Doctrine is not a Dirty Word...

I plan to start a series of posts addressing this topic and my perspective is that of a person coming from an initial Christian experience that placed a lower value on doctrine and emphasized experience, to what I now feel is a more balanced approach where doctrine informs and fences in how we understand our experiences.

The first question that should be answered is of course, "What is doctrine?”, which Noah Webster in his 1828 dictionary answers by defining it as...

DOCTRINE, n. [L., to teach.]

1. In a general sense, whatever is taught. Hence, a principle or position in any science; whatever is laid down as true by an instructor or master. The doctrines of the gospel are the principles or truths taught by Christ and his apostles. The doctrines of Plato are the principles which he taught. Hence a doctrine may be true or false; it may be a mere tenet or opinion.


2. The act of teaching. He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in his doctrine. Mark 4.


3. Learning; knowledge. Whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Isa 28.


4. The truths of the gospel in general. That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Titus 2.


5. Instruction/confirmation in the truths of the gospel. 2 Tim 3.

I would summarize the meaning of doctrine then as simply "teaching". Any time we learn something new, it can be defined as doctrine. We have many doctrines that touch all of our life's experiences. We have doctrines of ourselves, our society, and of course God. It is the latter that must be chief among all other doctrines and will in fact be the filter through which all other doctrines (and experience) are derived. So the question is not whether or not we have any doctrines, but whether the doctrines that we hold to are true. For the sake of this article, I am presupposing a Christian world view and the ultimate authority of the Bible.

So, what does the Bible tell us about doctrine? Let's quickly look at a few verses. These come from the pastoral epistles of Paul, which are intended to provide instructions for church leadership. The content of these letters should serve as a paradigm for understanding the role and purpose of leaders in the church.

1 Timothy 4:6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against

1 Timothy 6:3-4 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing;

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching (translated in KJV as doctrine), for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires

Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

Titus 2:1 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

Titus 2:7-10 In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Urge bond-slaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

We can make a few observations from the text above. First, we are commanded to follow sound doctrine and avoid all that doctrine to both exhort us and refute (correct) us. Secondly, sound doctrine is tied to faith in Christ. Thirdly, sound doctrine is that which the Apostles taught and which has been preserved for us in the Bible. Lastly, sound doctrine is "adorned" by our actions and lives. It is this last point that I want to spend the rest of my post on, and to examine some common positions in light of.

Let me first make an assertion. Doctrine and life's experiences are not mutually exclusive of each other and do not stand as an either-or choice. Let me be clear... there is no experience that is not understood in the light of doctrine and no true follower of sound doctrine can fail to experience the reality that their doctrine points to.

When someone tells me they don't follow doctrine but just follow Jesus, I know one of two things; they either do not understand what doctrine is or they do not understand how the Bible defines following Jesus as. Let me put it another way, it is also said that Christianity is not knowing things about Jesus, but rather knowing Jesus personally. While that sound very noble and sanctified on the surface, it miss one very important thing... it is impossible to "know" somebody without FIRST knowing some true things about them. The problem is that simply knowing things about someone does not mean that one knows them relationally. This is the important thing that often gets missed or confused and leads to extreme views seeking to protect against either wild fanaticism or dead orthodoxy. Christianity is not JUST a matter of knowing things about Jesus, but goes beyond that to actually knowing Him and (perhaps most importantly) being savingly known by Him.

When we come to faith in Christ and enter into vital union with Him, it is based on the proclamation of the gospel through the inward drawing on the Holy Spirit. It is not through some new age mysticism that lets us make Jesus into merely a personal thing who has no objective reality. The true gospel tells us that Jesus is the second person of the triune God who humbled Himself by taking on the form of a human and fulfilling the entire law of God before dying on a Roman cross for the sins of His people. He victoriously rose from the dead and now ever lives to intercede before God the Father, pleading His finished work of redemption on our behalf.

That is a powerful doctrine! It should cause us to experience everything in this life in a new and fresh way. We should be radically and permanently changed! It is this doctrine that comes first and is made a part of us though faith in Christ. It brings life from death, faith from unbelief, love from hate and godliness from unrighteousness. This is no dead abstract doctrine, but living and active in the lives of those who truly believe it. There are of course other doctrines that shape and define us as Christians, and I will probably look at some of them in the future, but the point I want to make is that there is no Christianity without BOTH true doctrine and experience. If we are trusting in a Jesus other than the one the Bible teaches about, we are lost. If all we have is facts about Jesus without knowing Him and being known by Him, we are lost.

To say that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship is a half-truth and I hope we can see now why that is so. I pray that we will all come to recognize the importance of allowing our lives to be shaped by sound, Biblical doctrine and to not be afraid when that doctrine causes powerful emotions to rise up within us. There is much more to say, but I shall let this be the end of my initial thoughts. God bless.