Christian Doctrine as an Organism Photo by Timothy Eberly By Dr. David P. Smith F


ocusing our attention on one particular doctrine to study can have  proceed in ministry. But it is important that we not overlook consid- ering doctrine as a whole, that is, considering the nature and function of Christian doctrine. After all, to the degree that we fail to consider the nature and function of Christian doctrine, then to this same degree we are likely to misunderstand important aspects of any one doctrine that we might choose to focus upon. What is vital for the ministers and elders of the church to recognize is that Christian doctrine is most accurately understood as an organism that is the very life and truth of God that produces eternal life, creates and grows the church and is spreading throughout the whole earth and will one day cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. There are a variety of texts to which we could draw upon to substantiate


 us clarity: Ephesians 2:19-22 and 2 John 9-11. In Ephesians 2:19-22, the apostle Paul wrote: “So, then you are no lon- ger strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”


And then in 2 John 9-11, the apostle John wrote, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone


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comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.” In the Ephesians text, Paul told the Ephesian Christians and all subsequent generations of Chris- tians that they were and are unit- ed together with the apostles and prophets in and through Christ Je- sus. They are, quite literally, God’s work, which he had already af-  Paul actually mixes his metaphors in verses 19-22 because he compares the church to a building that has a cornerstone, who is Jesus and is be- ing built by the Holy Spirit, and at the same time, this building, which is the church, is the dwelling place of the living God and it grows, but it grows into a holy temple in the Lord. So, on one hand, while we think of a building as an inanimate


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