False teaching/false doctrine comes up several places in the New Testament (e.g. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 and 1 John 4:1-3). The doctrine Paul talks about in 1 Timothy 4:16 is not false teaching, and it is not the distinctive beliefs of various denominations.
This doctrine is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? It is saving teaching—“You will save yourselves and your hearers.”
Obviously our different secondary doctrines and practices cannot all be right. Some are not important. We have used the word “doctrine” and our secondary teachings to create divisions among saved people. To my knowledge, the Bible does not use “doctrine” that way. Read Romans 14. It is the primary doctrine of the gospel that saves and sanctifies and is, consequently, of ultimate importance.
"For the
When Paul stood up to Peter in Galatians 2, the issue was saving truth.
It was the same in Acts 11 and 15: “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?” When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life” (Acts 11:15-18).
"No! We believe
it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" (Acts 15:11).
The early creeds were designed to refute teaching that did not save. The later confessions were made to divide saved people. Yet we call all these confessions “sound doctrine.”
*Excerpted from Being Christian. To
purchase, visit ccmbooks.org/bookstore.
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