Category: Doctrine

February 22, 2012 / Blake Stanley / Doctrine

Upon this Rock

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples after Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is the opinion of this writer, that Jesus was referencing all of the apostles as “this rock” and not just Peter. This opinion is supported by other passages pointing the apostles as the foundation of the church. In Ephesians 2:20 Paul writes the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone.” In addition, when John sees the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 he describes the wall of the city as having, “twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (verse 14).

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February 14, 2012 / Kyle Stephens / Christian Character

Disciples of Christ 2: Called

As mentioned in my previous post, Christ called his disciples to Him. Other rabbis of that era spent years gaining a reputation and the prestige necessary for students to call on them. The Lord’s model is the exact opposite. I think there are some interesting things that might shed some light as to the differences. The teachers of the Law in Christ’s time were backwards in a lot of ways. Traditions that were younger than the Old Testament itself were given equal weight to those scriptures. Many of those traditions weren’t even Jewish in origin, much less scriptural, as some were pinched from Babylon and Persia–especially regarding the more esoteric aspects of understanding the cosmos and such. The Greeks also influenced Jewish thought, like Philp of Alexandria.

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November 29, 2011 / Tad Morris / Church

Christian Liberty

Of all the gifts of God, the Lord’s promise of liberty must be among the greatest. In Christ’s Kingdom there is liberty, a special kind of freedom not enjoyed by those outside of his body. What is this liberty? The Bible explains.

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November 1, 2011 / Louis Garbi / Doctrine

The Lost in Harmony With God

No one can escape the truth. We are, by nature, fashioned to understand and respond to the truth. Whether we want to admit or not, we know this is a good thing. It points to the high order of life which God has given us. “God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.. . . I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.” (Ps.82:1&6) The 82nd Psalm was written as an admonition to the children of Israel. Man has divine origin not only because he is derived from God in creation, but because man shares in divinity. When man was created, he was made like God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Gen.1:27)

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September 26, 2011 / Kyle Stephens / Doctrine

Baptism & ‘The Great Commission’

Mat 28:19-20 “Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.” I have no problem calling these verses by their traditional epithet-The Great Commission. If I venture into any religious institution that lays claim to Christ and ask anyone randomly, “What’s the ‘Great Commission’?”, I am likely to get an accurate response, even if it isn’t quoted verbatim or the exact chapter-verse is unknown. Most can at least say something along the lines of, “That’s where Jesus told his disciples to preach.”

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July 12, 2011 / Kyle Stephens / Doctrine

Baptism and Acts 2:38

I’d like to continue our consideration of baptism which I began in my last article. Four times in the Gospel of John, Jesus promises His disciples a Comforter or Helper. John 14: 16, 26; John 15: 26 and John 16: 7 all promise this Helper. This comforter is none other than God’s Holy Spirit, called the Spirit of truth in Jn. 14. Jesus also says something both interesting and important in Jn. 14:7: “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (emphasis mine).”

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June 23, 2011 / Joshua Riggins / Doctrine

God’s Justification of Man

In court a man might claim he hit another fellow because he was defending himself. The judge or jury would look through his case, and if they felt he was “justified,” they might proclaim him not guilty. We use this word justification frequently in relation to our justice system. A man might commit an act that at any other time would be considered against the law, but if he is justified in doing so, the judgment will prove him free from guilt.

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May 17, 2011 / Zach Crane / Doctrine

Christians Cannot Sin?

In I John 3:9 it says: “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”

When examined in a vacuum, this verse can appear to say that it is impossible for someone who has accepted the gospel to ever sin again – that it simply cannot happen. I must admit that when I first read this verse as a young Christian that is how it sounded to me. This idea terrified me because I knew full well that I had sinned a lot since obeying the gospel and being baptized into Christ. It even caused moments of doubt to creep into my mind as to whether I ever did abide in Christ.

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May 3, 2011 / Kyle Stephens / Doctrine

Baptism and I Peter 3:21

Baptism is always a worthy topic of consideration since its meaning and utility are so diluted today as to render it meaningless in the eyes of many contemporary theologians. As with any doctrine, it must be approached with one achievable goal in mind: to understand what the Will of the Lord is and, with the understanding, to execute it to our utmost. There are few doctrines, with the exception of Hell and Judgment, that are as or more conspicuous in the Bible.

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April 28, 2011 / Tad Morris / Apologetics

Modern Apostles

Luke 6:13 records, “[Jesus] called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles….” Where are these apostles today? Depends on who you ask. These original twelve apostles called by Jesus have been gone for centuries, but the religious world is certainly not without people calling themselves “apostles” today.

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