We’ve had previous discussions at this blog on the issue of the “essentials”, what they are, and their relevance to church unity and church discipline. On this topic, there seems to be a long tradition of orthodox theologians saying that this question is “mysterious and difficult”. And, I myself am beginning to wonder if the question is difficult because the question presupposes something erroneous.
It does seem counter-intuitive, at least a little, to say there is a category of doctrines (“non-essentials”) revealed by God which people are nonetheless free, in any sense, to disbelieve. I’m beginning to wonder if the essentials/non-essentials distinction is misleading. Consider: the practical impetus behind making the distinction seems to be our recognition (whether based on pure emotion or on the leading of the Spirit or something) that there are people who seem to have evidence of the Spirit of Christ living in them who nevertheless disagree with us on some doctrinal point. I was going to say “and only in the case where the doctrine is non-essential”, but frankly I don’t think that’s true: some Reformed theologians have emphasized that “you are not justified by faith in justification by faith, but by faith in Jesus”, implying it is possible for someone to be saved who does not believe in what many Protestants would call the “point on which the church stands or falls”. I am really starting think the real distinction being made, and being miscast as essential vs. non-essential, is culpable vs. non-culpable ignorance of the truth. Whether we take an apparent ardent love for Jesus as sufficient to join in communion with a person or a church, in spite of said person or church rejecting some truth we believed to be taught by God, is dependent on whether we think that person or church is excusably ignorant of the truth or not, and not whether the doctrine fits into the nebulous category of “essential”.
At least, that’s how I’m inclining at the moment. It seems the biblical data could be shifted either way: all the people excommunicated were, it seems to me, considered to be culpably wrong, so it’s not clear Paul would anathematize someone who made a significant error out of ignorance. At the same time, this does not underwrite a practice of latitudinarianism or antinomianism; it is, after all, possible for a preacher of the gospel to know that he has clearly communicated the gospel (or an important biblical teaching), and that people have understood him and still reject it. And further, it can also be argued that there are some truths no normally functioning human being could be ignorant of, such as monotheism, or some major ethical principles.
But the more I think about it, the more this makes sense. That culpability in disbelief is the real issue seems to be revealed by the fact that most of the “non-essentials” people point to “coincidentally” are also areas of doctrine where coming to a certain conclusion is very difficult due to the complexity of the issue. Consider eschatology: coming to the truth requires having a correct interpretation of scores of highly symbolic and ancient (and therefore frequently partially unclear) passages of scripture from several books, including (but not limited to) Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. There are just so many chances for sincere error here, that most people, I think, have intuitively recognized that there can be a high degree of non-culpable disbelief in the truth on this matter. But when it comes to, say, the deity of Christ, the issues are far less murky, and the proofs for it far more direct, that non-culpable disbelief is considered less likely to occur (though, perhaps not impossible). (One might respond that many in the early church didn’t find the deity of Christ so clear; and, indeed, the mainstream church does look with some indulgence on church fathers who taught otherwise questionable doctrines about the Trinity (e.g., Justin Martyr); however, once the issue was decided by the greatest minds of the church and agreed upon by the bishops of the church, it became much more inexcusable for the average layperson to disagree on the issue. This widespread acceptance of this doctrine continues among Christian churches to this day, and thus, so does the high degree of culpability in rejecting it. And, further, most evangelicals today would say the Bible is indeed clear on the deity Jesus Christ, and I agree with them on that.)
On the other hand, one can think of a different kind of scenario, and it also seems to confirm my thoughts: imagine a situation where a person explicitly affirmed the fact that Solomon had a thousand women was indeed revealed by God, and nevertheless refused to believe it. Now, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to place such a fact in a category of “essentials”, but nevertheless, such behaviour would reveal a deep contumacy and rebellion against God that would warrant church-discipline.
These are my thoughts as they stand. I think they help to solve some problems with the received tradition about the distinction between essentials and non-essentials, and so I’m persuaded of it; but, I am definitely open to pushback here. I certainly may change my mind again. What do you think?
The one major counter-objection I can think of to this proposal is that scripture signals that some facts about reality are more important than others; this is undeniable, in my mind. But I think that these more important facts are also the things the Bible makes the clearest, and says are the clearest. So, I don’t think that ultimately undermines my thought here.
That seems to be correct. Consider Aquinas’ discussion of theology in ST Question 1. He claims that Scripture is the formal principle of theology. So that means that all of the content of Scripture is authoritative and ought to be believed by Christians. However, there are greater reasons for believing certain parts of it. This means that certain parts of Scripture cannot be violated without greater censure. Nonetheless, all must be believed because to act otherwise is to act against the authority of God himself.
Hmm. Maybe you could parse things a bit more? Are you talking about hermeneutics, and coming to a consensus on the connect interpretation of a passage Scripture (ie, the Creation account being allegory or history), or functional Christian, doing what we ought (women pastors or listening to secular music)? Both?
And when talk about essential, what’s in view? Essential for salvation?
I just want to get a better handle on your argument.
Sorry, typo: “functional Christianity”
The context is more what is required for fellowship with other Churches and what is required to qualify as “Christian” at all.
Yeah it’s a toughy. No question we need to land somewhere – it’s our responsibility to be faithful with what’s been revealed – but part of the problem is that it appears as though some latitude has been built into the faith. For example, Paul talks about “disputable matters;” that a matter can be disputable must mean that landing on the right conclusion isn’t essential for fellowship or faith. Indeed, not even the Apostles could come to consensus all the time, what of them?
When you say to “qualify as a Christian,” do you mean as far as the Church is concerned, or to in fact be saved?
Those questions are hard to separate, I think. I mean, the criteria for excommunication just are the criteria for exclusion from the kingdom of God. We can make probablistic judgments about the state of people’s relationship with God based on behaviour, and that probable judgment is all that is available and needed for church discipline. But there’s always a chance for error, which must be recognized in our understanding of what church discipline accomplishes. We cannot, ultimately, determine people’s presence in God’s kingdom, but we must determine their presence in the church. The criteria for exclusion are the same, excepting that the church can only judge the external manifestation of the heart in behaviour, not the heart itself (as God can).
“That culpability in disbelief is the real issue seems to be revealed by the fact that most of the “non-essentials” people point to “coincidentally” are also areas of doctrine where coming to a certain conclusion is very difficult due to the complexity of the issue. Consider eschatology: coming to the truth requires having a correct interpretation of scores of highly symbolic and ancient (and therefore frequently partially unclear) passages of scripture from several books, including (but not limited to) Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. There are just so many chances for sincere error here, that most people, I think, have intuitively recognized that there can be a high degree of non-culpable disbelief in the truth on this matter.”
The problem here though is that, as we have recently seen, some people do see these passages as clear, sufficiently so to claim that the rapture happened last month (!) Now this is an extreme case but there are still many who have a remarkably rigid view of eschatology given the opacity of the text to our 2000-year removed minds. While you are not framing the problem as essential vs. non-essential, there still appears to be categories of doctrine (obvious vs. non-obvious?) where disagreement is permitted and where it is not.
Right. I did qualify my comment above by saying “most people”, and I stand by that. I think the reason most people think this way about this issue is because they are intuitively grasping what I’m saying: the issue is complicated, so there is room for non-culpable error.