The term “orthodoxy” is sometimes used to identify particular branches of the church, like the Orthodox churches of Eastern Christianity. But here we’ll use the word in its generic sense simply to mean: right or straight thinking. We want to believe the right things about God and other matters in relation to God. So, it’s not hard to see why this conceptual goal has been emphasized by those who follow an academic orientation toward theology.

Today, with rapid communication and worldwide shifts in populations, we encounter faiths other than Christianity at nearly every turn. This leaves many people confused about what to believe.

Jesus was deeply concerned with true doctrine. Many today believe that we can be sanctified — set apart for God’s service — without learning true theological concepts. But Jesus prayed that the apostles would be sanctified by the truth of God’s word. Listen to Jesus’ prayer for his apostles in John 17:17:

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Now, as important as it is to affirm the primary goal of orthodoxy, Christians must also acknowledge the goal of orthopraxis. Orthopraxis amounts to focusing on: right behavior or practice. It’s not enough simply to think correctly about theological concepts. We must also put these concepts into practice. Here we have in mind specifically physical behaviors. For instance, in theology we learn that we are to pray, evangelize, worship, serve each other, and give generously to the poor. But learning about these and other truths is not enough for responsible Christian theology. These truths must be translated into proper actions — into orthopraxis.

Sadly, evangelicals face several enormous challenges in maintaining their interest in the theological goal of orthopraxis. First, people outside of the church constantly bombard us with the lie that there are no moral absolutes, that no behaviors are particularly good or bad. So, many of us grow weary of standing against the tide of our cultures by insisting that there are right and wrong ways to behave. But despite these serious difficulties, orthopraxis is still critical because our behavior still matters to God. Our good and bad works still affect our eternal rewards.

In addition to the primary goals of orthodoxy and orthopraxis, we must also mention the goal of orthopathos. The term “orthopathos” means: right or correct feelings or emotions. Living for God involves making sure that our deepest sentiments are used in his service. Our joys, our disappointments, our yearnings, our anger, our exhilaration and a host of other emotions must be brought into conformity with the will of God.

When you think about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control — when you think about those words, they’re highly emotional. And what this tells us is that the work of Holy Spirit in the life of the believer impacts the emotions. So, emotions are not morally neutral. There are good emotions, and there are bad emotions. There are righteous emotions, and there are evil emotions. [Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.]

At times, as our orthodoxy develops, what we come to believe will confirm our behaviors and emotions. At the same time, however, orthodox theological concepts often challenge us to change our behaviors and feelings.

I think everybody understands from daily experience that the way we think about things impacts our emotions. And we also understand that when we do certain things, that also has an emotional impact. But sometimes we don’t consider just how much emotions feed back into the ways we think and the ways we behave. And when you do Christian theology, it’s very important to keep that direction of influence in mind also. I mean, think about it this way, when you’re discouraged, you’re just not motivated much to delve into complicated ideas. So, your emotions are impacting the way you think about things. Or we could put it this way, your orthopathos, your pathos, is impacting your orthodoxy. [Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr.]

This familiar verse says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). To love God is to be holy and exclusively devoted to the Lord and to no other God.

All of this is to say that the three goals of orthodoxy, orthopraxis and orthopathos do not operate apart from each other. They are highly interdependent. As we build our theology, we must always keep in mind that what we believe impacts our actions and attitudes. Our practices influence our beliefs and emotions. And our emotions affect our beliefs and actions as well.