Doctrinal Harmony: A Coherent Message

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Doctrine is the Bible's teaching about God, humanity, sin, salvation, and the future. Skeptics sometimes picture the Bible as a patchwork of conflicting views. Believers claim the opposite: that a careful reader finds a consistent doctrinal system from Genesis to Revelation.

One God, Three Persons

The Old Testament insists "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4). The New Testament shows the one God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). The Old Testament already hints at plurality within unity (Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 48:16), and the New Testament makes it explicit [15].

The Person of Christ

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1) and "the Word was made flesh" (John 1:14). Paul adds, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). He is also truly human, tempted "like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

Sin, Grace, and Atonement

The Bible's diagnosis is consistent: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Its remedy is equally consistent, in both Testaments.

Salvation by faith. "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). "But the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). Paul builds on these passages: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Atonement through blood. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls" (Leviticus 17:11). "...and without shedding of blood is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22). The sacrifices of the Law pointed to the One who would bear sin: "the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).
Justice and mercy together. God is "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6), and yet God is just. The cross is where He is revealed as "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). "God is love" (1 John 4:8).

Resurrection and Hope

Paul gives the earliest summary of the gospel: "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The doctrine of final restoration in Revelation 21-22 completes what Genesis 1-3 began.

A Book That Tells the Truth About Its Heroes

Ancient literature usually flatters its heroes. The Bible does not. Abraham lies about his wife (Genesis 12:10-20). Moses is barred from the Promised Land for his disobedience (Numbers 20:12). David commits adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). Peter denies his Lord (Luke 22:54-62). The disciples are slow to believe, even doubting the resurrection (Luke 24:11). Believers argue that such candor suggests authors committed to the truth rather than to public relations.

Scripture Interprets Scripture

The Bible teaches us how to read it: "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). Where a passage seems difficult, other passages shed light. Peter acknowledged that some things in Paul's letters are "hard to be understood" (2 Peter 3:16), yet he counted those letters as Scripture. Genuine difficulties, believers hold, arise from our limits and not from the text's errors.

CHAPTER 8