Doctrine

The principles or positions of any sect or master. As the doctrines of the Bible are the first principles and the foundation of religion, they should be carefully examined and well understood. The Scriptures present us with a copious fund of evangelic truth, which, though it has not the form of a regular system, yet its parts are such, that, when united, make the most complete body of doctrine that we can possibly have. Every Christian, but divines especially, should make this their study, because all the various doctrines should be insisted on in public, and explained to the people. It is not, however, as some suppose, to fill up every part of a minister’s sermon, but considered as the basis upon which the practical part is to be built. Some of the divines in the last century overcharged their discourses with doctrine, especially Dr. Owen and Dr. Goodwin. It was common in that day to make thirty or forty remarks before the immediate consideration of the text, each of which was just introduced, and which, if enlarged on, would have afforded matter enough for a whole sermon. A wise preacher will join doctrine and practice together. Doctrines, though, abused by some, yet, properly considered, will influence the heart and life. Thus the idea of God’s sovereignty excites submission; his power and justice promote fear; his holiness, humility and purity; his goodness, a ground of hope; his love excites joy; the obscurity of his providence requires patience; his faithfulness, confidence. &c.

SEE DOGMA.

That which is held to be true by any person, sect, or school; especially, in religion, a tenet, or body of tenets

Not Being Attracted To Strange Doctrines

1Ti_1:3-4; Heb_13:9.

Some Not Enduring Sound Doctrine

2Ti_4:2-4.

The Doctrine Of Jesus Christ

Joh_7:16-18.

Those That Abide In The Doctrine Of Christ

2Jn_1:9.

Those That Do Not Abide In The Doctrine Of Christ

2Jn_1:9.

What Is Profitable For Doctrine

2Ti_3:16-17.

Who Teaches The Doctrine Of Men

Isa_29:13-14; Mar_7:6-13.

DOCTRINE.—The only word in the OT that RV [Note: Revised Version.] as well as AV [Note: Authorized Version.] renders ‘doctrine’ is leqah = ‘instruction,’ lit. ‘what is received’ (Deu 32:2, Job 11:4, Pro 4:2, Isa 29:24). In the NT ‘doctrine’ stands once for logos (Heb 6:1 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ; but cf. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), otherwise for didachç and didaskalia, of which the former denotes esp. the act of teaching, the latter the thing that is taught. For didaskalia RV [Note: Revised Version.] has usually retained ‘doctrine’ of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , but in the case of didachç has almost invariably substituted ‘teaching.’ It is noteworthy that didaskalia is never used of the teaching of Jesus, always didachç; also that didaskalia is found chiefly in the Pastoral Epp., and outside of these, with two exceptions (Rom 12:7; Rom 15:4), is used in a disparaging sense (Mat 15:9, Mar 7:7, Eph 4:14, Col 2:22). This is in keeping with the distinction between didachç as ‘teaching’ and didaskalia as ‘doctrine.’ It reminds us that at first there were no formulations of Christian belief. The immediate disciples of Jesus had the Living Word Himself; the earliest generation of Christians, the inspired utterances of Apostles and other Spirit-filled men.

J. C. Lambert.

dok´trin: Latin doctrina, from doceo, “to teach,” denotes both the act of teaching and that which is taught; now used exclusively in the latter sense.

1. Meaning of Terms

(1) In the Old Testament for (a) leḳaḥ “what is received,” hence, “the matter taught” (Deu 32:2; Job 11:4; Pro 4:2; Isa 29:24, the American Standard Revised Version “instruction”); (b) sh^e-mū‛āh, “what is heard” (Isa 28:9, the Revised Version (British and American) “message,” the Revised Version, margin “report”); (c) mūṣār, “discipline” (Jet Isa 10:8 margin, “The stock is a doctrine (the Revised Version (British and American) “instruction”) of vanities,” i.e. “The discipline of unreal gods is wood (is like themselves, destitute of true moral force)” (BDB).

(2) In the New Testament for (i) didaskalı́a = (a) “the act of teaching” (1Ti 4:13, 1Ti 4:16; 1Ti 5:17; 2Ti 3:10, 2Ti 3:16), all in the Revised Version (British and American) “teaching”; (b) “what is taught” (Mat 15:9; 2Ti 4:3). In some passages the meaning is ambiguous as between (a) and (b). (ii) didachḗ, always translated “teaching” in the Revised Version (British and American), except in Rom 16:17, where “doctrine” is retained in the text and “teaching” inserted in the margin = (a) The act of teaching (Mar 4:2; Act 2:42, the King James Version “doctrine”); (b) what is taught (Joh 7:16, Joh 7:17; Rev 2:14, Rev 2:15, Rev 2:24, the King James Version “doctrine”). In some places the meaning is ambiguous as between (a) and (b) and in Mat 7:28; Mar 1:22; Act 13:12, the manner, rather than the act or matter of teaching is denoted, namely, with authority and power.

2. Christ’s Teaching Informal

The meaning of these words in the New Testament varied as the church developed the content of its experience into a system of thought, and came to regard such a system as an integral part of saving faith (compare the development of the meaning of the term “faith”): (1) The doctrines of the Pharisees were a fairly compact and definite body of teaching, a fixed tradition handed down from one generation of teachers to another (Mat 16:12, the King James Version “doctrine”; compare Mat 15:9; Mar 7:7). (2) In contrast with the Pharisaic system, the teaching of Jesus was unconventional and occasional, discursive and unsystematic; it derived its power from His personality, character and works, more than from His words, so that His contemporaries were astonished at it and recognized it as a new teaching (Mat 7:28; Mat 22:33; Mar 1:22, Mar 1:27; Luk 4:32). So we find it in the Synoptic Gospels, and the more systematic form given to it in the Johannine discourses is undoubtedly the work of the evangelist, who wrote rather to interpret Christ than to record His ipsissima verba (Joh 20:31).

3. Apostolic Doctrines

The earliest teaching of the apostles consisted essentially of three propositions: (a) that Jesus was the Christ (Act 3:18); (b) that He was risen from the dead (Act 1:22; Act 2:24, Act 2:32); and (c) that salvation was by faith in His name (Act 2:38; Act 3:16). While proclaiming these truths, it was necessary to coördinate them with Hebrew faith, as based upon Old Testament revelation. The method of the earliest reconstruction may be gathered from the speeches of Peter and Stephen (Acts 2:14-36; Act 5:29-32; 7:2-53). A more thorough reconstruction of the coördination of the Christian facts, not only with Hebrew history, but with universal history, and with a view of the world as a whole, was undertaken by Paul. Both types of doctrine are found in his speeches in Acts, the former type in that delivered at Antioch (13:16-41), and the latter in the speeches delivered at Lystra (Act 14:15-17) and at Athens (Act 17:22-31). The ideas given in outline in these speeches are more fully developed into a doctrinal system, with its center removed from the resurrection to the death of Christ, in the epistles, especially in Galatians, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. But as yet it is the theological system of one teacher, and there is no sign of any attempt to impose it by authority on the church as a whole. As a matter of fact the Pauline system never was generally accepted by the church. Compare James and the Apostolic Fathers..

4. Beginnings of Dogma

In the Pastoral and General Epistles a new state of things appears. The repeated emphasis on “sound” or “healthy doctrine” (1Ti 1:10; 1Ti 6:3; 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 4:3; Tit 1:9; Tit 2:1), “good doctrine” (1Ti 4:6) implies that a body of teaching had now emerged which was generally accepted, and which should serve as a standard of orthodoxy. The faith has become a body of truth “once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jud 1:3). The content of this “sound doctrine” is nowhere formally given, but it is a probable inference that it corresponded very nearly to the Roman formula that became known as the Apostles’ Creed. See DOGMA.

See Teaching.

The fundamental tenets, or cornerstones, of a belief system (in this case, Christianity).

—New Believer’s Bible Glossary

A set of accepted beliefs held by a group. In religion, it is the set of true beliefs that define the parameters of that belief system. Hence, there is true doctrine and false doctrine relative to each belief set. In Christianity, for example, a true biblical doctrine is that there is only one God in all existence (Isa 43:10; Isa 44:6; Isa 44:8). A false doctrine is that there is more than one God in all existence.