The following is an outline of basic Christian Doctrine.
It's brief, accurate, and informative. As with any venture into learning you must first
begin with the basics. The basics are the foundation of your Christian life. If you learn
what is here, you will be well informed and knowledgeable. All you need to do is get
grounded in the fundamentals and from there cultivate your Christian walk: "Therefore
let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" ( Heb. 6:1 ).
A building is only as strong as its foundation.
The Bible
The Bible consists of 66 books: 39 in the O.T. and 27 in the new. (Note: 3 x 9
= 27).
The O.T. has 23,214 verses. The N.T. has 7,959 verses.
The Bible took about 1600 years to write.
It was written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) by about 40 authors and
is internally consistent throughout.
The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed
by John Purvey in A.D. 1388.
The first American edition of the Bible was perhaps published some time before A.D.
1752.
The Bible has been translated in part or in whole as of 1964 in over 1,200 different
languages or dialects.
The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton about A.D. 1228.
The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in A.D. 1448 and the New
Testament by Robert Stephanus in A.D. 1551.
Old Testament -- a total of 39 books and has 5 main divisions:
Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy), Historical (Joshua to Esther), Poetic (Job to Song
of Solomon), Major Prophets (Isaiah to Daniel), Minor Prophets (Hosea to Malachi).
New Testament -- a total of 27 books and has 4 main divisions
Gospels (Matthew to John), History (Acts), Epistles (Romans to Jude), Prophetic
(Revelation).
Reliability of the biblical documents.
The Bible is 98½ percent textually pure. This means that through all the copying of the
Biblical manuscripts of the entire Bible, only 1½% has any question about it. Nothing in
all of the ancient writings of the entire world even approaches the accuracy of
transmission found in the biblical documents.
The 1½ percent that is in question does not affect doctrine. The areas of interest are
called variants and they consist mainly in variations of wording and spelling.
The O.T. does not have as many supporting manuscripts as the N.T. but it is,
nevertheless, remarkably reliable.
The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew O.T. done around 250 B.C.,
attests to the reliability and consistency of the O.T. when it is compared to existing
Hebrew manuscripts.
The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 also verify the reliability of the O.T.
manuscripts.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were ancient documents that were hidden in a cave in
Israel about 2000 years ago. The scrolls contained many O.T. books, one of them being
Isaiah.
Before the Dead Sea scrolls, the earliest existing manuscript of the O.T. was
dated around 900 A.D. called the Masoretic Text. The Scrolls contained O.T. documents 1000
years earlier. A comparison between the manuscripts revealed an incredible accuracy of
transmission through copying, so much so that critics were silenced.
The N.T. has over 5000 supporting Greek manuscripts existing today with another 20,000
manuscripts in other languages. Some of the manuscript evidence dates to within 100 years
of the original writing. There is less than a 1% textual variation in the N.T.
manuscripts.
Estimated time of writing of the N.T. documents
Paul's Letters, 50-66 A.D.
Matthew, 70-80 A.D.
Mark, 50-65 A.D.
Luke, early 60's
John, 80-100 A.D.
Revelation 96 A.D.
Some of the supporting manuscripts of the N.T. are:
John Rylands MS written around 130 A.D., the oldest existing fragment of the
N.T.
Bodmer Papyrus II (150-200 A.D.)
Chester Beatty Papyri (200 A.D.), contains major portions of the N.T.
Codex Vaticanus (325-350 A.D.), contains nearly all the Bible.
Codex Sinaiticus (350 A.D.), contains almost all the N.T. and over half of the
O.T.
No other ancient writing can boast of having copies so close to the original
time of writing. With the Bible, the difference is about 50 years. With Plato and
Aristotle, for example, the difference is measure in hundreds of years.
Prophecy and mathematical odds of fulfillment.
The odds of Jesus fulfilling 48 of the 61 major prophecies concerning Him are 1 in
10(157); that is a one with 157 zeros behind it.
By comparison, the estimated number of electrons in the entire known universe is about
10(79); that is a one with 79 zeros behind it.
Inspiration and Inerrancy - The Bible is inspired by God. Inspiration means that God,
through the Holy Spirit, caused the writers of the Bible to write the accurate and
authoritative self revelation of God. It is God breathed ( 2 Tim. 3:16 ) through the
instrumentation of the apostles and prophets ( 2 Pet. 1:21 ).
It is without error in the original manuscripts and absolutely reliable and true in all
areas it addresses.
Every true Christian accepts the inspiration and authority of the Bible.
"To worship God is to serve and proclaim Him; to serve God is to proclaim
and worship Him; to proclaim God is to worship and serve Him."
The name of God is Jehovah, or Yahweh. It is comprised of the four Hebrew consonants .
The precise pronunciation of God's name has been lost. In Exodus 3:14 God proclaims His
name to be "I AM." "God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what
you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'" (NIV)
God is a Trinity - One God who exists simultaneously in three persons. Each is
coequal, copowerful, and coeternal with the other (See pages 18, 71 for more information
on the Trinity.) Each person, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is not the other. Without
either there is no God; all comprise the one God.
The Doctrine of the Trinity is opposed to:
Modal Monarchianism, also known as Jesus Only - There is one person in the
Godhead who took three consecutive forms or modes. First there was the Father who then
became the Son who then became the Holy Spirit.
Present groups are the United Pentecostal and United Apostolic churches. This
doctrine is incorrect. It denies the true doctrine of the Trinity.
Dynamic Monarchianism - Only one person in the Godhead, the Father. Jesus and the
Holy Spirit are not God.
Present groups are the Jehovah's Witnesses, World Wide Church of God,
Christadelphianism, and The Way International. This doctrine is incorrect. It denies the
Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Christianity is monotheistic - Only one God in existence, anywhere, anytime. See Isaiah 44:6,8; 45:6,14,18,21,22 for verses that teach monotheism.
Christianity is opposed to:
Polytheism - Belief in many Gods.
Monolatry - Belief in more than one God but serve and worship only one, i.e.
Mormonism.
Pantheism - God is in the world, God is the world - New Age Movement.
Deism - God exists, but is not involved in the world.
Theism - God exists, and is involved in the world.
He did not make the world out of a substance called "nothing."
Specifically it was Jesus, the firstborn ( Col. 1:15 ), second person of the Trinity, who
created all things ( Col. 1:16 -17; Isaiah 44:24 ).
Because God created all things, He is before all things and beyond all things.
Therefore, the entire universe is under His control.
Because God created all things, He is able to provide for His creation through the means
of His creation, i.e. weather, rain, plants, animals, sunshine, etc.
Opinions on the duration of creation differ. Some say 6 days; others say 6 long periods.
Man
Creation of man
Man is not only the crown of creation, but also the object of God's special care.
Man was originally made pure, without sin.
"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the
earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:26-27; see also, 2:7,21-23 ).
"Let us make man..." is a disclosure of the divine counsel
before the creation of man, "us" being the Trinitarian counsel. See also Gen. 11:7 .
Man was created different than the animals. He had the breath of life breathed
into him from God ( Gen. 2:7 ). The animals did not. Also Man was given dominion over the
animals. Man can know God, worship Him, and love Him. Animals cannot.
Is Man made of two or three "parts"?
Dichotomy is a term which signifies a division into 2 parts: Body and
Soul. The words "spirit" and "soul" are often used interchangeably.
"Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior,'" ( Luke 1:46 -47).
"My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for
you...," ( Isaiah 26:9 ).
Trichotomy is a term which signifies a division into 3 parts: Body, Soul, and Spirit.
"May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May
your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ" ( 1 Thess. 5:23 ).
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged
sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart," ( Heb. 4:12 ).
There is no official orthodox position on the number of parts of man.
The Origin of the soul
Traducianism: "The souls of men are propagated along with the bodies by
generation, and are therefore transmitted to the children by the parents." (Berkhoff,
Systematic Theology. p. 197.)
Creationism: "The soul is a creation of God, owing its origin to a direct creative
act." (Berkhoff, p. 199).
Except for Adam, the Bible makes no clear remark regarding the origin of the soul.
Man was created in the image of God.
This means that Man has moral and intellectual abilities similar to God though
not as perfect and vast.
"God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...'"
( Gen. 1:26 ).
"...and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image
of its Creator" ( Col. 3:10 ).
Man is above the animals in "rational ability, moral awareness, pursuit of
beauty, use of language, and spiritual awareness."
Man before the Fall.
The Law of God was written in their hearts. Adam and Eve were without sin and
"endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness after God's own image, with
the ability to keep the Law of God." (Westminster Confession of Faith, 4:2.)
In this state man had free and unhindered access to God. This is exemplified in the
account in Gen. 3:8 where God was walking in the Garden.
Man, the Fall, and its effects
Adam and Eve rebelled against God and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit.
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" ( Rom. 5:12 ,
NIV).
What was their sin?
They listened to Satan and ate of the fruit that was forbidden by God
( Gen. 3:1 -13).
The phrase "in Adam" indicates our relation to Adam, that he
represented us in the garden. In the same way, our being "in Christ" indicates
our relation to Jesus, that He represent us on the cross ( Rom. 5:18 ; 6:11; 8:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 15:22; 2 Cor. 5:19 ).
Our sin with Adam: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and
death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Rom.
5:12). See also Rom. 5:18 ; 1 Cor. 15:22 .
Man after Death and before the resurrection.
The intermediate state
This is the condition of the soul between the death of the body and the
resurrection.
