Anchoring in the Basics of the Christian Faith

Jules-Alexis Muenier - La Leçon de Catéchisme (1890) Musée d'Orsay, Paris

For a thousand years, we have lived in Christendom, the Christian West, in which the truths of the Christian faith have been taken for granted societally. This is no longer so. Mothers can be denied custody of their children for being "religious extremists," i.e., biblically serious Christians. The cultural elite increasingly sees biblical Christianity as an appalling religion on par with the Taliban. Consider the Google homepage, a kind of town square. It offers well wishes to all sorts of groups for their special days and seasons, but at Christmas there are no holiday felicitations to Christians for the celebration of their Savior's birth. There is just a secular "Tis the Season" banner. They cannot even recognize the existence of what they obviously view as a dangerous presence among us. 

This shows how strange and even abhorrent biblical Christianity has become to many people. Now, just as in pagan Rome, Christians need a strong centering in the fundamental teachings of the Bible to be able to answer the scoffing, accusations, and distortions that come from the ungospelled world around us.

When the Apostle Paul was answering objections from his Jewish opponents in the first century, he made repeated reference back to the basics of the faith, the fundamental principles that are clear in the Bible and on which believers of good faith would never disagree. When you nail down the basics, you have the clear teachings in light of which you can navigate your way through the more complex truths of the faith. You are better equipped through the more clear passages and teaching to interpret the less clear. And you are less likely to be taken in by the seductive tends of the culture that pass themselves off as wisdom and goodness, less likely to be "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Eph. 4:14).

We find these biblical basics in the ecumenical creeds, like the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.  These are good as far as they go, but they address fourth century issues (still important issues). They do not address issues of the twenty-first century like the inerrancy of Scripture and the way of salvation. Catechisms like the Westminster catechisms and the Heidelberg catechism collect and systematize these biblical basics so as to equip people of every age to believe and live in way properly glorifying to God. That's what a catechism does.

More than ever, Christians need to anchor themselves in the fundamentals of their faith, the biblical basics, even such starting points as creation, fall, and redemption...the garden, the curse, and the cross. 

Let me offer these 12 "biblical basics" from which you may launch into the wider fundamentals and the deeper truths of God's Word.

1. God is Sovereign – he created all things and governs all things.

2. God is Righteous – this includes that he is good, true, faithful, and just.

3. God is Trinity in unity – one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

4. God alone deserves glory – Ps. 115:1. The universe & even God himself are God-centered!

5. Christ is fully God and fully man – if you deviate from either one of these, you’re a heretic.

6. Christ is Savior – he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

7. Christ is Lord – he’s the boss; not me.

8. The Bible is the word of God – it is true in all that it teaches.

9. The Bible is the only rule of faith & life – what we’re to believe regarding God, love, and sin.

10. Man is created in the image of God – this should affect how you think of others.

11. Man sins in all he thinks, says, and does – this should affect how you think of yourself.

12. Salvation from that sin is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.

Hold fast to what is true! You can have peace, and bring peace to others, when you clear away confusion and noise and focus on the fundamental truths of the Bible.

Look for the sermon on this topic delivered at Trinity Church (OPC) on Long Island (December 28, 2014) through SermonAudio.