This week's blog post comes from my good friend Israel Munoz. In this post he will dive into some foundational Christian Doctrine that we all need to level set on and be reminded of often. In a world that is constantly pulling us in different directions and telling us to trust this, or believe in that, we must hold tight to the doctrines listed below. These form the base from which we view the world and will continue to dig into our political interaction. - Travis
What do Christians believe? It’s a very valid question and, at times, a somewhat arduous question to answer. Today, to observe the pluralism of Christian practice and beliefs in our own society, all we must do is explore the many rich traditions that exist within our own cities; a quick exploration of our city will surely result in us finding churches from the different traditions: Baptist, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, non-denominational, and many, many more. Now, before we begin with this analysis, we must remember that Christianity has existed for many, many years across the entire globe. This means that as cultures and traditions change, so does, sometimes, the practice of Christianity as a result. I’ll give a quick example of this. I was born in Mexico but grew up here in the United States. I attended an evangelical church both in Mexico and the United States. As you might expect, because of the difference in culture and traditions, while both churches held to core Christian beliefs, the practice of Christianity was different depending on the location. Now, in college, I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya and although the church we visited was a Christian church, the practice of Christianity there was different from that in both Mexico and the United States. Again, this was a result of being in a different geographical location, but nevertheless, in all three locations, people held to the same core beliefs built upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’ll explore, though not exhaustively, some (Triune God, Creation, Fall, Death & Resurrection of Jesus Christ) of these core beliefs below.
A core belief of the Christian faith is that of a Triune God- three persons in an eternal relationship- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Rom. 8; Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Peter 3). Primitive Christianity made sure to acknowledge this Triune God through affirmations of faith, better known as creeds, composed in the early centuries. The Nicene Creed (A.D 325) particularly affirms a triune God in response to the heresy in the 4th century, called Arianism, which did not affirm the divinity of Jesus. (1) The belief in a Triune God is, without a doubt, a core belief in Christianity that shapes those who profess faith in the God of the Bible; As J. I Packer writes, beliefs denying a triune God “are by biblical standards inadequate and indeed fundamentally false and will naturally tend to pull Christians lives out of shape.” (2)
Central to the Christian faith is the belief that God is the Creator-“in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth” (Gen. 1:1). Not only is the God of the Bible the Creator but his creation is good; seven times in the first chapter of Genesis do we see God referencing his creation as good (Gen. 1:1; 1:10; 1:12; 1:21; 1:25; 1:25-30). But how should we understand such a creation? The act of creation itself, J. I Packer writes, “is a mystery to us, there is more in it than we can understand.” So, how should we relate to the creator of such a beautiful and good creation? We must trust God as Creator, J. I Packer explains. Not only should we praise Him for his creation (Psalm 104) but He, Packer continues, “is to be trusted as the Sovereign Lord, with an external plan covering all events and destinies without exception, and with power to redeem, re-create and renew.” (3)
The biblical narrative explains God’s creation of humanity (Gen.1:26), which leads us to explore another core Christian belief, that of the fall, “the original human lapse from God and godliness into sin and lostness.”(4) God created both male and female in his own image (Gen. 1:27). But it is this same creation, both male and female, who will sin against God by eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 3:6). In doing so, and by going against God's directive of avoiding such action, “Adam would, in effect, be claiming that he could know and decide what was good and evil for him without any reference to God.”(5) It is this selfishness, this “self-aggrandizing mindset” exemplified by Adam and Eve’s sin, Packer writes, that would “become part of him and of the moral nature he passed on to his descendants” which would produce a “sense of pollution and guilt that made them ashamed and fearful of God.”(6) This, as Paul will affirm later within his own writings in the NT, translates into humanity being under the power of sin and death (Rom. 3:9; 6:23). But sin and death, too, shall be put to an end. This brings us to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Christianity is centered around the notion that Christ died and physically rose again on the third day. The implications of such action, of a physical resurrection, are many. We’ll explore the overarching narrative of such an implication. Sin, already briefly discussed above, wronged creation of its beauty, but the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have begun the process of new creation, setting all the wrongs right. New Testament scholar and theologian N.T. Wright writes that “part of the Christian faith from the start has always been the conviction that the God revealed in and through Jesus is precisely the creator of the world and that he has promised to put it right.” (7) It is through this resurrection that those who believe in Jesus Christ find salvation, and through it, believers are guaranteed forgiveness and justification (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:17) and are invited to join God in his journey toward a new creation (Rev. 21).
Writing on the Christian celebration of Easter, Theologian N.T Wright writes that “Easter day is not simply the ‘happy ending’ after the sad and dark story of Holy Week. Easter is the start of something. It isn’t the ending. It is the beginning of the new creation which has been made possible by the overcoming of the forces of corruption and decay in the death of Jesus.” (8) If we are to believe that resurrection brings about serious implications, then we ought to understand what Jesus’ resurrection entails (Rev.21 & 22; 1 Cor. 15:20-28). The resurrection of Christ inaugurates the kingdom of God- “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1;150). It is indeed the beginning of a new creation and Christ's followers have a calling to make a difference in the present world. What does Jesus call us to do? Follow me, Jesus says in Matthew 9:9.. The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings salvation to those who believe and as a result of that salvation, we proclaim a risen and already reigning Jesus. “Once we realize”, N.T. Wright explains, “and celebrate the fact that Jesus is already reigning, we can start to learn, in prayer and liturgy, to celebrate his victory in new ways and to invoke it in praise and prayer, bringing genuine signs of new life, of new creation, to birth in the present.” (9) To follow Jesus is to join him in the present day in “bringing true signs of renewal into his creation today and every day.” (10) What does this look like? It’s God’s sovereign rule coming on Earth as in Heaven.
1. Gonzalez, Justo L. 2016. Historia abreviada del pensamiento cristiano. Barcelona: Vida Publishers.,169
2. Packer, J. I. 2001. Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, 42
3. Ibid, 22
4. Ibid, 79
5. Ibid, 80
6. Ibid, 80
7. Wright, N. T. 2020. Broken Signposts: How Christianity Makes Sense of the World. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 4
8. Wright, Bp Nicholas T. 2019. “Resurrection and the Renewal of Creation: Public Lecture, Autumn 2018.” The Biblical Annals 9 (4): 656. 10.31743/biban.4784.
9. Ibid, 656
10. Ibid
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