Is Doctrine Important?

Doctrine has become a subject of great debate in Christian circles today due to the fact that there is so much diversity of doctrinal teaching and that doctrine has been marginalized in many places.   How many different views are there about certain doctrines?  Yet, the Bible tells us that "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33) and clearly diversity of doctrine is causing a confusion which is not from God!

Everyday it seems there is either a NEW teaching (or doctrine) or an existing teacher/preacher saying that Christians have forgotten some teaching and so they are NOW re-teaching this "lost" doctrine.   Is doctrine even important?  Let me give a few thoughts directly from the Bible:

1. Jesus taught doctrine.  Matthew 7:28 and 22:33 tells us that the people were astonished as Jesus' DOCTRINE.  So many times people think of Jesus' miracles as being what garnered attention, but clearly the people heard and were amazed by what Jesus was saying in His DOCTRINE.

2. Doctrine is from God the Father.  In John 7:16 Jesus states that the doctrine He was teaching was not His - but His Father's.  God is the source of doctrine and so we must learn and study it.

3. The unsaved world wants to know our doctrine too.  There are those who believe that the works and love of Christians are only what the unsaved world is looking at, but the Bible seems to say otherwise.  In John 18:19, the unsaved religious leaders wanted to know the DOCTRINE of Jesus and His disciples and remember the mostly unsaved people were "astonished at his doctrine" in Luke 4:32 not his miracles. Other passages to consider on this are Mark 1:27, Acts 13:12, and 17:19.  The problem today is that the unsaved world is seeing a Christian community divided because of false doctrine is being taught as true doctrine and that is giving an uncertain sound to the Bible. (1 Corinthians 14:8)

4. Early Christians were concerned about doctrine.  In Acts 2:42 the first church continued in four things; fellowship (coming together to share their passion about Jesus), breaking bread (eating meals and sharing Lord's Supper together), prayers, and the apostle's DOCTRINE!  If we put a percentage on these then we should at the least spend 25% of our Christian lives continuing in doctrine.

5. When Christians ignore doctrine then its time for preachers to preach it!  Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 that he was to preach the word because there will come a time when folks won't want "sound doctrine."

Doctrine cannot be ignored or the righteous are powerless to see the world saved. (1 Timothy 4:16)  As matter of fact, Paul tells Titus that doctrine is the foundation of purity (Titus 2:7) and the way which those who assault Christianity are challenged and silenced (Titus 1:9)

Yes, doctrine is important, as long as it is sound doctrine (Titus 2:1)