Doctrine of Christ

“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,

hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ,

he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9)

Much is said in regard to preaching Christ and not Doctrine. But how is it possible to preach Christ apart from Doctrine? Christ is not an abstraction but a living person, a being. If then, we preach Him, we must preach His Divinity and His humanity and His mediatorship between God and man. If we preach what He has done, we must declare His humiliation, His death and His effectual sacrifice by which He has therein made for sin. If we preach Him as He is, we must proclaim His enthronement in Heaven, His intercession with the Father and His headship of the church, with all the commands and ordinances He has instituted for it. And if we preach Him as He shall be, we must affirm the final triumph of His Gospel, His second coming, the resurrection, the judgment and the glory to which He will raise His people with Himself.

It is not possible to preach Christ apart from Doctrine for His incarnation and vicarious death presuppose the fall and depravity and guilt of men and their need of redemption, justification and sanctification and His resurrection and glorification of His church. The Doctrine of Scripture is founded on Christ and it is through that Doctrine that Christ is revealed by the Spirit.