# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1959_S21
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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DOCTRINAL ESSAY 21

we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed”
(Gal. 1:6-8). In 1 Cor.15 Paul directs himself in strong words
against those who denied the resurrection of the body (1 Cor.
15:12-20). In Colossians he attacks what may be called the be-
ginnings of Gnostic errors. He writes: “Beware lest any man
make a prey of you by philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradi-
tion of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”
(Col. 2:8). He warns the Ephesian Christians that they should not
henceforth be “children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning crafti-
ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14). And again,
“Let no man deceive you with vain words” (Eph.5:6). To the
Corinthians Paul writes to be on their guard against “false apostles,
deceitful workers, who transform themselves into the apostles of
Christ.” And he adds: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is trans-
formed into an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:13, 14)

In his letters to Timothy and Titus Paul, as we had already
noted, speaks of the doctrine which he preached as “good” doc-
trine, as “sound,” that is, healthy, wholesome, right, true, doctrine.
As we gather from Paul’s letters themselves, for Paul doctrine is
“good” and “sound” if it is in accord with the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:4); if it is in accordance with Scripture,
that is, the Old Testament Scriptures; if it is “according to god-
liness,” that is, if it is in keeping with the faith of the church
which had been founded through the preaching and teaching of
Jesus and the apostles. In these letters to Timothy and Titus, Paul
expresses also frequent and great concerns about false doctrines.
He warns against people who “occupy themselves with myths and
endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the
divine training that is in faith” (1 Tim. 1:4 RSV); “against deceitful
spirits and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1); against what appears
to be Gnostic heresies: “forbidding marriage and enjoining ab-
stinence from foods which God created to be received with thanks-
giving” (1 Tim. 4:3); against “disputing about words, which does
no good but only ruins the hearers”; against “godless chatter”;
against “stupid, senseless controversies.” (2 Tim. 2:14, 16, 23 RSV)

As one other apostle who warns most seriously against false
and heretical teachers and teachings we mention John. John, like
Paul, is concerned about the true doctrine, that is, the doctrine
about God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to commandments
he had preached and taught the Christians to whom he is writing.
He says: These commandments I have received from the beginning,
that is, from Christ Himself, such as: God is Light; Christians
should walk as He is in the light (1 John 1:5-7). “And this is His