Part 3. Some Other Useful Doctrines

Respect God's Oaths
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“When God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he sware by himself” Hebrews 6:13 RV.

While other useful doctrines are not specifically stated to be absolute requirements to be a Christian, some come close to it.  It would be foolish – even faithless – to contradict whatever God has sworn to do.  God promised Abraham, “in thee shall all the families of the land be blessed,” and later He swore that, “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves” (Genesis 12:3, 22:18 RVIC).*15*

If we disbelieve that God and Christ will bless all families, and that under Christ all nations will cooperatively bless themselves, do we not demonstrate lack of faith?  If we teach that all means only the few, do we not call God a liar?  If we deny Him, will He not also deny us? (2 Timothy 2:12).

Consider the logical consequences of what we believe regarding God’s sworn promise to Abraham.  If we teach that God will torture the multitudes for ever and ever, do we not say to the hearers that it hardly matters what they do to people they do not like, because it would pale compared to their eternal suffering at the hands of God?*16*

Contrariwise, if God will oversee the reforming of the vast majority of the human race, then there is a reason to learn to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).  Unless we learn to be kind even to our enemies now, we will not be part of the seed of Abraham to bless all the families of the earth in Christ’s kingdom.

Defeat through Distraction

Satan has often beaten down a truth, not by confronting it head-on, but by creating a side-issue and homing in on it.  In A.D. 313, when Arius pleaded for a restoration of primitive purity in an Alexandrian church gone worldly, Athanasius responded – not by accusing Arius of being too pious, of course – but by accusing him of heresy: teaching that Jesus had been a created being (even though created before all time).  The struggle between the two sides was not resolved by alternate banishments and recalls, but by Arius being poisoned to death.  Immorality and violence thusly became entrenched in the organized church.

Modern Dangers

The apostle John writes, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15 RV).  Nowadays many seem to think John should have said, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is God…”  It has become a watchword in much of “mainstream Christianity” that one must believe that God is a Trinity or one is not Christian.  Apart from the thesis being false, the Christian world is thus led to believe that it is relatively unimportant whether God will bless ALL the families of the land – whether the glad tidings announced by the angel at Jesus’ birth shall be to ALL the people – or whether God even meant what He swore!

Could we become so preoccupied with whether the thousand years of Christ’s kingdom begins at Christ’s return, or when the church is complete, that we forget to tell the world what Christ’s thousand-year kingdom will do for them and how it will fulfill God’s oath to Abraham?  Let us believe God’s oath and live according to it.