Doctrine
"Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine...Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself, and those who hear you" (1 Tim. 4:13, 16). "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine" (2 Tim. 3:16).
These passages of Scripture bring together what should never be separated, that is, doctrine and experience, belief and practice--biblical truth clothed with genuine Christian experience. What God has joined together let no man put asunder.
Jesus Was a Doctrinal Preacher
In the first chapter of Mark we learn some important lessons from the Preacher of preachers-the wise Master Preacher Himself. First, we learn that He prayed before He preached (Mark 1:13). He was forty days and nights in the wilderness before He came to Galilee to begin His preaching ministry (v. 14). Note in Mark 1:35: "Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Immediately after He prayed, He said to His followers, "Let us go...that I may preach...because for this purpose I have come" (v. 38). He stated His purpose very clearly: "I have come
to preach."
In this passage we learn some other important lessons from the Master Preacher. In verses 22 and 27 we learn that He preached with authority; in verse 41 we learn that He preached with compassion. What I wish to emphasize, however, is that He was a doctrinal preacher: "And they were astonished at His doctrine" (v. 22); "What new doctrine is this?" (v. 27). These verses tell us plainly that Jesus was a doctrinal Preacher--a teaching Preacher.
Doctrine is to Christian experience what bones are to the body. A body without bones would be an utterly useless lump of "glob." Likewise, bones without flesh are but a dead skeleton.
There are those who cry "down with doctrine" and "up with experience." Some think it quite pious to say, "Christ is our creed and the Bible is our textbook." On the surface that sounds good. But which Christ are they talking about? There are a thousand "Christs" on the religious market. The Jehovah's Witnesses have a "Christ," but it is not the Christ of the Bible. The Mormons have a "Christ," but it is not the Christ of the Bible. Christian Science has a "Christ," but it is not the Christ of the Bible. The liberals have a "Christ," but it is not the One who came to us by a virgin's womb, suffered vicariously on a Roman cross, and rose victoriously from a borrowed grave.
There is only one biblical Christ. The cults also say the Bible is their textbook, but someone must proclaim what this infallible Bible actually says, what it means, and how it applies to our lives and the life of the church. Certainly we are all against substituting a dead, doctrinal creed for a living Christ. But our creed need not be dead--just as our faith should not be dead faith (James 2:20). We do not reject true faith because there is a dead faith.
It is not enough to speak of a mystical experience with God without doctrinal knowledge. We must worship God in truth as well as in spirit. Truth can be stated in real words, and when truth is stated in real words, it is doctrine--teaching. This effort to be a practicing Christian without knowing what Christianity is all about will always fail. The true Christian has a doctrinal foundation. The conflict between our Lord and the Pharisees was over the question of who He was--the doctrine of the Messiah.
To believe savingly in Christ involves believing the right things about Him:
who He was--the virgin-born Son of God;
what He did--suffered vicariously on the cross;
why He died on the cross--because of a covenant with God the Father to redeem an innumerable company of sheep (His people) from every tribe, nation, and tongue. "And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
What is true religion? It is not some mystical, nebulous thing, floating around in the sky. True religion cannot be less than this: right thinking in respect to God; right feeling in respect to God; right acting in respect to God. True religion must reach the whole man. It must reach his
mind because that is what he thinks with; it must reach his affection because that is what he feels with; and it must reach his
will because that is what he decides with.
Experience and Doctrine
Christian experience is the influence of sound biblical doctrine applied to the mind, affections, and will by the Holy Spirit. Founder of twenty-five churches, J. C. Ryle said, "You can talk about Christian experience all you wish, but without doctrinal roots, it is like cut flowers stuck in the ground--it will wither and die."
It is impossible, therefore, to overemphasize the importance of sound doctrine in the Christian life. Right thinking about all spiritual matters is imperative if we are to have right living. As men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles, so sound Christian character does not grow out of unsound doctrine. Someone may ask, "How do we test true Christian experience in the midst of so much spurious experience and religious confusion?" Let me suggest three tests:
- Is this professed religious experience produced by the truth plainly and faithfully presented? It must be biblical truth--not only feeling and emotion or religious excitement.
- Is this professed religious experience regulated and governed by biblical truth?
- Do the subjects of this professed religious experience manifest a general and cordial love of biblical truth?
Biblical doctrine is more important than most church members realize. Doctrine not only expresses our experiences and beliefs; it also determines our direction. Doctrine shapes our lives and church programs. Doctrine to the Christian and the church is what the bones are to the body. It gives unity and stability.
The church that neglects to teach sound biblical doctrine weakens the church membership. It works against true unity. It invites instability in its fellowship, lessens conviction, and stalemates true progress in the church.
What Doctrines?
Perhaps few would disagree with what I have said to this point. But I do not want to speak in general, nebulous terms. Consider, for example, the word
doctrine. The word by itself is almost meaningless. All cults have doctrine. I want to be more specific and speak of the doctrines believed and preached by our Baptist fathers--such men as James P. Boyce, John A. Broadus, B. H. Carroll, John L. Dagg, Luther Rice, P. H. Mell, John Bunyan, Charles H. Spurgeon, William Carey, and Andrew Fuller. I am speaking of those doctrines expressed by the Philadelphia Association in which Southern Baptists have their roots. These doctrines were the foundation of their devotion, their worship, their witness, and all their service to Christ and His church.
Before I mention specifically some foundational doctrines, I must make one simple but weighty point:
If what our Baptist fathers believed and taught was true, then it is just as true and just as important today--because the Bible has not changed, truth has not changed, and God has not changed. The minds of men are like porous sieves out of which truth can leak and into which error may seep to dilute the truth. But truth does not change because God Himself does not change. Our
understanding of truth may change, but truth does not change.
What specific doctrines am I talking about? I speak of foundational doctrines, not secondary matters. I am talking about those doctrines that were set forth, defined, and defended at the Synod of Dort in 1618 and later expressed in the Westminster Confession and the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689.
I am referring to those doctrines that set forth a God who saves, not this little "God" who just helps man to save himself. I mean those doctrines that reveal the three great acts of the Trinity for the recovering of poor, helpless, lost sinners: election by the Father, redemption by the Son, and calling by the Spirit. All are directed to the same individuals and secure their salvation infallibly. Away with this wicked idea of giving each act of the Trinity a different reference, i.e., the objects of redemption as
all mankind; the objects of calling as
those who hear the gospel; and the objects of election as
those hearers who respond.
Let us instead return to those doctrines which
- give all the glory of saving sinners to God and do not divide it between God and the sinner.
- see the Creator as the source and the end of everything both in nature and in grace.
- teach that history is nothing less than the working out of God's preordained plan.
- set forth the God who was sovereign in creation, sovereign in redemption (both in planning it and perfecting it), and sovereign in providence--both historically and right now.
- reveal a Redeemer who actually redeems; a God who saves by purpose and by power; the Trinity working together for the salvation of sinners (the Father plans it, the Son achieves it, and the Holy Spirit communicates and effectually applies it to God's elect).
- proclaim a God who saves, keeps, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners--and loses none in the process. [emphasis mine]
God saves sinners! We must not weaken this great truth that God saves sinners by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man. Jonah had it straight: "Salvation [past, present, and future] is of the LORD" (2:9). These doctrines trace the source of every spiritual blessing--faith included--back to that great transaction between God and His Son which was carried out on Calvary's hill.
The Spirit's gift is not just an
enlightening work. It is also the
regenerating work of God in men: taking away their hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh, renewing their wills, and by His almighty power, determining and causing them to come--not against their will but freely, being made willing by His grace (Ps. 110:3).
"Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts" (Ps. 65:4). It is in this sense that grace proves to be
irresistible. Why? Because grace subdues man's power to resist.
Though this is all the sovereign work of God, let us not suppose that God's decision to save a man by a decree leaves man passive and inert. It is the opposite that takes place:
- The covenant of grace does not kill man; it takes possession of a man.
- It does not regard man as a tin can, a piece of wood, or a robot; it lays hold of his whole being with all his faculties and powers of soul and body, for time and eternity.
- It does not annihilate his powers but removes his powerlessness.
- It does not destroy his will but frees it from sin.
- It does not stifle or obliterate his conscience but sets it free from darkness.
- It regenerates and recreates man in his entirety; and in renewing him by grace, it causes him to love and consecrate himself to God freely.
These doctrines show the cross as revealing God's
power to save, not His impotence. The cross was not a place to make salvation
possible but a place to actually
secure the salvation of sinners, fulfilling that prophecy of the great evangelical prophet Isaiah: "He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied" (53:11). God was not frustrated at the cross.
The Bible says, "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death" (Acts 2:23). God was the Master of Ceremonies at the cross!
William Cowper expressed it in his hymn, "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood:"
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power
Till
all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
These doctrines will drive us to proclaim to everyone:
- All are sinners--not sick and in need help but dead and in need life.
- Jesus Christ, God's Son, is the only perfect, able, and willing Savior of sinners (even the worst).
- The Father and the Son have promised that all who know themselves to be such sinners and put their faith in Christ as Savior shall be received into favor, and none will be cast out.
- God has made repentance and faith a duty, requiring of every man who hears the gospel a serious and full casting of the soul upon Christ as the all-sufficient Savior, ready, able, and willing to save all that come to God by Him.
To the question, "What must I do to be saved?" we must answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). What does that mean? It means:
- Knowing oneself to be a sinner.
- Knowing Christ to have died for sinners.
- Abandoning all self-righteousness, self-confidence, and self-effort.
- Casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon and peace.
- Exchanging one's natural enmity and rebellion against Him for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of his/her heart by the Holy Spirit.
Erasmus had a wrong view of the human will and its relationship to other major Christian doctrines. It is still a serious error in (a certain churches)* teaching. It is likewise true that this erroneous view is held by most present-day Southern Baptists--"Take heed to yourself [your experience] and to the doctrine" (1 Tim. 4:16a).
John Sutcliff summed it up very well when he said: "Every increase of religious knowledge should not only make me wiser, but better; not only make my head more clear, but purify my heart, influence my affections, and regulate my life."
[10]
*Edited for content
http://www.founders.org/FJ26/article2.html
1
SBC Today, 1:9, 2-3.
2 Ibid.
3 Mueller,
History of Southern Seminary (Nashville: Broadman Press) 238.
4
An Interpretation of the English Bible: Colossians, Ephesians, and Hebrews (Nashville: Broadman, 1948) 140-141, 150.
5 Simon and Schuster, 199.
6 A dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1963.
7 See, for example, pp. 266, 339, 343, 344, 348, and 434-37.
8Taken from W.C. Harrell, class notes, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
9 (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania: Judson Press, 1917) 348.
10 Michael A. G. Haykin,
One Heart and One Soul (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1994) 48.
Continued....
Are you saying that all Baptists that hold OSAS to be true are Calvinists?
Sure it's clear. To the regular baptists it's clear and to the reformed baptists it's clear and to the american baptists it's clear and to the southern baptists it's clear and to the primitive baptists it's clear and to the landmark baptists it's clear and to the plain mennonites it's clear and to the episcopalians it's clear and to the amish it's clear and to the hutterites it's clear and to the pca presbyterians it's clear and to the pcusa presbyterians it's clear and to the primitive methodists it's clear and to the weslyans it's clear and to the Roman Catholics it's clear and to the Seventh Day Adventists it's clear and to the anglicans it's clear and to the missouri synod lutherans it's clear and to the elca lutherans it's clear and to the nondenominational folks it's clear and to the fundamentalists it's clear and to the Orthodox it's clear and to the pentacostals it's clear and to the Church of Christ folks it's clear and to the quakers it's clear and to the messianic jews it's clear and did I miss anyone?
. This is addressed in a circular letter by the Pennsylvania Baptist Association entitled: "The Decrees of God" in 1775. I try not to let my Calvinist viewpoint get in the way and stick up for what I believe, but the attitude that prevails lately here in the Baptist room shows clearly that people are moving away from God's word, to follow after such teachings as they deem unworthy to be in the Bible. My Bible tells me that Paul taught:
