Deposits of Faith and Grandma's Rocking Chair

In some ways, the church's deposit of faith is a bit like Great-Grandma's rocking chair:  We shoudn't be afraid to refinish it, or even paint it, if that would make it more usable for its intended purpose.

In a discussion on the TitusOneNine blog, commenter Lee Nelson wrote:

... To call the deposit of faith an “heirloom"? You are exactly right. It is to be treasured as a gift given to us. Would I take a can of black paint to my great-grandmother’s rocking chair because stains are no longer “in"? Would I let it gather dust in some corner? No.

It seems to me that this poses the danger of worshipping the past.  Rocking chairs are made for use, not for veneration.  So, too, the deposit of faith handed down by our forefathers.

Let me interject a similar personal account.  At my house, we have a set of china that originally belonged to my wife’s grandmother. Of course we’re careful about how we use it, but not particularly more so than for other valuable possessions.  My wife and my mother-in-law sometimes tell stories about Grandma to the kids after Sunday dinner as we’re loading the china into the dishwasher. 

I can't help but think that this is what would please Grandma:  her family getting good use out of her china, and our fond remembrance of her, as opposed to reverence of inanimate objects she once owned.  I imagine the same might well be true of Lee Nelson's great-grandmother and her rocking chair.

We might usefully take a similar attitude about the deposit of faith handed down from our forefathers:  We should treasure it and be grateful for it, but we should also remember that it is meant for use, not for veneration; it's a means to an end, not an end in itself. 

The Apostle Paul nicely summed up the end, the purpose, of Scripture in his second letter to Timothy:  “All Scripture is Godbreathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  (Emphasis added.)  Traditionalist Christians often focus on the Godbreathed language, but they sometimes seem to forget Scripture's overarching purpose, the end to which it is but a means.

Back to Lee Nelson's comment:  Painting Great-Grandma’s rocking chair black to fit better with present-day decorating ideas would not destroy the essence of the chair.  Nor would it impede the purpose, the end, for which the chair was created; quite the contrary, it would advance that end. 

By the same token, we shouldn’t be afraid to "repaint" the deposit of faith handed down to us in light of present-day circumstances and knowledge -- cautiously and in community, to be sure -- “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”