The Christian Life – Class 3A & 3B

Class 3A – The Christian Life 1- Doctrines

Luke 1:1-4.
A doctrine is a recognizable principle of beliefs, teachings, values or instruction that is adhered to, accepted, believed, taught and practiced by a given sect of people.
Most doctrines are transferable concept which have been handed down to us;

Examples in the new testament are,
Righteousness, Baptism, Sanctification, Prosperity etc.

Each of them are important in ensuring that we live a sound Christian life.
Doctrines can be basically classified into three groups:
Scriptural doctrines (founded on the word Acts: 1)
Man made doctrine (Patterned after the human mind Acts 15:1, Gal 1:6-12
False doctrines I Timothy 4:1-3.
Most false doctrines are based on the perversion of the truths of God’s word.
I John 4:1-3. Acts 2:42, Gal1:6-12, Col 2:18-23, Eph 4:14, I Timothy 1:3

The Foundational Doctrines Of Christ

Hebrews 6:1-2,
The foundational principles of the doctrines of Christ are fundamental to faith and form the foundation of a sound Christian experience.
Any doctrine that in any way disagrees with these fundamental doctrines is according to the standard of God’s Word a false doctrine;
They therefore form a good reference point for judging any doctrine.
All of the major cults and religions of the world deny and reject one or more of these fundamental doctrines but these doctrines form the bedrock of the gospel of Christ.

The Foundational Doctrines Of Christ Are:

Repentance from dead works
Faith towards God
Baptism
Laying on of hands
Resurrection of the dead
Eternal judgement

1. Repentance from dead works

Gal. 2:16.

A Christian is justified by his faith and not by anything that he did or does.
Salvation comes when one confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believes in his heart that God raised him up from the dead,” Romans 10:9.
Hebrews 9:11-14, through the blood of Christ, we have our consciences purged from dead work to serve the Living God.

What are these works?

These are rituals by which the people of the Old Testament came to God.
No act of sacrifice on our part to please God is acceptable.
God sees rituals as dead work,
all that is required for us is to believe and be justified.

2. Faith Towards God

Hebrews 11:1-2,
The life of a believer is a life of faith; and God has called us to live in the realm of faith. As God’s children we walk by faith not by sight; ‘
sight here means sensory perceptions. 2 Corinthians 5:7.

God wants us to live in His realm, the realm of faith.
The life of faith should not be a life of struggle
We are born in faith. Romans12:3;Romans 10:9-10.
It is every believers’ responsibility to develop his faith. Romans 10:17.
Hearing the word of God builds up our faith;
So every believer must make conscious efforts of continually hearing the word of God

3. Baptisms

The word ‘baptize’ is derived from the Greek word ‘baptizo’, which means to immerse completely into.
There are 2 baptisms talked about under the New Covenant. These are:
Baptism into Christ:
This is what happens when a man is born again,
He is buried into Christ in identification. He thus partakes of his death, burial and consequently resurrection into a new life. Romans 6:3-4. I Corinthians 12:13. See also I Peter 3:20-21.

Baptism By Immersion In Water:
This is one of the sacraments of the Church.
It is the immersion of one completely into water;
It is an outward manifestation of what happens to a man when he is born again,
It was commanded by the Lord Himself, Matthew 28:19.

4. Laying Of Hands

The main reason for laying on of hands is for an impartation of grace

From the New Testament, there are 4 main reasons for it:
To Minister Healing – Mark 16:17-18.
To Minister The Holy Spirit – Acts 9:16.
To Impart Spiritual Gifts – I Timothy 4:14.
Ordination Into The Ministry – Acts 13:2-3

5. Resurrection Of The Dead

The scriptures record that it is appointed for a man to die once and after that the judgement. Hebrews 9:27.
But death is an enemy.
God never meant for man to die
But disobedience brought death Romans 5:17,
Death reigned until the obedience of Christ.
Now, Christ has abolished death 2 Timothy 1:9-10
He has given us the power to choose life.
Death is a choice for the believer, death cannot reign over us.
But those who die in Christ have hope in the resurrection. I Thessalonians 4:13- 16,
We believe in the resurrection of the dead because the word of God teaches us so.
Man is a spirit being and does not go extinct when he dies,
His goes to his master either God or the devil Romans 6:16.
Scriptural References: John 5:28-29, I Thessalonians 4:13-16,
Hebrews 9:27.

6. Eternal Judgement

Hebrews 9:27.
We have two types of judgement, one for the believers and the other for the unbelievers.

Judgment Seat Of Christ
The judgement seat of Christ is where Christians receive rewards for the deeds they performed while on earth. I Corinthians 3:13-15.
This is not a Judgement of condemnation Romans 8:1, Romans 14:10.

The Great White Throne Judgement:
This is when the non–Christians will be judged or condemned for not accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Here the church also will be present together with God to pass judgement on the non-Christians. I Corinthians 6:2-3.
Class 3B – Other Doctrine Of Christ

1. Righteousness

Righteousness is the nature of God imparted to a man’s spirit that gives him the ability to stand in the presence of God without a sense of guilt, inferiority complex or condemnation 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 4, 5.
Righteousness, according to the scriptures, is a free gift of God.
No man can earn it by working for it, doing something to get it.
It is a free gift that is made available to everyone by the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every born again child of God is as righteous as our Lord Jesus Christ himself.
One cannot grow or increase in righteousness,
But definitely you can grow in the consciousness of your righteousness.
This helps the communication of your faith to become effective and productive. Philemon 1:6.

2. Sanctification

This means ‘consecration’ or separation from others for a special use. It is two folds:

The separation of the believer from the world when he gets born again.
This is instantaneous upon receiving Christ. “I Corinthians 6:11. See also Hebrews 10:10, Jude 1. 1Cor 1:2
The ultimate separation of the believer unto God.
This is by the Word of God affecting his being. This is gradual. It is not progressive or procedural, but continuous. John 17; 17, 2Cor 3:18, 1Thes 4:4

3. Deliverance

The word deliver means ‘to take out’; ‘to save’; ‘to rescue from’
Salvation is the central theme of the gospel and one of its benefit to the new creation is deliverance.

God has delivered us out of the control and the dominion of darkness.
We are free from the power, hold, dominion or authority of darkness Colossians 1:13.
This is a present tense reality;
Jesus came to redeem man not just by paying a price [ransom] but by force Exodus 6:6, John 16:11, John 5:22-27, John 12:31
Jesus made a public display of Satan’s defeat.
He conquered and disarmed the power of darkness and spoiled them, Colossians 2:15. This victory secured our deliverance.
He translated us into the kingdom of His dear son.

4 Remission

This is the removal or washing away or blotting away of sin.
It is made possible by the expiratory and the propitiatory work of the blood.
God has, by the blood of the lamb totally washed away sin.
This has been done for the world,
Christ has paid for the sins of the world.

5. Substitution

This is the basis for a lot of the blessings which we enjoy in the new Birth.
For Christ came down from God and was substituted for us.
He took our place and bore the judgement of God
We can now enjoy the blessing of restored relationship with God.

6. Forgiveness

To forgive means to overlook a wrong as though it were not done and therefore to waive the penalty.
While remission deals with the nature of sin, forgiveness deals with the act of sin.
1John 1:9, 10.

7. Redemption

This means to deliver or set free by paying a price.
The Bible tells us that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from iniquity.
Titus 2: 13-14.
He gave himself as a substitutionary sacrifice so that we might be set free.
Hebrews 9:12.

8 Justification

This means being declared not guilty, discharged, acquitted.
It implies that one had a bill of accusations leveled against him, but was declared ‘not guilty’ by the judge.
We are justified by Jesus Christ. Acts 13:38, 39.
This is because he has already, by his death and suffering, paid the penalty for the crime committed
And by rising from the dead declared us ‘not guilty’. Romans 8:1,2.

© 2016 CHRIST EMBASSY NUNGUA – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED