LEARNING GOD’S OWN DOCTRINE
What He Says, Not What Men Say
A Call Back to the Bible by
Gary Ray Branscome
“We speak very clearly, // for if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those
who are lost” (2 Corinthians
One of Satan’s greatest lies, a lie
that has kept millions from understanding the gospel, leads men to assume that
the Bible is full of dark and mysterious statements that need to be explained
by someone. Once that lie has been accepted Satan has the person who believes
it in his snare.
In order to see the evil effects of
that lie upon our society you only need to look around you. The cults are full
of people who have bought into that lie, and as a result run madly after some
false prophet who claims to have the correct explanation. The Church of Rome is
full of people who rarely read their Bible because they have been told that
they cannot understand it. And, there are others who just read their own ideas
into the text, believe what they please, and never come to the knowledge of the
truth because they have fallen for the lie that, “what the Bible says is all a
matter of opinion.
In opposition to Satan’s lie, I want to testify to the
fact that the entire body of doctrine, the doctrine God wants you to believe
and teach, is set forth in statements that are so clear they need no
explanation. Statements that can be understood by anyone who
can read. These statements are not produced by theologians, they are the
words of Scripture itself. All the theologian does is find them and arrange
them according to topic, taking care not to place any meaning on the words
other than the natural grammatical meaning of the words, the same meaning they
would have in everyday conversation, the meaning given them by usage and
context. Let me give just one example:
“Search the scriptures; for in them you think that you
have eternal life: and they are they that testify of me”. John 5:39
“I have written these things to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God”.
1John
Since both of those passages tell us that the Bible
was written to testify of Christ, a theologian might group them under the
heading, “The Purpose of Scripture”. However, the point that I want to make is
that those passages need no explanation. The words mean just what they say. Of
course I realize that some people might reject what they say. Such people may
even invent elaborate “interpretations” aimed at getting around what they say.
However, that does not mean that the Bible is not clear! The Bible means just
what it says. And, the doctrine that God wants you to get from those passages
is what the words themselves say, not what some man claims that they say. [See 2Peter
In keeping with that truth, there is one important distinction that every Christian needs to learn, and that is the distinction between what the Bible says, and what men claim that it says. That distinction may seem obvious, but Satan is continually trying to confuse the two. Consider this example:
In Exodus
When I tell you that the Bible says, “In six days
the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” I am stating
a fact, not an opinion. It is a fact that can be verified by anyone willing to
look up the passage (Exodus
Satan’s Back Door Attack
The idea that the entire body of doctrine, everything that God wants us to believe and teach, is revealed in passages so clear that they need no explanation seems rather simple. However, Satan has come up with various ways of discrediting it, confusing the issues, and keeping people from learning the truth.
One of his ploys is to get those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity to loudly claim that it is not taught in Scripture. Nevertheless, that is just another one of his lies. While the word “trinity” is not found in Scripture, that word is just a name, a name men have given to a doctrine that is taught in Scripture. For example:
The Bible plainly tells us that, “There is one God; and
there is none other but He” (Mark
The Father is God; “Jehovah, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; and we all are the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).
The Son
is God; “And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God” (John
And, the Holy Ghost is God; “But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost ... You have not lied to men, but to God” (Acts 5:3-4).
There are many other passages that I could add, but, rightly understood, the doctrine of the Trinity is the perfect example of what I have been saying. Namely, that the doctrine that God wants us to teach is plainly stated in Scripture, “truth upon truth; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-10).
Another ploy that Satan uses is have people who are reading unscriptural assumptions and ideas into the text, claim that they are only teaching what the Bible says. There is one particular sect which claims that the Bible is it’s creed, when in fact it reads unscriptural assumptions into the text, draws unscriptural conclusions from those assumptions, and explains away what the Bible actually says whenever it does not agree with their ideas. Let me give just one example:
The Bible tells us that “all unrighteousness is sin,” and
that includes the unrighteousness of a heart that is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked (1John
Now, my reason for mentioning this is to illustrate the
importance of teaching exactly what the Bible says, without any explanation. If
you do that you will have God’s own doctrine. That doctrine (the doctrine
plainly stated in Scripture, without any explanation) is the standard by which
everything else in the Bible is to be interpreted. Any idea or interpretation
that contradicts a clear statement of Scripture is to be rejected (Isaiah
The Clear Light of God’s Word
The
following passages set forth the doctrine of the “Clarity of Scripture”. Psalm
119:105. Psalm 19:7, 2Timothy
These
set forth the doctrine of the “Purpose of Scripture”. John
These set forth the doctrine of “Divorce”. Deuteronomy 24:1, Matthew
Furthermore, all of the
doctrines clearly stated in Scripture relate to Bible history. All that the Law
says about our sin and need of a Savior relates to the Fall,
for it reveals our fallen nature. All that the Bible says
about Christ, the fact that He was without sin and the fact that He is both
true man and true God, relates to the Virgin Birth. And, all that the
Bible says about our salvation relates to Christ’s death, burial and
resurrection.
Moreover, the doctrines
that set forth the truth of our salvation are plainly revealed in Scripture.
The doctrine of Universal Condemnation, Romans 3:10-20. The doctrine of the
Proper Relationship of Law to Gospel, Romans 3:19-24. The doctrine of
Justification by Faith, Romans 3:21-28. The doctrine of Imputed Righteousness,
Romans 4:1-24. The doctrine of the Atonement, Romans 5:6-11. The doctrine of
the Fall and Redemption, Romans 5:12-21.
God does not want us
teaching our own opinions and interpretations. All interpretations are the word
of man. He wants us to teach His Word not our word. And, doing exactly that is
important to the salvation of souls. For example:
The verse,
“You are saved by grace through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,” is a clear statement of
Scripture that means just what it says (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Likewise, the verse, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,” is also a clear passage. However, together they tell us that God’s grace is His mercy (Titus 3:5).
The verse, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace,” then tells us that the “grace” which saves us consists of the “forgiveness of sins,” and that that forgiveness is available to us through His blood (Ephesians 1:7).
The words, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us of all sin,” then assure us that Christ has atoned for all of our sins (1John 1:7).
In that way, all of the doctrinal truths that are
plainly stated in Scripture, “line upon line; here a little, and there a
little,” agree together, giving us the doctrine that God wants taught (Isaiah
28:10).
Conclusion
It is totally dishonest for men to read their own
opinions into the Bible, interpret it to agree with their own ideas, and then
call their conclusions the Word of God. Those who do so are not only adding to
God’s Word, they are lying in God’s name (Proverbs 30:6). The only doctrine
that can honestly be called “God’s Doctrine,” is the doctrine that is actually
written down, the actual words of the text without any explanation.