I've been doing some thinking recently, and I have a question that has stemmed from it.

As I've been looking at the Bible and at some of the major events of church history, it seems to me that from the time the book of Acts took place up until (for an example) the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, etc.) that doctrine has grown and expanded. In Acts, all they talked about (for the most part) was Jesus and the sovereignty of God. As time went on, other doctrines came to fruition; things like baptism, predestination, and the trinity. That isn't to say that these doctrines were new, but that they came to maturity through time.

Also, as time progressed, it seems like the understanding of, for example, baptism, predestination, and the trinity changed slightly. Views of the end times changed as well. Again, I'm not saying that new doctrines emerged, but that the understanding of them grew and became more complete.

From that time (the time of the Reformers) onward, though, it seems as though doctrine stopped growing. It appears as though somewhere we Protestants decided that we had a complete understanding of doctrine; like we didn't need any new and further teachings on our doctrines. It sppears that somewhere Protestantism decided that it had all the answers it needed and closed the door of the mind to even fuller and better understandings of doctrine (maybe not intentionally though).

So my question is, when did doctrine stop growing? When was it decided that we had as much as we needed to know and that there would be no further growth or more complete understanding of the doctrines we hold to? Why do we condemn many, if not most, "new" understandings of some of our doctrines without question, yet, at the same time, accept what was newly revealed to men like Luther and Calvin without question? Is God not still revealing more of Himself through Scripture and guiding us to a fuller understanding of doctrine or did He stop doing that at some point?

***NOTE: My questions refer to Protestantism as a whole, not to individual Christians. I am well aware that individual Christians are guided into fuller understandings of doctrine as they study the Bible and mature in their walk.***

Last edited by Kalled2Preach; Sat Dec 17, 2005 5:45 PM.