We often talk about the importance of majoring in the essentials of what matters for saving faith in Jesus and minoring on all else. Sounds great! But is it really that simple?

I think we want it to be that simple. As post-Reformation believers, we are suspicious of anything added to the gospel in terms of what ‘one must do to be saved.’ Yet, as post-Enlightenment modernists, we seek to organize and categorize our beliefs into a tidy and coherent system, wrapping the non-essentials more tightly around the essentials. Often, our systems become measuring rods for validating voices and determining who we can trust, creating a bolder line than we might think between how we gauge who is “in” or “out,” who we see worthy of our fellowship.

FAITHFULNESS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

This became poignantly clear to me shortly after descending into the COVID lockdown in Southern California. Many churches scrambled to establish online streaming services to maintain a sense of connection with their congregations. After a couple of months, the leadership of some churches saw fit to begin reopening their campuses for in-person gatherings, despite medical guidelines and government mandates prohibiting such.

Disagreements about COVID aside, what became disheartening were the statements of pastors with sizeable platforms, disparaging other pastors who were not reopening as they were, essentially calling them to hang up their ministerial mantles because they had failed their congregations. Suffice it to say, there seemed to be little consideration by such Christian leaders that not all churches possessed the facilities and resources that they possess, nor that not every pastor held the same convictions, nor faced the same challenges. No. These were emphatic declarations. The imposition of personal convictions with no room in one’s imagination for things to be other than their own experience. This division was driven further through the election season, where these same pastors issued similar proclamations regarding how to vote.

Sadly, this hit home in a deeply personal way. The community I was pastoring in had several members depart over our inability to reopen and/or our failure to enthusiastically endorse or denounce a specific party and candidate. Some left after at least engaging in some level of dialogue, others through email (echoing the disparaging statements of these pastors), and still others with no word at all. These were people we had a history with and had deeply invested ourselves into, despite our most earnest attempts to connect and reconcile, they often ghosted or entirely cut us off.

BLURRING THE LINES

Perhaps as much as we’d like to think we are flexible on ‘non-essential’ beliefs, we seem to be a bit more dogmatic there as well. After all, we’ve done our due diligence or, at least, we trust that those teaching us have done so, so we’re convinced we’re right. How could it be any other way?? And so, we latch on to positions and issue bold declarations to hedge ourselves in, often contending that to think otherwise lands one on a ‘slippery slope’ toward apostasy.

 I must clarify as we move forward that this conversation is relevant to those who’d identify as conservative Christians, and that by “conservative” we must distinguish between being theologically conservative and being politically conservative. While the identities and values of the two overlap, they ought not to be conflated for a couple of reasons. Namely, to be theologically conservative is to affirm the foundational beliefs of the historic Christian faith.

To be politically conservative, on the other hand, would not only pertain to values around sexual ethics and sanctity of life but numerous other positions that theologically conservative Christians may disagree upon either in content or approach.

The recent research of George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk in One Faith No Longer (2021, New York University Press), reveals that conservative Christians don’t always align with conservative political platforms. For example, a theologically conservative Christian affirms the sacred ideal of marriage as being between one man and one woman for life, though they may or may not object to the State’s allowing of same-sex marriage depending on their perspective on the roles and authority of the Church and State in society, along with their social and ethical responsibility in such matters.

Here we find that some conservative Christians may not see cause to advocate for anti-gay marriage laws, perhaps in the same way that conservative Christians do not advocate for anti-divorce legislation. A similar degree of nuance can be found in conservative Christian approaches to abortion legislation. While one may be vigorously pro-life, they may approach the question(s) surrounding abortion legislation differently. Some conservative Christians may see their being ‘pro-life’ primarily through political action, while others are compelled to provide resources and education for the socio-economic groups most likely to wind up having an abortion due to an unplanned pregnancy (an unfavorable approach with some conservative Christian groups).

Here’s the question, in either of these cases, does one’s perspective and approach make them either more or less of a Christian? What if their perspective is more sympathetic to left-leaning views on immigration, gun control, or universal healthcare (broadly speaking)? What if they are persuaded to a lesser or greater degree by the conversation on the left about racism?

Should one’s supposed ‘leftist’ leanings on such matters call their faithfulness to Christ into question? Is there room in our imagination to allow that their conservative biblical and theological commitments are in fact driving their perspective and approach, even if it departs from staunchly conservative political narrative and ideology?

Can one be both pro-police and affirm the need for reform at every level of our justice system? Can one not reject toxic masculinity and cancel culture in the same breath? Can one resist the radical racializing of every word and deed, whilst affirming the rippling effects of hundreds of years of systemic racism on our social and cultural formation? Can one affirm the merit of a capitalist economy while denouncing the rampant greed and egocentric power structures it has created? Can one be pro-vaccine and anti-mandate? … And still be a ‘Conservative Christian’ in your mind? If you struggle to answer in the ‘affirmative,’ might I suggest that your non-essentials (in this case, your politics) have been wound to tightly around what is essential to the historic Christian faith.

SO, WHAT IS “ESSENTIAL”?

This brings us back to where we started. What is foundational to Christian belief? What is essential to saving faith in Jesus? I would argue that we begin with the gospel. The gospel is primary to our faith in Jesus, from it flows all that pertains to life and godliness. So, what is the gospel?

 In sum, the gospel, is the story of Israel and God’s purposes in creation brought to fulness through the life, work, message, atoning death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, the unique Son of God, God incarnate, who came to reconcile the entirety of our humanity to right relationship with God as the first fruits of his new creation eventuating in the ultimate restoration of the cosmos, in the reuniting of heaven and earth in eternal harmony with its Creator and King. (Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-21; 13:23-39; Romans 1:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

The gospel is about redemption, reconciliation, regeneration, reorientation, and restoration from the depths of our soul to the whole of creation.

This was the message embodied in the words and way of Jesus, then distilled and proclaimed by the first Christians. In our modern age, the gospel speaks to our intuition of something beyond the material world, of the reality of good and evil and objectively just and unjust attitudes and actions. It speaks to our longing for a world set right, void of disease and suffering, hatred and malice, grief and death.

 The gospel resounds with our intrinsic pursuit of meaning, value, and purpose, providing the true narrative that most fully substantiates and grounds it all. The gospel is an invitation to a new way of being, relating, and working with God, as modeled by the way of Jesus.

 There are implications to our reception of the gospel. Our reception of it is not mere intellectual assent or emotional or charismatic experience, as if such makes one a follower of Jesus. There were plenty of folks who listened affirmingly to Jesus’ message, many who experienced the blessing of his miracles, those who were most certainly moved by teaching. But not all followed.

Within the gospel proclamation is an implicit call to follow Jesus, to become a disciple. This involves the re-formation of our minds and hearts, beliefs and ambitions, attitudes and actions. This isn’t something that happens immediately or without a concerted effort on our part, but in partnership with the Spirit as we reposition and center the whole of our lives toward Jesus.

There we have the broad strokes of the gospel and its implications for the life of the Christian. This contains the core of our theology with Christ at the center. The remainder of our theology moves to better understand and spell out certain features of the gospel and its implications. In that movement, there has been a fair amount of disagreement over the centuries but as to the core, the various streams of the historic Christian faith agree.

HOLDING CHRIST AT THE CENTER

There have and will continue to be disputes and controversies in the Church. What is primary is that we hold the center, with Christlikeness as our goal. As Paul states, 

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:1-6).

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. … I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.   Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 4:7-8, 10-12).

There is spaciousness here for disagreement. We are bound to get a fair amount wrong in our theology, ethics, and politics, if not in content, then in the status or significance we ascribe to specific issues. We will one day “arrive,” as Paul puts it above, when we will know more fully as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12). Until then, must hold fast to Christ and hold one another in a posture of humility and graciousness, just as we desire to be held.

This is to be our mindset as we wade through contentious conversations (Philippians 2:1-5ff.). The goal is not mere tolerance of theological or political differences but preserving connection and relationship. There is no space for divisively disparaging and bitterly ghosting one another in the body of Christ.

Practically, we can exercise this daily in how we approach and relate to one another, perhaps especially in the realm of social media. Rather than allowing another’s post to move us into attack mode with a stratum of preloaded assumptions, judgments, and condemnations, we can ask clarifying questions to better understand their meaning, motivation, and intention.

For instance, leading with questions like, “How do you see Jesus reflected in this [position, principle, value]?” “How do you see this [position, principle, value] consistent with the message of the gospel? How might it be inconsistent?” “In what way do you see Scripture/Jesus affirming this position? In what way do you see Scripture/Jesus challenging it?” “How is this [fill in the blank] pointing you/others toward Christlikeness?”

We all have blind spots, areas obscured by our lack of knowledge, experience, or conscious and unconscious prejudices we hold. There is a reason why “hindsight” is said to be “twenty/twenty.” Clarity frequently comes through time and experience, often through failure and lessons learned the hard way. 

Wherever one may stand at a given moment on a whole host of questions the main question is, where are they at in orientation to Jesus and the proclamation of the gospel of his Kingdom? Do they affirm what is essential to the faith? Does their life reflect faithfulness to Jesus? Does the issue at hand jeopardize their standing in Christ/the family of God, or is it an issue that can be resolved as they continue to move toward Jesus? What are your potential blind spots on this matter?

Humility and honesty go hand-in-hand in how we confront, challenge, and even disagree with others. But there is relatively little for us to divide the body of Christ over. For the rest, we must “[m]ake every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” allowing space for the Spirit’s sanctifying work in others as he is in us, which primarily occurs in the diverse and complex context of Christian community, through relationships we are directly engaged and invested in.