"That I may know him (Christ), and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death" - Philippians 3:10
Many Christians shy away from a systematic study of the doctrines of the Bible. After all, just the mention of words like Theology, Christology, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology and other tongue-twisters is enough to scare anyone away.
Surely a simple "what a Friend we have in Jesus" faith is all that any believer needs. Why get hung up with all that heavy doctrine anyway? For one very good reason! Doctrine, by definition, is what the Bible teaches, and knowing what the Bible teaches is extremely important for the growing Christian.
To know the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Friend is wonderful, but there is much more to learn about our new life in Christ. God wants us to know what He has revealed about such things as the Church, and angels, heaven and hell and future events, marriage and the family and many other things. That's why He gave us a Bible that is a lot bigger than a pamphlet!
Let's not let the big words scare us away! They are only a more formal way of categorizing what the Bible teaches about God (theology), Christ (Christology), the Holy Spirit (pneumatology), man (anthropology), salvation (soteriology), the Church (ecclesiology), the future (eschatology), etc., etc.
Now it is true that the study of doctrine can be a drag at times because it does get pretty heavy in places. But stick with it, because coming to understand more and more of what God has revealed in Holy Scripture means coming to know more of God Himself
No comments:
Post a Comment