Christian Teachings

My prayer is that these Christian teachings are a clear call a clear path to radical discipleship, a zeal for God, and a love for his will. The teachings on this page have been "baptized" in a love for the apostles' teachings and the writings of the early Christians who clung tenaciously to "the faith once delivered to the saints."

What is the Gospel of Jesus?

The true Gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). The righteousness of God will be revealed in it. This means it will produce righteousness by its own power in every believer.

The Gospel of Jesus is heavily compromised in much of the world in order to fill pews and obtain money. Hundreds of years of tradition have taught us to cling tenaciously to views that were unknown to the early Christians and which cannot be defended scripturally. Perhaps directly as a result, 80 to 90% of those who make a profession of faith are not even attending church five years later. (Though, as you can see from the church section above, the church is not something to be "attended" anyway.)

The things that I'm saying are scriptural and historical both, but they do fly in the face of a lot of modern tradition. Therefore, I have broached this subject from many different perspectives.

• The page on the substitutionary atonement is an important prelude to a lot of the teachings in this section.
• What Is the Gospel: A reproduction of a blog post, I believe this is the best place to begin on this subject.
• I Desire Mercy and Not Sacrifice not only addresses this Scripture Jesus quoted from Isaiah, but gives insight into the purpose of the atonement.
• Orthodox Christianity: What does it really mean to have "orthodox" belief?
• I hope to move the articles from my Rest of the Old, Old Story site here soon, but it has several other articles on salvation.
• I wrote one of my more comprehensive, but perhaps harsher teachings under the title The Gospel.
• A direct discussion of faith alone called Sola Fide.
• And a shorter discussion of faith alone at Not by Faith Alone, which discusses James 2:24. (You may or may not know that James 2:24 is the only occurrence of "faith alone" in the Bible.)
• All gifts are free by definition. Yet our Bibles have the redundant phrase "free gift" in them. Why?

I think that the page on TULIP, the five points of Calvinism needs to be in this section as well.

Holy Living, Obedience, and Mercy

• Sound Doctrine
• How to Live Holy
• Present Yourself a Living Sacrifice

The Church

Jesus said that the world would know the Father sent him because of Christian unity (Jn. 17:20-23). Teaching on the Church is basically completely lost to American Christianity. Biblically, our growth as Christians and our testimony to the world hinges on the Church and the unity of the Church.

As you can see from the links, I intend to do several more teachings on this topic.

• The Church as the Purpose of God
• The Church as the Family of God
• The Unity of the Church
• The Pillar and Support of the Truth
• The Church and Christian Growth
• How to Find the True Church!

The History of the Trinity

The Nicene Creed (or its sister, the Apostles Creed) is quoted in all liturgical churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Anglican, some Presbyterian, and others) every week. As far as I know, not one of them believes it except the Eastern Orthodox churches!

The doctrine of the Trinity taught by the council of Nicea (Nicaea)—and contained in the Nicene Creed—is forgotten. I've never met anyone who knows it, though I've met many who've found their teaching very satisfying, answering the many questions they've had as a result of western explanation of the Trinity developed in the Middle Ages.

My pages on the doctrine of the Trinity come in seven parts

• Part 1: The Trinity: A Historical Introduction
• Part 2: Definition of the Trinity
• Part 3: The Son as the Logos of God
• Part 4: Homoousios: The Son is One Substance with the Father
• Part 5: Subordinationism: Were the Pre-Nicene Christians Heretical?
• Part 6: Did the Trinity Doctrine Develop over Time?
• Part 7: An Outline of the Nicene Creed: A Summation

You may find the podcast on the Trinity easier than reading, though you will find an 8-minute summation, shorter than the podcast, on the first Trinity page.

Also, please note that my book, In the Beginning Was the Logos, delves far further into the history of the Council of Nicea and the doctrine of the Trinity.

Salvation, Faith, Works, and the Final Judgment

There are a lot more teachings on this subject. I just have to link them. I have all articles that are on this site listed at the sitemap.

• Primer on Salvation from Sin, Wrath, and Evangelical Theology
• Sola Fide: Salvation by Faith
• Can I Lose My Salvation?

The Creation Vs. Evolution Controversy

It would be nice to never have to bring up this topic, but honesty requires it. Honesty created my position on this issue, and honesty requires me to address it. (Knowing the open, figurative approach of the early Chistians to the old covenant writings and knowing their wholehearted embracing of the message of nature certainly helped as well!)

If you are a Christian in the modern world, the subject will almost certainly find you.

Nature will always proclaim the majesty of God, never take away from it. I have chosen to devote an entire web site to the subject. I no longer own the site, but it is still up (Feb. 28, 2024), and it is only my articles on the site. I will have more on evolution right here on this site as I transfer articles from my teaching site and my blog

"Lost" Early Christian Teachings

These would be teachings that were common in the early Christian writings, but most modern Christians don't know about them. The Trinity, emphasizing subordinationism and one divine "substance," would fall into this category, but I have a whole section on the Trinity above.

Most of these answer questions that eat at modern Christians, making some of the most puzzling Scriptures we face into something easy and obvious.

• The Law of Moses and the "New Law": This is a balanced teaching that is deeply satisfying to those that wonder why Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law.
• The Sabbath
• Bible Interpretation

Miscellaneous Teachings

• Dragons in Heaven?
• Honest Bible translation (related to the "Dragons in Heaven?" teaching)
• Who are "angels of the seven churches" in Revelation?
• Is the Great Commission for all Christians? (Why it's not, and how we'll preach the Gospel to every creature anyway.)
• Christian Missions Advice from Steve Saint (son of Nate Saint, who was martyred in Ecuador in 1956)