Jeff Smith's Blog

Doctrine? What type of medicine do they practice?

Doctrine, no it has nothing to do with the medical practice, but it does save lives.  When someone understands the doctrine of  the Bible, they are burdened for those who are broken in the world. Doctrine is simply what you believe. It is the core values that you have to hold to for salvation in Christ alone (by the way that is a big doctrinal statement right there).  It’s easy to say “yes, I need to know doctrine” but do we really know it. Here is what the bible says about doctrine and its importance:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. (Romans 16:17-all verses quoted below will be from English Standard Version. I will use different versions each post)

 ¹²equip the saints for the work of ministry, for  building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:12-14)

 ³As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.. (1 Timothy 1:3 )

 ⁶ If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. ⁷Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; ⁸for while  bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:6-10)

 ³If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching  that accords with godliness, (1 Timothy 6:3)

 ¹But as for you, teach what accords with sound  doctrine. (Titus 2:1)

 ¹Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1)

Hopefully from these verses you can see the importance of doctrine. The last verse listed from Hebrews is especially important. It does not mean to abandon or forget the basic knowledge of what Christ did, rather it means this is the starting point. Hebrews was written to a Jewish audience and the verb used “go on to maturity”  is passive, meaning someone else has done the work,  Jesus. It is a warning toward Jewish readers that there is no value in practicing the OT basics, this was only a foundation pointing towards Christ. The Jewish readers would know that this meant that Christ fulfilled all the law of the old testament and we are to build on him as the foundation and continue to grow by God’s grace. But it goes back to doctrine, what do you believe? For us in the 21 century, there are many doctrines that are out there and all but one set of doctrines are false. So to know why you believe something, you have to know what it is.  The best doctrine starts with a proper view of the Trinitarian God, because that is where the Bible starts. That is where we will pick up next week.

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