Theological triage: What do you have to believe to be a Christian? And just how important is all the rest?
I didn’t invent the term “theological triage.” Albert Mohler did in an article in 2004. By using the term, Mohler compared the prioritization of various doctrines we believe as Christians to the way hospitals prioritize the addressing of certain, more urgent maladies over others (such as in the extreme case of COVID-19). The term illustrates how the Bible speaks to so many different aspects of the way we live and the way we think, but not all of it is equally critical.
Hence the need for a triage of sorts. Because words have meanings, there are certain things you have to believe and practice to be accurately defined as a Christian (Christ-follower). But there are some other commands and teachings of the Bible that Christians may interpret differently, yet still affirm each other as fellow Christ-followers. Some people refer to the former as “essential” and the latter as “nonessential” beliefs.
Mohler divides Christian beliefs into primary, secondary, and tertiary matters. Primary matters are those you must believe to be a Christian, an heir of eternal life, and a member of the family of God. Secondary matters are those that individual churches should be unified on in order to function as a harmonious body of believers. Tertiary matters are those that even people within the same church can disagree on, but still fully affirm each other as Christians and cooperate in the mission of their church. Some add a fourth category called adiaphora, which is a fancy way of saying “things that don’t matter a heck of a lot.” I personally think a fivefold schema is an effective way of categorizing beliefs and practices, which I’ll outline below.
Understanding these distinctions matters because we need to know what’s worth dividing over. We need to be mature enough in faith not to cause division in our church communities because the pastor doesn’t wear a suit and tie. But we also need to be able to tell the difference between the many sets of beliefs and practices that are valid interpretations of Christ’s teachings and the others that claim to be so, but in fact aberrate so much from Christ that a person simply cannot come to a true knowledge of God or the gospel—and thus be saved and have eternal life—by adhering to them.
The essential matters
So what do you have to believe to be meaningfully called a Christian, a Christ-follower? What do you have to understand and believe, at a minimum, to truly know God for who he is and trust in Jesus as he is, and by this have eternal life? If you had two minutes to explain to someone how to become a Christian, what do they need to understand? I would say it’s something like these six essential truths:
#1. God is One. We can’t know God without knowing this. Supremacy over all things is part of God’s very nature. Any deity who would have an equal or counterpart is simply not the God revealed by Jesus.
#2. Jesus is the Son of God. This is fundamentally who Jesus is. We can’t know Jesus without knowing he’s the Son of God anymore than you could know your father without knowing that he is a human being.
#3. We are sinners. We have to understand that we’ve done wrong and rebelled against our Creator.
#4. Jesus’ death on the cross atoned for our sins. Though people describe exactly how this worked in many different ways, the heart of the matter is that when Jesus died on the cross, he made it possible for us to be reconciled to God.
#5. Jesus rose from the dead. The heart of the gospel. Jesus overcame death by rising bodily from the dead and ascending to heaven.
#6. We are saved by grace when we repent of sin and trust in Christ. We can’t earn a place in God’s family or in heaven, or contribute in any way to our salvation, by doing good works. We are accepted into God’s family and given eternal life as a free gift when we turn from our sins and trust in Jesus.
Christianity simply is not Christianity without these six truths. This is how we distinguish Christianity from pseudo-Christian religions like Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that God is one, and so by following either group’s teachings, we cannot come to know the true God. They also deny that we are saved by grace alone, but say we must do good works to contribute to our salvation, and so by following their teachings we cannot know how to be saved and have eternal life. Salvation by grace is also a prime difference between Protestants and Catholics, and why they often accuse each other of deviating from the essence of Christianity as well.
Those are what I would call the essential truths of Christianity. Anyone who would call themselves a Christian must, in some form–even if you would explain it very differently than I would–affirm those six truths.
Now I think it’s helpful to articulate four more categories of significance that concern both belief and practice. I understand that belief and practice necessarily overlap considerably, but I think once you see the classifications below you’ll understand why I make this distinction. Again, these classifications are necessary, I think, because they determine a proper response when conflict arises regarding these matters of faith and practice.
The primary matters
These are issues that concern the essence of Christianity itself. Without agreement on and adherence to these, Christianity is simply incoherent and impracticable.
The primary matters of faith. There are certain truths that are vital to the essence of Christianity in addition to the “essentials” above. These are things like the Trinity and the essential attributes of God (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, Creator, Judge, as well as “God is love”), the authority of Scripture, man in God’s image, Jesus’ second coming, heaven and hell, and salvation through Christ alone. Yet I don’t put them in the essential category above because I think you can be saved without affirming them in certain circumstances. For example, someone who grew up with no exposure to Christianity probably won’t immediately understand that the Holy Spirit is God, or how God inspired the Bible. They might not be aware that Jesus is returning bodily to Earth someday, or be able to articulate what heaven and hell are. Yet I don’t think anyone would say that means such a person needs to spend a few hours in Theology 101 before they can be saved.
Nevertheless, these are truths that I would say a person must come to affirm to be considered a Christian. Without Scripture as the absolute authoritative source of God’s self-revelation, we’re left to depend on ourselves to find God, which gets us nowhere. Without an awareness of God as Trinity and other essential attributes, we can’t really get to know God for who he is. Without heaven, hell, and Jesus returning to make the world right, salvation doesn’t make sense. And without seeing man as made in God’s image, we can’t understand our proper relationship to God or one another. As such, a Christian teacher who rejects any of these things would be correctly termed a heretic. A faith community that denied any of these things would not be considered Christian.
The primary matters of practice. To be a Christian (Christ-follower) not only means to affirm Christ’s teachings, but to practice them as well. Practicing Christ’s teachings doesn’t contribute to our being saved or accepted into God’s family, but someone who has been saved will make a sincere effort to put Christ’s teachings into practice and will demonstrate growth in that aspect of life. Among the clearest and most prominent of Christ’s practical teachings would include things like the Ten Commandments, giving to the poor, reserving sex for marriage alone, respecting all people as God’s image-bearers, sharing the gospel with others, and being part of a community of faith. Violation of these commands is unequivocally sinful, and Christianity as a way of life simply isn’t recognizable without these things.
As with the primary matters of faith, it is possible that someone can be saved and not do these things. And of course, no one steadfastly believes these things without doubting or practices these things unfailingly. But someone who habitually and unrepentantly sins by failing to obey clear commands of God such as these indicates by their lifestyle that they don’t really trust Jesus personally or submit to him as Lord, and there is ample reason to doubt whether they are truly a Christian.
Conflict on the primary matters. When there is conflict over these primary matters, what is at stake is the essence of Christianity itself. As such, these are the things worth dividing over. Deviation on these matters is sufficient to call into question the veracity of one’s faith. A church would be justified in placing a person who rejects these principles of faith and practice under church discipline. A Christian should not be part of a church that fails to teach or practice these things.
The secondary matters
Secondary matters are those that have no bearing on whether a person is truly a Christian, but they are extremely important. For a church family to function as a cohesive body and enjoy the benefits of unity, the members of a church should be in agreement on these matters. However, though they may regard one another as errant, churches or individuals with different beliefs or practices on these matters should still affirm each other as fellow believers.
Secondary matters of faith. These would certainly include the universally-acknowledged sacraments: Baptism and communion. Do we baptize infants as an initiation into the covenant community of God’s people, or do we baptize believers who can make an informed profession of faith as an outward ritual expression that professes faith and symbolizes their inward death and regeneration? Are Christ’s body and blood actually present in the communion bread and wine, or are they merely symbols? To properly communicate and appreciate the gravity of these sacraments, a church community has to be in agreement on what they mean.
Another example that’s come into prominence recently is qualifications for ministry. Does the Bible reserve the office of pastor and/or the function of preaching for only men, or can women hold that office too? One who takes the former position simply can’t be part of a church with a female lead pastor.
Secondary matters of practice. These generally concern practices that are important, but where churches/people differ on just how to practice them. An example here would be tithing. Not all believe that the Bible specifies giving a minimum of 10 percent of one’s income to the church, but a church should be unified as to whether its members are expected to tithe 10 percent. At the same time, Christians who tithe should not be quick to accuse non-tithing Christians of sin. Other examples might be if a church expects its members to abstain from alcohol.
Conflict on secondary matters. These are important matters. Faith communities cannot function harmoniously if they are not unified on them. Since many of these beliefs contradict each other, it must be true that some churches are in error regarding them. But they’re also not as clearly defined in the Bible, nor are they essential to the heart of the gospel. As such, they are not issues over which Christians should be quick to accuse one another of sin, much less of being heretical.
The tertiary matters
Tertiary matters are still important, and their classification should not be taken to mean otherwise. These are beliefs and practices that affect your relationship with God, how you articulate the essentials, how you answer hard questions, and how you put into practice the commands of Christ. But you can disagree with other Christians on these matters and still affirm each other as brothers and sisters, and be unified as members of a faith community.
Tertiary matters of faith. Many of the most fervent theological controversies, I believe, fall into this category. One of these issues could be the Calvinism/Arminianism/Molinism controversy. Has God predetermined from the beginning every event that will ever happen, or does he allow us to freely choose our course of action? Has God elected certain people to be saved but not others? Once you’ve surrendered your life to Christ and secured eternal salvation, can you ever lose that salvation, either by renouncing Christ or descending into a life of unrepentant sin? All these are questions encompassed by the Calvinist/Arminianist/Molinist debate.
Another would be creation and evolution. Did God create the world in six 24-hour days about 6,000 years ago? Did God create the world and all creatures in it over billions of years? Or did God set the universe in motion in such a way that evolution would take place as he intended it without directly intervening?
Yet another would be what will happen in the end times. What exactly is going to happen before Jesus comes back? Can Jesus truly come back at any moment, or do certain things have to happen first? Will there be a secret rapture of the church, rescuing true believers from a final period of great tribulation? Is the antichrist of the Bible a real person or figurative illustration?
These are important matters, and they concern truths that have a significant effect on our overall worldview and our relationship with God. There is a right and wrong answer to each of these questions, but Scripture doesn’t give us enough information to know that answer with the kind of conviction with which we can know the essential truths of the gospel. So it would be a mistake to claim such a level of certainty on these matters or raise them to such a level of importance that we would divide over it.
Tertiary matters of practice. When it comes to carrying out God’s commands, it’s important to understand that there are different yet equally valid ways of doing so. For example, Jesus commands us to share the gospel. Some might do that by sponsoring missionaries abroad and taking mission trips; others might focus their energies and resources on their city or neighborhood. In obedience to God’s command to pass our faith down to our children, some churches might put on a variety of programs for children and teens. Others might invest more in intergenerational ministry. When it comes to individual practices, perhaps a good example is media intake. What kinds of movies and music and video games should Christians not partake in?
Much like tertiary matters of faith, these are not merely matters of opinion. They do affect your relationship with God significantly. There is probably a right and wrong way to approach these practices. Sometimes the proper approach might be dependent on cultural context, but I do think that when it comes to these tertiary matters, God has a specific will for us in our context.
Conflict over tertiary matters. Many people are inclined to dismiss these matters as unimportant, even subjects to avoid, because they can start fights. Others treat them like they’re primary matters, treating those who disagree with them as compromisers with evil false doctrines or as ignorant sinners. Both are the wrong approach. It is okay to disagree on these matters. Wrestling with these matters, I would say, is essential to growing robustly in one’s faith and the practice of it. But diverging tertiary beliefs and practices here are not worth dividing over. They do not change the core of what it means to follow Jesus. Christians who disagree on these should fully affirm one another as brothers and sisters and humbly acknowledge that there’s much we don’t know.
The quaternary matters
Quaternary (“fourth”) matters are what some people would call adiaphora (“things indifferent”). These, too, are things that Christians should be able to disagree on and still fully affirm each other as brothers and sisters in Christ and live harmoniously in the same community of faith. The difference between tertiary and quaternary matters, I would say, is this: On tertiary matters, we’re not given enough information in Scripture to know with certainty what is true and untrue. On quaternary matters, it’s likely that there simply is no objective true and untrue. They are matters of opinion and preference.
Sometimes, of course, these turn out to be the very things that some long-time churchgoers have the strongest opinions on. Things like the style of worship (hymnal or contemporary, instrumental or non-instrumental), the style of preaching (expository or topical), the Bible translation used (as long as it’s reliable and reputable), the order of church service, or the number and nature of the programs at church. On an individual level, they would include things like putting your kids in public school or homeschooling. It’s not that these things don’t matter at all—some of them matter quite a lot—but we can’t be pointing the finger at one another and saying “you’re wrong and I’m right” over stuff like this.
Concluding thoughts
Make no mistake: It’s important to explore every issue, even those with no definitive answer. But we must know what’s worth dividing over. We must not cause unnecessary hostility by treating tertiary matters like primary ones. But we must not cause confusion and the dilution of the gospel by dismissing matters of primary importance as if they were tertiary. There are things worth dividing over, and sometimes we must make the hard decision to do just that. But there is much that is not worth dividing over.
Thanks for reading. Do you agree or disagree with the classification here? Should any of the examples I mentioned be properly placed in a different category? Let me know your thoughts by email (clayds906@gmail.com), social media, or comment below!
