How Do We Build Sound Doctrine?
Every Christian wants to understand the Bible correctly. The question is not whether doctrine matters, but how we arrive at sound doctrine.
Sound doctrine begins with sound Bible study. Before deciding what we believe, we must first understand what the biblical writers intended to communicate. Doctrine should grow out of Scripture rather than being read into it.
For that reason, we should never build an entire doctrine on one isolated verse. The Bible was written as a unified revelation, and God's truth is often explained by many passages rather than just one. Good Bible study gathers all that God has revealed on a subject before drawing conclusions.
This also means recognizing the difference between what the Bible clearly teaches and the conclusions we draw from its teaching. Sometimes Scripture speaks directly. At other times we must carefully reason from the evidence. Those conclusions may be sound, but we should always remember the difference between God's inspired Word and our understanding of it.
Sound doctrine also requires humility. None of us knows everything, and all of us continue to learn. Our goal is not to defend our opinions but to understand God's Word as accurately as we can.
As you study the Bible, ask yourself:
Have I considered all the relevant passages?
Am I respecting the context?
Have I understood the author's purpose?
Am I allowing Scripture to explain Scripture?
Those questions will help you build conclusions on the whole counsel of God rather than on isolated verses or personal assumptions.
The goal of Bible study is not simply to know more. It is to know God better, follow Christ more faithfully, and live according to His will.
GOING DEEPER
Sound Doctrine Is Built, Not Found in a Single Verse
Most important Bible teachings are not contained in one convenient verse that answers every question.
Instead, God gives us information in different places. One writer may emphasize one part of a subject while another emphasizes something else.
Our responsibility is to hear all of them before reaching our conclusion.
That sounds obvious. But it is surprisingly easy to begin with one verse we know well and then make every other passage fit what we have already decided.
Sound doctrine works in the opposite direction:
Gather the evidence first. Conclude later.
Consider Salvation
Suppose someone asks:
“What does the Bible say a person must do to be saved?”
We could begin with John 3:16:
“Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
That's Scripture. Faith clearly matters.
But have we finished our study?
Jesus also said:
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
— Luke 13:3
Paul told the Philippian jailer:
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
— Acts 16:31
Peter told the people at Pentecost:
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...”
— Acts 2:38
Ananias told Saul:
“Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
— Acts 22:16
Paul wrote:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith...”
— Ephesians 2:8
And James wrote:
“Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
— James 2:24
Now we have some work to do.
The answer cannot be to choose our favorite verse and explain the others away.
We need to ask:
What does each writer mean?
What question is each passage answering?
How do grace, faith, repentance, confession, baptism, and obedient living fit together?
That is how doctrine is built.
Don't Make One Truth Cancel Another Truth
Ephesians 2:8-9 says:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith... Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Someone might conclude:
“Works therefore have absolutely nothing to do with the Christian life.”
But keep reading one more verse:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works...”
— Ephesians 2:10
Paul hasn't contradicted himself between verses 9 and 10.
He has distinguished between works as the basis of our salvation and good works as the life God created the saved person to live.
This illustrates an important principle:
Never use one biblical truth to erase another biblical truth.
If our interpretation of verse 9 makes verse 10 impossible, something is wrong with our interpretation.
Paul and James: Contradiction or Different Questions?
Paul writes:
“A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
— Romans 3:28
James writes:
“By works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”
— James 2:24
Put those two sentences on a sheet of paper without context and they appear almost contradictory.
So which one do we choose?
Neither.
We study both.
Paul is arguing against people who rely upon works as the basis for standing righteous before God.
James is confronting people who claim to possess faith while their lives produce no corresponding action.
James asks:
“What doth it profit... though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
— James 2:14
Paul attacks boasting in works.
James attacks a faith that does not work.
Once we understand the questions each writer is answering, much of the apparent contradiction disappears.
Description Is Not Necessarily Command
Building doctrine from the whole Bible also requires recognizing the difference between something Scripture records and something Scripture requires.
Acts tells us that the early Jerusalem Christians:
“sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”
— Acts 2:45
Does that mean every Christian in every century is commanded to sell all his possessions upon conversion?
Acts records that it happened.
But description alone does not automatically establish a universal command.
On the other hand, when Jesus tells His apostles:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them...”
— Matthew 28:19
we are dealing with an expressed instruction.
So when building doctrine, ask:
Is this telling me what happened?
or
Is this telling God's people what they are to do?
Sometimes an inspired example helps us understand how a command was practiced. But we should not automatically turn every historical detail into a law.
Commands Also Have Context
Even a direct command must be interpreted.
Jesus told one man:
“Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor...”
— Luke 18:22
Must every Christian therefore sell everything he owns?
Before answering, notice the situation.
Jesus was addressing a particular man whose possessions had become a barrier to following Him.
Other Christians in the New Testament continued to own houses and property.
So the mere grammatical form “Do this” does not automatically make a command universal.
We still ask:
Who was commanded?
Why?
Does the rest of Scripture apply this command to everyone?
Context still matters.
What About Biblical Examples?
Examples can teach us something important.
Acts 20:7 says:
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread...”
That tells us something Christians actually did.
But how much doctrine should we build from an example?
We should ask whether the example fits other teaching in Scripture.
Is it repeated?
Does an apostle approve it?
Does it illustrate a command or principle taught elsewhere?
Not every action recorded in Acts becomes a requirement merely because Christians did it once.
Paul circumcised Timothy.
Paul also shaved his head.
Paul traveled by ship.
Those are inspired historical facts.
They are not necessarily universal Christian practices.
What About Necessary Conclusions?
Sometimes Scripture gives us facts from which a conclusion necessarily follows even though no single verse states the conclusion in exactly those words.
Jesus used this kind of reasoning.
The Sadducees denied the resurrection.
Jesus quoted God's statement to Moses:
“I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Then Jesus concluded:
“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
— Matthew 22:32
The resurrection was not explicitly stated in the quotation.
Jesus reasoned from what the text necessarily implied.
So careful inference has a legitimate place in Bible study.
But there is an important safeguard:
Does the conclusion necessarily follow from the biblical evidence—or is it merely possible?
We should never give our deductions the same authority as an explicit statement of Scripture unless the conclusion truly follows from what God has revealed.
Silence Requires Special Care
This brings us to a difficult question:
What should we do when Scripture says nothing about something?
Sometimes silence matters greatly.
If God specifies something, we should take His specification seriously.
Hebrews makes an interesting argument about Jesus' priesthood. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah:
“of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.”
— Hebrews 7:14
Under the Law, priests came from Levi. The fact that Moses said nothing about priests from Judah mattered because God had already specified the tribe from which priests were to come.
But we must also be careful not to manufacture laws out of every biblical silence.
The question becomes:
Has God specified something that excludes alternatives, or has He simply chosen not to address the matter?
That question will become particularly important when we study Biblical Authority.
Doctrine Must Account for the Whole Story
This is especially important when studying the Old and New Testaments.
Suppose we build a doctrine entirely from the Law of Moses without asking what Christ and the apostles later revealed.
We could end up requiring animal sacrifices, Levitical priests, circumcision, dietary restrictions, and festival observance.
All of those things are biblical.
But that does not mean all of them govern Christians.
Hebrews explains that Christ's sacrifice accomplished what repeated animal sacrifices could not.
Galatians addresses circumcision.
Acts 15 addresses the relationship of Gentile Christians to the Law.
The question is not merely:
“Is this in the Bible?”
The question is:
“Where does this fit in God's unfolding revelation?”
A Doctrine Should Survive the Difficult Verses
Here is a useful test.
Once you think you understand a doctrine, don't merely collect the verses that support it.
Go looking for the passages that seem to challenge it.
If you believe salvation is by faith, study James 2.
If you believe a Christian cannot fall away, carefully study Hebrews 6, Hebrews 10, and the warnings to the churches in Revelation 2–3.
If you believe a Christian can lose salvation accidentally every time he sins, study the passages emphasizing God's faithfulness, grace, forgiveness, and preservation.
If you believe the kingdom is entirely future, study passages that describe Christians as already receiving or entering the kingdom.
If you believe the kingdom is entirely present with no future dimension, study the passages that look forward to the final consummation.
Don't be afraid of the difficult verses.
A sound doctrine should account for them.
Beware of Building a System First
Theological systems can be useful. They help us organize large amounts of biblical information.
But there is a danger.
Once we become committed to a system, we may begin reading every passage through that system.
Then instead of asking:
“What does this passage mean?”
we unconsciously ask:
“How does this passage fit what I already believe?”
That reverses the proper order.
Our doctrine should be the result of exegesis.
Exegesis should not become the servant of our doctrine.
How Confident Should We Be?
Not every biblical conclusion deserves the same level of confidence.
Some things are explicitly stated:
Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus rose from the dead.
God calls people to repent.
Other conclusions require comparing several passages and reasoning from them.
Still others remain difficult, with sincere students reaching different conclusions.
Humility does not mean refusing to reach conclusions.
It means recognizing the difference between:
“God explicitly said this”
and
“After considering the evidence, this is the conclusion I believe best explains it.”
Those are not quite the same statement.
Build Doctrine Like a Case, Not a Slogan
When studying an important subject, try this:
First: Gather the passages that clearly address it.
Second: Read each one in context.
Third: Determine what question each writer is answering.
Fourth: Notice whether you are reading history, command, example, poetry, prophecy, or another kind of literature.
Fifth: Look for explanations given by other inspired writers.
Sixth: Include the passages that appear to challenge your conclusion.
Seventh: Ask what conclusion best accounts for all the evidence.
Only then say:
“This is what I believe the Bible teaches.”
That takes longer than quoting one verse.
But if truth matters, it is worth the effort.
Because sound doctrine is not built by asking:
“Which verse proves my position?”
It is built by asking:
“What conclusion best accounts for everything God has revealed?”
That is the difference between using the Bible to defend a doctrine and allowing the Bible to build one.
Continue Your Study
Applying the principles you've learned to your own Bible study.
Related Bible Studies
What Is Context?
What Did the Author Intend?
How Does the Bible Interpret Itself?
Can One Verse Build an Entire Doctrine?
What Happens When We Take Verses Out of Context?
Companion Video
How Do We Build Sound Doctrine?
Read First. Conclude Later.