But we know that the
law is good
if one uses it
lawfully,
knowing this: that
the law is not made
For a righteous
person, but for the
lawless and
insubordinate, for the
Ungodly and for
sinners, for the unholy
and profane, for
murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
for fornicators, for
sodomites, for kidnappers,
for liars, for
perjurers, and if there is any other
thing that is
contrary to sound doctrines,
according to the
glorious gospel of the
blessed God which was
committed to my trust.
1Timothy 1:8–11
This battle
to maintain sound Scriptural doctrine has been a fight from the founding of the
Christian Church, a war with two fronts. The Christian Church fought to
preserve its existence in the face of Roman opposition, and local officials,
people of pagan faith, or no faith at all who attempted to abolish this “New”
religion. The other fight was to keep the purity of doctrine which the Apostle
wrote in regards to this attempt: “That we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking
the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the
head––Christ….”(Ephesians 4:14). The writer of Hebrews stated it so
succinctly: “Do not be carried about with various and strange
doctrines.”(Hebrews 13:9a). This battle for the preservation of Christian
doctrine has raged all these years and many have fallen prey to doctrines that
sound Scriptural, have a supposed attribute of piety, only to be a strange and
Scriptually unsound doctrine. There are those today who hate to believe that
the Bible is a doctrinal book, but to hate it is only an excuse for not having
to follow Scriptural doctrine, and has paved the way for doctrines built upon a
philosophy, or ideology, developed into a theology, all from their own personal
desire and suppositions. Many of these erroneous doctrines are more than some
false doctrine for they have led many into believing that which is heresy. What
is heresy? It is a religious opinion at variance with the orthodox or accepted
doctrine. The maintaining of such an opinion or doctrine. The willful and
persistent rejection of any article of faith.[1]
This problem presented itself early in the Church due to the influx of converts
to the Christian faith whose background was either Jewish legalism, or Grecian
philosophy. We have this problem today; there are many who are coming into the
Church, some are converted, but this conversion does not mean that they have
the truth. There was then, and now a need to instruct these converts to wash
out those old ideas and refill them with God’s doctrinal truths. There were
those in their attempt to teach these coverts, those who were seeking the
truth, a Christianity that would be intellectually accepted, a form of
respectability. We can find this in the Church today where there is much
teaching and the basis of this teaching is the current psychological formulas
to help people; they sound good, even have some Scriptures used for support,
only it is not true Scriptural doctrine. Many pastors from their pulpit preach
a “New Age” form of truth, and the congregants smile, accept them as truth, as
Scriptural. They don’t want the pure doctrinal truth of the Bible. The threat
of these legalistic and philosophical perversions of Christianity did much harm
to Christians and they do today. We must be on guard against this false and
heretical teachings and not just acquiesce to them, rather to study to ensure
that those teachings are sound and true doctrine of Scripture. There were then,
as now, overzealous leaders who developed a doctrine that was not sound by the
truth of Scripture, those who found within themselves a need to correct real or
some evils in the Church. Many followed them, in their heretical teachings and
caused many schisms and then by these schisms came many new sects.
We must, as
I have been attempting to do, examine such as; legalistic heresies, or
philosophical heresies, theological errors, and finally ecclesiastical schisms.
Doing such an examination may bring some internal perplexities and you may
fight them or cast them aside; to do so will do harm to your faith and the
faith of others. You may find yourself in an emotional dilemma, a fight to do
what is right or to continue in the doctrine you have followed all these years,
those doctrines of your ancestors, and the need to make a change, yet, there is
this inside fight: I have never done this before. It is never to late to make
the change, not to some other doctrine that is not of God, not Scriptural,
rather to make the change no matter the consequences, to be obedient to God. To
do this, there must be a basis for truth, and that basis lies in the Bible, the
whole Bible, not just the New Testament, or to fall back on some form of
Judiaism that is being taught today, or some matters of indifference that has
made cause for a person to major on the minors, rather to see the Bible as
God’s inspired word to not only reveal Him to us, but to Reveal His will to us
so that we can grow in sanctification in this life, and by doing so be the
example of truth for our families, friends, and society as a whole. Will it
cost? Yes! The question is: Who or what is the priority of your life? Are you
living temporally or eternally? Do you trust God?
Therefore, if you died with Christ
From the
basic principles
Of the world, why, as though living
In the
world, do you subject
Yourselves to regulations––“Do no touch,
Do not
taste, do not handle,”
Which all concern things which perish
With the
using––according to
The commandments and doctrines of men?
These things
indeed have an appearance
Of wisdom in self–imposed religion, false humility,
And neglect
of the body, but are of no value
Against the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 2:20–23
Begin Now! Study Now!
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment