The Doctrine of Christ

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 14, 1907

The Doctrine of Christ

THE doctrine of Christ is that system of teaching which makes the personal Jesus, the Son of the living God, the center and the substance of all gospel truth. In this way the gospel is the personality of an ever-living, ever-present Saviour, rather than a collection of abstract statements concerning religion. The difference between the two is very great. In the one case we deal with a person; in the other case with a proposition. In the one case we accept a life; in the other we assent to a statement. In the one case we serve; in the other we judge.

We do not depreciate the value of sound doctrine, but we must have a living truth, not a mere theoretical proposition. Let us illustrate: it is one thing to present in the form of a lesson what the Bible says about the forgiveness of sin, and it is quite another thing to proclaim forgiveness of sin to distressed and troubled souls; it is one thing to accept the teaching that forgiveness of sin is made possible through the sacrifice of Christ, and it is quite another thing to accept Christ as our sacrifice “in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” The teaching of the Book, in order to become of saving value to us, must become vitalized in the Person.

There are many portions of the Scriptures which present the person of Jesus as the center of all Christian experience: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

Again the experience of the disciples of Christ is in marked contrast with that of the Gentiles, who are “alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them;” “but ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind: and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

And still again, the promises made by Jesus to his disciples just before his death relate to the manifestation of his own presence with all future believers: “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” The conditions for the fulfilment of these promises are loving him and keeping his commandments, but the fulness of the blessing is found in his personal presence.

We need to believe in, and to teach, the doctrine of Christ. There are many believers in creeds, but comparatively few real believers in Christ. There are many preachers of doctrine, but comparatively few preachers of Christ. The teachers of this threefold message, which is to prepare the way for the visible manifestation of the personal Christ, should above all things proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus—the doctrine of Christ.