Where the Gospel Ends

Many years ago a Christian leader made this statement: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”  This is a beautiful quote, but it raises a difficult question.  What is essential?  What beliefs, if we removed them from Christianity, would leave us with something that isn’t Christianity?  The early Church had a simple creed: “Jesus is Lord.”  Since then we’ve added the Apostles Creed and many different confessions and positions.  We’ve had a much easier time deciding what we believe than determining which of our beliefs are truly essential.

Where does the Gospel end and other matters begin?  What is truly a salvation issue?  It can’t be everything we believe.  If baptism were a salvation issue, then about half of the global church is not going to heaven.  At some point we must acknowledge that not everything we believe is a matter of spiritual life and death.  Important, but not critical.  As the Church of Jesus Christ finds herself divided over so many issues, it would help us to think about which are truly essential.  It would help even more if we could commit to doing as the quote suggests: love each other in all things.  The core message of the Gospel is narrower than most of our doctrine and dogma.  But the love to which the Gospel calls us covers every part.