Why Doctrine Matters

Why Doctrine Matters

by

Jimmy Humphrey

So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?” (Genesis 29:25; NASB)

There are some people in Evangelical circles today who are so spiritual that they’ve declared, doctrine doesn’t really matter. All that matters to them is having a personal relationship with Jesus. Whether a doctrine is true or not doesn’t really matter to these brethren. All that matters is knowing Jesus. Such is the spirit of our age.

But if I could, I would just like to make a little observation from a story in the life of Jacob. Jacob, if you recall, was madly in love with a girl named Rachel. He agreed to serve Laban, Rachel’s father, for seven years, if only at the end of those seven years he could take Rachel to be his wife. Well, seven years of service came and went, and Jacob took Rachel to be his wife. But when Jacob woke up the next morning, he discovered the woman he was with was not the woman whom he had served Laban for. Instead, it was another woman altogether, Leah. Jacob had been married to the wrong woman.

What is one thing we can learn from this little story? At the end of the day, the truth really does matter. Indeed, if your personal relationship with the Lord is not grounded in the truth, like Jacob, one day when you wake up, you may discover that after all your years of service, that you were married to the wrong person altogether.

http://christthinks.com/2010/11/13/why-doctrine-matters/

Then, there are those who when they first meet you, subject you to their "spiritual interview". Instead of getting to know you, they "check you out" to make sure all your beliefs line up with theirs so they can determine if you are worthy of their fellowship. I always seem to flunk those interviews.

I knew someone like that, and most people found him to be quite annoying

hi, if you had to agree with all the doctrine i have in my heart;you certainly would not fellowship with me.i try to use wisdom around the bible school students so they will not leave or have me thrown out.i will not argue over any doctrine save for Jesus and Him crucified and if you beleive in the message of the cross then we can fellowship.jimp

yes and let's see the living waters of The Christ!

We should remember it was Laban that deceived Jacob. The parallel NT scripture for this I suppose could be 1 Thessalonians 2:11, if we keep the whole in context with Jimmy's exegetical illustration. I do like what Jimmy is putting forth here.

I would remind readers however that the Holy Spirit always leads God's handmaidens to Christ in all sobriety and is not a tricky Laban. Doctrine does matter (II Tim. 3:16; I Tim. 4:6, 16), though in the end, it is Christ who saves and not correct doctrine. One can have correct doctrine and be spiritually dead, as we often see. In fact, men who had the straightest doctrine of all were the very ones who handed Jesus Christ over to Pilate.

If a person has the Spirit of Christ, God Himself will take care of all the doctrinal details eventually and internally. Many believers who have had a genuine new birth are yet in imperfect doctrine, but God is slowly working on them, bringing them unto perfection, smoothing out the rough edges, and forming within them the divine nature of His Son with much patience and love.

Fortuantely, the story didn't stop with Leah; Jacob labored some more and eventually married the apple of his eye, Rachel. But amazingly it was through Judah (Jacob and Leah's 4th son) in which God chose to manifest Himself to the world, and not through a son of Rachel. His ways are not ours dear brethen. If a man walk honestly and humbly before God, even though his doctrine be not totally sound, the Spirit of Christ can still manifest unto the blessing of generations.

I am not advocating here, in case there is any misunderstanding, cold and dead orthodoxy, or absolute perfection in doctrine. The purpose of this exhortation is simply to say what I said, that doctrine does matter, and we should pursue it. One need not have perfect doctrine to follow Christ and be soundly saved, nor do we have to agree on all points of doctrine to have real Biblical fellowship with one another.

But, soundly saved people who have a real relationship with the Lord also have sound doctrine. Sound doctrine and a personal relationship with the Lord DO go hand in hand. The true worshipers of God must worship in spirit and in truth. Our relationship with the Lord is something that is ultimately grounded in actual and factual doctrinal truth.

Amen, well said.

I am reminded of something William Gurnall wrote in commenting on the verse, "Having your loins girt about with truth" (Eph. 6:14).

[Truth of Doctrine as a Girdle for the Mind.]

We shall begin with truth of doctrine, or truth of the word, called ‘the word of truth,’ Eph. 1:13, because it is the word of God, who is God of truth. It behoves every Christian to be well girt with this truth. ‘Resist the devil,’ saith Peter, ‘steadfast in the faith,’ I Peter 5:9; that is, in the truth—faith being there put for the object of our faith, which is the truth of God, declared in the doctrine of the gospel. This is ‘the faith which was once delivered to the saints,’ Jude 3; that is, the truth delivered to them to be believed and held fast. And of what importance it is to be thus steadfast in the faith, the apostle Peter, in the following verse of the fore-mentioned place, shows, by his vehement and earnest praying for them, that God would ‘stablish, strengthen, and settle them.’ The heaping of words to the same purpose, implies the great danger they were in of being unsettled by Satan and his instruments, and the necessity of their standing firm and unshaken in the faith. Nothing is more frequently inculcated than this in the Epistles; and the more, because in those blustering times it was impossible to have kept the faith from being blown from them, without this girdle to hold it fast. Now, as there is a double design Satan hath to rob Christians of truth, so there is a twofold girding about with this truth necessary. first, Satan comes as a serpent in the persons of false teachers, and by them labours to put a cheat on us, and cozen[1] us with error for truth. To defend us against this design, it is necessary we be girt with truth in our understanding—that we have an established judgement in the truths of Christ. second, Satan comes sometimes as a lion in the persons of bloody persecutors, and labours to scare Christians from the truth with fire and faggot. Now to defend us against this, we need to have truth girt about us, so that with a holy resolution we may maintain our profession in the face of death and danger.

I believe in the 'doctrine' that the Bible speaks of: the doctrine of Christ:

2 Jo 1:9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. He who abides in his doctrine has both the Father and the Son.
2 Jo 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not welcome him to your house, neither bid him to eat...

But sadly, religious sects of the church have hijacked that doctrine (edit: like the above verses) and made it into the "Baptist" doctrine, the "Church of God" doctrine, the "Catholic" doctrine, the "Church of God in Prophecy" doctrine, etc.

It's so sad that the majority of Christians don't know the doctrine of Christ!

God bless,
Lisa

This topic hits home to me in a number of ways. I came out of believing in the word of faith, prosperity doctrines of demons. I was a born again believer who was being deceived it was hindering my walk to say the least. I am so thankful for men like Hank Hanagraff and John MacArthur who passionately spoke out against that deception and exposed it for what it was. The Lord used these men to open my eyes and set me free through His truth in His Word.

On the flip side, I am grieved when I see Christians breaking fellowship over non-essentials. If we believe in the essentials there is no reason why we should not be able to fellowship as brethren from the same family of God in Christ.

I agree with Jimmy that doctrine is important. The NT is filled with admonishions to know correct doctrine. It is good to discuss and let iron sharpen iron. The key is knowing what is essential, and discussing in the right spirit of Christian love.