What Doctrines Are Fundamental? (Part 2)
December 28th, 2006
(By John MacArthur)
III. Everything Essential to Saving Faith Is Fundamental
Third, a doctrine must be regarded as fundamental if eternal life depends on it. Scripture is full of statements that identify the terms of salvation and the marks of genuine faith.
“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). That verse makes faith itself essential to a right relationship with God. It also expressly identifies both the existence and the veracity of God as fundamental articles of the Christian faith.
Elsewhere we are told that eternal life is obtained through the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3; 14:6; Acts 4:12). Since Jesus Himself is the true God incarnate (1 John 5:20; John 8:58; 10:30), the fact of His deity (and by implication the whole doctrine of the Trinity) is a fundamental article of faith (see 1 John 2:23). Our Lord Himself confirmed this when He said all must honor Him as they honor the Father (John 5:23).
The truths of Jesus’ divine Sonship and Messiahship are also fundamental articles of faith (John 20:31).
Of course, the bodily resurrection of Christ is a fundamental doctrine, because 1 Corinthians 15:14 tells us, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”
Romans 10:9 confirms that the resurrection is a fundamental doctrine, and adds another: the lordship of Christ. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”
And according to Romans 4:4-5, justification by faith is a fundamental doctrine as well: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” In other words, those who seek acceptance before God on the ground of their own righteousness will find they fall short (Romans 3:27-28; Galatians 2:16-3:29). Only those who trust God to impute Christ’s perfect righteousness to them are accounted truly righteous. This is precisely the difference between Roman Catholic doctrine and the Gospel set forth in Scripture. It is at the heart of all doctrine that is truly fundamental.
In fact, an error in understanding justification is the very thing that was responsible for the apostasy of the Jewish nation: “For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). Is that not the precise failure of Roman Catholicism? But “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (v. 4).
IV. Every Doctrine We Are Forbidden to Deny Is Fundamental
Certain teachings of Scripture carry threats of damnation to those who deny them. Other ideas are expressly stated to be affirmed only by unbelievers. Such doctrines, obviously, involve fundamental articles of genuine Christianity.
The apostle John began his first epistle with a series of statements that establish key points of the doctrine of sin (hamartiology) as fundamental articles of faith. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1:6). That condemns wanton antinomianism (the idea that Christians are under no law whatsoever) and makes some degree of doctrinal and moral enlightenment essential to true Christianity. A second statement rules out the humanistic notion that people are basically good: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (v. 8 ). And a third suggests that no true Christian would deny his or her own sinfulness: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (v. 10).
First Corinthians 16:22 makes love for Christ a fundamental issue: “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.” And a similar verse, 1 Corinthians 12:3, says that no one speaking by the Spirit of God can call Jesus accursed.
The truth of Jesus’ incarnation is also clearly designated a fundamental doctrine: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:2-3). “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7). Those verses by implication also condemn those who deny the Virgin Birth of our Lord, for if He was not virgin-born, He would be merely human, not eternal God come in the flesh.
And since those who twist and distort the Word of God are threatened with destruction (2 Peter 3:16), it is evident that both a lofty view of Scripture and a sound method of Bible interpretation (hermeneutics) are fundamental tenets of true Christianity.
(Final Part Tomorrow)
Good thoughts again.
I was rethinking of my conversion, and though I have no specific day, it was surely in the autumn of 1984 when the Lord sought me out, and began to rescue me from myself, and from the god of this world, and from the holy wrath of God that was upon me.
His mercy came into my life, and I saw my sin, and I saw His forgiveness. I went to church, I went to confession. I was introduced to the Bible.
Little by little, the Lord opened my heart, and granted me repentance and faith. A big part of this was Christian radio, and listening to teachers/preachers of the Word, like John McArthur.
I may have had a season of being like Cornelius. I’m not sure.
I was not reformed at first, I wasn’t even a Protestant at first.
The Word of God shaped my heart and life, and continues to do so.
I am very reformed now, and have been for perhaps the last 15 years. This came about through His grace, and from others sharing their thoughts on the Word, and specific chapters of the Bible: Romans 9, Ephesians 1-2; & John 6.
I am still being sanctified, and pruned, for His glory.
Thanks again for the good thoughts.
Sorry for the long comment.
No need to apologize for such a moving reply. Well said, brother. God is longsufering indeed. Praise the holy Name of Jesus.
Don,
Very familiar. I was raised in the church, but was not saved until my late 20’s when I finally saw myself as a sinner, and although I don’t remember the exact time and place I know that it was a time that I cried out to the Lord and He granted me repentance. Frankly I don’t see how anyone can be saved until they see that about themselves. So many of the churches today have abandoned the doctrine of sin. They call it what the world calls it poor choices, bad decisions, mistakes, and the like. It is only when we see ourselves as not good that we truly understand the good news.
To All:
In this article John MacArthur identifies his Lordship Salvation interpretation of the gospel as a fundamental of the faith.
If I were to take the time there is much that I could discuss about this article. I am, however, going to limit myself to just one subject from the article. That subject is Dr. MacArthur’s reference to “saving faith” as a fundamental.
(I may come back and post more here. Later I am going to post this and a more thorough treatment of the article at my blog site)
In Roman numeral III above he identifies “saving faith” as a fundamental. It is important that we be reminded how Dr. MacArthur defines “saving faith.” We will look more closely at this in a moment.
For just a moment I want to refer to this quote in the article above, “Romans 10:9 confirms that the resurrection is a fundamental doctrine, and adds another: the lordship of Christ. ‘If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.’”
The deity and resurrection of Christ are indeed fundamentals. Jesus is the Messiah. The Sonship of Jesus is a fundamental, but ironically Dr. MacArthur once erred gravely on the eternal Sonship of Christ, but later acknowledged his error. In this quote on Romans 10:9 Dr. MacArthur identifies “the lordship of Christ” as “a fundamental doctrine.”
Romans 10:9 is speaking of salvation, therefore, when Dr. MacArthur speaks of the lordship of Christ from the verse he is speaking of what he believes a man’s response must be to the lordship of Christ in order to be born again.
This is important because Lordship’s “saving faith” has primarily to do with what they believe must be man’s response to the lordship of Christ to result in salvation.
Just before I quote Dr. MacArthur’s definition of “saving faith” we need to be reminded that in the article above, and in the quotes to follow, he is speaking of the reception of eternal life, not the results of a genuine conversion.
In defining “saving faith,” Dr. MacArthur has written,
“The gospel Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience. . . . Forsaking oneself for Christ’s sake is not an optional step of discipleship subsequent to conversion; it is the sine qua non of saving faith.” (The Gospel According to Jesus: [Revised & Expanded Edition], pp. 27, 142.)
The indispensable condition of “saving faith,” according to Dr. MacArthur, is following Christ, “submissive obedience” and “forsaking oneself.”
Following is John MacArthur’s definition of saving faith from the original edition of The Gospel According to Jesus: “Saving faith is a commitment to leave sin and follow Jesus at all costs. Jesus takes no one unwilling to come on those terms.” (p. 87.)
From the Revised & Expanded Edition, John MacArthur reworked the above statement as follows, “Saving faith does not recoil from the demand to forsake sin and follow Jesus Christ at all costs. Those who find his terms unacceptable cannot come at all.” (p. 95.)
Again from his original edition, MacArthur writes,
“Thus in a sense we pay the ultimate price for salvation when our sinful self is nailed to a cross. . . . It is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is. And it denotes implicit obedience, full surrender to the lordship of Christ. Nothing less can qualify as saving faith.” (p. 140.)
To reiterate, Dr. MacArthur is defining the terms or conditions for the reception of eternal life. When he speaks of “saving faith” he is defining what he believes is required for the reception of eternal life. He believes salvation is conditioned upon “wholehearted commitment, unconditional surrender, a commitment to leave sin.
Dr. MacArthur states salvation (the gift of eternal life) is based on, “A full exchange of self for the Savior.” These are the terms he uses to define the Lordship interpretation of “saving faith.”
Lordship Salvation requires much more than a faith that is depending on Jesus Christ to save from sin, death and Hell. The Lordship position does not depend solely on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Lordship Salvation, according to John MacArthur requires an “exchange” of what man must offer Christ by way of commitments to obedience, surrender, and following, to receive His free gift of salvation.
To define “saving faith” as though receiving the free gift of God requires a lost man to make upfront commitments in “exchange” for salvation is a departure from the fundamentals of our faith!
LM
www.indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com
Lou,
With all due respect, you missed the Lordship debate already. It was covered in some detail and ended in September.
You may wish to go back to last week’s “kick-off” of “what doctrines are fundamental” for context and even to the emergent discussions before that so that you can contribute more meaningfully. Hope this helps you stay current but you missed that boat as it ended in September.
Grace to You,
Keith Crosby
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Well, Keith:
I’m sorry, but I had a hearty, well-meaning laugh.
Go to the Categories section and click on “Lordship.” You might find that I didn’t miss much, and it well beyond September.
Kind regards,
LM
PS: I have been reading the articles here virtually every day.
Dear Keith:
In all seriousness I believe my contribution under this particular article is meaningful.
It is so because Dr. MacArthur introduced “saving faith,” and the Romans 10:9 passage. These are two of the hallmark defining issues in his lordship interpretation of the gospel.
Dr. MacArthur has, in a very subtle way, identified his interpretation of the gospel, commonly known as Lordship Salvation (LS), as one of the fundamentals.
He brought LS into the arena, and I am simply addressing it.
Yours faithfully,
LM
For those interested in rehearsing the lordship discussion (as it pertains to Lou), please see the following articles:
Lou and Lordship (Part 1)
Lou and Lordship (Part 2)
Lou and Lordship (Part 3)
Lou and Lordship (Part 4)
Lou and Lordship (Part 5)
A Few More Thoughts on Lordship (Part 1)
A Few More Thoughts on Lordship (Part 2)
[…] In his second post he gives more guidelines: […]
Its strange to see the question “What doctrines are fundamental?” after all these millenia of Christianity. The early Christian Church asked the same question and answered it in the early 4th century. The Nicene Creed was the result.
The Nicene Creed well expresses the absolute minimum fundamentals of our faith. Everything in the Creed is supported clearly by scripture. How wonderful that, in less than a minute, a Christian can recite clearly the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. The early Church fathers were surely led by the Holy Spirit.
http://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html
[…] John Macarthur: What Doctrines are Essential, Part 2 […]
Timothy,
Are you saying that the Nicene Creed is inspired Scripture? Are you equating the “fathers” with the inpired writings of the writers, writing apostles and writing prophets of the Old and New Testaments?
The Roman church would acknowledge the creeds; however, with the veneration of Mary, the magic of the relics, and what is largely a disregard of Scripture they have largely missed the boat.
I live in a town that is mostly Roman Catholic (Green Bay, Wisconsin) and the saying goes here, “we (Catholics) don’t read the Bible.” Yes, they can recite the Apostle’s Creed, the Rosary, and say “Hail Mary” but most do not know, or have not heard, the way of salvation. They are trusting in ritual, penance, and their connection to the church (technically only the clergy are in the Roman church) for their salvation. They are told, much like the mantras of the emergent movement, that the Bible is not understandable and most people cannot understand it.
We need to reminds ourselves that Satan ‘believes’ and ‘understands’ the creeds and the Bible (he quoted and twisted it during the 40 days and nights he spent with Christ in the wilderness). However, Satan does not have saving faith. Saving faith and the deity of Christ are indeed fundamental doctrines.
The creeds are valuable and they might even be a starting point for some. However, they do not replace the study of Scripture, the grappling with the sacred writ that is necessary to understand God (i.e. theo-logy/doctrine is the study of God and His principles). Understanding the critical fundamental doctrines is fundamental to being a Christian.
When one blurs, ignores, or plays down understanding the Scriptures and the doctrines that are fundamental to the faith, one makes room for the cultist like the Jehovah Witnesses who do not believe in the deity of Christ and who cling to salvation by works (or the Mormons who, at the end of the day, have more gods as the Hindus.
In His Grace,
Keith Crosby
Green Bay
[…] Part 2 […]