Doctrines Of Men? - 1 Timothy 6:3

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.- 1 Timothy 6:3

    I have heard some of the wildest expositions on the Bible come from people who stoutly condemn men like Luther, Calvin, or Knox, suggesting that they are pushing some contrived ‘man-driven religion’ over and above the Holy Scriptures. These folks like to use the Aramaic name for Jesus and consistently refer to God as Yahweh. And they almost always insist on quoting only Old Testament Scripture or the ‘red words’ of Jesus contained in the New Testament.
    Using these people’s erroneous interpretations of Scripture, it’s a wonder that they aren’t constantly condemning the words of today’s pastors as too dogmatic and ‘not the word of God!’ To be fair to these purveyors of convoluted thought, I would agree that no, the words of Luther and the Reformation giants are not the inspired words of God. They are simply human words based on the careful exegesis of the Holy Scriptures in all relative languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. In fact, most of the reformers agreed to the consensus of men arrived at by the early church councils dating all the way back to Apostolic period.
    Again, I agree with the critics when they vociferously disagree with the importance of ‘church tradition’ as proposed by the Roman church. Church tradition takes a distant second to Scripture regarding the correct interpretation of God’s Word. Think: Scripture is never wrong; tradition can be and often is wrong.
    And neither are the words of today’s pastors and ministers equal to the very words of God. But to suggest that doctrine is purely man-made delusion is as patently wrong as saying that there is no doctrine within the words of Scripture. “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” - Titus 2:1. The very concept of non-doctrinal Christianity is a sham.
    The very words of Scripture have taught us to test what we are told and taught. We’re not supposed to accept every word that proceeds from the mouths of men as truth.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” - 1 John 4:1. The biblical writers were not naïve or stumbling fools; they knew that there would be surreptitious attempts by evil men to influence and reshape God’s words to meet their diabolic agendas. Even the honest readers of Scripture were convinced that every word had to be meticulously interpreted and their meanings derived from using proper hermeneutics and exegesis. “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” - Act 17:10-11.
    The Bible, even in its earliest manifestations, used the words of the original languages for ‘doctrine.’ Eventually, the term ‘orthodoxy’ would come to denote the understanding of ‘correct views.’ 
    Many people today are of the opinion that ‘doctrine divides.’ Well, it’s supposed to. It’s supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff. If we don’t know what we believe and why we believe it, then how could we possibly know that we have it right?
    I suspect that to suggest that the early church fathers, as well as the Reformers, were simply trying to make up doctrine out of whole cloth is just another way for false teachers to make their personal interpretation hold weight against blessed and more studied men; men who studied the Holy Scriptures in every conceivable manner before concluding not only on what it truly says but also on what it truly means.
    Proper interpretation of Scripture relies on the understanding that the Bible has as its thought two things: God’s relationship with man and our response to God’s divine plan for us. If we misinterpret either aspect of interpretation, we have wrongly interpreted the Word of God. And that is why we must rely on doctrine.