* To download this as a Text
file go to "file," then "save as," give it a name and save it to
a directory
of your choice in plain text format
MAILBOX BIBLE COURSE
WELCOME PAGE
Welcome to our Mailbox Bible Study Course. We are glad to be
able to serve the Lord and you in
this way. Many are being saved and helped through these
simple Bible lessons.
We suggest that you try to do one lesson each
week. This will keep your interest in them active. We
send all lessons in plain text, or PDF which is much better to
print
We suggest that you print these out and put them in
a binder to study and for future use.
Here's all you
do:
1.. Read the lesson carefully.
2.. Fill in the answer sheet.
3.. Email it back to us.
Always follow the instruction in filling out the test.
Your full name and address should accompany
your first test. To do the test page, highlight the page and then copy
and paste it to me. If you have any
difficult please email me We will grade your lesson and return it to
you with you next lesson.
These lessons have been scanned and may contain typing
errors. We would appreciate any that
you point out to us.
May God richly bless you as you proceed.
Your Instructor:
Harold Smith Phone 1-902-643-2199
I am indebted to the Precious Seed Committee and the
authors for their kind permission
for me to use this material for these Lessons. Copyright Precious
Seed 1977 P.O. Box 8
Neath, West Glamorgan, Uk SA11 1Qb
All Courses are copyright and may not be used as Courses
without permission
CONTENTS
The Doctrine of the Scriptures
The Importance of Doctrine, by C. E.
Hocking
Correctness of Doctrine, by Frank Holmes
The Scriptures of Truth, by E. W.
Rogers
The Inspiration of the Scriptures, by E. L.
Lovering
The Sufficiency and Finality of the Scriptures, by
W.E.Vine
The Unity of the Scriptures, by John
Heading
Christ and the Bible, by D. W.
Brealey
Faith and the Word of God, by T. W.
Carron
LESSON
1 THE DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURES
THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCTRINE By C. E. HOCKING
THE BIBLE IS THE TRUTH OF GOD for all peoples, for there is one God,
and for all time,
because God is the King of the ages, the unchanging and Eternal One.
The Bible, however, is not simply
a compendium of doctrine, nor are its doctrines arranged
systematically. The wonder of God's Word is
that in it we are faced with an almost unstudied presentation of the
loftiest of truths in order to spur us to
the lowliest of duties; e.g. Phil. 2:5-11. In the varying contexts of
Israel's history, and amid the changing
scenes of the foundation-laying processes in the early church, God
unfolded the timeless treasures of
divine revelation to those humble souls willing to do His will; cf.
John 7:17. It is still so.
THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF DOCTRINE: In the New Testament there are
three
different words translated doctrine in the Authorized Version. One of
these, the word logos, is so
translated only once, Heb. 6:1. The marginal rendering here is "word,"
which is adopted as the more
usual English equivalent. It refers to the word spoken, as this in turn
conveys the inward thought. The
other two words, both springing from the same root, refer either to the
actual act of teaching, or
objectively to the subject matter taught the substance of the teaching.
When we read that the Word of
God is profitable for doctrine, we are to understand that the man of
God is to draw upon the subject-
matter contained in the divine library if his life and ministry are to
be complete, and equipped for every
good work, 2 Tim. 3:16-17. However, when Timothy was exhorted to give
attendance to doctrine, we
are to understand that he was to devote himself to the public act of
teaching the believers, 1 Tim.
4:13. The "doctrines" considered in this book are an important part of
that teaching material which
should be understood, and taught among God's people. The range of truth
covered here oversteps the
boundaries to which the preachers or heralds of the gospel restricted
themselves. The preacher (kerux)
gave himself to the preaching (k?rugma) of Jesus Christ, that by the
foolishness of preaching he might
save some, Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 1:21. The teacher raised of God
(didaskalos) was to give himself
unreservedly to his teaching (didaskaha), Rom. 12:7, with all
longsuffering and teaching (didachç), 2
Tim. 4:2.
The place given to teaching in the Bible indicates
something of its importance. In the Old
Testament the child was to be instructed regarding those things which
God had revealed, Deut. 29:29,
and the parent was to be ready to inform and explain whenever his son
questioned a practice, Exodus
12:26 & 27; Deut. 6:20-25. Because the preacher was wise, he still
taught the people knowledge,
Eccles. 12:9 & 10, while Ezra made capital of that occasion when
the people gathered together to hear
the Word ensuring that they understood the reading, Neh. 8:8. The
priest's lips kept knowledge, and
the people were to seek the law at his mouth, Mal. 2:7. In the New
Testament the Lord commissioned
the apostles to teach those who had been baptized "to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded
you," Matt. 28:20. Paul, too, reminds the Ephesian elders that he had
taught publicly and from house to
house, Acts 20:20, for it was the Word of God which was able to build
them up, Acts 20:32. The elder
in the assembly was to be the one "holding to the faithful word which
is according to the teaching, that he
may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the
gainsayers," Titus 1:9 R.V. The
teaching of the Bible is the God-given foundation upon which the good,
the godly, and the Christlike
character may be built, while also providing all that is necessary for
the development of gift and the
complete equipment of the man of God for his God-appointed sphere of
service.
The Teaching Material and Method: Paul reminds the
Corinthians that, while he had planted the
work there, and Apollos had followed up with watering that which had
been planted, it was God Himself
that had given the increase, 1 Cor. 3:6. What guarantees does the
sovereign disposition of God afford to
us! Yet we are not to ignore those ministries through human vessels
which were crowned by the increase
of God. The assembly having been planted under the good hand of God,
now needed to be watered and
nurtured by those equipped of God. The single act of planting had to be
followed up by the continuous
process of watering. The water that was used was the Word of God. Line
upon line, the faith once-for-
all delivered, the truth which is according to godliness, the word, the
doctrine according to godliness, as
it is variously described, was imparted.
This included systematic instruction in the Old Testament.
While Jewish believers, and even
proselytes, could be expected to be familiar with this, the many
accretions of their scribes, which were
nothing more than the commandments of men, Matt. 15:9; Mark 7:7; Col.
2:22, called for the
unlearning of much with which they were familiar. Again, the quite
revolutionary insight into Old
Testament interpretation unveiled by the Lord, Luke 24:27, 44 & 45,
demanded a fresh handling of the
well-known if there was to be a full understanding of the present phase
of God's dealings with men. But
then, there were many Gentiles in the assemblies with no Bible
background whatsoever, converts from
idolatry with all the "hang-over" problems that this could bring. The
early church teachers applied
themselves to this situation, using the Old Testament. The frequent
references to the Old Testament
writings in the addresses of Acts, and even in the Epistles addressed
to believers who were mainly of
Gentile stock, are quite striking (see e.g., 1 Cor. 10:1-11; Cor. 3:7;
Gal. 4:21-31; Rom. 9:-11:).
Patently, "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for
our learning," Rom. 15:4. Even
when the apostles refer to the Scriptures as inspired, it is to the Old
Testament that they essentially point,
2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21.
To this firmly established canon, the early teachers added
the sayings of Christ Himself during His
ministry among men. Clearly, Acts 20:35 and 1 Timothy 5:18 are examples
of this, and also that which
lies behind 1 Corinthians 11:23ff. There are other verses which give
similar hints, but all of the oral and
written tradition which had the lasting approval of God became
incorporated permanently in the records
of the four Gospels which open our New Testament.
To these must be added the revelations vouchsafed to
apostles and prophets, given as the need
arose in the early church. All of these which would be necessary
throughout the whole course of Church
history were ultimately enshrined in the New Testament Epistles. The
forms of sound words heard from
the apostles were committed to other faithful men, 2 Tim. 1:13; 2:2.
Not only were the words of the
holy prophets to be remembered, but God's people were also called to
obey "the commandment of us
the apostles of the Lord and Savior," 2 Pet. 3:2. Hence, in the process
of time, Paul's Epistles were
classified with the "other scriptures," 2 Pet. 3:15 & 16. Now we
have in our hands the completed New
Testament canon, and the faith once-for-all delivered to the saints has
been handed down firm and
unalterable, Jude 3; see also Luke 1:1-4; Rom. 6:17; 1 Cor. 11:23;
15:3; 2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Tim.
4:6; 2 Tim. 1:13; 2:2.
In New Testament times, they were not only concerned to
guard the deposit committed to them, 1
Tim. 6:20, but they gave themselves unstintingly to the teaching of the
whole counsel of God. Barnabas
and Saul felt justified in devoting a whole year to the instruction and
exhortation of the converts at
Antioch, Acts 11:22-26. Paul, encouraged by the Lord concerning His
purpose in blessing for Corinth,
taught the Word of God among them for some eighteen months, Acts
18:9-11. He had a more extended
ministry at Ephesus, Acts 19:8 & 10; 20:31, with even greater
results, for "all they which dwelt in Asia
heard the word," and not surprisingly we read "So mightily grew the
word of the Lord and prevailed,"
Acts 19:10 & 20 R.V. Some years later Timothy was exhorted to stay
at Ephesus, and was to "give
heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching," 1 Tim. 4:13 R.V. Nor was
such work to be restricted to
the visits of those specially equipped of God. In each assembly there
were elders who were apt to teach,
and these were to "labour in the word and in teaching," 1 Tim. 5:17 R.V.
Apart from such consecutive teaching of the Word,
assemblies will wane, gifts will not be fully
developed, and individual believers will grow cold. The assembly, in
one aspect, should function as a
school, and the long-term and short-term needs of believers should be
prayerfully considered and met
by those raised of God to do so. We are not left in doubt as to the
curriculum, for that which is profitable
for all is the whole counsel of God, Acts 20:20 & 27. Only this is
able to build up, and foster spiritual
growth, Acts 20:32; 1 Pet. 2:2. Of course, a classroom atmosphere is
not the ideal, neither is the
development of a merely academic knowledge of divine truth. The manner
in which the writers of the
Epistles gave themselves to heart-warming and challenging ministry is
an object lesson for all time. Let
instruction be inextricably interwoven with exhortation, doctrine with
duty. Along with teaching
(doctrine), there must also be reproof, correction, and instruction in
righteousness, 2 Tim. 3:16. The
work is never finished; we have never arrived at the ultimate. The Lord
is not concerned that His people
merely be taught all things. A somewhat academic syllabus could be
devised to meet this need. Rather
He defines the objective for His servants as "teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have
commanded you," Matt. 28:20. The doctrine of Scripture is "according to
godliness," designed not only
to inform but to promote a life well-pleasing to God, 1 Tim. 6:3.
There is much abroad which is "contrary to sound
(healthful) doctrine," 1 Tim. 1:10, even "the
doctrines of demons," 1 Tim. 4:1 R.V. marg. Many of God's people are
"tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine," Eph. 4:14. There are divisions and
occasions of stumbling through
teaching that is "contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned," Rom.
16:17, and "the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine," 2 Tim. 4:3. We must seek,
therefore, to be "nourished in the
words of the faith, and of the good doctrine," 1 Tim. 4:6 R.V., to
"give attendance ... to doctrine," 1
Tim. 4:13, to "Take heed. . . unto the doctrine," 1 Tim. 4:16, to
"labour in the word and doctrine," 1
Tim. 5:17, to speak "the things which become sound doctrine," Titus
2:1, taking care so to live "that
the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed," 1 Tim. 6:1, and
that we "may adorn the doctrine
of God our Saviour in all things," Titus 2:10, being examples of good
works in all things while "in
doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity ... sound speech, that cannot
be condemned," 1 Tim. 2:7 & 8.
We must continue "steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine," Acts 2:42,
abiding always in "the doctrine of
Christ," 2 John 9:.
1.
CORRECTNESS OF DOCTRINE By Frank Holmes
TAMMAS IS A FIGURE WE HAVE ALL MET. "A great theologian was Tammas,"
writes F. W.
Boreham. "As soon as I announced my text, he took a large notebook from
his breast pocket and a
stubby blue pencil from his waistcoat." Boreham checked the activities
of the blue pencil by threatening
to read his sermon in order to ensure the exactness of utterance which
Tammas demanded.
Sitting next to Tammas may be Jamie. He has no critical
blue pencil, but a notable habit of closing
his Bible and perusing his hymnbook when the preacher expounds
doctrine. Start to drive some practical
application home, and he is with you immediately.
These two men represent opposite extremes. They are both
unbalanced and their attitudes are
dangerous. Each can do a great deal of damage to church life.
In these days when Scripture doctrine is assailed from
many sides, it is especially necessary to
maintain the truth. Skilful campaigns are being waged against the deity
of Christ, the necessity of the
blood of Christ for redemption, the eternity of the punishment of the
unsaved, and a number of other
Bible truths. Experience shows, too, that agnosticism regarding a
doctrine is the first step in denying it.
The brother who says of a certain truth, "Well, I used to believe that.
I'm not sure now. I've been
reading So-and-so, and he puts a different light on it. I don't think
anybody can be sure on such points,"
is probably a good half way to heresy. This type of agnosticism is
increasing among believers with the
increase of higher education. It is the fashionable cant of the
intellectual world, the idea being that truth is
unattainable anyway, and that orthodoxy is the badge of a low
intelligence. But this position cannot be
squared with Christianity. For Christian teaching is a dogmatic
assertion of truth received by divine
revelation. It is "the faith once delivered to the saints." It was
expressed by the apostles, "not in the
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,"
1 Cor. 2:13. To be a straw
Christian "carried about with every wind of doctrine" may be a mark of
intellectual sophistication, but it is
not a mark of spiritual maturity.
The man who is impatient of doctrine and will listen only
to exhortation is acting unreasonably. Right
doctrine is the basis of right action. Doctrine provides the divine
reasons for or against a line of conduct.
Some believers are interested in doctrines which they
believe essential to salvation, but are careless
regarding the doctrine of believer's baptism, or doctrines relating to
the Church. Who gave them
authority to pick and choose? The duty of presenting all the teaching
of Christ is clear from His parting
instructions: "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have
commanded you," Matt. 28:19 & 20.
At the opposite extreme are those whose sole preoccupation
is with doctrine. This, too, can be a
snare, for the devil is cunning. In the hands of such persons even the
beautiful poem of love in 1
Corinthians 13 becomes a doctrinaire statement, a dry as dust analysis
of a theological concept. They
are keenly interested in the Bible, but their interest is intellectual
and not spiritual. If they speak in public
they do not get down to the application of truth but leave that to the
imagination of their hearers; whereas
in Scripture the application is always given in plain, practical words.
The great doctrines of the Church s
destiny are followed in Ephesians by such challenging commands as "Let
him that stole steal no more."
The doctrinaire Christian usually relegates the Epistle of
James to a very inferior place a fact not
without significance, for James thesis is "be ye doers of the word and
not hearers only, deceiving your
own selves," James 1:22.
When Jude wrote "earnestly contend for the faith" he was
pointing to a moral as well as a doctrinal
conflict. For the opponents he had in view not only "denied the only
Lord God" but turned "the grace of
God into lasciviousness."
To contend for anything else but the faith is unchristian.
Yet some persons with a doctrinaire
outlook do not in fact contend for the faith, but for their own
peculiar interpretations. Such
controversialists may insist on a line of things in the local assembly
which cannot be supported by one
clear verse of Scripture. The "proofs" they put forward are commonly
based on some minor detail in a
parable, or on an Old Testament story or principle, the application of
which to the assembly cannot be
demonstrated by plain New Testament teaching. Where such persons become
dominant the assembly
often loses contact with the unsaved and ceases to feed hungry
believers. The fleshly energy behind their
activity is revealed by the fact that they drag in their pet theory
whatever Scripture is under discussion.
This is not the manner of the Spirit of God, who presents truth in its
due proportions.
The balanced believer, seeking to avoid either of these
extremes, will store his mind with
wholesome teaching. He will welcome exposition of the truth, even where
he cannot see its particular
application to his immediate circumstances. But he will also value
exhortation, and will not close his eyes
to the practical claims which the Word of God makes upon him. A man may
learn many things and yet
go on with an unworthy way of life. "But ye have not so learned
Christ." In His blessed person, truth is
shown in its pure and practical out-working. You cannot go on with evil
"if so be that ye have heard him,
and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus." What a pleasure if
next Sunday we should see Tammas
and Jamie united in a balanced appreciation of the whole counsel of
God! Then Jamie s hymnbook
would outlast his Bible, and, who knows? Perhaps on Monday morning the
caretaker would find a
stubby blue pencil amongst the sweepings!
TEST 1 DOCTRINE OF
SCRIPTURE
Place a T (True) or F (False) for your answer at the beginning or end
of the question;
1. The Bible was only for the early Christians to get
things started.
2. The teacher of the word should only do it Sundays.
3. Good doctrine will lead people to godly living.
4. The O.T. was written for our learning.
5. The faith once delivered to the saints is the N.T.
Fill in the blank spaces with the correct word/s
6. Paul taught the Corinthians for ________months.
7. There are some bad ________even doctrines of ________
______
8. We should adorn the _______of God our Saviour in ___
things
9. We should not be ______about by every _____of
doctrine
10. Be ye _____of the _____and not hearers _____.
Name:
Questions & Comments:
If I have made corrections that you do not understand, please write me
for an explanation
If you do not hear from this test in two days please email us
Do you have a friend that would like to do these Lessons? If so, send
me their user name and I will send
them my list. Thank you.
Send answer sheet ONLY to email us Copy and
paste it to
your
emailer and send it to us. We will send you the next lesson.
Return to Course List
Updated April.5th 2005 by Harold Smith