The Gospel, the Whole Counsel, and Liberty

Is Any Doctrine Unimportant?

Sooner or later every Christian meets a believer who loves the Lord and disagrees with him. They may differ over baptism, the Lord's return, how a church should be governed, or what a believer may eat. What do we do with that?

Two answers come easily, and both are wrong. One treats every disagreement as if salvation were at stake, so that anyone who differs on any point is suspect. The other treats every disagreement as if nothing were at stake, so that doctrine becomes a matter of taste. The first forgets that God saves sinners by grace, not by perfect understanding. The second forgets that God has spoken, and that His Word is not a menu.

Many Christians have tried to steer between those errors by sorting doctrines into tiers: essential, secondary, and non-essential. The motive is good. But Scripture never sorts its teaching that way, and the labels quietly suggest that some of God's Word is optional. A truth called secondary soon sounds less true or less binding, and over time it is often treated that way.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”MATTHEW 28:19–20 · KJV

Jesus did not commission His churches to teach the essentials. He sent them to teach disciples to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. So rather than ranking God's Word, Theologica asks three questions drawn from Scripture itself. They do not measure how much a doctrine matters. They ask how God tells us to respond to it.

1. What must someone believe to be saved? The Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).
2. What must a Christian believe and obey? The whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
3. Where has God granted liberty? Particular matters of conscience, such as foods and days in Paul's time (Romans 14:1–5), and dress, worship style, Bible translations, and entertainment in ours.