| Christian Doctrine Lesson 1 continued |
| 9. God gives us teachers to teach us the Bible. Jesus himself was a teacher, a rabbi, a theologian. God has given many lesser teachers as gifts to His church, to teach and instruct them (Eph. 4:11). The word for teachers is DIDASKALOS, related to the word for doctrine. A teacher teaches doctrine; he is a doctor of doctrine. We are to learn from those teachers which God has given to us, and ignore "false teachers: who teach contrary to the Bible (2 Pet. 2:1). The teachers are not so important as what they teach. God gave us a Books of words to learn and teach, not a book of pictures to see. Teachers are to teach the Bible, a book of words in the form of propositional truth. 10. Doctrine must precede practice. Both are important, but only in their proper order. They must not be separated. Doctrine without practice is dry, stale and useless, producing only pride. Practice without a sound doctrinal foundation can be legalistic or mystical. The more we know, the better we can live to God. The indicative statements precede the imperative commands. We must be willing to learn and obey (John 7:17). The more good Bible doctrine we know, the more our faith grows and the better we can love and worship our God. |
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