Doctrine: Strengthening Your Uncertain Beliefs

While we all know some degree of biblical knowledge, we each should probably know a little bit more by now. Committed disciples need to strengthen any uncertain beliefs by targeted study.

• Distinctive Discipleship – Designing Specific Plans for Christian Maturity
• Category #3: Doctrine
• “teaching everyone with all wisdom” (Col. 1:28).

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Evaluate

• How familiar am I with the Word of God?
• If the Church is ignorant with the Scriptures, why are we surprised that our culture is intolerant?
• Each of us will respond to our biblical uncertainty by either ignoring it, justifying it, or addressing it.
• You will never fortify an unstable belief by accident.

Examine

Hebrews 5:11-6:8

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

6 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,² and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.³ And this we will do if God permits.⁴ For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,⁵ and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,⁶ and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.⁷ For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.⁸ But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

• What should I know by now?
• A dull adherence to biblical theology says more about the believer than the content (5:11).
• Being unwilling to mature in doctrine threatens your beliefs and your behaviors (5:12-13).
• You will never graduate from elementary understanding without consistent training (5:14-6:3).
• Those who never advance past basic beliefs are more prone to abandon the Christian faith (6:4-8).

Engage

• What is the uncertain belief that I must address next?
• Every heresy is defended by taking some Scripture out of context.
• Focus on studying a critical doctrine more than a curious topic.
• The goal is to take a vague idea and enforce it as a biblical doctrine.
• The pivotal doctrine for me to study is:
• How?