Sound Doctrine, not Essential Doctrine

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God^[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.- 2 Timothy 3:16-17

False Doctrine has existed since the Garden of Eden. Here’s what I mean: Genesis 2:16-17 says “ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

When confronted by the serpent, Eve says (Genesis 3:3)“but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 

Do you see the difference here? It might seem subtle to you, you might say “What difference does that make?”, but I would pose to you this issue: God gave a specific command:  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” and Eve added to and took away from it! To not name the tree (calling it the tree in the midst of the garden) REMOVES from the command, and to add “neither shall you touch it” adds TO the command. God is a God of Order. He says things specifically for a reason. Again, you might ask “What’s the big deal? She was trying to protect herself!” To which I would say “but she didn’t follow it even with her so-called protections!”

I say all that to say this: we can’t determine what is and what is not essential doctrine. We must look to the whole of Scripture, not legalistically, not cutting and pasting depending on a position we want to take, not adding to or taking away from it to “protect ourselves” from breaking God’s law, but bearing in mind the verse at the beginning of this entry: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God^[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.- 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Sure, we have died to the flesh in Christ, so we have died to the Law, but ALL Scripture is breathed out by God. There is no essential and non-essential doctrine! To say so nullifies (in our own minds) God’s very word, the same word that Jesus declared when he said in Matthew 4:4-

 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

  The failures of the Old Testament come from God’s warning in Deuteronomy 28:13-14- And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

When we turn from God’s word, to the right or left, we add our own thoughts, Ideas and opinions, and these begin, in our minds, to supersede the commands given us by God. When the Kings and Priests and Nation were in the word of God, they had success. When they bent, swayed, and followed their own desires, they fell. It is the same with us! Sound doctrine, the Doctrine of Christ, is key. God did not ask for our opinion. He asked for our obedience, and all of Scripture points to Christ and Him Crucified. Because of His obedience to God’s word, we are free. Shouldn’t we, then, follow His example, and seek to be obedient to God’s word? Sound doctrine is key!

There is no “essential doctrine” because every word from the Mouth of God is Essential, even if some of it existed, for a time, as a caretaker until the Law and Prophets could be fulfilled! (see Galatians 3:24-6:18, Acts 15:1-21). God is not after our opinion. He is after our obedience, which shows that our hearts lie with Him. And He does not do this so that we may be mindless drones, but He, our Creator and Designer, knows how we best operate, and so He steers us in to His will by His word, that we might glorify Him, and, in turn, share in that Glory through Christ Jesus!

Titus 1:5-16

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.