Doctrine and Scripture

Why all this talk about doctrine? Can’t we all just, you know, believe the Bible? 

In Sunday’s sermon at Veritas I said that sound doctrine is the first line of defence against false teachers and false teaching. If you don’t know the truth, you won’t be able to identify the lie. In Colossians 1:21-22, Paul tells the Colossian believers that they are on course to receive some truly incredible promises: 

“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…”

I say they were on course to receive because of what Paul says next in verse 23:

“... if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Paul says that if you stay in the truth, then you get the promise. If you shift from the hope of the gospel (which he calls the truth in Colossians 1:5), you won’t. And this is why doctrine is so important - the promises of God for you are at stake. 

Let me explain.

Doctrine has been described as “what the Church believes and teaches.” Someone might say to that, “I thought the Church was meant to only believe and teach the Bible?” Indeed, but how you teach the Bible matters. And there are many people out there who are very gifted at making a Bible verse mean whatever they want it to mean. Often, this is done naively (although this is still no excuse), in the sense that they just haven’t done the work to understand it properly, and so they’re unintentionally misrepresenting what the Bible teaches. This is why James says that not many people should become teachers - because they will be judged more harshly (James 3:1), and Paul tells Timothy that those who preach and teach should be suitably qualified (1 Timothy 3:1-7). So, although this is false teaching, I wouldn’t say this person is a false teacher. 

On the other hand, some people know all too well what they’re doing to twist and mould scripture to fit their agenda. Anyone who does this is certainly false. Look at 1 Timothy 6:3-5,

“If 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, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”

Or Romans 16:17-18,

“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. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.”

Likewise, those who will not teach the whole Bible are also false. If there are parts of the Bible that they avoid or twist, or water down, or about which they are embarrassed, then we have a problem. Paul says in Colossians 1:28 that his goal as a minister of the gospel is to present his people “mature in Christ.” And to do this, Paul says in Acts 20:27, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” 

So if someone says to you, “I just believe the Bible, I don’t need all that doctrine,” what you have to realise is that is a doctrinal position. That isn’t a statement in the Bible, it’s something they believe about the Bible, which is to say… it is a doctrine! We all have doctrine, the only question is will your doctrine be correct or not. 

But why are God’s promises at stake? Because of what it says in 1 Timothy 4:16,

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Or 2 John 9-11,

“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”

Doctrine is inescapable, and doctrine matters. You have to have it, you may as well have the right version of it.