Doctrine in Christian preaching refers to the essential truths and teachings of the faith that sustain and guide believers. Illustrations often use images of solid foundations, precious pearls, and poison to contrast sound theology with false teaching, emphasizing the importance of guarding and revering biblical truth for spiritual stability and growth (2 Timothy 3:16, Jude 1:20-21).
Sound theology brings peace by trusting God's promises, like His covenant after the flood.
There is a great line in one of Charles Schulz's Peanuts cartoons. It is raining "cats and dogs" outside the window when Lucy asks the most profound question of the day. "Boy, look at it rain. What if it floods the whole world?" Fully up to the occasion as usual, Linus, the resident theologian, answers that a worldwide flood is impossible since Genesis 9 promises that God will never again flood the earth. Obviously relieved, Lucy sighs, "You've taken a great load off my mind...." Linus's final summation: "sound theology has a way of doing that!"
Spiritual laws have unseen consequences unlike natural laws with immediate effects.
The farmer who turns up the ground and sows the seed seldom pauses to reflect on the mystery of its growth. Even the philosopher who understands the wonderful process of vegetation is conscious of difficulties he cannot solve in its several stages toward maturity. The farmer doesn't refuse to sow the seed because he can't see the actual plant in it. A sperm cell is almost invisible, yet it contains the full potential for a perfect human organism. Think of the mystery in such natural phenomena. We accept them because we can't live without them. God hasn't given us the freedom to reject natural laws and mysterious phenomena in connection with our physical lives. But He has chosen to give us the ability to reject His spiritual laws and not immediately feel the consequences. If we refuse to eat we'll die. There are no two ways about it. But in the spiritual realm we feel no immediate physical impact of disobedience to God's laws. There is a spiritual consequence, but those who have no spiritual sensibility or life don't feel it. It would be just like inflicting punishment on a corpse; it couldn't feel it. Just so the spiritually dead can't feel the spiritual consequences of their disobedience. The Great Touches the Mysterious
Parker says: "There is a mystery about religion, but there is ten thousand times more mystery without it. There is mystery with the Bible, but there is nothing but mystery without it. There is a mystery of grace; yes, and there is the mystery of sin. Life is a mystery. All that is great touches the mysterious. In proportion as a thing rises from vulgarity and the commonplace, it rises into wondrousness-and the wondrousness is but the first round in the ladder whose head rests upon the infinite mysteries." No Explanation
Take a hyacinth bulb, for instance. Put it in a glass jar of water and watch it day by day. The leaves and the buds unfold above. The roots develop below. Then as the days get warmer it bursts into full and beautiful bloom. Why should the bulb break out this way into flower, leaf, and root before your eyes? "Why," you might say, "they always do." Yes, but why? You say it is the law of growth; but what do you mean by that? You don't explain anything by merely labeling it. You fail to explain either what it is in itself, or why it should be at work here under these conditions. You can't deny its existence, yet the moment you try to penetrate below the surface it eludes you altogether.
Grave doctrinal error endangers the soul like poison mixed with food endangers the body.
"If a man had poison mixed with his meat, although the excellence of his digestion or the strength of his constitution might bear him through, yet he would run great hazard." Thus a soul may survive grave doctrinal error; it is possible for it to struggle out of the power of a strong dose of Popery, or Socinianism, or "Modern Thought"; but it runs great risks, of a character so violent that no one should lightly venture upon them. Our safest course is to take heed what we hear, and partake of nothing which comes from doubtful quarters. O, my Lord, do thou feed me with the bread of life. Suffer me not to taste of Satan's dainties. I have no strength to spare. Forbid that I should test it by imbibing the deadly teachings of those who err from thy truth.
Scriptural truths remain precious despite being trampled or misused by unworthy people.
"Pearls do not lose their worth though swine trample upon them." Scriptural truth is none the less worthy to be held and proclaimed because foolish and depraved men pervert it to their own destruction. A knife is a very useful article; and, though some have committed suicide by its means, it is no reason why knives should be discarded. The doctrines of grace are pearls even after Antinomians have turned them over. Justification by faith is the crown-jewel of the gospel, though hypocrites abuse it. Every truth is perverted by polluted minds, but this is no reason for our renouncing what God has revealed; rather is it a strong argument for adorning the doctrine of our Saviour in all things. My heart, see thou to it that the doctrines of grace are honoured at thy hands. Since so many pour contempt upon them, do thou hold them in high esteem, and by thy life make them to be esteemed by others. -
True faith is proven by endurance, not by outward appearance or eloquence.
"We do not judge a sword to be good merely because it hangs by a golden belt, or because it is set in a jewelled hilt." Neither is a doctrine to be valued because a fine orator delivers it in gorgeous speech with glittering words. A lie is none the better for being bespangled with poetic phrases and high-sounding periods. Yet half our people forget this, and glittering oratory fascinates them. Alas, poor simpletons! The same blunders are made about men, who should ever be esteemed according to their native worth, and not according to their position and office. What mistakes we should make if we considered all the hangers-on of great men to be themselves great, or all the followers of good men to be themselves necessarily good. Alas! the Lord himself had his Judas, and to this day swords of brittle metal hang at the golden girdle of his Church. A man is not a saint because he occupies a saintly office, or repeats saintly words. No; the test of a sword's goodness is to be found in battle. Will its edge turn in the fray, or will it cut through a coat of mail? Will our faith bear affliction? Will it stand us in good stead when we are hand to hand with the enemy? Will it avail us in the dying hour? If not, we may suspend it on the glittering belt of great knowledge, and hold it by the jewelled hilt of a high profession; but woe unto us! Lord, give me the true Jerusalem blade of child-like faith in thee, and may I never rest content with a mere imitation thereof.
Removing small doctrinal truths breaks the whole gospel chain and endangers faith.
"The first appearances of error are many times modest. There is a chain of truths; the devil taketh out a link here and a link there, that all may fall to pieces." The argument of "charity" is used to screen those who are robbing us of the gospel. We are bidden to be cautious how we condemn those who only differ on small points; whereas the truths which they would take away from us have important bearings upon other truths, and cannot be denied without a serious break-up of the whole doctrinal chain. Let us not give up a single link of the divine system, for if we did so, we should prove traitors to the whole plan of revealed truth. In these times the illustration given above is exceedingly instructive. Satan knows that we would never consent to give up a wheel of the gospel chariot, and therefore in his craftiness he only asks for the linch-pins to be handed over to him. May God grant wisdom to his servants that none of them may be beguiled by the cunning of the adversary. Long ages may have to rue the defalcations of this day, if we sell the precious gospel to its foes. Until the Lord shall come we are put in trust with the gospel: will we be fraudulent trustees? Can we dare to play fast and loose with that which concerns God's glory, and the destiny of immortal souls?
Diluted gospel preaching weakens souls; full, rich gospel is urgently needed.
"When the thread of the gospel is too fine spun, it will not clothe a naked soul." Nice distinctions and technical phrases may hide the fulness of the word of God, and the simple truth may be treated in such a philosophical manner that its strength and substance may be taken away. Some men preach the gospel, but there is very little of it. It is the night wool, but it is spun too fine. They give milk, it is true, but the water of their own notions so dilutes it that a man might sooner be drowned in it than nourished by it. O to preach a full gospel fully— to give it out with the richness and freeness which poor sinners need. This is one of the great demands of the day. Men are very liberal in their views, but they are not liberal in dealing out the precious things of the gospel of Christ. Cold is this world and bitter are the blasts of conscience, and while they are shivering in their sins, poor awakened souls need all the gospel of grace, and all the grace of the gospel. O that our brethren would give up their fine spinning and wire-drawing of the doctrines of grace, and give us something substantial from the storehouse of the everlasting covenant, and plenty of it. Alas, too many despise the old-fashioned word, and in their heart of hearts hate the very doctrine which they pretend to uphold. We know some who have no more right in the Christian ministry than Mahometans, and yet they say they are followers of Jesus. We have not so learned Christ.
Scripture unites Calvinism and Arminianism into one illuminating truth beyond their conflict.
Calvinism and Arminianism, regarded as theological systems, may be compared to the thin, empty, crescented forms of the old and new moon, butting at each other with their sharp-pointed horns from the opposite sides of a darkened disc. Scripture does not alter the position of these two belligerents; but, by illuminating the whole intervening space, it fuses both into one glorious orb of holy light. J. E. Gordon.
John Newton used Calvinism thoughtfully, mixing it with other truths in preaching.
John Newton, when asked, "Are you a Calvinist?" replied, "Why, sir, I am more of a Calvinist than any thing else; but I use my Calvinism in my writings and my preaching as I do this piece of sugar (taking a lump, and putting it into his teacup and stirring it). I do not give it alone and whole, but mixed and diluted." And at another time, "I hope that I am, upon the whole, a scriptural preacher; for I find I am considered as an Arminian among the Calvinists, and as a Calvinist among the strenuous Arminians."
Total depravity is a true doctrine, but people must live according to it to see its reality.
A minister travelling through the West, some time ago, asked an old lady on whom he called, what she thought of the doctrine of total depravity. "Oh, sir!" she replied, "I think it is a good doctrine if people would only live up to it."
Biblical doctrine is practical teaching, unlike abstract theological philosophies.
In the Bible, the word "doctrine" means simply teaching, instruction. It was a moral direction, a simple maxim, or a familiar practical truth. It certainly was not that thing which theologians have made doctrine to be,—a mere philosophical abstraction. The doctrines which the schools teach are no more like those of the Bible than the carved beams of Solomon's temple were like God's collar-trees on Mount Lebanon. But men cut and hew till they have shaped their own fancies out of God's timber, and then they get upon them like judgment-day thrones, and call all the world to answer at their feet for beresies against their idols. Beecher.
False doctrine is a betrayal of God, even if presented with angelic authority.
As he is a traitor to his prince who taketh upon him to coin money out of a base metal, yea, although in the stamp he putteth for a show the image of the prince; so he that shall teach any doctrine that cometh not from God, whatsoever he say for it, or what gloss soever he set on it, is a traitor unto God, yea, a surred traitor, though he were an angel from heaven. Spencer.
Different minds perceive the same doctrine differently, like light refracted through colors.
The same doctrine represented to two different minds will appear different to those two minds, and must appear different, because the minds are different. Let me give you an illustration of this. Originally, the beautiful, white, transparent light, coming down from its world above, was transparent like the sun; but, down here in the neighborhood of the earth, it enters the medium of a flower; and, as soon as that is done, it is immediately decomposed into a great variety of tints and forms of life. Originally white, it now becomes green or blue or red or yellow or violet. But mark, it is light under every one of those forms; and the same light that came from the sun. In the one case, it is violet light; in the other, yellow light; in the other, red light; in the other, blue light; and, in the other, green light; but it is all the same light modified that is all. So truth in the mind of God is transparent and clear, as it is in its essence; but, when it comes down to us in revelation, it becomes decomposed and refracted. It becomes blue or yellow or red or green or violet, according to education or prejudice, or the strength or weakness of the mind; and thus it is transformed into many shapes: but it is the truth still; only it is colored a little, according to the constitution of the mind to which it comes. T. Jones.
God first convicts of sin then comforts and heals the repentant soul.
After a storm comes fair weather, after winter comes summer: so in the doctrine of our souls, first God teacheth the law, preacheth repentance, threateneth vengeance for sin, casts down man in his own sight, and lets him look even into hell, with fear of conscience for his disobedience; but afterwards he comforts him, raises him up, and heals him. Cawdray.
The truth of doctrine matters more than its beauty or appeal.
The question is not, whether a doctrine is beautiful, but whether it is true. When we want to go to a place, we don't ask whether the road leads through a pretty country, but whether it is the right road, the road pointed out by authority, the turnpike-road. Hare.
Old and New Testaments together provide consistent spiritual nourishment.
The two Testaments, Old and New, like the two breasts of the same person, give the same milk. As if one draw water out of a deep well with vessels of different metal, — one of brass, another of tin, a third of earth, — the water may seem at first to be of a different color; but, when the vessels are brought near the eye, the diversity of colors vanisheth, and the waters tasted have the same relish: so here the different style of the historiographers from prophets, of the prophets from evangelists, of the evangelists from apostles, may make the truths of Scripture seem of different complexions, till one look narrowly into them, and taste them advisedly; then will the identity both of color and relish manifest itself.
— Arrowsmith
The universal ancient belief in a divine trinity supports its divine revelation.
That nearly all the pagan nations of antiquity, in their various theological systems, acknowledged a kind of trinity in the divine nature, has been fully evinced by those learned men who have made the heathen mythology the subject of their elaborate inquiries. The almost universal prevalence of this doctrine in the Gentile kingdoms must be considered as a strong argument in favor of its truth. The doctrine itself bears such striking internal marks of a divine original, and is so very unlikely to have been the invention of mere human reason, that there is no way of accounting for the general adoption of so singular a belief, but by supposing that it was revealed by God to the early patriarchs, and that it was transmitted by them to their posterity.
— Bp. Tomline
Rejecting Christ's divinity separates true Christians from Unitarians and idolaters.
The Rev. Dr. Miller, of Princeton, N. J., in a note to his sermon preached at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Nevins, in Baltimore, speaking of the dreadful and soul-destroying errors of Arius and Socius, remarks, that in conformity with this view of the subject, the author cannot forbear to notice and record a declaration made to himself by the late *Dr. Priestley*, two or three years before the decease of that distinguished Unitarian. The conversation was a free and amicable one, on some of the fundamental doctrines of religion. In reply to a direct avowal on the part of the author that he was a *Trinitarian* and a *Calvinist*, *Dr. Priestley* said, "I do not wonder that you Calvinists entertain and express a strongly unfavorable opinion of us Unitarians. The truth is, there neither can, nor ought to be, any compromise between us. If you are right, WE ARE NOT CHRISTIANS AT ALL; and if we are right, YOU ARE GROSS IDOLATERS." These were, as nearly as can be recollected, the words, and, most accurately, the substance of his remark. And nothing certainly can be more just. Between those who believe in the Divinity and Atonement of the Son of God, and those who entirely reject both, "there is a great gulf fixed," which precludes all ecclesiastical intercourse.
