Last week we examined how the Law, God’s Law, impacted our lives as Christians. This week we deal with the Suffocation of Faith by of all things Doctrine. The best way to proceed would be to understand what is doctrine?  

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system. The etymological Greek analogue is “catechism”. Wikipedia

Applied to our faith and in simple terms…a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a Church. (Oxford Dictionary) What is the meaning of doctrine in the Bible? The basic meaning of the term doctrine is “teaching.” Christian doctrine, accordingly, is the attempt to state in intellectually responsible terms the message of the gospel and the content of the faith it elicits.The doctrine, therefore encompasses both the substance of what is taught and the act of setting that substance forth. (Britannica) What is the meaning of doctrine in church? Those would be the  Definitions of church doctrine which can differ from one denomination to another and are the written body of teachings of a religious group that are generally accepted by that group. synonyms: creed, gospel, religious doctrine. Confused.. Somewhere along the way faith has been smothered by doctrine. Why you might ask is my focus so tepid in regard to Doctrine? Simple answer is Christian Doctrine can be divisive. To many Christians it is not a popular word or procedure and many believe it should be avoided. The main thought being that it does create divisions and Jesus spoke about this in…

John 17:21  that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Paul knew that there would be differences and he addresses those in 2 Timothy 4:3

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

Most Christian doctrines will include, what you must believe, what you must not reject and of course what you should believe. Christian Faith is heavily guided by doctrine. The most important being the deity of Christ, Christ on the cross, the resurrection and salvation by grace through faith. For most Christians these doctrines are not expendable.To remove anyone of these would leave us with a faith which is empty and void of any meaning. There is also the Trinity, also the importance of scripture to inspire and teach us and to make us aware of the eternal promise that God has made to us. Paul felt that if any of these things were causing divisions among us it was not  good… Paul believed If Christian doctrine is causing division on any of these points, so be it, as those who deny these doctrines need to be separated from us. I guess we can from this, tag these doctrines to be crucial to the body as a whole. When I decided to write this I was not prepared for the depth and width of the meaningful part that doctrine was to the core foundations of our faith. I wanted to stay away from lists but my research made that impossible. There are others, for example… the timing of the rapture, the more charismatic approach to worship and faith programs of an inclusitivioty manner but we must remember Christian doctrines are important and every Christian doctrine carries some importance. Here is the hard part…not every one of these doctrines should be a reason for division within the Christian faith. As hard as it may be, it would be better if we sometimes went elsewhere and not become a reason for division within one particular body.

So is there an answer to the problem? The way I see it the problem is as Pogo once said…”we have searched for the enemy and have found them…and “they is us!”  It has been my experience that the first four of The Doctrine, the deity of Christ, Christ on the cross, the resurrection and salvation by grace through faith are pretty much universally accepted. So…if we could just accept the Christian doctrines the Bible teaches, division would not be a problem. These core doctrines are worth dividing for. We all are sinners… Romans 3:23 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…Bottom line…Not understanding and submitting to Christian doctrine is the main driver of the divisions we become entangled in, it is not the doctrine in itself. The harsh truth is this…Christian doctrine, in reality, is the only way to true, full, and biblical unity within the Body of Christ.(gotquestions.org) All of this is driven by FAITH.

Life is Good

jk