Essential Christian Doctrine
Scripture is the inerrant, infallible word of God, both necessary and sufficient for learning everything He wants us to know to love Him and enter His rest.
Before we learn from scripture (The Bible) we need to be able to trust it for what it declares itself to be – the inerrant word of God - All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16
Manuscripts: Some have counted over 24,000 parchment pieces from eyewitness accounts of God working with His people and passing down information about Himself and what He expects. Then the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts tell us that what was written thousands of years before is the same as what we’re reading now. When you want to know the truth about an event, you go to the eyewitness accounts – the original writings about the event – before people have had a chance to put their spin on it, or make changes to support their own purposes. The Bible has faithfully recorded those eyewitness accounts and has been carefully, painstakingly copied,
Archaeology:. People have been digging up the planet at an increasing rate. They’ve been looking for old stuff, stuff that when placed side-by-side with other old stuff, acts like pieces of an ancient puzzle, that when the pieces are joined, creates an accurate picture of what those times in the past were like—what happened where, how, and when, often revealing how whatever it was sprang from the people’s lives and how it affected those lives afterwards. Archaeology, in every detail, supports the accuracy of the Bible, which reinforces its message.
Prophecy: Predictions made hundreds, even over a thousand years before the event are shown to come true, and not just a few times, but in the case of Jesus fulfilling the prophecies made about the coming Messiah (God in the flesh) over 300 are fulfilled, and not one is not. For Example:
Micah 5:2 says: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." 600 years later Jesus is born in Bethlehem.
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.” In John 19:34: "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water."
Isaiah 53: 7: “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,” Which is then fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.” As it turned out, this wasn't the sacrifice Joseph thought it would be. Jesus only needed it for 3 days.
Isaiah 53:12 “and was numbered with the transgressors.” Which was fulfilled at his crucifixion when (Matt 27:38) “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.”
Luke 21:5 (Jesus predicts the total destruction of the Jerusalem temple) 5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was [c]adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, 6 “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” Fulfilled in 70 AD when Rome attacked Jerusalem, killing 1.1 Million, enslaving 97,000. Although the temple was ordered to be spared, fire broke out, the gold inside melted and ran between the cracks in the stones, the Romans literally tore the temple apart to get the gold. Jesus’ prediction was fulfilled. Because the Christians in Jerusalem heeded a prophecy about the destruction coming and fled four years before, not a single Christian was lost.
Statistical Probability: Jesus fulfills 300 prophecies in his birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. The probability that he would fulfill just 8 has been calculated at 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That would be the same as if you’d covered the state of Texas in silver dollars 37 feet deep, one of them being wooden, and on the first try to reached out a gigantic hand and plucked the wooden one from the many, many, many 37 foot stacks covering over 600,000 square miles. God must have made all those prophecies come true.
Conclusion: the Bible in the inerrant word of God and can be comfortably relied upon to present only the truth.
The Deity of Christ
Jesus is God in flesh (John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14). See also John 1:1, 14; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 1:8
1 John 4:2-3, “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
The above verse needs to be cross-referenced with John 1:1, 14 (also written by John) where he states that the Word was God and the Word became flesh.
1 John 4:2-3 is saying that if you deny that Jesus is God in flesh, then you are of the spirit of Antichrist.
John 8:24, “I said, therefore, to you, that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
Jesus said that if you do not believe “that I am,” you will die in your sins. In Greek I am is ‘ego eimi,’ which means ‘I am.’ These are the same words used in John 8:58, where Jesus says “…before Abraham was, I am.” He was claiming the divine title by quoting Exodus 3:14.
The Greek Septuagint is the Hebrew Old Testament translated into Greek and done by Jews around 250 B.C. They translated Exodus 3:14 as ‘ego eimi’ “I AM”).
Jesus is the proper object of faith
It is not simply enough to have faith. Faith is only as valid as the person in whom you put it. You must put your faith in the proper person. Cults have false objects of faith (false gods); therefore, their faith is useless – no matter how sincere they are.
If you put your faith in a guru, a philosopher, or a past teacher (and not Jesus) to save you from your sins on Judgment Day, then you will be in a lot of trouble no matter how sincere or strong your faith is. You might have great faith but so what? Faith in something false has the same effect as no faith at all.
The Doctrine of the deity of Christ includes:
The Trinity – There is one God who exists in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are all coeternal and of the same nature.
Monotheism – There is only one God in all existence (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8; 45:5, 14, 18, 21, 22; 46:9; 47:8).
The Hypostatic Union – That Jesus is both God and man.
The sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ–The sacrifice of Christ is completely sufficient to pay for the sins of the world, and it is only through Jesus’ sacrifice that anyone can be saved.
As God – Only a perfect sacrifice to God is able to cleanse us from our sins. This is why Jesus, who is God in flesh, died for us.
He had to die for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). Only God could do that.
As man – Jesus must be man to be able to be a sacrifice for man.
As a man, He can be the mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5).
Salvation by Grace
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast,” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
“You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace,” (Gal. 5:4).
This verse and its context plainly teach that if you believe that you are saved by faith and works, then you are not saved at all. This is a common error in the cults. Because they have a false Jesus, they have a false doctrine of salvation. (Read Rom. 3-5 and Gal. 3-5).
Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We have been saved by grace for good works prepared in advance for us. Works come after salvation.
You cannot add to the work of God. Gal. 2:21 says, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Rom. 3:20).
“However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness,” (Rom. 4:5).
“Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law,” (Gal. 3:21).
Salvation is not universal resurrection as Mormonism would declare. Rather, it is the saving from God’s righteous judgment. Furthermore, salvation, which is the forgiveness of sins, is accomplished by faith alone (Rom. 4:1-11).
Roman Catholicism denies salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. Therefore, Roman Catholicism is outside of Christianity.
The Resurrection of Christ
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith,” (1 Cor. 15:14). “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins,” (1 Cor. 15:17).
To deny the physical resurrection is to deny that Jesus’ work was a satisfactory offering to God the Father. It would mean that Jesus was corrupt and needed to stay in the grave. But, he did not stay because his sacrifice was perfect.
These verses clearly state that if you say that Jesus did not rise from the dead (in the same body He died in – John 2:19-21), then your faith is useless.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Muslims deny Jesus’ physical resurrection. Therefore, they are outside of Christianity.
The Gospel
“But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8–9).
Verses 8 and 9 in Galatians are a self-declarative statement that you must believe the gospel. The gospel message which in its entirety is that Jesus is God in flesh, who died for sins, rose from the dead, and freely gives the gift of eternal life to those who believe.
Furthermore, it would not be possible to present the gospel properly without declaring that Jesus is God in flesh per John 1:1, 14; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 1:8.
1 Cor. 15:1-4 defines what the gospel is: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).
Within these verses are the essentials: Christ is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col. 2:9); Salvation is received by faith (John 1:12; Rom. 10:9-10); therefore it is by grace; and the resurrection is mentioned in verse 4. Therefore, this gospel message automatically includes the essentials.
Born Again
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” (John 3:3).
Jesus declares an essential doctrine by saying without it, you cannot see the Kingdom of God
Monotheism
There is only one God (Exodus 20:3; Isaiah 43:10; 44:6, 8)
“You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments,” (Exodus 20:3-6).
We can see that God will visit iniquity on the descendants of those who do not follow the true and living God.
Mormonism, for example, is not monotheistic. Mormonism teaches that there are many gods but only one is worshiped. Therefore, Mormonism is outside of Christianity.
Necessary Truths
These are necessary truths, but there is no implied or declared penalty for their denial – yet they are still essential to the Christian faith. i.e. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:6). But nowhere after it is stated does he say there is a punishment, or penalty for not believing it. There certainly are consequences as other cults and religious work to get to the father by other means. But it is presented just as a statement of fact, an absolute truth which you deny at your own risk and can’t be denied.
Jesus’ Virgin Birth
“’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which translated means, ‘God with us.’” (Matt. 1:23).
Without the virgin birth, we cannot substantiate the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus being God in flesh. This would put at risk what Jesus said above in John 8:24 where he declares, “I said, therefore, to you, that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
The doctrine of the Trinity
Gen 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ,,, 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God. In the first book of the Bible, God introduces Himself as a both a plurality (Us, Our) and a single entity (His).
Matt. 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” (see also, Matt. 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6).
The doctrine of the trinity is never stated in a single verse, chapter, or book, and I believe that’s true because the complexity of the trinity goes beyond human ability to understand it. And so it’s eluded to throughout scripture in ways we can understand. It becomes the only possible explanation for the totality of what we read concerning the nature of God.
The Doctrine of Election
Ephesians 1:3-6 - 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved.” After the fall in the garden, all mankind was destined for Hell, and eternity without God, in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. God, in order to save His creation chose to save some and designated who they would be, elected them, and gave them to Christ for Him to redeem and present back to the father.
Romans 9:11ff – “… though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
John 10:3-5 - “To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” He calls His elect and they respond because they know Jesus’ voice.
This doctrine has many variation and in most bible studies its avoided because those not chosen seem to be unfairly left behind and if nothing else, Christians want to be fair. It seems to put God in a bad light to not give the unchosen at least a chance. But just as God is a gracious God, He’s also a just God, and selecting some to be redeemed is an act of mercy that requires grace to activate, since “no one seeks God, no one,” then God is to be applauded for His mercy, not booed for his Justice. All of us deserve hell. Our hearts are granite, our inclinations are depravity, to be snatched from that into the glorious light should cause us to praise His name day and night.
5. Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Since by hearing the word of God, the elect are brought into the fold, and since we don’t know who the elect is until they respond, we should be evangelizing everyone we meet, presenting the word of God so His elect will respond.