What is essential for a Christian to believe?

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

In answer to this question, the Westminster Confession of Faith has something important to say:  

All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. Yet, those things that are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or another, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. (1.7)

Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 echo this, as the apostle considers some things most important, namely the gospel. The Bible is crystal clear on what the gospel is, but secondary matters are subject to interpretation. 

The Essentials of the Faith: Historic Creeds and Confessions

What is essential for a Christian to believe? One way to answer this question is to affirm what is contained in the Apostles’ Creed. If someone claims to be a Christian but does not believe everything as stated in the Creed, they are outside of the bounds of orthodoxy. 

Subsequent creeds, especially the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, further develop some of the statements of the Apostles’ Creed in the face of mounting heresies, especially concerning the person of the Son and the nature of the Trinity. The most widespread heresy was Arianism, which taught that Jesus was the highest creation of God but not co-equal to God himself. So, to the line from the Apostles’ Creed, “(I believe) in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,” the Nicene Creed adds:

…begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. 

And to the line concerning the Holy Spirit, the Nicene Creed states, 

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son,and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.

In sum, at the core of our faith is a belief in the virgin birth, the deity and the bodily resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, substitutionary atonement, and the Trinity. Every major branch of Christianity has affirmed these truths for centuries – Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. But that leads us to the following question: Does that mean that adherents to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are believers, too? That’s where the “Five Solas” of the Protestant Reformation come in. 

The Five Solas of the Reformation

Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic church elevated tradition to the same level as Scripture. Both came to have equal authority, and as traditions developed that contradicted the Bible, the Church allowed tradition to determine its interpretation of the Word of God. It was in this context that the Reformers devised these five affirmations:

·      Sola Scripture (Only Scripture)

The Bible alone is the inerrant, sufficient, and final authority for the Church. 

·      Sola Christus (Only Christ)

Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation.

·      Sola Fide (Only Faith)

Faith alone is the means by which believers inherit that salvation.

·      Sola Gratia (Only Grace)

Grace alone is the source of our salvation, from beginning to end. 

·      Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone be the Glory)

God alone receives glory for our salvation.

 

To the degree that a Catholic or Orthodox person departs from the beliefs enshrined in their tradition and embraces not only the core tenets of Christianity as laid out in the Apostles’ Creed but also the five Solas, he can indeed be saved.  

Holiness Matters

To be clear, good works are an essential element of the Christian life. Holiness matters. Orthodoxy must be accompanied by orthopraxy. Or, put another way, we must “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” (Mt 3:8). Works don’t save, but the saved will “work out their salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in us to will and to do his good pleasure.” (Ph 2:12-13). 

So, if someone believes all the right things, but lives a debauched, carnal, unrepentant lifestyle, we have little reason to believe that person is a Christian. This, of course, is different from the struggle with sin that characterizes the life of the believer. What we’re referring to is people who call themselves Christians but do not hate their sin and do not make any efforts, with the Spirit’s help, to put it to death. 

 

Secondary Doctrinal Issues 

1.         Election: Does God predestine some to be saved? Or do God extend his call to all people and those who choose to respond are saved? 

2.         The Gifts of the Spirit: Are the miraculous gifts active today? Is it normative for believers to speak in tongues, prophecy, and perform miracles and healings? Or did the sign gifts end with the closing of the New Testament canon?

3.         Gender roles: Is the husband the head of the home and are qualified men the only ones permitted to serve in the office of elder/overseer? Or is the pastorate equally open to both men and women? 

4.         Baptism: Is it a sign of the covenant one enters into as a professing believer? Or rather a sign akin to circumcision of the covenant believers’ children enter into along with their parents?

These issues are not unimportant. In fact, they often help determine the kind of church we will join or the kind of person we would want to marry. But they should not determine with whom we can break bread, pray, and fellowship informally with.

Tertiary Doctrinal Issues 

1.         Eschatology: What do we believe about the end times? Are we living in or are we awaiting the millennium? Will there be a rapture of the Church and a tribulation?

2.         The Lord’s Supper: Is the bread and the wine merely symbolic, or is the Lord present in a special way at the Lord’s Table?

3.         Ecclesiology: What kind of church governance do we hold to? Congregationalism? Presbyterianism? Episcopal? 

4.         The age of the earth: Do we hold to a literal seven-day creation? Or are we open the possibility of an old earth? 

These issues are also not unimportant. We can hold strong convictions on these issues as well. But we should be able to fellowship with those we disagree with on these issues with little hindrance. We may even be able to share membership in the same church with others we disagree with. 

Issues of Conscience

In addition to these levels of doctrinal issues, there are also an endless number of questions that fall under the category of Christian conscience. Here are a few examples:

1.         Drinking or Smoking: In Europe, rare is the evangelical who believes it is a sin to drink. In the United States, however, this has historically been the majority position, at least among Baptists of the tradition I come from. Similarly, you would be hard-pressed to find a pastor from my church background smoking a pipe or cigar, but it is not uncommon for pastors in other evangelical traditions to do so.

2.         Social Justice: How should the Church respond to issues of injustice? Racism? Abuses of power? This is a subject of debate that godly men and women can respectfully disagree on. 

The list could go on and on and vary by culture to include such questions as whether or not it’s appropriate to get a tattoo, watch or read Harry Potter, celebrate Halloween or Christmas, practice yoga, or get vaccinated.

Conclusion: In All Things Charity

This matter is worth considering because there are Christians who think that everything they believe is equally clear from Scripture. And they go so far as to label as unbiblical or unfaithful those who disagree with them on secondary matters, tertiary matters, and even issues of conscience. But we should be able to graciously disagree with brothers and sisters, without breaking fellowship or ascribing ill intent. As one theologian put it, “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.”