What is Essential Christian Doctrine? (By Hank Hanegraaff)
The importance of essential
Christian doctrine can hardly be overstated. First,
these are the very doctrines that form the line of
demarcation between the kingdom of Christ and the
kingdom of the cults. While we may debate nonessentials
without dividing over them, when it comes to essential
Christian doctrine there must be unity. Hence, the
maxim: In essentials unity, nonessentials liberty, and
in all things charity.
Furthermore, essential Christian doctrine is the North
Star by which the course of Christianity is set. Just as
the North Star is an unchanging reference point by which
sailors safely guided their ships, so essential
Christian doctrine has safely guided the church through
the doctrinal storms that have sought to sink it.
Shooting stars light the sky for a moment; following
them, however, leads to shipwreck.
Finally, essential Christian doctrine is the foundation
on which the gospel of Jesus Christ rests. From his
deity to the eschatological certainty that he will
appear a second time to judge the living and the dead,
essential Christian doctrine is foundational to the
gospel. All other religions compromise, confuse, or
contradict these essentials. Muslims, for example,
dogmatically denounce the doctrine of Christ’s unique
deity as the unforgivable sin of shirk. They readily
affirm the sinlessness of Christ, but they adamantly
deny his sacrifice upon the cross and his subsequent
resurrection as the only hope of salvation.
I am
so passionate about inscribing the essentials on the
tablet of your heart that I’ve organized them around the
acronym D-O-C-T-R-I-N-E. It is my prayer that you will
become so familiar with essential Christian doctrine
that when a counterfeit looms on the horizon you will
know it instantaneously.
Deity
of Christ— The biblical witness is clear and convincing
that Jesus Christ is the eternal Creator God (John 1;
Colossians 1; Hebrews 1; Revelation 1). Throughout his
earthly ministry Jesus claimed to be God in word and
deed (Mark 14:61-62; John 5:18, 20; 8:58; 10:30-33) and
vindicated his claims to deity by living a sinless life
(John 8:46; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22), by manifesting his power over nature (Mark 4:39),
over fallen angels (Luke 4:35), over sickness (Matthew 4:23), and even over death itself (John 4:50; 11:43-44;
1 Corinthians 15:1-58), and by accurately prophesying God’s
judgment on Jerusalem through the destruction of the
Temple that occurred in AD 70 (Matthew 24:1-2; 24:32-35).
Original Sin— Sin is not just murder, rape, or robbery.
“Sin” is a word that describes any thought, word, deed,
or state of being that fails to meet God’s standard of
holiness and perfection. The Bible unambiguously
proclaims that “all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Romans 3:23). While the notion of
generational curses and spirits is foreign to the text
of Scripture, there is a sense in which all people are
cursed as a result of an ancestor’s sin. Adam’s
rebellion brought death to us all and tainted every
aspect of our being (Genesis 3; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; cf.
Ephesians 2:3). God, however, has provided redemption
through the atoning work of the “Second Adam,” Jesus
Christ (Romans 5:12-21).
Canon—
The thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures along
with the twenty-seven books of the Greek New Testament
are divine rather than merely human in origin and
constitute the entire Christian canon (meaning “standard
of measurement”). In addition to the internal testimony
of the Bible about itself (2 Timothy 3:16), the divine
inspiration and preservation of the Bible can be
demonstrated by the early dating and consistency of the
many available manuscripts, the corroboration of
archaeology, and the fulfillment of predictive prophecy.
Trinity— Though the word
‘Trinity’ is found nowhere in the Bible, it aptly
codifies the essential biblical truths that 1) there is
only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10); 2) the
Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is
God (1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:8; Acts 5:3-4); and 3)
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct
(Matthew 28:19; John 15:26; 17:1-26). It is important to
note that when Trinitarians speak of one God they are
referring to the nature or essence of God. Moreover,
when they speak of persons they are referring to
personal self-distinctions within the Godhead. Put
another way, Trinitarians believe in one What and three
Who’s.
Resurrection— All four canonical gospels record the
bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The
immutable fact of Jesus’ resurrection is the cornerstone
of Christian faith, because it not only vindicates
Jesus’ claims to deity but also ensures the future
bodily resurrection unto eternal life of all who believe
in Jesus Christ as their Savior and proclaim him as Lord
(1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The
historical reality of the resurrection can be
demonstrated through the fatal torment of Jesus on the
cross; the empty tomb--early Christianity could not have
survived an identifiable tomb containing the corpse of
Christ; the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus; and
the transformation of believers throughout the ages
whose lives have been radically altered upon
experiencing the resurrected Lord.
Incarnation— The doctrine of the Incarnation is aptly
summed up in the words of the apostle John: “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, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth” (John 1:1, 14). The clear testimony of Scripture
is that, in the incarnation, Jesus Christ was fully God
and fully man; that is, he existed as the perfect unity
in one person of a divine and a human nature (John 1;
Colossians 1). As Theanthropos (“God-Man”), the spotless
“Lamb of God” (John 1:29) lived a perfectly sinless
human life and died a sinner’s death to sufficiently
atone, once for all, for the sins of humanity (Romans 5:1-21; Hebrews 10:11-18).
New
Creation— The essential doctrine of New Creation is
aptly codified in the words of the apostle Paul: “If
anyone is in Christ, he is anew creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new”
(2 Corinthians 5:17, emphasis added). All who believe in
the resurrection of Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord
are reconciled to God and inherit eternal life in his
glorious presence (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10). Jesus’
resurrection from the dead inaugurates the renewal of
all things. The new creation of faithful believers and
the new creation of the natural world will be
consummated in the resurrection when Jesus returns
bodily to earth as the conquering king (Romans 8:18-25).
"Eschatology — The word eschatology is an intimidating
word with a simple meaning—the study of end times. While
the meaning of eschatology is simple to grasp, its
importance is difficult to overemphasize. Far from being
a mere branch in the theological tree, eschatology is
the root that provides life and luster to every fiber of
its being. Put another way, eschatology is the thread
that weaves the tapestry of Scripture into a harmonious
pattern. It is the study of everything we long and hope
for. Early in Genesis, Adam and Eve fell into a life of
constant sin terminated by death. The rest of Scripture
chronicles God’s unfolding plan of redemption. Although
Christians debate secondary aspects of eschatology, such
as the timing of the tribulation or the meaning of the
millennium, we are united in the truth that just as
Christ came to earth once to bear the sins of the world,
so too he will return again to gather the elect and to
usher in the resurrection of all things (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Hebrews 9:27-28). On that day, the just will be
resurrected to eternal life and the unjust to conscious
torment and separation from the love and grace of God
(John 5:28-29). Paradise lost will become paradise
restored, and the problem of sin and Satan will be fully
and finally resolved (Revelation 20-22)."
[1]
For
further study, see Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A
Handbook of Christian Belief (Downers Grove, Ill.:
InterVarsity Press, 1999).
1 Timothy 4:16
says, “Watch your life and doctrine
closely. Persevere in them, because if
you do you will save both yourself and your
hearers.” (NIV)
The
essential tenets of the Christian faith are: Deity of Christ, Original sin, Canon, Trinity, Resurrection, Incarnation, New creation,
and Eschatology.
