Why Doctrine? ...

Monday, Nov 25, 2013. I am a scientist, a physicist and mathematician by training, working in the areas medical imaging, data assimilation and inverse problems now for many years - with applications ranging from weather forecasting to cognitive neuroscience and industrial production. When you work with new methods, you get to appreciate doctrine. You want to communicate, what you have found. You need to put together your results in a coherent way.

Need for Doctrine …

Just from a practical view we need sound doctrine. It is a tool to collect and order the knowledge we have about some particular topic. We need to put together WHAT we know, and HOW things can be done. We need to put together WHY we do things the way we do it.

How could you work efficiently, without putting things together in a coherent way? How to work and communitcate with others, without knowing what our language is about, what terms we use in what way. Definitions of words, descriptions, findings, the relationship between different things … all this is needed.

There are some of us, who are gifted in working on doctrine. They are gifted in putting things together. It can be fun, to listen to them when they explain some topic. They have fun in doing it. There are others, who are less gifted, and rather work on managing things, or doing things, not just describing them. We need each other, we need the different gifts - both in our job environment as well as in the church!

Biblical Words about Doctrine …

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, the apostle Paul writes about doctrine as well as about the different gifts and roles in the church: 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds3 and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine**, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4, 11-16)

Paul describes the purpose of biblical doctrine. It is there to guide us all to grow towards Christ Jesus. He is the head and the center of our life. The purpose of doctrine is to prepare and guide our training: to live in faith. Our goal is to live faith, a sound faith, which is well set and close to the reality of the living God. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts