Day 28

The Great Doctrines of

The New Testament Gospel

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

Now, specifically what is it that is planted as seed into our hearts? What is this doctrine that we should study, practice and teach? What is this gospel truth that we should read and study, exhort others with, and father others with?

Earlier we saw what the gospel consists of. It is worth repeating:
(1) The gospel is salvation: being born again.
(2) It is everything a loving Father has done for us in his Son.
(3) It is all the free things we saw that God gives us in Jesus.
(4) It is experiencing the very person and presence of God.
(5) It is our identity: who we are in Christ in this world.
(6) It is entering into God’s ways: the process of God through us.
(7) It is making an intimate life in God known to others.

But, what is it that produces this in us so that we can share it? In short, it is the great DOCTRINES of the New Testament. Recall Paul says we should give ourselves to doctrine (I Tim 4:13).

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GOSPEL TRUTH #55

The term ‘doctrine’ seems to scare many people. Many people turn their minds off when they hear the word ‘doctrine.’ They think it is too much for them — too complicated — too theological. But this is not true. In fact, we are told, by God, to have a good working-knowledge of the great New Testament doctrines that describe the gospel.

I see the doctrines as being very simple. They all describe ONE thing. They all dove-tail together into a UNITY. They are not difficult to understand, but rather easy, when you see them in this light. Paul speaks of ‘the simplicity of Christ’ (II Cor 11:3). He chooses to know nothing but Christ crucified (I Cor 2:2). Jesus says blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8). James says we should be single-minded, not double-minded. Seeing the doctrines though gospel eyes makes them simple.

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COVENANT. The Old Testament describes a number of different covenants, but the only two seem in the New Testament are the Old and the New — the covenant of law, and the covenant of gospel grace. The Old has been rescinded and revoked, and the new has been established in its place. They are like the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.

Many Christians have a very difficult time getting their minds and hearts around the reality of this. Again, many think you need deliverance if you say that God abandoned and abolished his Old Covenant law, but the New Testament forcefully presents this as the truth. We are called ‘believers,’ and our job is to believe what God says.

God’s people were parties to the Old Covenant, but I find no Bible authority for the teaching that we are parties to the New one. I believe this is partly why isn’t called the BETTER New Covenant, because this is to our advantage, not our detriment. We are beneficiaries under the New, not parties. Legally there is a BIG difference. We enjoy all the benefits and blessings of the New, without being liable for demands. We are told the Old was repealed because it was unprofitable, weak and didn’t benefit us (Heb 7;18). The new is totally to our advantage.

PROPITIATION. The first doctrine we must understand is this one. All of the rest of the doctrines are for US, but this one is for GOD. This is the one that ‘unties God’s hands,’ if you will, to allow him to grant us the other doctrines. God cannot just forgive us. He is loving and forgiving, but he is also just. He cannot disown is nature that is founded in justice, for the sake of love. Thus, propitiation is the work of Christ FOR HIS FATHER.

God is against sin, and he must judge sin. If he judges us, we all go to hell, because there is none righteous, no not one. But because of this work of Jesus, God DOES forgive us, and treat us as though we were perfect and have never sinned, because of the cross. This is best described in I John 4:9-10, which I won’t quote. This is also described in Romans 3:25: speaking of Jesus, “Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.” So, it is all about our being justified and made righteous by faith in Christ’s blood, which are all described in the following doctrines.

It is propitiation that gives life to all other doctrines of the cross.

ADOPTION. Some of us are troubled by this doctrine because of our ‘western mindset.’ In the west, adoption means legally making someone else’s child your child. This was not the case in the east during Bible days. The Jewish bar mitzvah is the closest thing we have today to ancient adoption. Here, when a boy (mostly at 13) arrives at what is called ‘the age of accountability and responsibility,’ he is deemed to be mature and ’adopted into adulthood.’

This is what God does with us. We are his children. We have been standing before him in love since before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4); we have been predestined to adoption as children (v 5). Adoption is the act of God that places us firmly into his family as sons and daughters. Note it is the act of God. Jesus says, “What God has put together, let no man separate.” if we’re adopted into the family of God, we are a permanent part of his family. We cannot spiritually separate from it. We can physically separate ourselves from it (it is called backsliding), but we can’t do so spiritually. Backsliding is only an Old Testament term.

JUSTIFICATION. This work of God is ‘behind the scenes.’ It is done ‘in the halls of heaven,’ and our job is to believe it is true. Some call this the objective, or forensic work of God (if you watch CSI). Like DNA, this doctrine goes deeper. This is what a perfect God has done, in his court of the universe, as the judgment of imperfect man: he declares us perfect — ’just as if’ we never sinned. God has not changed his requirements. The law still demands that we be perfect like our Father in heaven is perfect (Matt 5:48). The difference is God DECLARES us perfect in Christ, so the demand is met. We are justified by faith (Rom 5:1). This is true of ALL things in the gospel. Jesus says, ‘Repent and believe the gospel.’ Belief is our job (John 6:29), and belief results in faith.

FAITH. Now lets see the doctrine of faith. Faith is what is required of us. Faith is actively living what we BELIEVE in our heart. Several times we are told, ‘the just shall live by faith.’ This is not a demand, as much as it is simply a statement of gospel reality, because even faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8). ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God’ (Heb 11:6). This is not talking about faith for things on our horizontal earth. It is talking about believing in God: in what God has done and says in the halls of heaven. This is gospel faith. This is what fathers of the gospel lead people into: a life of belief in the finished work of Christ, and resulting action.

SANCTIFICATION. This is ‘being set aside for a divine purpose.’ This is often taught as our human part in the divine equation. Once we have been justified by faith, it is said that it is OUR job to sanctify ourselves. This is nothing more than works a theology of man disguised. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Sanctification is progressive, but it’s not our work.

Study of all the verses in the New Testament on sanctification. They are all the work of God FOR us, not OUR work. There is room for us ALL to change, and we all should change for the better. We discussed this briefly. This is not the doctrine of sanctification. Sanctification is being set aside, or separated unto the gospel. The gospel is about exchanging our lives for Christ’s life: “As Jesus is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:17). He became sin for us so we could be made the righteousness of Christ (II Cor 5:21). The gospel is not about CHANGE, but about EXCHANGE!

REGENERATION. This is an internal process of transformation of thought, that takes deep root in us. It is the inside-out process we talked about, not an outside-in process. Regeneration is often taught in terms of our salvation experience: being born again. It does begin at conversion, and Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” But conversion does not define regeneration.

Regeneration is the process of God we have been talking a lot about. This is just the doctrinal name for it. It is the process of the seed, the root, and the fruit. Titus 3:5 says it is not by ‘works of righteousness’ that we have done, by by god’s ‘washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.’ Like everything else in the gospel, regeneration is the work of God inside of us — that begins by having gospel seed planted in us.

REDEMPTION. This doctrine permeates all doctrines of grace. This work began back in Genesis 3 after the fall of man. Do you realize that we would not need the Bible — from Genesis 4 to Revelation 22 — if the events of Genesis 3 had never happened? The whole Bible is about God’s redemption of man. Redemption became necessary because of Genesis 3.

But what are we redeemed from? There is a lot we could discuss, but we are redeemed from the curse of the Old Covenant law (Gal 3:10). Galatians 4:5 says this same thing, but then says so that we might receive adoption as sons. Titus 2:14 says Jesus redeemed us from iniquity. This is the worst form of sin found in the Bible. We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus (Eph 1:7, Col 1:14). This redemption is eternal (Heb 9:12). Redemption is seen in light of the law being abolished. “For this cause, Jesus is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions THAT WERE UNDER FIRST TESTAMENT, they who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). Redemption was for sin under the law of the Old Covenant, but now Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. This goes back to the two hats Jesus wore — one for the Old, one for the New.

SUBSTITUTION. This doctrine tells us that Jesus was our substitution, and the way this occurred was by his blood sacrifice on our behalf. Leviticus says, “Life is in the blood.” Thus, it took the life of God, in the form of blood, to bring life to us. We are told that without blood there is no remission of sin (Heb 9:22), but then this passage goes on to say that Jesus’ blood was the ONCE FOR ALL sacrifice for all of us.

REPENTENCE. We’ve talked about this before. The repentance we mainly do under the New Covenant is to humbly ask God to give us a tender, receiving heart that is open to his gospel truth (II Tim 2:24). Ours is not repentance so much for sin, as it is for faith: the ability to believe, receive and live gospel truth. This is especially true in light of all the Old Testament instruction we hear today. Our greatest temptation may be resisting the appeal to live by Old Testament principles.

ATONEMENT. This is also called reconciliation with God. It means being ‘at-one-ment’ with God. This is the ministry of Jesus, and it is our ministry too (II Cor 5:18) — helping people live in unity with God, and in unbroken fellowship with him. We are called to a lifestyle of: (1) oneness and unity with God, (2) unity in the gospel, and (3) unity with each other. Atonement is the power of God that enables us to live this way. The Old Testament, page after page, was dedicated to ATTAINING atonement with God. In the New Testament, Paul mentions it one time only: “You have now RECEIVED the atonement” (Rom 5:11).

RIGHTEOUSNESS. We’ve looked at this before. Let’s see it like this:

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GOSPEL TRUTH #56

The RESULT of all the doctrines is our righteousness in Christ (II Cor 5:21). What does God think of us? When we look at Jesus we know how God sees us: the same way he does Jesus. We rule in life by receiving this GIFT of righteousness (Rom 5:17). Righteousness describes who we are in Christ: “As Jesus is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:17). It is only as we trust the finished work of Christ, and live in his imparted gift of righteousness, that we are living in the truth and the power of God’s gospel.

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