What is it to "abide" in the "doctrine" of Christ? To abide is to live with and have intimate knowledge and converse with someone. It is to imitate the noetic life of the Trinity, where each person perfectly abides with the other.
The doctrine of Christ is all these things: Who He is, What He has done, Which commands he has given to us to fulfill. This is a trinity of doctrines, each inseparable from the other.
We cannot follow His commands if we do not know Who He is; This is why true Christian prayer is intensely dogmatic and Christological. In different chants and hymns the church meditates on the immutable dogmas of Who God is, Father Son and Holy Spirit, one in essence and indivisible, and especially concentrates on the Son of God, who, incarnated, made us capable of assimilating and living these dogmas.
If dogma, the "doctrine of Christ", is is only believed in the mind, it is useless for our soul, and indeed, will always become corrupted. We must "abide" in dogma.
To do this we must have three things: proper knowledge of the truths of God, a desire to follow the commandments, and the ability to achieve righteousness.
The first God has revealed through His prophets, the life of the church, the Holy Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit abiding in the soul of the true believer, the second we must supply from our own inward desires, and the third God has supplied, through the God-man fulfilling all righteousness and making our human nature capable of becoming divine.
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Dogma - pertaining to God, His nature, His actions. The entire Symbol of Faith contains a summary of many of the important dogmas of the Christian Faith. All dogma is moral in nature. for instance, we believe that God is our Father, so we must live as sons and daughters of a perfect Father should live. There are innumerable "dogmas", all log which are derived from Who God is. For instance, it is a dogma that we should love all men, since God is love.
Christological. Dogmas pertaining to Jesus Christ.
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2 John 1:1-13 1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; 2 For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. 3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. 12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full. 13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
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