ESSENTIAL CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

The essential key doctrines and core truths of Christianity have to do with who God is, who Jesus Christ is, who people are, God’s love for people, God’s desire to have an eternal relationship with people, and God’s judgment against people who reject God. Virtually all Christians hold to some form of these basic doctrines. Although Christians may not always agree on how they work out the details of their faith, Christians should treat each other with tolerance and grace when discussing “in-house debates” on Christian doctrine and abide by the maxim, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty, and in all things, charity” Rupertus Meldenius (AD 1627). On the other hand, Christians need to be able to discern between true and false doctrine so that they will not be led spiritually astray. For example, the apostle Paul commended the Barean Jews when “they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11 NIV).

The core truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the salvation of humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation has to do with God’s gracious work of redemption and spiritual transformation that delivers humans from the spiritual consequences of their sin. Sin involves a deviation or transgression of God’s will. Everyone sins (Romans 3:23). Sin is both doing things humans should not do and failing to do things humans should do. Sin includes any thought, word, deed, or state of being that fails to meet or “misses the mark” of God’s standard of holiness and perfection (Romans 7:13-25). Humans are spiritually depraved, which means that they have a natural bent toward sin (Genesis 3:1-24; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12-15). This sinful rebellion against God is what spiritually separates humanity from God and results in guilt, eternal condemnation, and spiritual death. “The wages of sin is death …” (Romans 6:23 ESV). God has told humanity through the Bible that salvation is defined as forgiveness of sins, spiritual transformation, and eternal life with God by confessing that “Jesus is Lord” and believing that God raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9). The following doctrines relating to the gospel message are necessary for salvation to be possible.

God’s unity.

There is only one God who always existed and will always exist. The one God is the Creator of the universe. This is an essential doctrine because it is important to know the one and only true God (Genesis 1:1-2-25; Exodus 20:2-3; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10-11; John 1:1-3,17:3).

God’s tri-unity.

Although there is only one God, God exists in three Persons. In other words, God is one substance or essence, but are three Persons or personal self-distinctions in relationship with each other within the Godhead. God refers to himself through the Bible as the Father (2 Thessalonians 1:2), the Son (Jesus) (John 1:1-5, 10:30-33, 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Philippians 2:9-11), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17). There are more than 60 Bible passages that mention the three Persons together. Theologians call God’s tri-unity the “Trinity”. The Trinity is an essential doctrine because it communicates the unity and relational nature of God (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.

God, while retaining his full God nature, became a perfect man in Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14; Philippians 2:7-8; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:8) to offer himself as the perfect ultimate spiritual atoning sacrifice to allow humans to be spiritually restored and reconciled to God. If Jesus is not both God and human, he cannot mediate between God and humans (Romans 5:12-15; 1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus had to be human and not sin in order to adequately represent us before God to pay the price for sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22). Jesus became human when God performed a miracle and interrupted the natural birth process. Mary, Jesus’ mother, became pregnant without ever having sexual relations (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-35). Because God supernaturally intervened in Jesus’s birth,

Jesus did not inherit a sin nature, was perfect, and did not sin. Therefore, Jesus was not just a good teacher or a righteous man. Jesus is fully God and became the God-Man to offer himself as the perfect ultimate spiritual atoning sacrifice to break the chain of human sin and spiritually restore God’s loving relationship with humans (Mark 10:45; John 3:16, 14:6; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18).

God in the person of Jesus knocks on the door of your life to have a relationship with you if you will let him in.

Human depravity.

Since God has a relational nature, he wants personal relationships with humans. Human depravity means that all humans are spiritually separated from God and are totally incapable of restoring their spiritual relationships with God. When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they spiritually died and their relationships with God were severed (Genesis 3:1-24). In addition, all of their descendants inherited their sinful and spiritually broken nature (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12-15; 1 Corinthians 15:22) and are spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1 ESV). Without a new transformational spiritual birth (being born again or created anew), no one can enter heaven (the kingdom of God) or have eternal life (John 3:3-21). Therefore, you are sinful and spiritually broken and cannot please God or restore your relationship with him by doing good works. You can never be good enough to meet God’s standard of spiritual perfection (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10-11). Human depravity is an essential doctrine that many people fail to realize. Most non-Christians falsely believe that they can go to heaven and have an eternal relationship with God by “being a good person” or doing “good works” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

God’s grace through faith is needed for you to have a relationship with God.

Because of your human depravity, you cannot restore your relationship with God. It is by God’s grace alone that salvation is possible. God’s attribute of justice requires God to call humans to account for their rebellious sin (Matthew 12:36; John 5:29; Revelation 20:12). However, by God’s grace, undeserving humans have the opportunity to receive God’s gracious gift if they repent of their sin, have faith and trust in God, avoid God’s judgment, and come back in relationship with God (Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 9:16; Titus 3:5-7; 1 John 1:9). Faith is a human act, but it is not a work (Romans 3:27; Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is trusting God to do what humans could not do for themselves, namely God restoring his relationships with humans (Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5, Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, God, and God alone, by his grace through faith is able rescue you from your spiritually broken sinful condition and restore God’s relationship with you.

Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT).

Jesus Christ’s atoning death, bodily resurrection, and ascension to heaven.

Although the atoning death of Jesus Christ paid for the sinful rebellion of humanity against God, the spiritual transformation process was not complete until Jesus defeated death by being physically resurrected in the same but glorified body (John 2:19-21). Because Jesus defeated death and his body is the prototype of a new, glorified physical body, all of humanity will be resurrected and live forever in either heaven or hell (Luke 24: 39; Romans 4:25, 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:35-57). The apostle Paul states that the resurrection is an essential Christian doctrine because if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, then the Christian faith is futile and Christians are still broken in their sins, are spiritually lost, and are to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:16-19). Forty days after the Jesus’ resurrection, he was taken up (“ascended”) bodily to God the Father in heaven. Then Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide humans, show them when they are wrong, and comfort them when they go through trials and suffer/hurt in life. Jesus’ presence with God the Father in heaven also means that God keeps safe humans’ eternal lives and relationships with God in heaven (Luke 24:50-51; John 16:7; Acts 1:9-10). In addition, Jesus’ ascension to heaven allowed him to serve as the mediator (or high priest) of humans before God. In God’s presence, Jesus prays on behalf of humans and defends them before God regarding Satan’s accusations against humans of their rebellious sin that will separate humans from God in hell for eternity (Hebrews 1:3, 4:15, 7:25; 1 John 2:1; Revelation 12:10, 20:11-15).

Jesus Christ’s second coming and the end times.

Although there is an “in-house debate” within Christianity regarding various interpretations of the book of Revelation, Daniel, and other Bible passages on the end times, such as the timing of the tribulation and the meaning of the millennium, all Christians believe that Jesus will return to the world to rule and live with authentic Christians in the new heaven and earth, defeat evil, and judge and banish from his presence those who rejected God. When Jesus returns, dead authentic Christians will receive their resurrected bodies. Authentic Christians that are alive when he returns with will not die, but will be transformed into immortal and physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-57). Jesus’ bodily return to earth will be visible to all (Matthew 24:30; Luke 12:40), and authentic Christians will rule with him in God’s kingdom of the new heaven and earth and live with Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit forever (John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Colossians 3:3-4; Revelation 21:4, 22:12). Those who rejected God, or only call themselves Christians but are inauthentic, will be eternally separated from God’s goodness and presence in heaven. Instead, they will be banished to hell and will be judged and punished according to their sins (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).

Resources for essential Christian doctrine.

In addition to the Bible, the following are some helpful resources to find and study essential Christian doctrine as stated above.

Norman L. Geisler, Essential Doctrine Made Easy Pamphlet (Peabody, MA: Rose Publishing, 2018)

Wayne Grudem and edited by Jeff Purswell, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999)