The Seven Foundational Doctrines of Christ — Part One
Do you know what the seven foundational doctrines of Christ are? Have you heard of those foundational doctrines? Unfortunately, much of the Church hasn’t. Instead, we focus our energies and attention on the deep mysteries of God. But my question is: How can someone grow beyond their foundation? And if our foundation is faulty, how can we not fail in our faith? Yes, the Bible reveals seven foundational truths as the foundation of the Church. Those seven truths, which are revealed in Hebrews 6:1, 2, are as follows: 1) repentance from dead works, 2) faith toward God, 3) doctrine of baptisms, 4) laying on of hands, 5) resurrection of the dead, 6) eternal judgment, and 7) perfection. Those foundational doctrines and our need to understand them is what I’d like to talk about in this post.
Some might ask, Do I really need to understand those seven doctrines? And my answer would be, yes, you need to know these foundational doctrines of Christ. Some might ask, why? And I would answer, because you freedom in Christ is tied to your foundation in His teachings. The teachings of the Church on those seven areas are essential to our faith in Christ. And I would say that, without an understanding of these seven foundational doctrines, we are easy targets for deception. In fact, the writer of Hebrews was seeking to move on from those seven foundational doctrines to perfection not lead believers into the seven foundational doctrines. For us, we need those seven foundational doctrines to be laid once again in the Church.
REPENTENCE FROM DEAD WORKS
The only way to start our journey of faith is at the beginning. And the beginning is always, repentance. Before we can grow in our faith in God, we must be willing to give up “dead works”. What are dead works? The Apostle Paul defines dead works as follows: “the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”. Gal. 5:19-21. The Apostle Paul identifies 17 works of the flesh in those two verses, and he adds to those 17 dead works anything like them. So, the works of the flesh, dead works, are not limited by that list.
Further, the Apostle Paul teaches us that the only way to walk in freedom from those dead works is by “walking in the Spirit”. “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16, NKJV. To walk in the Spirit, we must be led by the Spirit. “[I]f you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Gal. 5:18, NIV. To be led by the Spirit, the Spirit must be in you. “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Rom. 8:9, NIV. And “He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Cor. 3:6, Christian Standard Bible.
Anything and everything not born of the Spirit is of the flesh, dead works. Under the New Covenant, everything begins by and through the Spirit. It’s the Spirit of God who breathes life into the Church. The believer is meant to be totally and completely reliant on the Holy Spirit. Why? Because anything and everything that we begin is by the flesh. And the works of the flesh are always at odds with the fruit of the spiritual life. Spiritual life grows and bears fruit in our lives. We become “like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” Ps. 1:3, NLT. The spiritual life is at odds with the works of the flesh. Always. “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.” Gal. 5:17, NLT.
Repentance from dead works means recognizing and turning from the works of the flesh. When we do that, we begin our journey into the realm of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins to lead us into His realm, the realm of the Spirit. For too long, the Church has been terrified of letting the Spirit of God have His way. Instead, we’ve tried to maintain some semblance of control over the Holy Spirit. Now, we don’t say that. But we do that. We don’t trust the work of the Holy Spirit, so we lean on our own understanding and rely on our own ability. We choose the flesh over the Holy Spirit. That’s why we see so little of the moving of the Holy Spirit. We’ve excluded Him. And we have many churches filled with dead works, things that began, not of the Spirit, but of the flesh. In truth, “the work of each will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire itself will prove the work of each, what sort it is.” 1 Cor. 3:13, Berean Literal Bible.
Repentance from dead works means recognizing and turning from the works of the flesh.
Repentance from dead works enables us to escape the loss of a lifetime. How sad it will be for so many who have built such great things, but they weren’t born of the Spirit. Imagine the weeping that will take place on that day. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” Matt. 7:22, ESV. Many will say those exact words not just a few. They knew Christ’s name, and the knew Christ’s power, but they weren’t led by Christ’s Spirit. As Jesus taught His disciples, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” Jn. 6:63, ESV. Do we truly understand this point of truth? Or do we give lip service to what Christ has said here? In my estimation, I think we are far too reliant on our own ability, we don’t really want to repent of the dead works we have, and we want to continue on our merry way as if everything is okay, even when it isn’t. That describes us today.
We have a lot of cleaning up to do. And that means repenting of those things that we’ve done. Abraham had his Ismael. We have our many Ismaels. We may condemn Abraham for his flesh in sireing Ismael. However, I think few of us, if any, have the same walk of faith that Abraham had. Abraham’s dead works played out in the natural. And we still deal with the works of Abraham’s flesh today. It brings to mind a saying by Sir Walter Scott, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Yes, dead works require practice, lots of practice. Unfortunately, most of us have been practicing dead works for a lifetime. That’s why we need to repent of dead works. It comes so easy for us. And it’s why we need to learn to walk in the Spirit. That’s the only way we can escape the cycle of producing dead works in our lives.
Let us pray!
Post a Comment