Don’t divorce the ethics of Hebrews 13:1-6 from the theology that has preceded it. Orthodoxy fuels orthopraxy. Orthopraxy flows from orthodoxy. If my actions are not done in faith, they are sin (Romans 14:23). Belief in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love for our brother come to us as a singular command (1 John 3:23). I can gauge if I truly get doctrine by looking for the practical fruit of love for my brothers and hospitality toward strangers. I can know if I have the proper motivations in loving my fellow man by seeking out the theological underpinnings that motivate it.
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I am extremely romantic one night. I have sent her away for a spa treatment all day (she loves the spa). Surprisingly I pick her up at the spa with a gift she has been hinting at (no flowers, she hates it when I buy flowers). I take her to her favorite restaurant, she can tell all my attention is on her, I have eyes for no other, no one else exists. We go for a walk in the park afterwards. Everything is perfect… I am saying the most poetic of compliments. I am sincere, I am in love, yet she is repulsed. Whenever I begin talk of her naturally curly hair (it’s straight), and her blue eyes (they are brown) the evening changes its hue. All my right doing, however sincere, has been undone by wrong knowing. When I call my precious Bethany by a foreign name, the name of an ex, all is lost. Light has turned to darkness.
Orthopraxy is essential. So is the orthodoxy it must flow from (Hebrews 11:6).
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. – A.W. Tozer
No Other Boast 
Just a thought… While I think orthopraxy is necessarily fueled by orthodoxy, I do not think that orthodoxy necessarily fuels orthopraxy. Of course, a belief that does not fuel practice could possibly be termed unorthodox for that reason, which would negate my negative statement in the last sentence.
There is something about studying theology that scares me. This comes out of where I have come from and what my former self entailed. All too often, it is easy to use theology as brain food rather than soul food. If used as soul food, it will lead to orthopraxy. But if it is used only as brain food, it is pointless.
I, for one, am still struggling with making theology soul food rather than relegating it to brain food… which has ended up with me abandoning the heavy theological thinking which I did in the past.
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I agree that functionally orthodoxy doesn’t always result in orthopraxy. This is most unfortunate. However this is due to no fault in the doctrine, but to the one learning it. If no fruit flows from truth, do we really get it? I would not go so far as to say one is heterodox if love is lacking, but I would argue that they don’t fully grasp the truth they confess.
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