Question: .

Hi!

Would you please list for me those doctrines that are essential for all Christians? I think one needs to know what the essentials are, as well as what they are not, especially since there are so many that are teaching unbiblical and false doctrine (such as word of faith and similar teachings).

-Gene

Answer:

Hello Gene!

Great question, but not so easily answered quickly. Down through time the body of Christ has learned at least one big lesson from history. Jude 3 tells us that the faith has been once for all entrusted to the saints. Jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. So, we can look to history to see those things that have been affirmed, re-affirmed, etc. as well as those issues that have been redefined, reformed, etc.

Essential Christian teaching was organized, early in the history of the church, into creeds. These creeds teach essential doctrine of the historic and orthodox faith. They simply organize biblical teaching (in the vast majority of cases, there may be a point or two that are addressed later - but even those, like the Westminster Confession, have been subjected to the test of time). Modern, innovative, speculative, and esoteric teachings are almost all outside of the creeds, and thus suspect as non-essential at best - at worst, misleading and unbiblical, even heretical. Examples of these would be dispensationalism (which usually leads to speculative teaching about the exact date of Jesus' return),. Word of faith teaching, and of course many other recent innovative teachings and practices.

The "Apostle's Creed" teaches the triune God. It is an early document, which was revised many times, drafted in its present form in about AD 700. It has three long sentences, which form individual paragraphs, each beginning with "I believe in God the Father,...in Jesus Christ his only son,...and in the Spirit."

This creed also affirms that God is the creator of heaven and earth, that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that he was crucified, died, and was buried - that he ascended to heaven, and that he will come again.

It also affirms that the holy catholic church (misunderstood by many Protestants to be teaching that the Roman Catholic Church is the one and only true church, when in fact it simply affirms that there is a universal body of Christ which no one denomination completely represents by its membership), communion, forgiveness, the resurrection, and life eternal.

The second creed is primarily concerned with the work and person of Jesus Christ, called the Nicene Creed. This creed was the final statement of the council of Nice, which was convened in 325 to counter the heretical teachings of Arias, who was teaching (in essence) that Jesus was created by God the Father. The final creed was not issued until after two other councils, in Constantinople, and in Chalcedon - the final form being completed in A.D. 451. These last two councils struggled with the issue of the full divinity of the Holy Spirit.

This creed follows the same trinitarian formula, with three long paragraphs about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively. This creed amplified and builds upon Jesus Christ, ensuring that he is known to us as God in the flesh, "true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father....he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and was made human."

A secondary issue occurs under the section on God the Holy Spirit - and states that "He proceeds from the Father and the Son" (this section eventually led to the split between the east and the west, between what we know today as the Roman Catholic church, and the Eastern Orthodox church, with the eastern church believing that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father. This split took place in 1054, about 700 years after the creed was adopted).

The third major creed is the Athaniasian Creed, generally thought to be written in the period between 381-428. It is long, seven or eight times as long as the Apostle's Creed, and about five times as long as the Nicene Creed. It is specific however, about the teachings of the other two creeds, and about the teaching of the Bible. Some compare it to a summary of Scripture.

Most modern formulations of the essentials of the Christian faith, of the main and plan things follow the order of these early creeds.....

1) God - his trinity

2) Jesus -his deity, fully human and fully divine

3) Holy Spirit - his full deity and personality

Then the list usually goes something like this (for essential Christian doctrines as understood by the Protestant tradition).

4) The Bible - inspired word of God (the sola scriptura of the Reformation, in the mind of the Protestants, restoring the writing work of God over the authority of the organized church, and over tradition)

5) Salvation by grace through faith (the sola fide of the Reformation) - This would be where the Catholic church and the Protestant church divide - this was the reason (along with sola scriptura) for the Reformation - how salvation is given and retained. This is the doctrine of grace.

The list of course can be longer, without at all beginning to deal with peripheral matters. But suffice it to say that these five points are an excellent start, and that they are points which all Christians ought to be taught, points that all pastors ought to emphasize in preaching and teaching.

I hope this helps!

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht