–– Andrew Zekveld

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The Apparent Confusion About Christian Essentials

Christian unity keeps popping up as a topic of serious consideration among the masses who consider themselves Christian. 

This year, from our own continent in Burkina Faso, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was themed around the greatest two commandments of love for God and love for your neighbour. Emphasising the virtues of charity, mercy, justice, and unity was presented as the key to uniting Christians around the world.Already the World Council of Churches is planning next year’s Week of Prayer for Christianity Unity, and the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea with the theme of “believing” and “affirming the faith” is heralded as the key to unity among Christians in 2025.

No doubt, that theme for 2025 will cause some disunity, since it appears that the Catholic Pope thinks it is not necessary to “affirm the faith” as composed in the Nicene Creed of 325 AD, but calls instead for world peace freed from religious persuasion.

Some Differing Lists of the Essentials

What are the essentials that define Christian unity? Is the Pope correct to say that world peace, without religious conviction, is the essential unifying factor of Christianity? Or is the World Council of Churches perhaps on the right track, reducing the essentials of the faith to having love for God and your neighbour? Or is the lengthier list of essentials contained in the Nicene Creed the key to Christian unity? Or perhaps the Baptist Principles of the Baptists? Or, is our Sola5 association of Churches in Southern Africa, with a 6,000-word Confession and a 23-point Core Value list the more helpful list of essentials for Christian unity?

Traditionally, among conservative evangelical Churches, Christian unity has often been explained in terms of Primary and Secondary issues, or, in other words, as Gospel-centred. Gospel doctrines like the truthfulness of Scripture, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the definitions of sin and faith are considered primary. These are the essentials of unity for all Christians. Secondary issues are those doctrines and practices that are not so tightly connected to the core Gospel doctrines, and therefore unity can be preserved even if there are differing convictions. These would be doctrines like the End Times and Baptism, or practices like the spiritual gifts, tithing, head-coverings, and church polity.

Though this is helpful to some degree, the inevitable frustration among those using Gospel-centred discernment to search for unity, is that there seems to be little agreement on how directly-tied to the Gospel many matters of life are. For example, are the issues of woman-pastors, 7-day Creation, inerrancy, and sexual orientation, all to be considered primary Gospel issues requiring division for the sake of unity, or are they secondary issues requiring unity in diversity?

You might be familiar with the saying that has rightly been dubbed the “watchword of Christian peacemakers“. It states: 

“In essentials unity,
in non-essentials liberty,
in all things charity”.

The question that still remains is: “What are the criteria for essentials?”

The Simple Criterion for Christian Essentials

It is all fine and well to say, “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty”, but without an objective standard for “essentials”, Christian unity and liberty will remain an elusive, even divisive, matter.

We must return to the simple Christian standard of “What does the Bible actually say?” I do not mean with this question, “What does the Bible teach?” or “What is the collection of Biblical theology?”. I mean very particularly, “What does the Bible actually say?” Christian essentials must be defined, not by the summarised nuances of Biblical thought, but by the actual words that comprise the Scriptures. 

The degree of clarity in Scripture on any given topic is the only defining criterion for Christian essentials. Where the Scripture is clear, Christians should accept it as truth, and will thereby be united. Where Scripture only gives governing principles, Christians should unite around the principles, and maintain unity in the diverse ways that the principles might be practised. Where Scripture is silent, Christians should unite irrespective of personal convictions.

It might not sound very spiritual, but grammar and syntax are more foundational to defining the essentials of Christianity than the best of Gospel summaries, historical creeds, or global virtues.

For example, though cultures and trends might influence our thinking on sexual orientation and gender roles in the church and home, the actual words in the Bible are fairly straightforward. Though human scientific hypotheses present imprecise and innumerable ages of the earth, the grammar and syntax of Genesis chapter 1 are not ambiguous. 

Historical creeds, denominational emphases, evangelical movements, church associations, and Gospel coalitions might unite around all kinds of nuanced doctrines and practices for the sake of ministry, but when it comes to defining the essentials of the Christian faith, the criterion must be “What does the Bible actually say?”

Conclusion

The degree of Biblical clarity is the decisive criterion concerning the essentials of the Christian faith. May we, as Christians desiring true unity, perhaps refine that great watchword of Christian peacemakers as:

“In Biblical clarity, unity;
in Biblical principles, liberty;
in Biblical silence, charity.”