Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe
DOCTRINE: What Christians Should Believe
by
Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears
…The Trinity is one God who eternally exists as three distinct persons – Father, Son, and Spirit – who are each fully and equally God in eternal relation with each other. (p. 13)
Modalism teaches that God is successively Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; he is not simultaneously Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Modalism is a heresy that does not view the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three particular persons in relation but merely as three modes or manifestations of the one divine person of God. (p. 31)
In 1240 Cardinal Hugo of St. Cher published a Latin Bible with 1,189 chapter divisions that exist today. Robert Stephanus, a Protestant book printer, was condemned as a heretic for printing Bibles. As he fled with his family to Geneva on horseback, he arbitrarily made verse divisions, within Langton’s chapter divisions. His system was used for the first English Bible (The Geneva New Testament of 1557) and became today’s system of 31,173 verses. It is important to realize that the Bible’s chapters and verses were not applied with any logical or consistent method and , while helpful, they are not authoritative. (p. 42, 43)
Moralizing is reading the Bible not to learn about Jesus but only to learn principles for how to live life as a good person by following the good examples of some people and avoiding the bad examples of others. (p. 47)
People who were providentially prepared by God, and motivated and superintended by the Holy Spirit, spoke and wrote according to their own personalities and circumstances in such a way that their words are the very Word of God. God’s supernatural guidance of the writers and their situations enabled them to receive and communicated all God would have us know for his glory and our salvation. …. is called verbal (the very words of the Bible) plenary (every part of the Bible) inspiration (are God-breathed revelation). (p. 48)
The term comes from the Greek word kanon and the Hebrew word qaneh, both of which mena “a rule,” or “measuring rod.” (p. 51)
Jewish people call them the Tanakh, an acronym formed from the first letters of Torah (Law), Naviim (Prophets), and Ketubim (Writings). (p. 52)
Eventually the Roman Catholic Church adopted many of the books of the Septuagint into its Latin version, called the Vulgate. They referred to them as deuterocanonical, meaning they were canonized later. As the Reformers attempted to rid the church of many traditional teachings and get back to the Bible, they also rejected the deuterocanonical books, calling them the Apocrypha. (p. 53)
We do not believe that Christians can only do what the Bible commands. We believe that Christians should do everything the Bible commands, not do anything the Bible forbids, and where the Bible is silent, work from biblical principles, conscience, wisdom, and godly counsel to determine what should and should not be done. (p. 74)
…we come to the Bible for transformation, not just for information. (p. 75)
Baraemphasizes the initiation of an object, whereas asah emphasizes the shaping of an object. (p. 82)
The Bible teaches that God made creation ex nihilo (Latin for “out of nothing”) in Hebrews 11: 3, which says “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” This doctrine is important because it negates the possibility of naturalistic evolution and an eternal universe. (p. 85)
Similarly, when Richard Dawkins was asked if his view of reality made him depressed, he replied, “I don’t feel depressed about it. But if somebody does, that’s their problem. Maybe the logic is deeply pessimistic, the universe is bleak, cold and empty. But so what?” (p. 105)
The influential non-Christian philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau then taught that the essence of what it means to be human is that the autonomous reasoning individual can be improved by self-acceptance and self-love; thus, we are to look in to self and not out of God for our identity and betterment. According to his teaching, we are not sinners who long for God’s acceptance, but rather good people who need to accept ourselves and love ourselves so that we can become better versions of ourselves. (p. 112)
Practically speaking, we were created to live all of life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, by the Word of God, to the glory of God. We were created to live all of life before the face of God, knowing that nothing in our life is secular or separated from the sight of God because all of life is sacred. To live otherwise is sacrilege. (p. 116)
Important to note is that God created the covenant of marriage; thus, he alone defines what it is. His definition of one man and one woman, husband and wife for life, as one flesh, eliminates the alternatives such as bestiality, homosexuality, fornication, polygamy, adultery, and the life. At the first wedding God in his sovereignty brought the woman to the man, gave her away as her Father, and officiated the ceremony as their pastor. Upon seeing his bride for the first time, Adam responded to her beauty by singing her a song. The poetic words Adam sang to his bride on their wedding day are the first recorded words of any human being.
Genesis 2: 24 then explains how a man can overcome his state of being single that is not good. First, a man should leave his parents’ home and be his own man. Second, a man should marry a woman he loves and who loves him and loves the Lord. Third, their marriage should be intimate in every way including sexual consummation, and they should spend the rest of their life becoming “one” as the Trinitarian God is “one.” Both Jesus and Paul repeat this process throughout the New Testament as the pattern God intends for marriage and sexuality. (p. 123)
Indeed, not to extend legal protections to preborn children because of age, size, or phase of development is a grievous discriminations and injustice akin to racism, sexism, and ageism. (p. 137)
In summary, sin includes both omission, where we do not do what we ought, and commission, where we do what we ought not do. (p. 151)
Sin is invariably idolatry, which is the replacing of God as preeminent with something or someone else – most often oneself. (p. 151)
Regarding degrees of sin, on one hand, God sees people in the categories of perfection and imperfection and considers any sin a violation of the entirely of his law. (p. 152)
This is why the Bible speaks of the sin that leads to death, more severe judgment, stricter judgment for teachers, greater punishment, greater consequences for intentional sin than unintentional sin, greater punishment for child abusers, greater punishment for a man who does not feed his family than for an infidel, and twice the judgment for self-righteous religious people than for “sinner.” (p. 152)
Regarding evil and sin, Christian doctrine professes four essential truths. First, God is fully and continually all-powerful. Second, God is altogether good and there is no evil in him whatsoever. Third, evil and sin really do exist. Fourth, sinners are fully responsible for their sin. (p. 153)
In his war against God, the Serpent not only has demons but also has people who are allies in his army either by demonic possession, demonic influence, or simply lving according to their sin nature and flesh. Such people include false prophets who speak for the Serpent, false apostles who lead ministries for the Serpent, false Christians who divide churches, and false teachers who leach heretical doctrine for the Serpent. (p. 158)
Mortification is Holy Spirit-enabled conviction followed by repentance of sin, faith in God, worship of God, and perseverance in holiness so that sin remains dead and joy remains alive. (p. 161)
J.I. Packer describes: …… The safest way in theodicy is to leave God’s permission of sin and moral evil as a mystery, and to reason from the good achieved in redemption. (p. 166)
To assume that God cannot (making him not sovereign and/or not powerful) or will not (making him not good) is to judge God before he judges evil, rendering the verdict prematurely. (p. 167)
The central theological point in these accounts seems to be that while God’s servants are imperfect, it is his sovereign covenant protection that saves them from themselves and makes his covenant promises become reality. (p. 188)
The faithless plot was conceived by Abram’s wife, Sarai, who, like her first mother Eve, failed to trust the simple words of God and feared that God had not kept his promise to her. (p. 189)
Theologically, the term for the union of both natures in Jesus Christ is hypostatic union, which is taken from the Greek word hypostasis for “person.” Summarizing the hypostatic union, three facts are noted: (1) Christ has two distinct natures: humanity and deity; (2) there is no mixture or intermingling of the two natures; (3) although he has two natures, Christ is one person. The Chalcedonian summary of the incarnation is the position held by all of Christendom, including Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians. (p. 230)
Theologians capture this laying aside of the divine equality, the divine lifestyle, with the phrase he laid aside the independent exercise of his divine attributes. (p. 231)
Perhaps the people who most commonly prefer Jesus’ divinity over his humanity in our present age are Protestant Christian fundamentalists. They are so committed to preserving the divinity of Jesus that they tend to portray his humanity as essentially overwhelmed by his divinity so that he was largely not tempted to sin, if indeed tempted at all. (p. 235) [????]
At this moment, the atonement for sin was made and the holiness, righteousness, justice, and wrath of God were satisfied in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. (p. 252)
Furthermore, God feels angry because God hates sin. Sadly, it is commonly said among Christians that “God hats the sin but loves the sinner.” This comes not from divinely inspired Scripture but instead from the Hindu Gandhi who coined the phrase “Love the sinner but hate the sin” in his 1929 autobiography. (p. 258)
The answer is the doctrine of justification: guilty sinners can be declared righteous before God by grace alone through faith alone because of the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. (p. 261)
Religious self-righteousness is the pursuit of personal righteousness through our own attempts to live by God’s laws in addition to our own rules. (p. 262)
The gifted righteousness of Jesus is imparted to us at the time of faith, simultaneous with our justification. Not only does God give us family status, but he also gives us new power and a new heart through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is what theologians call regeneration. Therefore, we not only have a new status by virtue of being justified, but we also have a new heart from which new desires for holiness flow and a new power through God the Holy Spirit to live like, for, and with Jesus. (p. 263)
Simply, by dying for everyone, Jesus purchased everyone as his possession, and he then applies his forgiveness to the elect – those in Christ – by grace, and applies his wrath to the non-elect – those who reject Christ. Objectively, Jesus death was sufficient to save anyone, and subjectively, only efficient to save those who repent of their sin and trust in him. This position is called unlimited limited atonement, or modified Calvinism, and arguably is the position that John Calvin himself held as a very able Bible teacher. (p. 270)
If the five-point Calvinist is right and no payment has been made for the non-elect, then how can God genuinely love the world and desire the salvation of all people? (p. 270)
Instead, we receive suffering when it comes as an opportunity for God to do something good in us and through us. We rejoice not in the pain but rather in what it can accomplish for the gospel so that something as costly as suffering is not wasted by used for God’s glory, our joy, and others’ good. (p. 275)
Revivification occurs when someone who dies comes back to life only to die again; revivification happens throughout Scripture. (p. 280)
David Kinnaman conducted extensive research on how young Americans, people from their late teens to early thirties, believers and unbelievers, perceive the church. The results were quite different form Acts 2. They view the church as anti-homosexual (91%), judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned ( 78%), too involved in politics (75%), out of touch with reality (72%), insensitive to others (70%), and boring (68%). (p. 306)
… a bigger issue is that some churches have become ingrown. (p. 306)
In his magnificent high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed that we would become neither syncretistic liberals who sin by going too far into culture and act worldly nor separatistic fundamentalists who sin by not going far enough into culture and acting pharisaically. (p. 314) [????]
Repentance is the Spirit-empowered acknowledgment of sin that results in a change of mind about who and what is lord in our life, what is important, and what is good and bad. (p. 317)
Faith means taking God at his word and trusting our life and eternity to the truth of his revelation. (p. 317)
The Bible describes the office of elder-pastor or overseer as the highest office in a local church, a position charged with the responsibility of overseeing the doctrinal soundness and spiritual health of the church. (p. 319)
We are arguing for the complementarian view of church leadership, whereby only qualified men can occupy the office of elder-pastor (as compared to the egalitarian view, in which women can also serve in the office of elder-pastor). (p. 320)
The motivation of the deacon is humble obedience to God and loving desire to benefit the ones served. … One significant difference between the two offices is that both I Timothy 3:11 and Romans 16:1 point to men and women alike serving as deacons, as assistant leaders under the elders helping them to lead the church. (p. 321) ??????? [I do not agree to this statement]
Church membership is not for selfish people to use the church for their own agendas and felt needs. (p. 321)
We see giving as a key area of spiritual discipleship and also offer free financial coaching and budgeting help to our members. (p. 322)
Thus, preaching the gospel in its transforming fullness is a priority ministry of the church. God’s mission is accompanied by various other ministries that support, supplement, and sustain the preaching of God’s Word in truth with passion. (p 323)
The name Eucharist (meaning thanksgiving) emphasizes thanksgiving and the joyful celebration of God’s work for us, in us, through us, and in spite of us. (p. 326)
There are two major kinds of biblical discipline: formative and restorative. Formative discipline is primarily positive, instructive, and encouraging. Restorative discipline is primarily corrective.
Every person (except Jesus Christ) is a sinner, both by nature and by choice. Thus, the question is not whether people will sin against one another but rather how they will deal with that sin. Christians who sin should go through the stages of (1) conviction, the work of the Spirit and the church to recognize the sin; (2) confession, telling God and people about and taking responsibility for the sin; (3) repentance, changing one’s mind and values about what is really true with a resulting change of behavior; (4) restitution, restoring things to their original state or making good any loss where possible; and (5) reconciliation, the rebuilding of trust and relationship. (p. 327-8)
Spirit-led Jesus followers recognize that they are imperfect Christians working with other imperfect Christians to serve a perfect Christ. (p. 335)
Best synthesizes his thoughts on worship, saying, “I have worked out a definition for worship that I believe covers every possible human condition. It is this: Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.” (p.340)
This explains why ancient non-Christian spiritual practices are becoming increasingly popular. For example, Wicca and other ancient pagan religious practices, even demonic spirituality, are being promulgated and networked online and are incorporated into the teachings of spiritual gurus such as Deepak Chopra and Oprah and the pagan spiritual leaders she endorses, such as Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle. (p. 342)
There is no distinction between religions. The result is a vague pagan spirituality that believes the answers to all the world’s problems are religious and spiritual in nature and can only be overcome by all religions worshiping together as one. Subsequently, a Christ who makes distinctions (such as between God and man, Jesus and Satan, angels and demons, heaven and hell, man and animals, holiness and sin, the Bible and other texts, male and female, heterosexuality and homosexuality, truth and error, good and evil) is considered a fundamental threat to the utopian world of peace, love and oneness. (p. 345)
So, according to the Bible, the primary way to define sin is not just the doing of bad things, but the making of good things into ultimate things. (p. 347)
This also means that the pastor should not seek to impress the congregation with his vast knowledge of Greek and Hebrew terms but, as John Calvin and other Reformers argued, love his people by speaking to them plainly; the pastor should want the people to be impressed with Jesus Christ rather than with himself. (p. 353)
To be missional, a church meeting has to fit the culture it is in rather than being a subculture imported from another time or place. (p. 354)
Similarly, in our own day religious people continue in various idolatries when they elevate their denomination, church building, liturgical order, Bible translation, worship music style, pastor, theological system, favorite author, or ministry program to where it is a replacement mediator for Jesus, one in which their faith rests to keep them close to God. (p. 357)
Generally speaking, there are two ways to see our life and possessions. One is through the perspective of ownership, whereby I and my life and possessions belong to me alone. The other is through the perspective of stewardship, whereby I and my life and possessions belong to God and are to be invested for his purposes. (p. 372)
A steward manages assets for the owner’s benefit. The steward carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It’s his job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will. (p. 372)
Practically, stewards have a very distinct mentality. Rather than wondering how they should spend their time, talent, and treasure, they ask how they should invest God’s time, talent and treasure. This means, as an example, that rather than asking why they should give their money to God, or wondering how much of their money they should give tot God, they instead prayerfully consider how much of God’s money he wants them to keep as well as what he wants done with that portion not used for bills and such. (p. 374)
Jesus stressed that we either worship our wealth or worship with our wealth. (p. 374)
Every day with every dollar we are committing either worship or idolatry. (p. 376)
Furthermore, our true Sabbath is not found in a day but ultimately in a saving relationship with Jesus, where we can rest from trying to earn our salvation and find rest in his finished work. (p. 382)
Poverty theologyconsiders those who are poor to be more righteous than those who are rich; it honors those who choose to live in poverty as particularly devoted to God. Conversely, prosperity theology considers those who are rich to be more righteous than those who are poor; it honors those who are affluent as being rewarded by God because of their faith. (p. 389)
Righteous rich stewards are those who gain their treasure by righteous means, such as working hard and investing wisely. Righteous rich stewards also manage their treasure righteously by living within a reasonable budget, paying their taxes and bills, and giving generously. Righteous rich stewards take particular delight in giving to the righteous poor so that the single mother can buy groceries, the hardworking, first-generation immigrant father who hurt himself on the job can pay his medical bills, the child from the impoverished family who was gifted by God with a bright mind can afford to attend college, and the church planter can launch a church. (p. 389)
Unrighteous rich stewards gain their treasure through sinful means, such as stealing and dishonest business practices, because their idolatry of money drives them toward greed. Unrighteous rich stewards poorly manage their treasure because they do not budget prudently, spend reasonably, invest cautiously, or give generously. In fact, one thorough study reported, “Earning higher income does not make American Christians more generous with their money. It actually appears to make them more stingy, protective, and distrustful. (p. 389)
Therefore, the total “mandatory” Old Testament tithe resulted in over 25 percent of a family’s gross income going to God and ministry. (p. 393)
- About 5 percent of Christians provide 60 percent of the money to churches and religious groups.
- Among Protestants, 10 percent of evangelicals, 28 percent of mainline folk, 33 percent of fundamentalists, and 40 percent of liberal Protestants give NOTHING. (p. 397)
If the senior leaders in a ministry are not giving significantly more than the average church attendee, then there is likely a serious spiritual problem in the leadership. (p. 400)
There should not be too many people on staff or else the Christians in the church will not be required to serve; there should not be too few people on staff or else they will burn out. (p. 401)
In consumerism you are defined by whose name is on your underwear and what kind of car you own. You are driven to buy stuff you don’t need with money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like. (p. 404)
Jesus formed a new movement, the church, a redeemed people from every nationality and ethnicity, who will come into the unity of the Spirit to participate in God’s rescue mission to the whole world. (p. 415)
Still, as a good Father he also gives chores and responsibilities to each of his children to help them mature and grow so that he can entrust to them increasingly important things; he rewards the children who are faithful in ways that he does not reward the children who are unfaithful. (p. 420)
This erroneous view of Satan ruling in hell comes not from Scripture but from Puritan John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which has the Devil arrogantly declaring, “Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.” (p. 425)
What changes need to happen in your life to enjoy Jesus more thoroughly, worship him more passionately, follow him more closely, serve him more diligently, trust him more fully, and proclaim him more boldly? (p. 436)