The phrase, “In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity,” has been attributed to Augustine, Philipp Melanchthon, German Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius (1627), and Marco Antonio De Dominis. So, although there doesn’t seem to be unity on the origin of the thought, there seems to be unity on the sentiment the phrase conveys. There are absolute essentials in the faith – those beliefs and teachings that must be universally believed by all Christians of the various churches and denominations, in order to actually be Christian.  Then, there are admittedly important but non-essentials in the biblical faith, things that various Christian churches and denominations may disagree on, but which do not place individuals or groups outside of the Christian faith. You might notice that Churches and Christians do disagree on certain issues, and not all such disagreement puts one or the other outside of the faith!

For those who wonder what exactly the essentials are, the late Dr. Norman Geisler would often say, “the main things are the plain things and the plain things are the main things.” We would suggest that these beliefs can be narrowed down to five or six in the essentials category.

• the nature of God,
• the nature of Man,
• the nature of Sin,
• the nature of the Resurrection,
• the nature of Salvation,
• the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture

Eternal life is the direct outcome of salvation. Biblically, we are separated from God by sin and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” according to Romans 3:23. But we can be united with Him by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and calling on Him as God. In Ephesians 2:1-7, the Apostle Paul wrote:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

“Dead” means separated, not non-existent or annihilated. Thankfully, our salvation comes not by living perfect lives, or doing enough “good works,” but as a result of believing in the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf – and brings peace with God and eternal life with Him. No human being can earn God’s grace by any means. That’s why it is called “the Gift of God.”

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

But what of the doctrine of Hell? Is Hell an “essential” of the faith? In Brian Recker’s book, Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love, he indicates that he had been raised believing Hell is the essential of the faith:

I thought a lot about that as I recently read Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love by Brian Recker. As he tells the story of his “faith deconstruction,” we learn that he grew up in a very legalistic church, and he went on to be the type of pastor he grew up under, which, as it happens, was the church his own father pastored. Many of us have had that experience growing up. In that particular church setting, Christianity’s main essential message is Hell. In fact, the title of chapter 1 of his book is, “The Most Sobering Reality. How Hell Takes Center Stage in Christianity.”¹Recker, Brian. Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (p. 3). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition

Now certainly, separation from God and the eternal punishment of unbelievers are taught in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments. During His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke of those who would be in torment and those who would be with God. For example, in Matthew 25:46 He says:

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

According to Jesus, both punishment and life have the same duration, eternal. The Lord describes the fate of the unrighteous and righteous, but does not include it as part of the gospel that transfers someone from being unrighteous to being righteous. As we point out in “Eternal Conscious Torment or Temporary Eternal Life?,” and as Pastor Craig Ireland acknowledges in his excellent article, “The Eternal Flame (Updated),” there are solid believers who hold differing views on this subject.

Is it an essential, or is it an important non-essential? If we care about the eternal destiny of others, it is important, but although it may have taken “center stage” in his particular church experience and personal ministry, the doctrine of hell is not “Center Stage in Christianity.” It is God and His gift of salvation that is center stage in Christianity. Yet sadly, in Brian’s deconstruction, God is moved from the center of the story and replaced with a new Idol, the idol of love, particularly self-love. The reason is not at all difficult to understand. In seemingly trying to find a more biblical understanding, Recker did not turn to a historical-grammatical biblical context but instead embraced the Panentheist Richard Rohr, (whom he quotes 27 times), Universalist Rob Bell, and other liberals and progressives who deny not just hell but the other essentials of the faith as well. In our book, Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret, we have documented Rohr’s denial that human beings are sinners separated from God. In his teaching, no salvation is necessary but only the realization that we have always been with God. In this view, Jesus didn’t atone for sin, but His death was simply to demonstrate unity with man. Recker, like Rohr, argues that salvation is not necessary and has embraced universalism. Recker  writes:

In this view of the cross, to be “saved” means to stand in solidarity with the same people as Jesus. We put a stop to scapegoating by joining Jesus among the marginalized. In that place, we experience the power of the resurrection.²Recker, Brian. Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (p. 180). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

He continues on:

On the cross, Jesus went through hell—not in the sense that he was punished in our place so that God isn’t forced to punish us, but in the sense that Jesus did not sow the seeds of hell, but he reaped hell anyway. He reaped the violence that other people sowed. That’s how he died for our sin. His life of love reveals where our hateful actions lead, and when we see this, and when we are moved by it, we have the opportunity to be transformed by this vision of love and called to a better way. We can be saved.³Recker, Brian. Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (p. 181). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Allegedly, everyone will be with God! In the end, love wins (with a hat tip to Rob Bell).

In his deconstructed “Christianity,” Recker reads the Bible out of its historical-grammatical context and depends heavily on liberal theologians and those who hold to non-Christian worldviews. His lack of Biblical context is seen in claims like:

When I was an evangelical, I was constantly frustrated with how badly behaved the Bible was for a book that was supposed to be written by God. We believed it all fit together, but if we were honest, we were often forcing it to fit. For example, Paul says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith…not a result of works” (Ephesians 2:8–9, ESV). But James says: “A person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24, ESV). Anyone can see that this is an obvious contradiction—unless of course they have a preconceived dogmatic belief that the Bible cannot contradict itself.

Many critical scholars who do not wear dogmatic blinders actually believe that James is directly critiquing Paul’s theology. They are in conversation with each other, and we get to listen in on their disagreement!⁴Recker, Brian. Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (pp. 124-125). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

While it may be true that Recker and others think these James/Paul statements are contradictory, this is often due to their unsound exegetical reading. The Bible must be understood in its context. In this case, Recker adds insult to injury by reversing the order of when the two documents were written. James is the earliest of the New Testament writings, dating to about 45 A.D. (We believe it was closer to 40 A.D.) It was written between Acts 8 and 11 to Jewish believers, as he points out in James 1:1:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion

James was a very early book. Paul wrote Ephesians while in prison in Rome about 60 AD, or fifteen to twenty years after James was penned, so it certainly cannot be true that James is contradicting Paul. We need also consider that the wording shows James is talking about justification before man, not God:

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:18b)

In Romans, written about 57 A.D. from Corinth, Paul spoke to this issue in chapter four when he wrote:

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-3)

If Abraham could boast but not before God, who could he boast before? Other human beings! In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul points out that this is a fool’s errand:

But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. (2 Corinthians 10:12b)

James speaks of those early believers “showing” their faith to other people by their works or without their works. What Paul wrote in Romans three years earlier is reiterated in the Ephesians passage that Recker alludes to:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

In context, we see James and Paul are not in conflict or contradiction. They are writing about different things. James is writing about justification before one another – and Paul is talking about justification before God.

We find Recker often uses Scripture out of context to make a point that is not even in the text. For example, he writes:

This is an exercise in discernment and in listening to yourself, but if it helps you to think of it in biblical terms, think of it like this: Jesus teaches, “By their fruit you will recognize them…. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:16, 18). What fruit has belief in hell born in your life? I want to give you a tool for interrogating a belief—for judging its fruit.⁵Recker, Brian. Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love (p. 129). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The “fruit” spoken about in Matthew 7:15-23 is false prophecies and false teachings about God. It begins thus:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-thius16a)

Jesus is reminding His hearers and/or future readers of the biblical definitions for false prophets given in Deuteronomy 13 and 18. If an alleged prophet made just one prophecy that turned out not to be true, they were thereby to be identified as a false prophet – period. Additionally, even if they made true prophecies but led the people to worship false gods, they were thus to be identified as false prophets and false teachers. Jesus goes on to say about them on judgment day:

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 15:22-23)

Just because one claims to be speaking for Christ, and showing many allegedly good works to be seen by others as true followers of Jesus, they must be judged by what they’re believing and teaching about Jesus. They might “look good,” but were  they truly representing THE GOD or other “gods” that were false? The fruits in question are what the false prophets were teaching about God.

Like those who have been raised in Gothardism, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses and/or many other very legalistic groups, Brian Recker has been harmed by legalism and out-of-context use of the Scriptures. But sadly know he is following false teachers and has thrown away the true faith – thrown out the baby with the bath water. Very often, when we meet with former Gothard followers, we have to start by pointing out that just because God and Gothard both begin with “Go” and end in “d” does not prove they are the same thing.

We also ask many who have deconstructed from their faith to describe to us the God they are rejecting. Often, we might agree that we, too, would reject that God as well, which surprises them. God is a holy and righteous God and cannot just wink at sin, but requires that the penalty for sin be paid. Hell is real, but people need not at all end up there because His perfectly righteous Son paid the price on the cross that we cannot pay and offers us His own righteousness in return. He is the righteous justifier of those who believe:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

Believe in and call on the one true Jesus, who loved you and gave Himself for you that you may have peace with God and receive everlasting life.Ω

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