Doctrine of Christ

Doctrine of Christ

-Of the confusions that exist in the world in regards to the church, I think the biggest area of confusion lies in

the fact that many people either don’t realize or don’t want to accept the fact that there is a specific set of

binding, authoritative, divine instructions delivered to us pertaining to all aspects of the church.

-Instructions have been revealed to us from God in respect to the origination, organization, and

authority of the church, the worship conducted by the church and our role and service as a part

of the church.

-Col 3:17

-And let’s not kid ourselves. The confusion on this point isn’t only with those outside of the church

but unfortunately is also with some within the church.

-Where did / do these instructions come from?

-They have been revealed to us through the word of God. - II Tim 3:16-17

-That is where the instructions have been recorded for us, but from where did they originate?

-What is the ultimate source of the instructions? - inspiration of God - This is God’s word.

-Jesus then taught the apostles these instructions and gave them the authority and responsibility to

-This was the spoken word - instructions from God. As for the written instructions, we find that this

-However, I have encountered the idea that the words of Jesus do not apply to us today. This approach carries with it

the idea that since Jesus was living under the Law of Moses, his instructions pertained only to the Jews under the Law.

-Those who support this idea say that if Jesus had taught anything outside of the Law then He would

have been forsaking / violating the Law and operating outside of His proper authority.

-They say that Jesus only taught regarding the things of the New Testament to His apostles in private.

-For instructions pertaining to us, they say, we must leave out the accounts of the gospel and look

at the epistles only. They say the gospels serve only as a historical account of the life of Christ.

-Notice what Luke 16:16 tells us. “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of

-With the arrival of the preaching of John, we see the beginning of the transition out of the law and to the

-Luke 3: 3-4 - John came “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” in order to

-When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night in John 3, Jesus told him that he needed to be born again.

-Jesus clearly wasn’t teaching the Law. He was teaching concerning the things to come.

-And notice, this wasn’t a situation involving the apostles in private. It wasn’t involving the

apostles at all. Yet, Jesus taught concerning the kingdom - the New Testament church.

-Yet, it was Jesus who said in Matt 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth...”

-Did Jesus have the right, while living under the Law, to teach concerning things to come?

-Matt 28:20 - “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...”

-Were His apostles not instructed in a public manner along with others as well as being

-Heb 1: 1-2 - (vs 2 - “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His son”)

-II John 9 - We are to abide in the “doctrine of Christ”. The “doctrine of Christ” is the teaching of Christ. We

find His teachings throughout the New Testament as recorded by the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of

Truth. We find accounts of Jesus’ own teaching, the teaching of the apostles and the teaching of

-When it comes to any and all aspects of the church -and any and all aspects of our lives as a part of the

church- , we must have authority for what we do and also for what we don’t do.