1) APOSTOLIC FATHERS AND EARLY CONTROVERSY 3) DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY 5) DOCTRINE OF CHRIST 7) DOCTRINE OF MAN 9) DOCTRINE OF SALVATION 11) DOCTRINE OF ANGELS

2) HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF CHRISTIANITY 4) DOCTRINE OF GOD 6) DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 8) DOCTRINE OF SIN 10) DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH 12) DOCTRINE OF LAST THINGS

THE STUDY OF DOCTRINE

Read Galatians 3:1-14.

Satan is ALWAYS trying to bewitch the Church; to move us from faith into the works of the flesh. We are justified by FAITH, then we must live by FAITH! We receive the promise of the Spirit through FAITH!

1. To learn the History of the Church.

2. To enable you to see and discern error.

3. To see what God is doing in the Church TODAY and appreciate the FRESH outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God.

4. Roberts Liardon said, "If you do not learn why men failed, you will repeat their failure."

a. I Timothy 4:1-2. "The Spirit speaks expressly that...some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."

b. Jude 3-5a. "EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH!" "I will therefore PUT YOU IN REMEMBRANCE."

c. II Timothy 3:1-10. Men "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away". These men are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth". "BUT THOU HAST KNOWN FULLY MY DOCTRINE..."

d. II Timothy 4:1-4. WE MUST LEARN TO ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE!

REASONS FOR WRONG DOCTRINE

1. Failure to faithfully interpret the Word of God.

2. Holding personal religious tradition equal to the Word of God.

3. Interpreting the Word of God according to tradition.

4. Defending pet doctrines, ideas, traditions (right or wrong) as opposed to seeking after truth.

5. Listening to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Examples: "But God told me..." (meaning the understanding came through a spiritual experience, exclusive of Biblical truth); believing oneself or someone else to be infallible, incapable of error (such as a Pope, or one's prideful attitude).

DOGMA: A firm public resolution or decree. A religious truth based on authority and officially formulated by an ecclesiastical assembly. They are the fruit of human reflection, the reflection of the Church, often as a result of theological controversies. Tend to be exclusive more than inclusive. Inflexible.

1. ROMAN CATHOLIC DOGMA: They minimize, if they do not exclude, the reflection of the Church as a body of believers, and substitute for it the STUDY OF THE TEACHING CHURCH OR THE HIERARCHY of whom the Pope is the infallible spokesman.

2. REFORMERS: Dogmas are derived from SCRIPTURE ONLY. They did not recognize the unwritten word or tradition as a source of dogma. Dogmas were seen as the FRUIT OF THE REFLECTION OF THE CHURCH, AS A BODY OF BELIEVERS, on the truths of revelation, and as the official formulation of competent representative bodies.

3. MODERN: INTELLECTUAL FORMULATIONS OF its EXPERIENCES, SENTIMENTS, and BELIEFS. Their formulation should not be the work of an individual theologian, but of a community, either the Church, or the State going hand in hand with the Church.

DOCTRINE: A DIRECT, often naive, EXPRESSION OF A RELIGIOUS TRUTH. It is often not a precise formulation. It may be the formulation of a single person. Tends to be flexible. BASED ON RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE and thoughts of this experience being compared with other's thoughts.

THEOLOGY: An EFFORT TO EXPLAIN the EVENTS of religious history.

All dogma is doctrine, but all doctrine is not dogma. All doctrine is theology, but all theology is not doctrine.