06 THE GLORY OF THE CROSS

IN the last part of the fifth chapter, and in the sixth, we learn the practical character of the entire Epistle. Hasty readers are likely to think that there is a division in it, and that the latter part treats of practical, spiritual life, while the first part is devoted to theoretical doctrines. This is a great error. No part of the Bible is theory; it is all fact. There is no part of the Bible that is not spiritual and practical. Moreover, it is all doctrine. Doctrine means teaching. Christ’s talk to the multitudes on the mount is called doctrine, because “He opened His mouth and taught them.” Some people express a sort of contempt for doctrine; they speak slightingly of it, as though it belonged to the realm of abstruse theology, and not to practical, every-day life. Such ones unconsciously do dishonor to the preaching of Christ, which was nothing else but doctrine. That is to say, He always taught the people. All true doctrine is intensely practical; it is given to men for no other purpose than to be practiced.GTI 230.1