In today’s world there is confusion about the main teachings of Christianity. In order to bring clarity to the situation, this post will explain Christianity’s main teachings from a biblical point of view.

The Relationship Between Some Main Teachings of Christianity

The main teachings of Christianity are referred to in the Bible as “the principles of the doctrine [teachings] of Christ” (Hebrews 6:1) and they are all interrelated. So, to guide our discussion I have prepared the infographic above.

Bible Notation

For those who are new to Bible notation, “Hebrews 6:1” is a reference to the Bible, which is a collection of books. In the Bible, each book consists of one or more chapters, and each chapter has numbered sections called verses. The quotation referred to as “Hebrews 6:1” is taken from the book of Hebrews in the Bible, the 6^th chapter, and the 1^st verse.

A Main Source of Christianity’s Teachings

First and foremost in Christianity is the concept of God. The question that arises is, Who is God? Is He real? The Bible which is “the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) gives some plain answers to these questions.

In the Bible, God speaks of Himself, saying, “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward [tortuous] or perverse [false] in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.” Proverbs 8:8, 9.

So, we can trust what the Bible has to say. It is one of our main sources apart from God Himself for understanding what Christianity teaches.

Christianity’s Teachings About God

God says that He is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.” Isaiah 57:15. “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.” Hebrews 7:3.

“God the LORD [the supreme Ruler], he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit [a mind] to them that walk therein.” Isaiah 42:5. “I am the LORD; and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:18.

God is the “Creator” (Ecclesiastes 12:1) who also made “angels” (Genesis 19:1) and “God, who… made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1, 2) which are inhabited by other intelligent beings created by God.

God is a Family known as “the Godhead” (Acts 17:29) and so we may say “The LORD [the supreme Ruler] our God is one LORD [one Godhead].” Deuteronomy 6:4.

The divine Family is made up of three Persons who are each God in their own right. These Persons are the “Father” (Matthew 5:16), “Christ, the Son of the Father” (2 John 1:3), and the “holy spirit” Psalm 51:11.

Christianity’s Teachings About the Law

“God is love” (1 John 4:8) and so “God’s law” (Nehemiah 10:29) is a law of love for it is a transcript of God’s character.

God’s law can be summarised as follows: “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:5) and “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Leviticus 19:18.

This is the law by which God rules the universe and which every intelligent being in the universe is expected to keep.

Christianity’s Teachings About Sin

All was holiness, bliss, joy, peace, and harmony in the universe until sin, which is evil and wrongdoing, entered the universe.

Now God says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth [breaks] also the law: for sin is the transgression [breaking] of the law.” 1 John 3:4.

For “the Devil, and Satan” (Revelation 12:9), “he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44.

So, sin began in heaven with Satan in heaven, it spread to some of the other angels in heaven, and it later spread to the earth.

Christianity’s Teachings About the Gospel

In light of humanity’s sin, God devised a plan of salvation, the saving from eternal death (annihilation) for humanity, and this plan is known as “the gospel.” Matthew 4:23.

“The gospel of Christ…is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16.

That is, the aim of the gospel then is to bring every human being to a point where they do not sin, that is, where they do not break God’s law.

Therefore, out of the abundance of love in His heart God devised the gospel which is a mixture of “mercy” (Genesis 19:19) and “justice.” Genesis 18:19.

Christianity’s Teachings About God’s Justice

God, according to His justice, has ordained that “the wages of sin is [eternal] death [annihilation].” Romans 6:23. That is, God intends to purge the universe of all sin in order to restore it to its original state of holiness, bliss, joy, peace and harmony.

So, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but [has]…reserved [them] unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4. On the other hand, God “will have all men [all humanity] to be saved [from eternal death which is annihilation], and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) about God.

Why the two different approaches to sin by God? The answer is that the angels live with God in heaven and they have a great light of truth about God. However, some angels persisted in sin until they became fixed in the ways of evil. So, these angels have no hope of being saved from eternal death (annihilation) and were cast out of heaven.

On the other hand, humanity living on the earth have no great light of truth about God as do the angels.

Since, the case of the angels that sinned has already been decided, they will in due course suffer eternal death (annihilation). Hence, the only sin that remains to be dealt with by God is that of humanity. God’s judgment of humanity will decide who among humanity should suffer eternal death (annihilation).

As was said before, the gospel is a mixture of mercy and justice. That is, in the gospel, God has made all provision for every human being to be saved from eternal death (annihilation) according to His mercy. Therefore, those who refuse God’s mercy must face God’s justice unmixed with mercy. They shall “sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake.” Jeremiah 51:39.

So then, when all in the universe who have sinned have been annihilated, the universe will revert to its original state of purity. This too is the aim of the gospel.

Christianity’s Teachings About the God’s Mercy

By His mercy, God has provided an “atonement” (Romans 5:11) which is a merciful sacrifice “for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2) through the death of Christ, and also through His mercy God provided “grace.” Genesis 6:8.

Both Christ’s atonement and God’s grace work together for the salvation of humanity.

By means of the atonement God has provided “for the remission [forgiveness] of sins that are past.” Romans 3:25. Grace is God’s blessing which includes the gift of both love and moral strength which God gives an individual so that they can cease sinning, cease from breaking God’s law, in the present and in the future. Therefore, the gospel’s mercy takes care of all sins.

Christianity’s Teachings About the God’s Grace

Now, for us to benefit from the gospel’s mercy we must have “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21.

Both repentance and faith are the fruit of God’s grace, the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives.

As we yield ourselves to God’s love by God’s grace, we come to perceive our own wickedness and are led to repent of our evildoing. When we repent and have faith in Christ’s saving sacrifice of Himself, we receive God’s love in our hearts which leads us on by God’s grace to discern the difference between good and evil and, hence, be saved from eternal death (annihilation).

Therefore, we are led by God’s grace to trust in Christ and to praise Him and give Him thanks for the wonderful salvation He has provided for humanity.

Once we come to have “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21), then it is that “the [fullness of the] love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit].” Romans 5:5.

So, grace imparts the gift of love from God, a love that is identical to the love that exists in Christ’s heart.

Now “strength” (2 Samuel 22:33) in the Bible often refers to the moral strength that grace imparts to resist temptations to sin.

To reiterate then, grace is God’s blessing which includes the gift of both love and moral strength which God gives an individual so that they can cease sinning, cease from breaking God’s law, in the present and in the future.

The atonement of Christ and both of God’s gifts of love and moral strength result in our “justification” (Romans 4:25) and “sanctification” (1 Corinthians 1:30) which are the two milestones leading to salvation.

Christianity’s Teachings About Justification

Justification occurs instantaneously when we have repentance and faith. That is, justification occurs when you fully “submit yourselves…to God” (James 4:7), such as they that have fully “submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3.

God’s grace leads us on step by step to repentance and faith but no partial submission to the will of God will cause us to be justified. We must fully commit ourselves to God.

At that time, because you are not then in any way opposed to God’s ways of love, all your sins are forgiven and God gives you “the gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17), which is the gift of love.

Christianity’s Teachings About Sanctification: The Inner Conflict

At justification, the sinful nature with which you were born and “the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) now received from God are in constant conflict with each other. Thus begins the lifelong process of sanctification.

“For the flesh [the sinful nature] lusteth [wars] against the [Holy] Spirit, and the [Holy] Spirit [wars] against the flesh [the sinful nature]: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17.

Having been justified, we are to “go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1) such that we can say “I can do all things through Christ which [morally] strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:13. This is the fruit of God’s grace which gives us moral strength to cease from sinning.

So, God gives us grace and He says, “Thou therefore, my son [and daughter], be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10) to overcome sin.

By God’s grace, it is God’s love in our hearts that sets us on the right path of righteousness and it is moral strength from God keeps us from deviating from the right path.

Christianity’s Teachings About Sanctification: Keeping God’s Law of Love

Sanctification is the lifelong process whereby “the LORD [God] trieth [tests] the righteous” (Psalm 11:5) “that I [God] may prove them, whether they will walk in my law [of love], or no.” Exodus 16:4.

Therefore, God says, “Keep my commandments, and live [eternally]; and my law as the apple of thine eye.” Proverbs 7:2. When we do this we are fit to be saved from eternal death (annihilation) and to instead receive eternal life.

For we are saved when we become like Christ who “was in all points tempted like as we [human beings] are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), yet without breaking God’s law of love.

The process of sanctification is complete when we “walk in love.” Ephesians 5:2. For then we have become like Abraham of whom God says, “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws [of love].” Genesis 26:5.

That is, when we become perfect by having “perfect love” (1 John 4:18) we are sanctified. That is, through God’s mercy, by God’s grace, we can stand “holy and without blame before him [God] in love” (Ephesians 1:4) which is the goal of the gospel.

So, he that “trusteth in the LORD…through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved” (Psalm 21:7) by falling into sin, but instead shall display perfect love and, hence, shall be saved receiving eternal life.

Christianity’s Teachings About the Reward of Grace

Christ says, “To him that overcometh [sin] will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame [sin], and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Revelation 3:21. This is the reward of grace.

“To him that overcometh [sin] will I [Christ] give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7.

Conclusion

In this post, we have considered the main teachings of Christianity, known as “the principles of the doctrine [teachings] of Christ.” Hebrews 6:1. These teachings are, namely, God, the law, the gospel, justice, mercy, atonement, grace, justification, and sanctification. All these concepts are interrelated and it is necessary that every human being understand such things.

This post I hope has served to eliminate the confusion in the world today about the main teachings of Christianity.

How This Blog Teaches Bible Study

My blog posts take one or more Bible verses and unpack what is often the hidden meaning in them, to help you to gain in your understanding of the Bible, and to receive insights into how to study it. For God says, “Study [the Bible] to shew [show] thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing [interpreting] the word of truth [the Bible].” 2 Timothy 2:15. There are new blog posts every two weeks on a Monday at 12:01 a.m. in timezone UTC-5 (GMT-5).

Further Reading

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