Paul has just finished commending some people he knows, who are members of the church in Rome. And he tells everyone to receive Phebe, who is unknown to most of them. Then after listing more than two dozen people, he tells them all – as well as telling us – “Salute one another with an holy kiss.” In our culture that would be – “Greet one another with a hearty, friendly hand-shake.”
Notice that immediately after telling us all to be friendly and gracious towards each other, he adds a caveat. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” “Receive,” “assist,” “greet,” “salute” and even “kiss” the brethren, but “mark” and “avoid” a great many others. And here is the point: The difference between these two kinds of people, and our behavior toward them – is not their attitude. It doesn’t matter how friendly, outgoing, commending and commendable they are. It doesn’t matter if they are rich and generous, or poor and needy. It doesn’t matter if they smart, good-looking, affectionate or loving. It doesn’t even matter if they say that they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite what is said in other scriptures and other circumstances, what Paul points to at this point is the nasty subject of “doctrine.”
Now there is something which I think is important. The Greek word which is translated “doctrine” is “didache” (did-akh-ay’). The literal definition of the word is “teaching.” I didn’t make a thorough comparison throughout my library, because it really isn’t important, but I did notice that the NIV (The New International Version) translates this word “teaching” here, but the ASV (The American Standard Version) translates it just as our Authorized Version (KJV) does. And as far as our KJV is concerned 29 of the 30 times that this word is used in the Bible, it is translated “doctrine” rather than “teaching.”
In English, and in common use, these two words are closely related, but there is a distinct difference. “Teaching” can be either the act of sharing information, or it can be the idea which is taught. But the first definition of “doctrine” is: “A principle or body of principles presented for acceptance or belief.” Doctrine can be a body of principles taught and presented for the acceptance of the audience. The translators of both our King James Bibles and apparently other versions as well, believed that Paul was not simply talking about the individual things which he had been teaching, but about the complete body of principles which he had been given to him by the Lord and which he had been teaching everywhere he went. It wasn’t just a matter of this and that, but rather about the entire basis and foundation of Christian thought. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”
What should be the grounds upon which we judge a professing Christian or with which we judge a prospective church? It’s not the brand of coffee that they serve, nor whether or not they have a children’s church. It’s not about personal friendliness, even though we need to be a friendly as we can. It’s not about the size of the front door, and whether or not there is a chandelier in the foyer. It’s not whether the entry room down by the front door is a “foier” or a “foi-yea.” What separates people and churches, and which separates many churches from Christ, is doctrine. What separates those whom we should salute and those we should avoid – is doctrine.
In some ways Bible Christianity is like nature – multifaceted and apparently complex. We need to be like naturalists with the ability to understand, dissect, and then to coordinate the facts. Despite what many Christian people think and even hope, we all need to be theologians – at least to the degree that we know how to rightly divide the word of truth. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Every Christian is expected to be able to bring together related verses from throughout the Bible in order to explain the fundamentals of our faith.
This morning, I’d like to point out the importance – the extreme importance – of Bible doctrine.
But what is it which is most often used to identify religious people? Isn’t our denominational title? I love the name “Baptist.” This is the best title there is, if the people who are using that title know its history and meaning. Of course, I also like “Christian” and “child of God,” but these are used by so many people who are not Christians and not children of God that generally speaking they have lost their meaning. So we see that names can be extremely confusing. I looked up the name John Smith in the phone book, and was surprised that there were so few. I would guess that people with the surname of Smith are getting wiser in the naming of their children. If you don’t have a weird last name like Oldfield, Kjeldgaard or Asmundson, you have to take extra steps to identify your children, so, you give them strange given names. Yet still, there were several John Smiths, and J Smiths, and some finding unique ways of spelling John. How can we be sure that one John Smith in Kootenai county is not some other John Smith? Well, there are unique fingerprints, and there are voice patterns, dental records. There are shoe sizes, retinal scans and the now the popular DNA tests. And similarly, there are about as many kinds of Baptists as there are John Smiths. How can we determine that one Baptist is related to another Baptist, but not to a third? We need to dig deeper than religious name-tags.
Unlike names, doctrine TRULY identifies people. Love and charity are certainly good things, but they don’t differentiate people. A Baptist, a Catholic, a Hindu, a Jew, and an atheist may all be good neighbors. But they all worship at different altars.
I said a moment ago that no one likes to be cursed for another man’s crime. Paul was often cursed, but how was he identified before that curse was inflicted? Was it his love? Was it his race? It was not. Acts 13 – “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.” Acts 14 – “Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them.” Acts 17 – “The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” How did Paul and Silas turn the world upside down? They did so with their doctrine. What I am trying to say, is that we associate with Paul, and we associate with Christ, not simply upon the grounds of our love, or church membership, and by our friends, but upon doctrine.
For example, there are many professing “Christians” who deny that there is a literal Devil named Satan. They want to allegorize him as just some kind of evil propensity in the world. But the Bible declares his personal existence and reveals some of his history – even his future. Satan is Jehovah’s primary and most powerful enemy. And one of his favorite weapons against the things of God is ignorance. If he can keep an unbeliever in the dark about his sins, about eternal judgment and about redemption, then in a sense, he has won a minor victory. Furthermore, if he can keep the saint from knowing these things well enough to explain them to others, he wins from a different angle. And when he deludes us into thinking that it’s not important to understand the other important doctrines of the Word of God, he wins other kinds of victories.
And this points out the fact that we need to be both defensive and offensive with the truth. The ability to be able to take the spiritual offensive relates to how well we know Bible doctrine. Here is a man who knows a few well-chosen proof texts. When the heretic comes to his door, he may be like the soldier holding the high ground, who can pick off the enemy one by one with his single shot, single verse, rifle. He can adequately defend himself with those isolated verses. But then there is the man who has studied Bible doctrine more fully. He is like the man with the high-powered automatic weapon, which can send a tsunami of scriptures down upon Satan’s ally. He can not only defend himself, but he may actually be able to win that enemy to the truth. How can we “mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which we have learned,” if we haven’t learned doctrine? Systematic theology links point to point and builds a doctrinal foundation which cannot be easily disrupted.
When Paul was writing to Timothy he made this statement: “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The church of the living God, is not amorphous, invisible, un-assembling assembly. Paul was speaking about the assembly of which Timothy was pastor at the time – probably at Ephesus. And making the due and appropriate application, Paul was talking about Calvary Independent Baptist Church. This church, of which you are a member, is “the pillar and ground of the truth” here in Post Falls. Let me remind you that Calvary Baptist is not the building which sits on the corner of 12th and Spokane. This church is made up of its members – you and me. You are the arms, legs, eyes, ears, fingers and toes of the Body of Christ in this community. Together, you and I, are the pillar and ground of God’s truth here. But if we neglect sound doctrine, we tear down these pillars and beg the Lord to remove us as a church. Not that it is a problem here, but oratory and flowery preaching, loud preaching, tear-producing preaching may bind people to the preacher, but blind them to the truth at the same time. The neglect of doctrine is the road to uncertainty, inaccuracy, immaturity and ecclesiastical death. Perhaps I should finish the context of the verses that I just quoted in order to point out the importance of Bible doctrine. “These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” When Paul speaks about the pillar and ground of the truth, his next breath was spent on doctrine.
Perhaps you haven’t heard it said, but I have – “Doctrine deadens spiritual life and vitality.” While I admit that it is a possibility, true Bible doctrine cannot deaden – if it be more than theoretical. Each and every doctrine ought to produce practical results.
Take for example the last verse that I just quoted – the one about the doctrine of Christ. When we know and believe and bask in the deity, humanity and glory of Christ, we learn to properly worship, love and serve Him. Those who love the Saviour become the most practical of all Christians. Some foolish people say that the doctrine of eternal security produces carnal, sinful people. Some carnal, sinful professing Christians may make that statement, but it is yet to be proven that they are Christians at all. When someone grasps the truth about eternal salvation, they recognize that it directly connects them to the eternal and holy God. That God and that Saviour expect and demand holiness. People think that the doctrine of sovereign election means that evangelism is unimportant and that faith and repentance have become unimportant. That is as untrue as to say that the moon is made of cheese.
What does Colossians 1:9-10 teach us about doctrine and character? “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Doctrinal truth is the nourishment upon which the Christian life grows and flourishes. I Peter 2:1-2 – “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” The lack of knowledge doesn’t lead to piety and devotion – it leads to superstition. And this danger is closer to all of us than any would like to imagine. It takes good nutrition to grow a strong body, and the same is true in the spiritual world. Bible doctrine – teaching and preaching the Word is that nutrition, beginning with the milk of the Word.
I noticed in an old sermon that twenty years ago I made this observation: “Christianity is living on the doctrinal teachings of the past century. Some of the fruit that we see is real, but I’m afraid that the heart of the tree is dead. We have gotten to the place where we seek proper results, but the proper cause and power is gone. The only natural result is deterioration in godly living and morality.” I first made that statement in January, 1990. I think that today, it’s hardly appropriate say any more, because we have deteriorated beyond that point. No longer are we seeing much fruit at all. Certainly we aren’t seeing fruit stemming from truth taught years ago. The fruit is small and few.
Doctrine is the key to godly living and godly, loving churches. God’s best workers – His greatest saints – have a clear understanding and system of theology. No sir, doctrine doesn’t kill spiritual life and good workers; it polishes them to a brilliant shine. The doctrine of eternal retribution is as practical as any other thing in this world – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” The doctrine of holiness – “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” The doctrine of the imminent second coming – “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” The doctrine of Heaven – “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” These things are doctrine, and these things are eternally important for the souls of men.
Is your Christian life filled with holes? I am convinced that part of the cause is a lack of interwoven doctrine. Few things look so awful as a starved animal – skin and bones. Let’s get the doctrinal skeleton right and then cover it with the meat and muscle of Christian living.
Paul tells us to be friendly toward one another, but the kind of friendliness and the degree of that friendliness is to be determined by our mutual understanding and acceptance of Biblical doctrine.
And by the way, salvation by grace through faith is one of the absolutely essential Bible doctrines. Has the Lord saved you by His grace? Have you completely and fully humbled yourself before the Lord in repentance? Is your faith for deliverance and forgiveness, in Christ Jesus and Him alone? You must believe the importance of these things; you must do these things.