship with Jesus, he is aware in part, of what He is coming to accomplish.¹² However, without doctrine, he would not have known the way by which Jesus would accomplish the redemption of all. It was through his knowledge of the scripture brought forth by the doctrine of the Jewish faith that he would have known the prophecy and seen it fulfilled in Jesus. One can assent to Christian doctrine blindly, yet it has no context if not seen from a relationship with He who is love. One cannot understand what a relationship with God is like without the context of Doctrine. Thus, personal revelation and propositional revelation must build on each other. Christianity with only a relationship is like belief without a statement. It is like having a grand, beautiful house without a foundation upon which to secure it. When someone is asked why they believe what they do, a relationship with something they know not would be far from a sufficient answer. In her writings, Saint Therese of Lisieux, and with her all of the saints and angels often praise God by proclaiming who He is, as they pray, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. “Words will always fall short of the reality”.¹³ Yet, it is truly a compliment to God to praise Him, Who is so incomprehensibly great, by simply trying to describe Him in the most positive of language. You cannot, therefore, even rightly worship without a doctrine (knowing that which you are worshiping). Within the darknesses in which we were born into sin and ignorance, Satan can easily play.

FN:
¹ Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 171, a. 5, at New Advent, www.newadvent.org.
² The New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org. (1 John 5:3)
³ Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 171, a. 5, at New Advent, www.newadvent.org.
⁴ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 618.
⁵ John Henry Newman, An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), p. 82.
⁶ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 171.

7 The New American Bible, Revised Edition,  (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

8 The New American Bible, Revised Edition,  (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org. (Matthew 5:12 & Luke 9:23)

9 No real source found but Saint Clare of Assisi is quoted by many in these exact words.

10 The New American Bible, Revised Edition, (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org. (Matthew 11:28-30)

11 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 608.

^1 12 The New American Bible, Revised Edition (Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011), at United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, www.usccb.org. (Revelation 4:8)

^213 Saint Therese of Lisieux. The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of Therese of Lisieux.