Many modern Christians bristle at the word "doctrine," viewing it as cold or divisive. In popular culture, doctrine is often contrasted unfavorably with "relationship" — as though learning what Christ taught were somehow the enemy of knowing Christ personally.
But the Apostle John would not recognize this dichotomy. In 2 John 9, he writes: "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God." To depart from Christ's doctrine is not merely to hold wrong opinions — it is to lose God entirely.
In Exodus 24:3–8, Moses read "all the words of the LORD" to Israel, the people pledged obedience, and Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant. The terms of the covenant and the blood that sealed it were inseparable. Christ follows the same pattern. His doctrine constitutes the terms of the New Covenant. His blood seals them. To embrace the blood while rejecting the terms is a contradiction.
This is not legalism. It is the nature of covenant. Grace is God's provision of the perfect Mediator who now calls us to walk in His ways by faith.
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