"Dangerous Times And People Like That"
Text.
The Dangers of the Last Days
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
Their M.O.(Method Of Operation)
6 They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. 7 (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.) 8 These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. 9 But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.
“Dangerous Days And People Like That”
I. What Is Doctrine?
DOCTRINE Christian truth and teaching passed on from generation to generation as “the faith that was delivered to the saints” (Jude 3 HCSB).
Specifically, doctrine refers to Christian teaching and most specifically to Christian teaching about God, the gospel, and the comprehensive pattern of Christian truth. The word itself means “teaching” and generally refers to the accepted body of beliefs held by the Christian church universally and to those beliefs specific to individual denominations and congregations in particular.
The Christian church cannot avoid teaching and thus must formulate a framework for understanding and teaching the basic rudiments and principles of the faith and for developing those basic doctrines into more comprehensive and thorough understandings. Without such a framework, the church has no coherent system of beliefs and no means of discriminating between true and false beliefs.
Doctrine thus serves a vital and necessary role within the life of the church and the life of the believer. The biblical focus on doctrine is not based upon the notion of static and dead beliefs but upon living truths cherished and defended by all true Christians.
The foundation, sourcebook, and authority for developing doctrine is the Bible. The Bible is “profitable for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16), and it forms the structure, content, and authority for the development of doctrine.
The structure of Christian doctrine is rooted in the character of the Bible as the inerrant and infallible Word of God. As God’s revelation, the Bible establishes a structure for thought and conveys truth in doctrinal form. Doctrine is most clearly rooted in the propositional nature of biblical revelation. The Bible sets forth a unified and comprehensive structure of Christian truth, and the church bears the responsibility to correlate these truths into a unified system of truth.
The content of Christian doctrine is derived from a careful consideration of the totality of the Bible’s teaching. Doctrines are developed as Christians seek to understand the contents of the Bible and to express those teachings in understandable form appropriate for instructing believers.
The authority for Christian doctrines is the Bible itself. In formulating doctrine, the church takes other authorities into consideration. Experience often reveals the need for doctrinal attention, and true Christian doctrine is to be lived out in faithful Christian experience, not just received as matters of intellectual interest. Reason is also important in doctrinal formulation, for the tools of reason are indispensable to the task of expressing biblical truths in doctrinal form. Tradition also plays a role, for every generation of Christians inherits patterns of belief and practice from previous generations. We do not begin with a blank slate unformed by received traditions.
Nevertheless, the Bible cannot function merely as one authority among others. The Bible is the controlling and ultimate authority for all matters of Christian belief and practice. Experience, reason, and tradition are to be judged by Scripture, and Scripture is not to be judged by other authorities. This principle has characterized the church in every period of doctrinal strength and purity. When compromised, false teachings and heresies inevitably follow.
This principle was expressed during the Reformation as sola Scriptura, for Scripture alone is the final and controlling authority for all true Christian teaching and doctrinal formulation.
Once formulated, doctrines are often expressed and taught through catechisms and adopted as creeds and confessions. Every Christian denomination expresses its beliefs in some doctrinal form