Doctrine

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“There is nothing which is so wrong, and so utterly false, as to fail to see the primary importance of true DOCTRINE. Looking back over my experience as a pastor for some thirty-four years, I can testify without the slightest hesitation that the people I have found most frequently in trouble in their spiritual experience have been those who have lacked understanding. You cannot divorce these things.”

(Lloyd-Jones, Heresies)

“When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the DOCTRINE that the mind embraceth, - when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us, - when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the thing abides in our hearts - when we have communion with God in the DOCTRINE we contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men.

(Owen, The Mystery of the Gospel Vindicated)

“It is of exceedingly great importance that we should have right notions and conceptions of the nature, attributes, and perfections of God. It is the very foundations of all religion, both DOCTRINAL and practical; it is to no purpose to worship God, except we know what we worship. . . . It is impossible we should love, fear, and obey God as we ought, except we know what He is, and have right ideas of His perfections, that render Him lovely and worthy to be feared and obeyed.”

(Edwards, Sermons and Discourses)

The primitive Church was concerned not merely with what Jesus had said, but also, and primarily, with what Jesus had done. The world was to be redeemed through the proclamation of an event. And with the event went the meaning of the event; and the setting forth of the event with the meaning of the event was DOCTRINE. These two elements are always combined in the Christian message. The narration of the facts is history; the narration of the facts with the meaning of the facts is DOCTRINE. “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried”–that is history. “He loved me and gave Himself for me”–that is DOCTRINE. Such was the Christianity of the primitive Church.

(Machen, Christianity & Liberalism)

There is no Christianity “in general.” Faith in some experience devoid of theological or biblical content–no matter how powerful–is not New Testament Christianity. Those called to Christianity in general may believe nothing in particular. But faith resides in particulars. Some churches seem to think that DOCTRINE is a concern for those of a certain intellectual bent, but unnecessary for most Christians. Interest in DOCTRINE amounts to something like an intellectual hobby. Others steer clear of DOCTRINE for fear of argument or division in the church. Both factors indicate a lack of respect for the Christian believer and an abdication of the teaching function of the church. Those who sow disdain and disinterest in biblical DOCTRINE will reap a harvest of rootless and fruitless Christians. DOCTRINE is not a challenge to experiential religion; it testifies to the content of that experience. The church is charged to call persons to Christ and to root them in a mature knowledge of Christian faith.

(Mohler, Why Doctrine Matters)

The DOGMA is the drama — not beautiful phrases, nor comforting sentiments, nor vague aspirations to loving kindness and uplift, nor the promise of something nice after death — but the terrifying assertion that the same God who made the world lived in the world and passed through the grave and gate of death. Show that to a heathen, and they may not believe it; but at least they may realize that here is something that a man might be glad to believe.

(Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos?)