At a time when I was asking what the relationship was between the gospel (the central message of the Bible) and the other doctrines I also love, I read this:
"Gospel doctrine matters becasue the good news is so full and rich and wonderful that it must be opened like a treasure chest and all its treasures brought out for the enjoyment of the world. Doctrine is the description of these treasures.
... The gospel is not mainly about being explained. Explanation is necessary, but it is not primary.A love letter must be intelligible, but grammar nad logic are not the point. Love is the point. The gospel is good news. Doctrine serves that. It serves the one whose feet are bruised (and beautiful!) from walking to the unreached places with news: "Come, listen to the news of God! Listen to what God has done! Listen! Understand! Bow! Believe!"
- John Piper, God is the Gospel, Crossway, 2005; p.22
In the chapter titled "The Gospel - Proclamation and Explanation"
So, this explanation helps to reinforce a proper understanding of how we are to rightly interpret the Scripture. It is all about explaining the gospel. That is the true beauty of a teaching of the Scripture - it's explanation of the main message of the Bible. For instance, the beauty of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is seen when that doctrine shows how the Holy Spirit and His gifts serve the make the gospel seen by God's children in conversion, sanctification, and glorification. The true beauty of our ecclesiology is seen when the church is the redeemed bride of Christ - redeemed by his blood, by the GOSPEL. The gospel truly does make every doctrine beautiful. But if we go off on tangents with our doctrine, removing the centrality of the gospel it is meant to explain, we cause that doctrine to lose its life-giving source.
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