Essential Christian Doctrine

Essential Christian Doctrine

The Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith

Essential Christian doctrine refers to the beliefs that all Bible believing Christians hold as “essential.” In other words, to not believe, or to pervert one or more of these core Christian beliefs- would by definition, put you outside of true Christian belief.

Christian denominations are simply different expressions of the Christian faith. Some expressions in the body of Christ may emphasize doctrine more than experience. Some emphasize experience more that doctrine. Some social outreach more than others; but all Christian churches worship the same God and follow the same gospel. They hold to these same core essential Christian beliefs:

1). The True Nature of God as revealed in Scripture. The Trinity. God being the only God. Monotheism.

2). The deity of Christ. Christ being God made flesh and is the only way to heaven.

3). The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross for the sins of mankind.

4). The physical resurrection of Christ from the dead.

5). Salvation by the grace alone through faith alone.

Examples of non Christian cults would be Mormons, (or the LDS Church), Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and the Unification Church. These religious organizations, and many others- have denied or perverted many, or all of the core doctrines of the Christian faith and redefined them, so they are outside of the Christian faith, and a deception. They use the same terms- many times, as Christians, but their Founders have defined them in a way that perverts their true meaning.

Many historic mainline Christian denominations have went liberal; and unfortunately-no longer hold to these essential core beliefs- as their true Christian Founders believed; Therefore- true Bible believing Christians no longer view them as being Christian, since they've left the teachings of their Founders, and of the Christian faith. Many churches have opted for liberalism, or “liberal theology”. Some of them no longer believe Christ is the only way to salvation. Many believe that God ordained marriage and family norms can be changed to align with contemporary liberal sensibilities; and have also left other core Christian beliefs and opted for liberal thinking instead. True Christians who are faithful to God's word do no not do this.

In many instances Jesus and the apostles warned of those who would deceive some and preach “another spirit, a different Jesus, and a different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4).

Galatians 1:6-8-“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!”

Contrary to cults like those mentioned above, who have added so-called “new writings” and “new revelations” of Christ, the Scriptures confirm in Jude vs. 3- that the gospel is “ONCE FOR ALL ENTRUSTED to the saints.” The Amplified Bible brings this more into light, when it says, “…contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints—the faith [which is that sum of Christian belief] which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God.”

Essential Christian Doctrines

The Trinity

   The word Trinity means the union of the three in one. God is one being, but He exists in three persons. These three distinct persons are the one God. They are equal in power and glory, and are of the same essence, (unchanging nature or substance). Although we cannot fully understand the concept of God’s eternal nature with our finite minds, it is God Who reveals what His essential nature is. Although this truth may be beyond human reason, it is not contrary to reason.

   The truth of the Trinity is arrived at in the following manner: The Bible clearly declares that there is only one God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all referred to in the Bible as God. Therefore, the three persons are the one God. A short succinct, accurate definition of the Trinity is as follows:

Within the one Being that is God, there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Included in the doctrine of the Trinity is a strict monotheism which is the teaching that there exists in all the universe a single Being known as God, Who is self-existent and unchangeable, Isaiah 43:10, 44:6,8).

Isaiah 43:10- “…That you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.”

Isaiah 44:6,8-“… I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.”

The Trinity in Scripture

Matthew 28:19- “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT.”

2 Corinthians 13:14- “The grace of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the love of GOD, and the communion of the HOLY SPIRIT be with you all.”

Matthew 3:16,17- “Then JESUS, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN, saying, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, in whom I am well pleased.”

1 Peter 1:2- “Elect according to the foreknowledge of GOD THE FATHER, in sanctification of the SPIRIT, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of JESUS CHRIST.”

God the Father

1 Timothy 6:15,16-The blessed and only Ruler, the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS, Who alone is immortal and Who lives in UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT, whom no one has seen or can see” (NIV).

2 Corinthians 6:18- “I will be a FATHER to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD ALMIGHTY.”

James 1:17- “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the FATHER OF LIGHTS, with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

God the Son

John 10:30- “I and the FATHER are ONE.”

John 1:1- IN THE BEGINNING was the WORD, and the WORD was WITH GOD, and THE WORD WAS GOD.”

John 1:18- “No one has seen GOD at any time. The only begotten SON, Who is in the bosom of the FATHER, HE HAS DECLARED HIM.”

Matthew 1:23- “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a SON, and they shall call His name Immanuel, “ which is translated, “GOD WITH US.”

Colossians 2:9- “For in Him dwells ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY.”

Hebrews 1:3- “Who being the brightness of His glory and the EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, upholding all things by the word of His power.”

God the Holy Spirit

Genesis 1:2- “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the SPIRIT OF GOD was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Acts 5:3,4- “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to LIE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT…? You have not lied to men but TO GOD.”

John 15:26- “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

Ephesians 4:30- “And do not GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The Deity of Christ

The Scriptures declare that Jesus is the visible expression of God, or God in the flesh. He is the Creator Himself—the express image of the invisible God. Simply stated, He is deity, or God.

The Bible proclaims that Jesus has always existed. He is without beginning or end. Before He was born in Bethlehem, He existed as the Word of God, and took part in creating the universe.

John 1:1,3- “In the BEGINNING was the WORD, and the WORD was WITH GOD, and the WORD WAS GOD… All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

John 1:10- “He was in the world, and THE WORLD WAS MADE THROUGH HIM, and the world did not know Him.”

Colossians 2:9- “For in Him dwells ALL THE FULLNESS of the GODHEAD BODILY.”

Hebrews 1:3- “ Who being the brightness of His glory and the EXPRESS IMAGE of His person, and UPHOLDING ALL THINGS by the WORD OF HIS POWER.”

2 Corinthians 5:19- “… GOD WAS IN CHRIST reconciling the world to Himself.”

Colossians 1:16,17- “For BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED… He is BEFORE ALL THINGS, and in Him ALL THINGS CONSIST.”

    When Jesus became a man He left His exalted position of equality with God the Father. He did this so He could die for the sins of the world, be resurrected, and be exalted once again with the Father. The Bible calls this a mystery when it states: “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH…” (1 Timothy 3:16).

   The Bible teaches that Jesus was fully God, and also fully human. He possessed the two distinct natures of both God and man. Jesus was 100 percent God and 100 percent man. As man, He humbled Himself to die on the cross, although He never ceased being God. He was “Made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death… that He might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9).

 When Jesus became a man, He did not cease being God. He merely took on an additional nature—the nature of man, so that He could redeem man. The fact that Jesus had two natures is clearly seen in Romans 1:3 “regarding His SON who AS TO HIS HUMAN NATURE was a descendant of David (NIV).”

In describing the process of God the Son becoming man, early Church theologian Athanasius put it this way. When God became flesh...

“It was NOT the SUBTRACTION of DEITY, but the ADDITION of HUMANITY.”

   Throughout the New Testament Jesus speaks both AS God, and AS man. The sense in which He is speaking must be determined by the context. As God, Jesus declared that: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the BEGINNING and the END, the FIRST and the LAST” (Rev. 22:13), and “I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). AS man, Jesus made statements such as: “But of that day and hour no one knows but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).

   History demonstrates that those who have emphasized one aspect of Christ’s nature over the other have often fallen into heresy. As described by one theologian of the early Christian Church, Jesus was, and is:

“EQUAL to the FATHER, as touching His GODHOOD; LESS than the FATHER, as touching His MANHOOD.”

Philippians 2:6-8- “Who being in VERY NATURE OF GOD, did not consider EQUALITY WITH GOD something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, BEING MADE IN HUMAN LIKENESS. And being found in appearance AS A MAN, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (NIV).

Galatians 4:4,5- “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, BORN OF A WOMAN, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.”

Hebrews 2:14- “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise SHARED IN THE SAME, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil…”

John 1:1,14- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the WORD BECAME FLESH and dwelt among us.”

John 17:5- “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

1 Timothy 2:5- “For there is ONE GOD and ONE MEDIATOR between GOD and MEN, the MAN CHRIST JESUS.”

Romans 1:3- “…Concerning HIS SON Jesus Christ our Lord, Who was born of the seed of David ACCORDING TO THE FLESH.”

The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ on the Cross

The atonement is the work Christ did in His life and death to purchase our salvation. (1). This entails Christ’s obedience for us, in which He obeyed the requirements of the law in our place and was perfectly obedient to the will of God the Father as our representative, and (2) Christ’s sufferings for us, in which he took the penalty due for our sins and as a result died for our sins. Through Christ’ substitutionary atonement on the cross for our sins, God provided salvation for all mankind, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Philippians 3:9- “And being found in Him, NOT HAVING MY OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

1 John 4:10- “This is life: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an ATONING SACRIFICE FOR OUR SINS.”

Hebrews 9:26- “He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

1 John 4:10- “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 2:2- “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world.”

The Bodily Resurrection of Christ

The entire truth of Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Christ. It is the very foundation of the Christian faith. Our salvation rests on the authenticity of His resurrection. The apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!”

   The fact of the resurrection confirms Jesus’ promise of eternal life for all those who believe and live in Him. We live in hope, empowered by the fact that in His resurrection, Jesus conquered death, and has guaranteed us eternal life.

Romans 1:4- “…Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

1 Peter 1:21- “Who through Him believe in God, Who RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD and gave Him glory, so your faith and hope are in God.”

Contrary to some liberal “Christian” churches, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, that it was some type of “spiritual resurrection” the Scriptures clearly teach that the resurrection of Christ was a BODILY RESURRECTION from the dead.

John 2:19- “Destroy this TEMPLE, and three days I will RAISE IT UP.”

John 2:21,22- “But He was speaking of the TEMPLE OF HIS BODY. Therefore when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them.”

Luke 24:39- “Behold My hands and My feet: IT IS I MYSELF. Handle Me and see, for A SPIRIT DOES NOT HAVE FLESH AND BONES, as you see I have.”

John 20:27- “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach out your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

Salvation by Grace Alone Through Faith Alone

   Salvation is received by grace alone, through faith alone. To receive salvation by our own works we would have to be completely without sin. If there were a way that we could be good enough to make it to heaven on our own, Christ would not have had to die a brutal death on the cross for our sins. However, the Scriptures clearly teach that man’s nature is corrupted through sin. “There is not one who does good, no, not one,” (Romans 3:12). Mankind is spiritually dead in God’s eyes.

We all have sinned and are born with a sinful nature. Our only hope of being saved from our fallen state of sin and separation is through God’s free offer of forgiveness, provided by the shed blood of Christ.

Romans 3:23- “For ALL have sinned and FALL SHORT of the glory of God.”

Luke 13:5- “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Recognizing that we are sinners, and receiving Christ as our Savior by faith, is the only way to be saved. When we begin to walk in the salvation Christ has provided for us, our lives are to be filled with good works. These works do not save us. They are the fruit of our salvation. Martin Luther stated it this way:

“Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.”

In other words, TRUE SAVING FAITH will produce good works and fruit.

Ephesians 2:8,9- “For by GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, through faith, and that NOT OF YOURSELVES; it is the GIFT OF GOD, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast.”

Romans 3:10-12- “There is NO ONE RIGHTEOUS, no, not one; there is none who understands; THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS AFTER GOD…”

Titus 3:5- “NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which we have done, but ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY He saved us.”

2 Timothy 1:9- “Who HAS SAVED US and called us with a holy calling, NOT ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, but according to HIS OWN PURPOSE AND GRACE…”

  Christians are often accused of being “narrow-minded” for saying that Christianity is the only way of salvation. It is important to note that we are not making this claim because is it simply our opinion. It is a claim that both Jesus and His apostles made on many occasions. Jesus said “I am THE WAY and THE TRUTH and THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME” (John 14:6), and “I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die I your sins” (John 8:24).

The apostle echoed these words: “Nor is there SALVATION IN ANY OTHER, for there is NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED” (Acts 4:12). The Apostle Paul proclaimed, “For THERE IS ONE GOD and ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS” ( 1 Timothy 2:5).

   It is not our opinion or feelings that are the issue, but the truth spoken in the words of Jesus and His apostles in the inspired words of Scripture. There are over 100 verses in the New Testament, that either directly or indirectly, declare that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. It is therefore the united testimony of the New Testament that no one can know God the Father, (and be saved) except through the person of Jesus Christ.

Important Doctrines

Original Sin

The fall of man is usually not included on a typical list of essential doctrine, but I’ve included it since it seams to be a necessary qualifier for the gospel. If mankind is not fallen and in need of a Savior, then why would God need to become a man a die a brutal death on the cross. If original sin and total depravity are not true, then there is no bad news, which therefore leads to the “good news” or gospel. There is only good news because there is bad news—that we are separated from God because of our sin (Isaiah 59:2), but God has made a way out of our fallen state of separation from Him through Christ' life, death, and resurrection, and our faith and trust in His finished work of redemption on our behalf.

The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture

Some also include the inspiration and authority of Scripture. Although it is not an essential doctrine, in the sense of putting a person’s soul in jeopardy of being lost, it seems to be a functional necessity, since without it none of the other truths could be affirmed or asserted with confidence. Once you get rid of the authority of Scripture, there seems to be no foundation in order to ground all of the central doctrines of the faith. As a practical matter, one is hard-pressed to find such a person: One who affirms all of the essentials listed above, but who does not view the Bible as God’s inspired authoritative word. I suppose it is possible, but I’ve never met such a person.

The Virgin Birth

The virgin birth would also fall into this category. Some list the virgin birth on the list of essentials. However, just as noted above, as a practical matter, I’ve never met a person who believes in all of the essential Christian doctrines listed above, and does not believe in the virgin birth.

Non-Essential Doctrines

Christians may differ on non essential or peripheral teachings that don't determine whether one is saved; and therefore are termed- “non essential". This includes various views of how End Times events will unfold prior to the Second Coming of Christ. Modes of baptism. Whether the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are available today as they were in New Testament times. Various views of Church Government, or modes of worship. Various views of how to reconcile the Sovereignty of God and human responsibility, or views on election or predestination and free will, or whether one can lose their salvation, or whether a moderate use of alcohol is allowed in Scripture.

It is “non-essential” teachings that typically distinguish different denominations and different churches- which have their own distinctives. It is “essential” doctrines that distinguish a Christian Church from non Christian cults and false churches. 

When we say certain beliefs are non-essential, we are not saying they are not important. Only that they are not necessary for salvation. Well meaning Christians can disagree, but don't have to divide over them and condemn other believers over differences of opinion on them.

There is a trend in many circles to make non essential doctrines to be “essential” and then condemn other believers over those non essentials. In some cases, especially when engaging some arrogant and rigid, cult-like believers online, this is a problem. They have their strong beliefs of the hows and whys of the salvation process, and if you don't frame it the way they believe, and how they interpret various Scriptures, they'll tell you that you're deceived and maybe not even saved. These kinds of people should be avoided. They cause unwarranted division and strife in the Body of Christ.

   There can be sincere disagreements on these issues, but they are not “essential” or core doctrines of the faith that define whether you are a Christian. Christians can hold to different and opposing positions on all of these and still be a believer and true follower of Christ. The goal is to keep the main things the plain things, and the plain things the main things. As the saying goes, the important thing to remember is the following:

“In Essentials, Unity; In Non-Essentials, Liberty; In All Things Charity.”