Biblical Studies: Doctrine of the Christian Church

Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.

The Christian religion finds its foundation on the Word of God and the work of Jesus Christ. Christianity finds its beginnings with Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came down to earth to teach, heal, and die for the sins of humanity. When God created man, he openly rebelled against God, causing a rift in their relationship. Since humans cannot save themselves, a perfect and completely innocent sacrifice was necessary in order to purify and restore mankind. Christianity is all about Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as denying oneself and following Christ.

In Romans 1-8 Paul is writing to teach the doctrine of Christ. Although Paul goes into much more depth in these eight chapters, his message ultimately boils down to the following sentence. We have all sinned and deserve death, however, through the redemption and sanctification of Christ we have been saved and should now lead, Christ centered lives of faith.

In His faithfulness, the Lord as Divine Judge will judge His covenant people Israel after they disregard their covenant obligations and then offer them deliverance once they demonstrate repentance.

Liberal is a word whose meaning has multiple connotations. For many the word is synonymous with freedom and open-mindedness. For others, it refers to people and ideas that lack practicality and discipline. When the Puritans came to America in 1630, their leader John Winthrop told them to be liberal in spirit in a way that was like the prophet Nehemiah’s urgings and Matthew’s teachings of kindness. However, he also reminded his followers to balance benevolent generosity for strangers with prudent care for their families. He felt that kindness and liberality to the poor was the best way to show God’s love and grace. Winthrop felt that the Puritans should be willing to give up their desires to help provide the poor with the things that they needed. This is because materialism was thought to be counterproductive to the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches that one should have no god but God and that if a person focused too much on obtaining profit and materialistic pleasures they would perish. Since this period there has been a struggle in America to balance concern for oneself and one’s family with that of the community.

The lecture given by Thielicke is for the purpose and intention to speak clearly and forcefully concerning the matter of theology (vii). The discourse is given for beginning seminary students with the hope that it will be read over and over again. It is a lesson to teach students theological self-discipline (xi). Thielicke argues that each minister must be disciplined when proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ (xii).

The term “worldview” refers to an accumulation of core beliefs, which influence the understanding man has of the world. Because a worldview refers to individual beliefs, everyone’s worldview is different. The Christian worldview is based off of the Holy Bible, and because of that, God shapes the way Christians understand the world around them. However, the Bible is not the only influence that Christians are exposed to, and they must constantly monitor their worldview to be certain that it does not stray from the truth in God’s Word. If Christians are able to identify some key beliefs that are in the Bible, it can make the task of monitoring their worldview easier. The beginning of the Bible, the Creation, is one of these foundational beliefs

The Christian religion finds its foundation on the Word of God and the work of Jesus Christ. Christianity finds its beginnings with Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago, when he, the Son of God, came down to earth to teach, heal, and die for the sins of humanity. After God created man, man openly rebelled against Him, causing a rift in their relationship. Since humans cannot save themselves, a perfect and completely innocent sacrifice was necessary in order to purify and restore mankind. Christianity comprises and emphasizes Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as denying oneself and following Christ.

When most people hear the word science they may recall images their high school biology or chemistry class such beakers, test tubes, and strange looking liquids. However, science is much more than something learned in a text book or random experiments done in a lab. According to the United Kingdom Science Counsel, “Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence” (sciencecouncil.org). For Christians, science should be important not only as a means of developing creation but as tool for rightly ruling creation (Genesis1:26). Science is a process by which humans use to manipulate creation for the purpose of attaining factual knowledge. Christians should understand that God will hold his servants accountable for how they use science and that he alone can eliminate the effects of sin on creation. Science is more than an academic subject and for those

Christianity begins during the New Testament Gospels. God shows the love for mankind with Jesus’ unjustified crucifixion. A disagreement between Peter and Paul about the future to who should they preach the gospel, Peter’s commitment to preach only to Jews. Paul’s mission was to convert the Gentiles to the new Jewish religion which through consequences becomes Christianity. The Christian view of history centers in the reliability of the Bible (Noebel).

While reading the text and the scripture this week I was enlightened as to how much Christianity and the church has changed from the it’s beginning. “At best all our versions of Christianity are inadequate; but we would be saved much inadequacy if we did not test them by our own prejudice and presuppositions or by agreement with this or that theologian but set them in light of the New Testament and above all the light of the cross.” What a thought provoking statement! Digging into the text and the scripture this week many things have been brought to my attention; the first and foremost is that Christianity has become a watered down version of what it was meant to be. The church has allowed the world to take the scripture out of context and twist it into something that conforms to the way of the world.

St. Augustine of Hippo wrote On Christian Doctrine to teach how a person would interoperate and teach the Holy Scriptures. Augustine explains components of Scripture, talking about signs, interpretation, figurative and literal language of the Bible. Augustine claims that the people who will deny what he has to say either do not understand or they do and just do not want to adhere to it. The first three books of On Christian Doctrine are meant to give guidance to a person on how they are to accurately seek out the truth from the Scriptures. The fourth book teaches a Christian how to take what he has learned and effectively teach it to others.

Relational associations are typically pointed out between Jesus and God the Father, but often overlooked is the fact that Jesus had brothers. The brothers of Christ, or half-brothers, were used greatly by God and went on to do many great things in His name. One such brother of Jesus was named James, and he became a great leader in the name of Christ.

In his hardback titled The Church: Contours of Christian Theology, Edmund P. Clowney writes a systematic presentation about concerning the doctrine of the church. In chapter eight of his book, he describes the Marks of the Church. Clowney writes about the marks of a true church of Christ, which include the true preaching of the Word of God; the proper observation of the sacraments; and the faithful exercise of church discipline.

There are going to be times in our lives when we disagree with what someone says or another person’s opinions on a particular matter. It’s unlikely that we will agree and be content with everything that happens in our lives as we do not live in a utopian world. It is also inevitable at one time or another that we will disagree with what the Church is teaching us especially when it comes to moral issues such as divorce, birth control, and abortion. This is called non-reception. When non-reception ensues in the Church, the teaching in question is ineffectively expressed or judged to be unbelievable by a large population of good, faithful Catholics (Kennedy).