I use this phrase to mean a personal, covenantal relationship with God, involving awareness of his self-revelation, an obedient or disobedient response to that revelation, and the divine blessing or curse upon that response.2 This definition connects our knowledge of God to his lordship (see chapter 3) and to ethics, as I define it below. Doctrine is the Word of God in use to create and deepen one’s knowledge of God, and to encourage an obedient, rather than disobedient,