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What
are Major Christian Beliefs?
Christianity is at least three things:
A set of beliefs
A way of life
A community of people
Different Christian groups place different weights on these three aspects, but they always involve all three. All three aspects are based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who is also known as the Christ. ("Christ" was originally a title. It is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Messiah", meaning "anointed".)
This page is an introduction to the beliefs. To get a reasonable picture of Christian beliefs, you should read at least this page and the next one, on the Gospel. In case you are interested in more details, there are also several pages dealing with specific beliefs: the Incarnation, the Trinity, and a set of issues involving free will and God's overall responsibility. The latter page is called predestination.
For the role of the Christian community, see the page on the Church . For the way of life, see the pages on the Christian life, worship, the law, and expressing love.
Christianity shares a number of beliefs and practices with other religions, particularly Judaism and Islam. With Judaism and Islam, Christians believe in one God, who created the universe and all that is in it. All believe that this God is active in history, guiding and teaching his people. All three religions, including Christianity, have been called "ethical monotheism". This term emphasizes the belief in one God, and the fact that following this God commits us to a number of specific ethical rules or principles.
Christianity originally developed as a part of Judaism. Jesus was a Jew. He lived from about 3 BC to 30 AD. He lived and taught in Palestine, primarily (although not exclusively) among fellow Jews. Christianity separated from the main body of Judaism for two major reasons:
Christianity came to regard Jesus as in some sense God's presence in human form. This was unacceptable to most Jews.
Judaism is defined by a covenant made between God and the Jewish people. Part of this covenant is the Law, a set of religious and ethical rules and principles. Most Christians came to regard both this covenant and Law as in some sense superseded by Jesus' teaching and the community that he established. On the night he died, Jesus talked about establishing a "new covenant" based on his death and resurrection.
These two issues continue to be among the most distinctive and controversial aspects of Christianity. They are controversial even among Christians. All Christians assign Jesus a role that would seem inappropriate to Jews. However his exact relationship with God was the source of major disagreements among Christians as late as the 5th Century. While most modern Christians accept the standards developed in the 4th and 5th Centuries, there are small groups that do not. This aspect of Christianity is also often attacked or reinterpreted by "liberal" elements within Christianity.
The role of the Law also continues to cause controversy within Christianity. In a narrow sense this is reflected in small groups of Christians that worship on Saturday rather than Sunday, in obedience to one of the provisions of the Law. In a broader sense, the current conflict about the role of women and homosexuals in the Church involves the Christian approach to ethical and cultic standards.
The Role of Christian Beliefs
Before talking about specific beliefs, it's probably worth saying something about the role of beliefs in Christianity. Christianity tends to put more importance on proper belief than many other religions. The term "orthodox" (from roots meaning "right belief") is used to describe beliefs that are in agreement with the standards set up by the Christian community.
When you say that someone is a Christian, you normally mean that he accepts the major Christian beliefs. That's not the whole story, since Christianity is also a way of life and a community. But most Christians do not think it is appropriate to apply the term Christian based simply on the fact that someone has Christian parents and grew up as a Christian, or even based on the fact that they admire many of Jesus' teachings. To be classified as a Christian, one is normally expected to accept the major Christian beliefs, to be following the way of life that Jesus taught, and to be a part of the Christian community.
Most Christian groups have standards of belief. Members are expected to accept the standards of their community. This is not to say that Christians have no questions or doubts. Most groups (even fairly rigid ones) permit members to express uncertainty and to question beliefs. However most groups expect leaders and teachers to advocate orthodox positions. Groups differ both in the way their standards are codified, and in the degree of conformity that they expect. Some have detailed formal standards of belief. Others use only the Bible, and allow a good deal of variation in interpretation.
This document will tend to emphasize beliefs. It's worth noting that this emphasis may be misleading, both about what Jesus originally taught and about what it is like to be a Christian. The most controversial aspects of Christianity -- and those that are emphasized in presentations of Christianity -- tend to be beliefs, particularly beliefs about Jesus. However Jesus' teachings were primarily about how his followers should live. It is these teachings that form the heart of Christian life for most Christians. Unfortunately they are hard to summarize. They are also less commonly talked about in Christian discussion groups, largely because they are less controversial. That's why I have advised people who are interested in Christianity to read at least one of the Gospels in addition to (indeed before) this document. The Gospels are made up primarily of Jesus' teachings, as well as narratives about his life.
God as Father and Creator
There are several branches of Christianity, whose beliefs vary in detail. However one standard that is accepted by most of them is the "Apostles' Creed". I will base my discussion here on it. I will go through it section by section.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth.
Christians believe in one God, who created the universe and all that is in it. God is a person, but of a somewhat different type than human beings. While humans have both physical and spiritual elements, God is entirely spiritual. That is, he exists in a sphere outside the normal physical universe. (Since he created the universe, and existed before it, this should be fairly obvious.)
Human beings are created in the image of God. Obviously there are differences, since we are physical and God is not. What we share with God is the fact that we are rational beings, capable of making responsible decisions, and capable of relationships with each other and with him.
Religions have had very different ideas of how God interacts with the world. On one extreme, some groups found it hard to explain how God could have any dealings with the world at all. These thinkers see God as a pure One, who is not in any way dependent upon anything else.
At the other extreme we have pantheism, in which there is no real distinction between God and the world.
The Christian concept of God as creator holds a middle ground. Christianity conceives of God as One. But it is not an isolated One. Rather, God is a person, who is capable of affecting and being affected by others. This is implicit in the concept of God as Father, which is one of the most characteristic teachings of Jesus. The concept of God as personal ultimately led to the Trinity, which is surely one of the most distinctive (and controversial) ideas in Christianity. (There is a separate page discussing the Trinity.)
In contrast to pantheist and related concepts, the creation is genuinely distinct from God. The world has a genuine existence of its own. God cares about and interacts with the creation. Human beings are responsible to God. As the creator, God is responsible for the world and its history. While I have said that the world is distinct from God, it is not completely independent. God is thought of as continuously sustaining the world.
Christ
And in Jesus Christ, His only son
The Creed has an overall form based on the Trinity. Thus it deals first with the Father, then the Son, and finally the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to deal with the Trinity and Incarnation in detail here because there are separate pages for each. However some minimal explanation is necessary.
While the Gospels show Jesus as having a role beyond a normal teacher, most of Jesus' actions and teachings were appropriate for a First Century Jewish teacher. One of the major developments in scholarship about Jesus during the last few decades has been a reassessment of his relationship to Judaism. It is now clear that Jesus was an observant Jew, as such was defined at the time. His teachings generally fit into First Century Judaism. The main exception is his own personal role. That went beyond anything that Judaism as a whole was willing to accept. Some scholars maintain that this role was not intended by Jesus himself, but developed after his death and was read back into the accounts of his life. I personally believe this is false, as I will indicate below. That is, I believe that Jesus did actually intend something like the role that Christians attribute to him.
Christians see Jesus as in some sense embodying God. This is based on his teachings and actions, as well as on further discussions within the Christian community. Every account we have of Jesus sees him as playing a role beyond that of a normal teacher. Different sources express it differently. In some of the Gospels it is implicit in the way Jesus acts: he forgives people's sins, something that only God can do. In the Gospel According to John, he says "I and the Father are one" and "he who has seen me has seen the Father". However he clearly is a normal human being, who sees God as distinct from himself.
Based on this sort of evidence, Christians developed two separate but related concepts: the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Incarnation looks at Jesus' relationship to God. There is a separate page about the incarnation . At this point, I'm simply going to quote two texts from the New Testament. These represent two ways that Jesus was understood within several decades of his death:
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. (Heb 1:1-3a)
...his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.... For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (Col 1:14-16, 19)
There are two things to note in these passages. The first is that Jesus is seen as a human vehicle for God to be present. Note that in these passages there is both a distinction between Jesus and God, and an identification of Jesus with God. Jesus is a human being. But he is God's way of being present as a human being. He embodies God completely.
The other thing to note is that Christ is seen as "pre-existent". That is, creation was done through him. While he was born sometime around 3 BC, there was also a sense in which that human being embodies something that was around before the world was created. The best-known treatment of this is the beginning of John's Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3a, 14)
Thus Christ is seen in two ways. In pre-existent form he is God's creative power, who was always with God and in fact part of him. As such, he is one of the Trinity. However he was born as a human being in history.
Jesus' life, death, and resurrection
To continue with the Creed:
... our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended to hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
In this section the Creed talks about Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection. Christianity is based on historical events. The Creed is only a summary, so it doesn't give the entire history of God's dealings with Israel. But that is part of the basis for Christian belief.
One clarification is probably needed: non-Christians sometimes think that Jesus is like some of the pagan demigods, the result of a god having a child with a human mother. The Creed could be read that way. But that's not what it means. God is spiritual. He does not have sexual organs, and thus could not have a child in the physical sense. The Bible says that the birth was miraculous. Jesus' mother was still a virgin. Thus God was responsible for the birth. But not physically.
Jesus was executed by the Roman government, in a particularly gruesome way. However more than just the Romans were involved: he was betrayed by one of his own followers, and handed over by the Jewish authorities to the Romans.
Jesus had warned his disciples that he was going to be killed. He seems to have seen himself as carrying out a role described by the prophet Isaiah in a set of passages often calling the "Suffering Servant" passages. These passages described a person who would suffer on behalf of all of us, bearing the punishments that we deserved because of our sins. As a result, we would be reconciled to God. Jesus quoted Isaiah in discussions with his disciples. He was particularly explicit in the evening right before he was arrested, referring to his blood being shed to establish a new covenant, for the forgiveness of sins.
For a more complete discussion of this issue, please see the next page: the Gospel . It describes the reasons Christians see everyone as needing to be reconciled with God, and the way Jesus is seen has having done that. For the moment I will simply note that Jesus' death and resurrection are the key.
Jesus died, almost certainly on a Friday afternoon (although there are some oddities about the chronology as recorded in the Gospels). He was buried hastily, because the Sabbath (a holy day for the Jews) was about to start. On Sunday morning, a group of women came to the tomb, expecting to finish preparing his body. They found that it was no longer in the tomb. Jesus then began appearing to various of his followers, helping them understand the significance of his death and resurrection.
The term "resurrection" means coming to life again. Note that after the resurrection, Jesus seems to have had a somewhat transformed existence. It does not appear that his body simply came back to life. He was now able to pass through walls. However it was more than a ghost, or a vision. He ate a fish, and let someone touch him.
The Holy Spirit and the Christian life
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
The Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us with God. This is not "the Force." God is personal, so the Holy Spirit is a personal presence.
Christians live in community. Jesus described himself as a vine, with us as the branches. It is not possible to be united with him without also being united with other Christians. The motivating force behind the Christian life is love. Since love is a personal relationship, there's no way to grow in love other than to be with others. This Christian community is called the "Church".
The Creed speaks of the Church as holy and catholic. The term "catholic" means "universal". Because the Church is Christ's body, there is ultimately only one Church. While the ideal is that the Church is holy and one, the reality is that it is human. That means that it is often less than holy, and it is all too often far from one. This does not mean that we can live without it. Christian love isn't real unless it's willing to come to grips with real human relationships and the problems that arise with them.
The term "communion of saints" refers to the unity of all of Christ's followers, living and dead.
Forgiveness of sins is one of the key marks of Christianity. Christ died to seal our forgiveness by God. We are expected to respond by forgiving each other, and acting as a force for reconciliation in the world.
The term "resurrection of the body" is worth a note: It's fairly common for religions to believe that there is some existence after death. However this is often seen in ways that would be better described as "immortality of the soul". That is, many religions believe that there is something in human beings beyond the body. This survives death, and is in some way united with God.
Christians generally believe in the immortality of the soul (though a few do not). However the characteristic Christian belief is something else: the resurrection of the body. Christianity, like Judaism, sees the body as an intrinsic part of a human being. They do not believe that the soul will exist in the long run independent of something like a body. (Some Christians do believe in an "intermediate state" between death and the final judgement. During this period, souls may temporarily exist without a body.)