Doctrine is ELB’s attempt to answer the question, “what is God?” Many readers reasonably new in their walk with our Abba Father may have never seen church doctrine, but most churchgoers have. I am swimming upstream in this chapter because all the different Christian denominations define themselves with creeds and doctrines that are the uninspired foundations of their faith, human authored in ELB.
Follow this journey through the Scripture; that is always where we find inspiration. Never take any human’s statement about our Abba Father, including mine, without diving into the Scripture to anchor your connection to it and not man’s doctrine. We used a doctrine textbook in seminary, and the first chapter is about why human doctrine is so important. I do not accept that premise because it is man’s words, not our Abba Father’s. Only rely on the Scripture as doctrine.
Let’s look at what the Scripture says about the Scripture as our doctrine. Matthew 4:4, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.“
Deuteronomy 4:2, “For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” I can find any place for man’s doctrines in my faith.
2 Timothy 4:3-5 quotes Proverbs 30:4-6 and explains my point that the Scripture IS our doctrine and man’s rewrites of the Scripture are not actual doctrine, “For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables. But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry.”
I have yet to read a doctrine statement that inspired me. My approach here is not to debate the doctrines but to reveal the ELB in them and start a move toward unity in our pursuit of sanctification and growing our faith through the Scripture. Regardless of our church affiliation, the Scripture is the Scripture. We may like many aspects of our church as a whole, and it serves our Abba Father’s purpose, so do not argue their doctrine; take responsibility for your relationship in the Scripture itself.
No uninspired human writing can be essential to the Christian faith. Even if a writer feels inspired, it does not mean they are right. Please pray on that. There is nothing “wrong” with much of the creeds and doctrines; call it the “good” element of ELB. It just isn’t godly or worthy of him. Doctrine is somewhat analogous to Americans going to a foreign country expecting them to speak English because we did not fully make an effort to experience their world. In other words, we are just there to see it and come back home. Many believers go to church this way and go back home to ELB.
Many denominations served our Abba Father’s purpose for a long time. Still, I see and feel the Holy Spirit moving into a new personal growth season in our relationship with him. It seems very appropriate to replace creeds and doctrines with the Scripture because the doctrine has nothing to do with anything that matters for our redemption or our eternal relationship with our Abba Father. ELB is the motivation for human renditions of the Scripture and is the #1 intermediary creation.
I say this because doctrine attempts to explain the Scripture in human terms when it is the Holy Spirit’s job to reveal to us all godly things, and our job is to learn about our Abba Father as he testifies for himself. We know ELB benefits the enemy with its division and does nothing to glorify our Abba Father.
The Nicene Creed is the foundation for the Trinity-centered Christian denominations. We discuss the Nicene Creed and the Doctrine of the 3-in-1 in their own messages (S2M6-7). My purpose in going through this exercise is to help all believers, regardless of where they worship, to take control of their relationship with our Abba Father independent of human rewrites. The differences dividing the denominations are of little significance in our Abba Father’s plan for redemption.
My purpose is not to be “right” and not to argue. I have zero interest in going downhill on any denomination; all denominations serve our Abba Father. Just take this message in, ask the Holy Spirit, and see what happens. Doctrine results from ELB and is a significant contributor to ELB that weakens faith. Many believers never see actual doctrine unless presented as part of a church membership orientation, but it is often built into Holy Bible study without the doctrine label.
Scholars converting Scripture to human narratives believe they are increasing understanding, but just the opposite happens. Doctrine weakens our relationship with our Abba Father and his family. It draws us away from the majesty of his Word in the Scripture and into ELB. Scripture contradicts some doctrines, which is why so many versions of several doctrines exist.
Doctrine was a significant issue for me in seminary, and I stepped on some toes in assignments. But I do not preach to scholars, I preach to “even these least.” Mathew 25:40, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.” I am led to bring people closer to our Abba Father and Family, not pass an exam. Two of my professors did change their books, and another said he could not defeat my argument but was not changing his book, so I am not entirely crazy. I am not saying I am right; I am just saying what I see, feel, and hear from the Holy Spirit and invite you to try it out for yourself.
My goal is to lift this life up to our Abba Father and out of ELB. The way to do that is better understand what the Scripture teaches us about our relationship with him. I differ from the convention because I cannot find any reason to solve apparent mysteries with ELB scholar pronouncements. Doctrine does not determine our redemption. I will start with a simple example.
God is Omniscient
There is a doctrine that says, “God is Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipotent (all-powerful), and Omnipresent (always present).” I will discuss Omniscient here for brevity to make my point that to overcome ELB; we need to stop using ELB.
Let’s look at a couple of verses that support the doctrine. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (God is speaking), “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.” 1 John 3:20, “because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”
These two powerful passages help describe our relationship with our Abba Father and grow our faith. The verses make far more sense than human doctrine and are rich in content. Reading these verses lights up the Holy Spirit to teach and burn them into our hearts.
I reference the spirit/soul/heart/mind control system in message S1M3, and it is easy to see how the Scripture feeds into that system. But the Holy Spirit ignores lessons humans invent that take us away from the Scripture into human writings. I cannot imagine why a serious teacher would do that except in ELB.
Scholars create the doctrine “God is Omniscient” and then present the definition of the ELB doctrine words. Omniscient means “the state of having total knowledge, the quality of knowing everything.” The beautiful Scripture referenced is replaced with “God is Omniscient.” The doctrine loses our heart connection with our Abba Father. This doctrine adds zero to our relationship with our Abba Father and takes us out of the Scripture at worst.
And, as is often the case, there is a buzz kill verse somewhere in the Scripture that creates doubt in a doctrine and weakens our faith. In this case, Mark 13:32, “But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” With Mark 13:32, if Jesus is God, he is clearly not omniscient, or, Jesus is not God, and theologians (intermediaries) do come down on both sides. If we forget about the doctrine and stay with the Scripture and the Holy Spirit, which says Jesus is God but he is not the Father and the verses will all build our relationship with our Abba Father and our Family (Ephesians 4:1-6 again)
Doctrine of Sola Scriptura
“Sola Scriptura,” Scripture Only, is another ELB-driven doctrine. A large group of believers take it to the extreme and teach that our Abba Father and Holy Spirit do not talk to us today personally; they stranded us on the earth with a Holy Bible and a one-way communication system.
There was a significant change in the work of the Holy Spirit related to miracles after the Apostles died. The Apostles had miraculous power with the Holy Spirit that ended with the development of the New Testament and their deaths. But there is still this promise, John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever.”
For Sola Scriptura to be valid, as stated, Jesus’s message would have to be meant only for those around him as a stand-alone verse. That is a possible interpretation, but it is contradicted by Acts 2:38-39, “And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.”
1 Thessalonians 1:5-6, “how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. And ye became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.“
But most importantly, I have, along with millions of others, a relationship with our Abba Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that is very much alive, so I am not a fan of Sola Scriptura. But I can understand a scholar not being connected to the Holy Spirit in ELB.
The Great Commission
The Great Commission is a real pet peeve that I call the Great Commission Bludgeon. Our starting point to find our role in our Abba Father’s plan is Ephesians 4:11-12, “And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.” I pray that preachers will stop saying “the Great Commission” words.
The Apostles and prophets have come and gone. Our mission is to be or support evangelizing, preaching, and teaching, three different jobs in building the church, the body of Christ. The Scripture provides a much better plan than man’s rewrite of the Scripture.
Christianity made it to the 1800s without the ELB moniker “Great Commission” becoming dominant, and we should go back to using the Scripture as written. Conventional teaching is that this doctrine tells us that we must all go terrorize our neighbors in the name of Jesus because of the Great Commission, “go and make disciples!” In seminary, that was the foundation of the evangelism classes with zero wiggle room.
The actual Scripture is Mathew 28:16-20, “But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.“
I have four ELB issues with The Great Commission, and the first is to who Jesus is speaking. I find the difference profound. Jesus did not say it to all the disciples and, therefore, certainly not directly to us. Jesus had forty days to tell all the 120 remaining disciples (Acts 1), and he did not. Not only that, they climbed a mountain first, away from everyone else. Jesus was giving a specific assignment to the eleven, which gets lost in the doctrine and weakens our faith. And in ten days, they received miracle power from the Holy Spirit, which we do not receive in the way they did.
My second issue is what Jesus said to the eleven. Jesus said, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Mathew 28:16-20 describes Jesus’ entire ministry. This message is about building the church, not one-on-one evangelism; the eleven all went and developed churches. (Peter’s church in Rome has grown quite large.)
My third reason the Great Commission soundbite bothers me dramatically is taking the name of Jesus out of the title and using an artificial phrase to pontificate to people instead of leading them through the lessons in Scripture of how Jesus and Paul taught. “Jesus’ last words to the eleven” is a far more powerful title about the Scripture, not ELB.
The Scripture does not support the ELB goal of pushing people into action, similar to how the priests delivered the Old Testament law. The leap out of Scripture into the Great Commission does not make sense, and it is unnecessary because there is a much better way to inspire people to share their testimony with others.
My fourth issue is both a doctrine and a translation issue. Are we making disciples or reaching out to people? I do not believe I can even make a disciple, which is why so many people cringe at the face of this doctrine. A disciple is not just a student but an emulator of a teacher’s life. The disciples in Scripture were carefully selected and told to give up their existing life.
A disciple of Jesus is exceptional, not just a student, and telling all believers we all have to make them when we rarely become a good one ourselves does not glorify our Abba Father. He calls us by name (Isaiah 43:7), Jesus knocks on the door of our hearts, and the Holy Spirit connects and teaches us. We do not make anything; we are in partnership with our Abba Father.
When the Great Commission is used to push us into action, it does so with us working alone, untethered from our Abba Father in ELB. There is so much more to help bring people to Christ. And we can truly glorify our Abba Father in the process.
The Doctrine of the Holy Bible’s Inerrancy
I have heard many believers offer this doctrine in defense of the Scripture itself, which makes sense because that is why scholars wrote the doctrine. And in every instance, it does not move a discussion at all because it is man’s words that are neither convincing nor difficult to parry in response.
This doctrine is fairly new, but it is a significant part of today’s conservative church. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy was published in 1978 when America became significantly more liberal. It was the typical seminary reaction to attacks on the church; let’s fight them in ELB instead of the Holy Spirit and Scripture.
This is the summary of the doctrine: “God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God’s witness to Himself.
Holy Scripture, being God’s own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises.
The Holy Spirit, Scripture’s divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.
Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God’s acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God’s saving grace in individual lives.”
The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the church.”
Does that sound like the law? It does to me. Whose law? Three hundred pastors in a meeting hall. What is so strange is that the doctrine is circular logic to a non-believer and of zero value outside the church. But what value does it really have inside the church? Very little is added by the doctrine to Romans 10:9, “because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” No human doctrine adds a scintilla of faith in our heart. We simply do not need all the added baggage of man’s doctrine. The time is much better spent building our relationship and faith inside the Scripture.
Let’s look at the power of the Scripture that the doctrine replaces. 2 Timothy 3:16, “because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I can feel the Holy Spirit come to life with that verse. Note the Scripture is proper for doctrine as written. It does not need rewritten.
The Bosom of the Father
John 1:18 is amazing and ELB doctrine misses it. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” This verse is our Abba Father affirming the reality of his Son. That is the surface level meaning. But it leads us to what is “the bosom of the Father” (kolpon). Funny you should ask because there is no proper English equivalent for “kolpon.” It is an incredible description of the relationship between Jesus and the Father, nowhere to be found in doctrine. Its meaning includes great intimacy, love, kindness, and protection.
Twenty translations, including NKJV, use “bosom. Others say Amp: “who is in the intimate presence of the Father.” CW: “closest to the Father’s heart.” MSG: “who exists at the very heart of the Father.” NIV: “is in closest relationship.” This passage illustrates the power of the multiple translations, and brings tears to my eyes every time.
There is also a side trip to take in John 13:23, “There was at the table reclining in Jesus’ bosom (Kolpon) one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.” The Apostle John is in the “kolpon” of Jesus. John’s relationship with Jesus is extraordinary. We can now understand why John refers to himself as the one Jesus loved. John 13:23 is a description of our desired relationship with our Abba Father and Family. We want to be in the kolpon!
Real Doctrine
John continues with Holy Spirit triggering words that make a point of inerrancy as created; John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 17:3,”And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.” John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.” John 18:37, “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.“
There are also three verses that integrate our Abba Father with us in consuming the Scripture. 1 John 4:6, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” That verse tells us the Holy Spirit brings the truth to those for whom it matters. John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.” 2 Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” Just compare man’s doctrine with the Scripture and ask yourself which one is Holy Spirit inspired and, therefore, the one that will inspire you.
