The doctrine of Jesus Christ

Did Jesus have a doctrine or code of belief? Did He have a statement of faith telling what He believed in? In reading second John 1:9 we see that Jesus did have a doctrine and it is the one Christians should follow today. Not only did Jesus draw us a blueprint of daily living to pattern ourselves after, but also he left us HIS Doctrine—the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 John 1:9 Whosoever transgresses, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

In Hebrews 6:1-6, we find the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. This Doctrine is six fold pertaining to six fundamental principles. No matter how any one actually sees the whole of the Bible, believing in the Fundamentals of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ is necessary in order to be a Christian.

Hebrews 6: 1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,

2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

3 And God permitting, we will do so.

4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,

5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,

6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

1) Repentance: Repentance is the act of giving our sins to the Father--and the action of the Fathers forgiveness to us and His forgetting of our sins. God the Father not only forgave my sin and your sin, when we confessed the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but he forgot our sins. He erased them from His mind. Therefore, we also should erase them from our mind, and not continually dwell on the things of the past. We are new creations, born again, in other words re-fathered.

The Bible says that God is our Father and through our belief and speaking with our mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that we have become new creatures and we are saved. Therefore, if saved, if reborn, if new persons, if the old is gone, than why do so many people insist on holding on to the old life and the old ways.

We should no longer be speaking of how we are still sinners, we were a sinner, but no longer are we sinners after receiving Christ. The only way you are still a sinner is if you have not accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You can still commit sin, and do things that are not Godly and fashioned after the example of Jesus Christ, but you are not a sinner in need of being re-born again, unless you reject totally the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If once saved you slip up and do something that you know goes against the desires of the Father, you need only say, Father, forgive me and He will forgive you.

Before salvation, before hearing of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, did you know what sin was? No, you only became aware of sin, after becoming aware of Jesus Christ. In addition, He says that once you receive Him you are born again, the old life is gone, behold all things have become new. You are now the righteousness of God in Christ. You should now be aiming your life and desires toward faith in God.

Asking for forgiveness is the first doctrine of Jesus Christ. Jesus shows the importance of cleansing, and forgiving by making repentance the first principle or doctrine of His life. Humble your self before God and ask Him to forgive you of all your trespasses.

2) Faith toward God: What exactly is faith? According to the Greek dictionary, faith is a belief, assurance or fidelity in something or toward something. An assurance or fidelity in or on truth is faith.

Therefore, this means than that we should also no longer continue to question the validity or truthfulness of the Word of God, but to accept it and move on toward maturity. In other words, we should strive to stop, being baby Christians and move on towards maturity. So many times, Christians are so determined to never become an adult in matters of Spiritual growth that they will argue and fight tooth and nail to prove themselves correct on the matter of not moving forward.

Taking faith to the limit is not being the same exact person today that you were ten years ago. Stepping out in faith towards maturity means to grow in Christ. Christians that do not want to grow will make excuse after excuse as to why they cannot do certain things and why their faith is not working. These Christians simply do not want teaching. They do not want to learn what can be theirs through Christ, because to learn means to move out and do things without assistance of everyone else. To learn means you must step forth into the completeness of what God has for you. You must do things on your own and possibly even teach others.

The writer of this passage of scripture has told us to move toward maturity and toward growth through the act of repentance, and stepping out in faith. Once we have repented of our transgressions, we must then begin trusting in our faith that God is real and will do what He says he will do. We must begin to walk in the rest of the principles of Christ.

3) Baptisms: Baptism is the act of cleansing or purifying someone. It is a total covering or immersing of an individual with a fluid or with something of a cleansing nature. Many believe this refers only to an immersing of the body under water, but it refers to a baptism or immersing of the person with water or with the Spirit of Christ. Christ is a cleansing nature and once a person receives Christ as their savior they receiving His cleansing nature—His baptism!

Therefore, we are baptized and then we are to move forward. John said to be baptized in water, this was a total immersion in water, and then there would come the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this would be an infilling of a cleansing entity, the Holy Spirit. So with baptism as John speaks of, we have a total covering or cleansing in water, and the other baptism is a purification of the inner person, by the total coverage or infilling—cleansing of the Holy Spirit.

The only baptism necessary after receiving Christ is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the cleansing, infilling of power that one receives from Christ. Baptism with water is okay and many receive great spiritual blessing through water baptism, but the baptism spoken of here speaks of an infilling, immersing, cleansing by the power of God through the Spirit of Christ in you!

To follow the example of Christ we repent, release our faith and allow the Spirit of Christ to baptize us with power and cleansing.

4) Laying on of Hands: This is the action or point of contact between an elder, pastor, deacon or anointed person of God, laying there hand or hands on another person for the benefit of God’s power upon them.

When a person receives the filling of God’s power or spirit, certain things transfer from their being to another. Christians call this laying on of hands, because that is what the scripture calls it. The things that happen through this point of contact are blessings, healings, words of wisdom, an appointment into office, or into ministry. In the Bible, the disciples and Jesus laid hands on people and they received healing, wisdom and blessings. Preachers and elders of the church also laid hands on people to appoint them to an office within the church or to send them forth in the ministry. It was a form of transferring your good wishes with God’s grace and power upon them.

The laying on of hands is simply a point of contact that people use to receive from God. This point of contact between you and God can be a Pastor’s hands, a TV screen, a piece of cloth, a Bible, anything that allows you to receive all that God has for you.

5) Resurrection of the Dead: This is the restoration of the spiritual dead and the physical dead in Christ. Christ gives a guarantee here to raise the spiritual dead and the physically dead. This principle is defined both literally and figuratively.

The literal translation would be the actual catching up in the clouds of the ones that are now dead. It is literally the rising of those souls that died before Christ’s return for His chosen people. Figuratively it is used to denote the rising up of the dead soul or spirit man. It is an awakening of the stagnant believer. This restoration of the dead should cause the born again believer to rise up in the knowledge of the Word of God.

Therefore, with a repentant heart full of faith baptized with the Spirit of God having hands laid on us to receive all God’s blessings we restore our soul and spirit and prayerfully lead a life worthy of Christ so when the last principle of Jesus is before us we will stand free of guilt and worthy of Him!

6) Eternal Judgment: This is the last doctrine or principle and is looked at as a teaching of the fact that one-day every one of us will stand accountable for all our deeds. Making it known to the believer that there will be a day of judgment, final judgment, where taken into consideration are all the choices and things you decided to do here on earth.

It is also our duty as Christians to let our fellow believers know that eternal judgment will take place and that they will one day stand before the Father and give account of what they have or have not done for the kingdom of God.

Paul tells us in this passage of scripture that we are to move forward into maturity and that we are to hold fast the Doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ. Six fundamental principles belong to us according to the passage of scripture found in Hebrews 6 and if we abide in them, God will be with us in all that we do.

Six things make up the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ: Repentance; Faith; Baptism; Laying on of Hands; Resurrection of the dead and Eternal Judgment. In all these things one leads to the next and without each one the next is worthless!

Resources:

King James Version Holy Bible

Revised Standard Version Holy Bible

Nave's Compact Topical Bible

Sermon Notes, Pastor Thomas Ellsworth Miles, Sr.