Lesson 2
Jesus Christ dictated Church Doctrine and the Apostles wrote it down as they traveled throughout Europe and Africa sharing the Good News.
I highly encourage that you read the New Testament in its entirety in order to fully understand the early days of the Church. In this lesson, we are focussing on three foundational doctrinal teachings that are crucial for this course. Once again, I implore you to read the New Testament on your own as this is a broad overview of Church doctrine defined by the Apostles, the Students of Christ.
Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. And you are among those Gentiles who have been called to belong to Jesus. I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people.
"...you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people."
This is a powerful example of God's forgiveness. Rome had taken over Israel, the homeland of His Chosen People, and Rome had executed Christ. Yet through forgiveness, God welcomes the Gentiles of Rome into His Kingdom through Christ.
To be "Gentile" is to not be Jewish.
But if the Gentiles are not Jews, God's chosen people, how can Gentile be saved?
This question is answered in Romans 11.
But some of these branches from Abraham's tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree.
God welcomes us as His people because He, through grace, grafts us into His people.
In verse 18, there is another crucial principle that must be addressed before we continue with this lesson.
But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.
This is crucial, especially today, because there are some people in the Church and politics who do not respect the root, Abraham's decedents. They are still God's Chosen People, and while we have been grafted in, we must not be disrespectful or boastful towards them.
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Some of you are saying, "I am a follower of Paul." Others are saying, "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Peter," or "I follow only Christ." Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
Even in the First Generation of the Church, misguided factions were already forming. These factions were not following Christ, but instead following the Apostles. The Apostles were Christ's messengers. They did not die to save anyone from sin, only Christ did that.
The schism that we see in today's Church between the three largest factions, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, is the same schism that the Apostles saw forming in the first generation. Members of the Church were becoming misguided and following the Apostles, not Jesus Christ.
There are people today who claim that the Bible's teachings on marriage are "outdated" or "only for that time." The Bible, in Romans, addresses marriage and the natural consequences of rejecting God's design.
That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives beca,e foll of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
As illustrated in Romans 1:26-29, a rejection of God and His design for marriage leads man to all kinds of other sin. This passage examples the importance of following His instructions and no discounting certain ones because they do not align with our or the world's desires.
But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.
Marriage is a vow before the Lord and the spouse. To break this vow is to break a vow with the Lord. He instructs us that once married, we are to stay married. If the spouses part ways, they are to remain single.
One reason given for divorce is the difference of faiths. As further explained in 1st Corinthians 7:12-16, the marriage is to still stand. "...For the Christian wife bring holiness to her marriage, and the Christian husband brings holiness to his marriage..."
These are just three core principles that we are addressing in this lesson, but there is so much more in the New Testament and I implore you to read and study it. This lesson is just to get you started in your study and provide a doctrinal foundation for the rest of this course on the history of the church.
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