The Basic Principles Of Christianity[1]
Wm. P. Farley
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N A RECENT SURVEY by U.S. News & World Report, [i] Americans were asked who they thought most likely to go to heaven. 65% thought Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan were “very likely” to go to heaven. 79% believed Mother Teresa would go to heaven.
There was only one person that scored higher than Mother Teresa. You guessed it—the respondent. Over 80% taking the survey felt it “very likely” that they would go to heaven. The response to this survey is crucial because it illustrates “the basic principles of this world,” a concept foundational to the apostle Paul’s thinking.
Paul’s “basic principles” are the three legged stool upon which every non-Christian philosophy or religion, including contemporary secularism, stands. It is the crucial divide between Christianity and all other religions.
A basic principle is a fundamental, or building block of something. The basic principles of football are blocking, tackling, and running. The basic principles of cooking are measuring, a good sense of taste, and a good recipe.
In the same way, Paul’s “basic principles” are foundational assumptions about God and man that all non-Christian religions and philosophies share in common. “See to it that no one takes you captive,” he wrote the Colossians, “through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends upon…the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ” [Col 2:8]. In fact, the “basic principles” have enslaved the world. “We were in slavery under the basic principles of this world,” Paul reminded the Galatian church [Gal 4:3]. And, every true Christian died to this strangle-hold when he believed in Christ. “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it do you submit to its rules…” [Col 2:20,21].
Because many of God’s people do not understand either the “basic principles of this world” or the basic principles of Christianity, which stand opposite them, we suffer needlessly. I am writing this article to clarify this issue and introduce you to the joy that is the heritage of those who understand the distinction.
The Basic Principles Defined
Although Paul uses the term “basic principles” often (an NIV translation of the Greek word “stoicheion”), he does not specifically define this term. He uses it twice in both Galatians and Colossians to describe the phenomenon of meriting God’s favor by obeying law. Remember, he wrote the Galatians to establish a right standing with God through free grace in opposition to a merit-based righteousness, and he wrote to the Colossians to establish the absolute supremacy of Christ which also depends upon a right response to grace.
Every person who tries to earn salvation, however, does so because he assumes that God is tolerant and man is good. Therefore, from the context of Paul’s epistles, allow me to condense his basic principles into three assumptions about God and man.
· God is tolerant
· Men are basically good
· Men can and must earn God’s favor
Let’s examine these in order. The first “principle” is the assumption that God is tolerant.
Because the natural [fleshly] mind cannot imagine the true God, every human religion develops its god from contact with the created world and then projects that idea into heaven. (Pantheists place him on earth). Man is the crown of creation, therefore, we fashion our gods in our own image. Man is tolerant of evil, so his gods are also.
Those who hold this assumption often refer to the “good Lord.” By this they usually mean the “tolerant” Lord. He is the white-bearded grandfather in heaven. Like us, He understands that nobody is perfect, so He accepts people who try hard. Those who believe in this god also assume that some evil people, like Adolph Hitler, won’t get into heaven, but that God will admit all that are sincere and try hard.
The second “basic principle” is the assumption that men are essentially good and that God loves us because of our goodness. Everyone agrees that no one is perfect, but the second “basic principle” goes farther. It assumes that imperfection does not matter, or that our goodness will greatly outweigh whatever evil is in us.
The third basic principle proceeds from the first two: Since god is tolerant of evil and men are basically good, we can and must merit heaven. Therefore, all non-Christian religions practice some version of PBA—performance based acceptance—the works righteousness that Paul’s basic principles represent.
The Common Denominator of Religion
These three basic principles are systemic to humanity. They are part of the sin package with which we are born, and it is very hard to root them out of our thinking. In fact, the first sign of a backslidden church is a return to the basic principles of this world. I would like to recount a few of my experiences to illustrate their universality and the difficulty of overcoming them.
I recently stopped at a highway rest area on the Columbia River Gorge to stretch and go to the bathroom. However, three dedicated Jehovah’s Witnesses, armed with Watchtowers, stood between the men’s room and myself. Recognizing that I would have to run their gauntlet, I decide to go on the offensive.
Extending my hand to the first Witness, I asked. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“I don’t mind,” she answered with surprise.
“If you were to die this evening and God were to ask you why He should let you into heaven what would you say?”
There was a long pause. She looked to her friends for help. Finally, she responded: “Because I have obeyed God’s commandments and I am witnessing to people like you. Besides, I have tried my best to lead a good life.”
I tried to share Christ with her but saw little outward success.
A prominent, Moslem, dying of Parkinson’s disease, was recently interviewed in the Readers Digest Magazine. “One day God is going to judge us,” he rightly observed. “If the bad outweighs the good, you go to Hell; if the good outweighs the bad you go to heaven.” His response epitomized the basic principles of this world.
A Hindu acquaintance studying at Washington State University worshipped three idols on his desk. Because he depended on them for good grades, he constantly feared their displeasure. To appease them he followed special diets and observed a list of daily rules and regulations. For example, he couldn’t eat pork. Through Fellowship of Christian Athletes he became a Christian. He celebrated by eating a sausage pizza.
These people all shared Paul’s basic principles in common. God is tolerant of imperfection. People that are sincere and try hard go to heaven. Therefore, they spend their lives working to merit god’s acceptance. The people who answered the U.S. News survey mostly believed the basic principles and thought that they were going to heaven for the same reasons.
Only the basic principles of the gospel can release a person from the “basic principles of the world,” and there is great freedom and joy when they do.
The Basic Principles of Christianity
The term “basic principles of Christianity” is not in scripture. I have developed it to represent the three assumptions behind the gospel that oppose the three assumptions we have examined. They are foundational to all Christian thought about God and man, and they are a radical departure from every other religious system.
· God is not tolerant: He is holy!
· Men are not good. They are sinful.
· Men can do absolutely nothing to earn God’s favor but believe in Christ’s atonement and repent.
First, God is not tolerant—He is holy. Here is the great divide. Because the unaided human mind cannot comprehend the holiness of God, the gods we invent are not holy. A.W. Tozer noted:
Neither this writer nor the reader of these words is qualified to appreciate the holiness of God. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it.[2]
Day and night the angels continually worship, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty” [Is 6:3]. Everything about God is holy. He is called the “Holy One” 58 times in scripture. His Spirit is a Holy Spirit. Even the ground is made holy by His presence. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” [Josh 5:15]. Holiness is also His beauty: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” [Ps 29:2 KJV].
At the heart of holiness is the idea of separateness or transcendence. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” [Is 55:9], declared the thrice holy God. This means that morally, God is distinct and unique from everything with which we are familiar. We would never invent the God of the Bible. Ethically, He is perfect, pure, and spotless. “Even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,” observed Job [Job 15:15].
God’s word reveals His holiness, and He communicates the sense and taste of it to us by inward revelation. “Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” noted Habakkuk [Hab 1:13]. The prophet perceived that God cannot relate to sinful creatures until there has been an atonement for sin. To fraternize with sinful men would compromise His holiness. Habakkuk understood that even though people are sincere, because they are imperfect their lives only provoke God’s wrath. “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God” [1Sam 6:20], asked the men of Beth Shemesh after seventy of their friends died for a careless look into the Ark of the Covenant?
The second basic principle of Christianity is that man is not good: He is sinful. Three is the Biblical number for emphasis. It is God’s exclamation point. Three times the Bible repeats this phrase: “There is no one who does good, not even one.” [ii] This does not mean that we are as sinful as we could be. Because God created us in His image there is much good in man. It means that no one is good by God’s standard. And that is the rub.
The third basic principle follows from the first two. If God cannot accept imperfection, and all men are imperfect, then performance-based acceptance is futile. There is nothing you or I can do to gain eternal life but believe and accept God’s unmerited favor—which is His matchless grace, revealed in the death of Jesus Christ. Christianity’s “basic principles” make it a religion of grace not works. Those who accept these truths delight in this grace and the “justification by faith alone” that opens it to them.
These three “principles” are the great chasm dividing Christianity from the world’s other religions and philosophies.
We need to be very clear about this subject for four crucial reasons: first, it is foundational to all Christian thinking; second, it opens the knowledge of God’s love to us; third, it initiates us into the experience of God’s love; and, fourth it clarifies the necessary mechanics of evangelism.
Like A Foundation
First, the basic principles of Christianity are to the church what a foundation is to a building. Every structure on a crooked foundation will eventually topple. Fail to build on this foundation and both you and your church will suffer.
Throughout history whenever a church, denomination, or fellowship loses their grip on the holiness of God, and the utter sinfulness of man, the crucial doctrine of “justification by faith alone” slowly morphs into some form of works righteousness. When this happens God’s power, joy, and spiritual vitality disappear.
For example, I recently visited a large church sliding towards the basic principles of this world. The symptoms of this backsliding were apparent. There was little understanding of human moral bankruptcy and sinfulness. God had become a good-old-boy. Therefore, there was little emphasis upon the cross.
This church exuded three classic symptoms of this problem. First, because it assumed that men can be good enough, it was program and works driven. Second, they paid lip service to evangelism. Who needs to evangelize if men can work their way into God’s favor? Third, because they believed in their capacity to merit God’s favor, there was little felt need for God, and a conspicuous absence of joy marked their fellowship. This church resembled a social club more than the Bride of Christ.
By contrast, I was recently privileged to attend a large Church in Maryland that has clearly rejected the basic principles of this world. How has it affected them? They continually preach the cross, and the grace of God that proceeds from it. They know their bankruptcy, and they feel deeply their need for God. Grace saturates their speech and behavior. For the same reason, evangelism is one of their first priorities. They are joyfully planting churches all over North America. Because they know their sinfulness and unworthiness, there is a contagious joy proceeding from the knowledge of God’s grace, and a conspicuous humility in their relationships.
In addition we suffer in many ways personally when the basic principles are not foundational to our thought life. One symptom of this failure is an overemphasis upon secondary issues. Those who see the holiness of God, their personal bankruptcy, and God’s lavish grace with the eye of their heart are preoccupied with primary issues.
After church a new-comer introduced himself. “Are you pre or postmillennial?” he asked critically as he extended his hand. What a way to begin a relationship, I thought. I don’t want to relate to him on the basis of doctrinal minutia. What was wrong with my dear brother? He did not see his personal sinfulness, God’s holiness, and the glory of God’s free grace. To him it was just theology. He gloried in secondary issues. But all who reject the basic principles of this world joyously exult in the cross of Christ. It becomes their focus—the bridge relating them to other Christians—encouraging the spiritual love and forbearance that builds up the church.