Doctrines are Extremely Important But …

 

When the “Death Angel” was passing over the houses in Egypt and the Jews were being delivered, only one primary condition was necessary to escape death – Blood had to be smeared on the lintels and doorposts (Exodus 12:12-13)). The angel did not go into the home to carry out a doctrinal investigation and then slaughter all the non-conformists. Once the blood was seen on the outside, that whole household was delivered. The Passover is thus a masterful typological exposition of the gospel (1 Corinthians 5:7). Now, on another occasion, when the Jews were bitten by poisonous serpents in the wilderness and many of them were dropping dead everywhere, and they were crying out for mercy because of their disobedience, God gave Moses a very strange remedy. He told him to make a brazen serpent and hang it upon a pole and the Jews were to look at the serpent for healing (Numbers 21:6-9). Very weird!! But it did not matter how much herb and bush tea concoctions they might have made and drank, if they did not look at the brazen serpent they continued to drop dead. Logic might have caused many Jews to argue that since the snake venom was inside of them they should have to take an internal antidote to counteract its deadly effect, but their human logic would have led to the continuation of their painful deaths. The only way to live was to look at the serpent. Not one of them could present their obedience to the law, or their doctrinal compliance as the reason why they should avoid looking at the serpent and still be allowed to live. God’s ways are just not man’s ways!! Humans, in their pride and competitiveness, want to contribute to their salvation, but God is having none of it! Salvation is through the sacrifice of his Son without anyone being able to contribute in the slightest way.

 

It is now the time to ask the question: What really is a doctrine? Well, I can probably give you a highfalutin theological definition, but put very simply, a doctrine is a teaching to which we should be attentive. But not all doctrines carry the same weight. When the “Death Angel” was passing over, some of the Jews in their houses might not have been eating pork, or wearing jewelry, or breaking a number of other rules, but they could not use their rule keeping to save themselves. It was simple: No blood, no life! What’s the point? There is simply no doctrine that supersedes the gospel of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the law is very important, but it is powerless to save us. The blood of Jesus flowing in the gospel covers my sins and drowns then, so in the sight of God I am free to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Glory Hallelujah!!

 

As Christians, we must vigorously try to follow the doctrines or teachings of the Bible, but in humility we must realize that it is the Bible that is infallible and not us, or our denominations. It is because of our fallibility that there are so many Christian denominations. If professed Christians were truly born again and walking in the Spirit rather than in the flesh, then there would be far fewer denominations, even though there would still be some differences in beliefs. Both the Bible itself and Church History reveal that Jewish Christians were significantly different from Gentile Christians. Many in the Jewish Christian Church continued to follow many of the rules and regulations of the Law, including dietary rules and feast day rules, but the Jerusalem Council exempted the Gentile Christian Church from all these Jewish rules (Acts 15). Many Jewish Christians, even though they accepted Christ as their Savior, still continued many of their old religious practices of following various rules and regulations and ordinances although none of this was necessary. What’s the point? -- The doctrines that are most important are the ones that define us as Christians. For instance, one can never be a Christian and claim that Jesus was just a very religious man whose example we should follow. But one can be a genuine and powerful Christian and eat pork, wear jewelry, and worship on a Thursday, and it’s simply because these doctrines do not define Christianity. A true Christian loves Jesus so much that he or she will constantly try to understand and practice every single teaching in the Bible, but will realize that even if they lived to be 200 years before dying, they will still have fallen short of some of the doctrines of the Bible. They would thus be absolutely thankful for the grace of God and the fact that their salvation was accomplished by Jesus’ obedience and not theirs, and by Jesus’ life and death and resurrection and not theirs. So are doctrines extremely important? Of course they are! But ….. You tell me! Tune in next week for “Fighting Hardship”.