Doctrine

A rock climber must hold firmly to a vertical cliff to reach the top and the Apostle Paul exhorts us to hold firmly to sound doctrine.

The Bible’s teaching on man, sin, God, Jesus, salvation, grace, faith, love, resurrection, atonement, heaven, hell, etc. gives human beings knowledge and information about God.  A person will inevitably form opinions about this knowledge and develop a system of belief based on those opinions.  This is doctrine and it is unavoidable.  For someone to say that he loves Jesus Christ and doesn’t care or get involved with doctrine is pure nonsense.  He must believe something about Christ to love him and that is doctrine.  The four gospels are packed full of the teachings of Jesus.  If someone is teaching, it requires that someone must be learning.  Jesus taught and people learned and continue to learn.  The knowledge people acquire from the teachings of Jesus is processed into doctrine.  Doctrine may be sound, contain some minor error, or possibly come from Satan and be deadly to the soul.  That is why Paul told Timothy to….Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16).  Sometimes sound doctrine will not be acceptable to worldly wisdom and Paul goes on to warn Timothy…. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).  While doctrine can get quite complicated on some issues, the things necessary for salvation are clear enough that the unlearned may attain a sufficient understanding of them.  Grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is the core and focus of the gospel message.