Originally posted on 4.18.20
What is doctrine?
In short, doctrine is what the Bible says. It is the precise and particular teaching that can be deduced from the earnest and sound study of Scripture. Doctrine is unavoidable if you take the Bible seriously because the Bible is full of teaching. That very teaching, in all its many aspects, is what scholars have come to call, doctrine. Jesus Himself was a teacher Who gave us a lot of doctrine. To disregard or discount the importance of doctrine is to despise Scripture itself. It is to assert that the Bible’s teaching, including Christ’s, is not important.
On biblical grounds, to say something is more important than doctrine would have to be a doctrine itself and that statement would then be contradictory. Doctrine is teaching. Nothing exceeds the teaching of Scripture. And if something did, it would have to be outside the realm of Scripture and would be greater than God Himself. No such thing exists.
The Bible saves (James 1:21). It does so by providing teaching (doctrine), by which believing souls can be saved (1Timothy 4:16). Claiming to believe the Bible, or even reading the Bible, doesn’t save. It’s not magic. That was the error of the Jews in Jesus’ day. They presumed that possessing and reading the Scriptures were sufficient to procure eternal life. But Jesus told them they were actually closed to its message, which is the whole point of Scripture (John 5:39-40). We must receive the Bible’s message, without prejudice, and be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22-25).
No one emphasized the importance of acquiring and applying the Bible’s message more than Jesus Himself. He said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, a quote from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). With that stroke of genius, Christ ensured that every person who would give such heed to the Bible would ultimately come to salvation because, naturally, no Scripture necessary to salvation and holiness would be overlooked by him. The Bible is a beautiful, leather-bound book. But it is not just a good book to display, or read, or honor. It is a book to diligently study and obey (2Timothy 2:15). Similarly, Jesus is not just someone to believe in. He was a teacher Who prescribed distinct tenets for being saved and for right living. There is no greater way to honor Him than by obeying His Word (1Samuel 15:22-33).
Because Scripture is the most important thing in the world and because it governs our relationship with God, therefore doctrine is, likewise, the most important thing in the world because it is the teaching that precipitates from Scripture.
Importance of doctrine from the beginning of time
When God created Adam, He gave him a command regarding a certain forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:17). This formed a covenant by which Adam could be in right standing with God. (That covenant, by the way, marked the first institution on earth— that of religion.) By his regard for this doctrine, Adam would either possess eternal life or experience death. Fundamentally, nothing has changed in God’s dealing with mankind. True relationship with Him is still covenantal. (That’s why our Bible is basically in two distinct parts— the Old Testament, or, Covenant, and the New. The terms of the New Covenant may be different now but the outcome of life and death continue, based on our regard for the terms of the Covenant. To be sure, every person in the world is either covenantally saved or is lost (2Corinthians 4:3-4). (The concept of covenant is something with which we will deal later.)
Salvation doctrine
Under this heading, Salvation Doctrine, we mean the doctrine that constitutes salvation. In other words, it refers to the biblical terms by which salvation can be immediately claimed. Salvation doctrine can be referred to as the biblical plan of salvation since it is the condition that determines salvation. Doctrine in this area is, of course, the most important doctrine in the entire Bible. That is so because, without correct biblical understanding of how to be saved, a person remains lost no matter what other biblical knowledge he may possess (2Timothy 3:7). While other doctrines are very important, nothing ultimately matters if a person is not truly saved (Matthew 7:21-23).
Christian salvation doctrine
In identifying biblical salvation doctrine, it is necessary to distinguish Christian salvation doctrine, or, the Christian plan of salvation, particularly. This is because the Gospels identify salvation in Christ prior to the Christian era and these references are often wrongly substituted for the salvation terms that came into being on the Day of Pentecost when the Christian era began. This is an important distinction that many persons today have not been taught.
People often mistakingly think the Christian era began in the Gospels and that those who believed in Christ in the Gospels were Christians. That is incorrect. They were disciples (learners) of Christ. The Christian era did not begin until the Day of Pentecost because Christian salvation is based on the atonement of Christ. On the Day of Pentecost, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was applied to believers for the first time. That is when people could take the name of Jesus in baptism for the remission of sins, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel 2:32 involving salvation in the name of the Lord, and be filled with His Spirit, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel 2:28. By this means, a person is born again (John 3:5) and, because of regeneration, becomes Christ’s very Own (Romans 8:9). In fact, by this salvific process, we are baptized into Christ, which is a oneness with Christ peculiar to the Christian era (Romans 6:3-5; 1Corinthians 12:13). Christianity is the dispensation of the Spirit (2Corinthians 3:8), which was not available until the Day of Pentecost (John 7:37-39; 16:7). Additionally, the Day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the Church age. Naturally, those who believed in Jesus prior to the Day of Pentecost preceded the Christian Church (Matthew 16:18). What’s more, they actually preceded the enactment of the New Testament, which began on the Day of Pentecost (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 9:16-17). Because of these theological facts, Christianity is unique, having been inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost and having its own basis for, and terms of, salvation.
It is clear that the pre-Calvary salvation experience was very different from what came after Calvary. Pre-Calvary salvation was based on faith in Christ as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. That was a huge step of faith at the time, especially since Jesus didn’t match the pre-conceived notions of the Messiah. It was also risky (John 9:22). But it was pre-atonement faith in Jesus, which clearly lacked the spiritual new birth experience that was prophesied to occur in the New Testament (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, etc.) and which would first require the atonement to be fulfilled (John 16:7).
While pre-atonement faith was valid in its time (e.g., the thief on the cross), it was far inferior to post-atonement faith in Christ. And those who believed in Christ in His lifetime and who lived into the Christian era of faith were required to follow through on the new tenets of salvation enacted on the Day of Pentecost. This is evident from the fact that, before His Ascension, Christ commanded His believers to gather and wait in the Upper Room to receive the Holy Ghost, which occurred on the Day of Pentecost. It is also evident by the preaching that proceeded from that point. Distinct Christian tenets of salvation, unlike the preceding pre-atonement features, were prescribed by Peter for the entire Church age (Acts 2:37-39). It is clear as well from the profound fact that Christian evangelism extended even to those who were previous believers in Christ (Acts 18:24-28; 19:1-6). We see Apostolic insistence on the Pentecostal salvation experience continuing throughout the book of Acts (Acts 8:16-17; 9:17-18; 10:44-48; 16:30-34). We also hear it in the Epistles (Jude 3; Ephesians 4:5). These last two references from the Epistles can only refer to the salvation that was inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost. Otherwise, a person must prove where the tenets of salvation, so evident in the book of Acts, and embraced by all New Testament ministers, have changed (Acts 2:42). The point of reference in Jude 3 particularly, regarding the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, must be the Day of Pentecost. Nothing else is chronologically possible.
For the reasons above, any example of salvation prior to the Day of Pentecost, such as the thief on the cross, though valid in its time, does not provide a basis for claiming salvation in the Christian era. All the examples of Christian salvation are in the book of Acts and involve thousands of people— literally, the first generation of Christians. They are divinely provided for us as the template for Christian salvation.
I know we are getting very technical here but the Bible is a very technical book for very important reasons. It is the sole basis for saving and judging souls. The Bible has a task like no other book and those who handle it have a task like that of no other profession. It is not a lazy person’s book. (There is probably nothing about true Christianity that is attractive to a spiritually lazy person.)