Over the years, we’ve had quite a number of conversations with folks who seem to think that since there are so many Christian denominations and also outside groups that claim to be Christian, this may be evidence that Christianity is not true. We disagree heartily with that reasoning. Disagreement is not evidence that proves or disproves Christianity, or any other belief, is true or not.

People may frame their question something along these lines:

How is it that each of the more significant divisions of Christianity considers all the other ones so wrong on some pretty major things? How do we reconcile Christianity being the one true religion when it is so fractured on some of the fundamentals and has sometimes rather spotty consensus on the finer points? How does one or another group ever get to a point of believing that they have it right?

When we speak of other “outside groups,” that is regarding our Christian consensus: we are speaking of such groups as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Moonies, Shincheonji Church of Jesus and many other sects who, although they call themselves Christians, deny essential doctrines of the faith, and therefore cannot rightly claim to be Christian at all. How do we decide what are the “essential doctrines of the faith?” An analogy from the world of art called “provenance” may help to explain.

Provenance is a historical record of a work of art (as well as other areas of research) pointing back to its origination in order to ensure a potential purchaser that what he or she is considering purchasing is indeed the original work and not a forgery. As Wikipedia points out:

…establishing provenance is essentially a matter of documentation. The term dates to the 1780s in English. Provenance is conceptually comparable to the legal term chain of custody.

The church has a historical record, a provenance, if you will, of what she has believed and taught on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, stretching from the First Century to the present day. Not surprisingly, false teachers rose up even in the First Century, and their teachings challenged essential doctrines, and false teachers have continued to do so throughout the history of the church. Jesus Himself warned His followers of false teachers and false prophets in Matthew 7:15 and following, saying these would appear “in sheep’s clothing,” pretending to be true representatives sent by God. Paul warned the Ephesian elders of the same thing in Acts 20:28-30. In fact, most of the New Testament was written in response to false teachings and false teachers who appeared early on and would continue to appear over the centuries.

One early example is the Gnostic challenge to Christian teaching on the human side of Christ’s nature. Christians believed Jesus Christ was God in human flesh. Yet, Docetism and later Gnosticism rose up and denied that the Son took on human form.  Ebionites denied the pre-existence and deity of the Son. The Apostle John took on the heretical teachings of the Docetists and Ebionites in his gospel. The church spent a great deal of time down through the centuries refuting these and similar heresies. We know that Christians believed that Jesus Christ was and is God early on because, in addition to the biblical teaching, secular sources such as Pliny the Younger confirmed this when he wrote to the Emperor Trajan around 112 A.D. He was looking to the Emperor for guidance as to how to address the “Christian problem,” and noted that:

They [Christians] asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as a god¹“What Were Early Christians Like?”, Christianity.com, Updated May 22, 2020

In the Fourth Century, a new heresy developed when false teachers arose who denied the deity of Christ. The church found itself defending the essential doctrine that Jesus Christ is God, while the earlier heresy of the Gnostics was on the wain and less of a problem, as all parties agreed that Jesus had incarnated in human form. We cover this in “The History of the Trinity” part 1  and part 2.

We could trace the provenance for each of the five essentials of the historic faith – the deity and humanity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the Trinity, and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (some would add the inspiration of Scripture as a sixth). As false teachers arose and denied one or the other of these essentials, the church prevailed by showing that the doctrine under attack was an essential part of the “faith once delivered to the saints,” and that any teaching opposing such an essential teaching put the proponents outside the true Christian faith.

And still today, groups which arise and deny one or more of these essential doctrines are by definition outside the authentic historic Christian faith. Jehovah’s Witnesses forthrightly deny most of the five. Mormons (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) take a different tack, denying the essential doctrines by redefining them, resulting in an implicit denial.

Some would defend these non-Christian groups by asserting that if a group claims to be Christian, it should be included in Christendom and regarded as truly Christian, but that position, of course, is anti-biblical also. Jesus told us outright that the false teachers would come in sheep’s clothing, pretending they are “sheep,” which is exactly what these non-Christian groups do today. He further said that we must judge them by their fruits, i.e., their teachings, and their heretical claims about God. We must examine them and give them a T for True or an F for False! Simply because groups arise that claim to be Christian doesn’t mean we should accept their claims.

Let’s take the issue out of the category of “Christian versus non-Christian” for a moment and insert the category of “Nike versus non-Nike.” There are plenty of shady characters who produce Nike knockoffs and sell them as TRUE Nikes. They are essentially cheap shoes dressed up in “Nike clothing.” Does the fact that there are imitators out there mean there are no authentic Nike products? Of course not. Should the pretenders (counterfeiters/frauds) be recognized and accepted as “true Nikes,” or should they be exposed as frauds and counterfeits? Like a forgery of a piece of artwork or a counterfeit Nike product, fraudulent claims by false religious groups should be publicly exposed to alert the unwary. It is far worse to inadvertently purchase a “knockoff faith” than a “knockoff Nike” because there are serious eternal consequences. That’s why Jesus, Paul, Jude, and Peter issued such dire warnings against accepting the false as true. And that is why it is so important to warn people about “false gospels” and false Christianity.

What about the divisions within the historic faith? Ah, that one perplexes many, mostly because they think of the church as an organization rather than what it is: an organism or family. In an organization, one would most likely see imposed uniformity, where all must march in lockstep or be summarily dismissed. The Church, which is the Body of Christ, is more like a family than an organization. There are essentials that make a family a family, which all family members embrace. A family also identifies and excludes those who are not truly family members. And yet we all know that family is not a uniform proposition. We are tied together by birth, adoption, or marriage; yet family members are still free to disagree on non-essentials, and we do. One brother likes a feather bed, another thinks foam mattresses are the best, while another is rolling around making waves in a waterbed. They may not like the same music at the same volume. One sister makes liver for dinner, another won’t eat it, and another won’t even look at it! So, occasionally, arguments ensue. Family relationships can be messy.

The “church family” is messy too. Just because we are family and accept each other as family doesn’t mean we have lockstep uniformity of belief, behavior, or preference. There is a certain amount of squabbling among us, and some become estranged and won’t even talk to one another. But guess what? They are squabbling brothers and sisters; they are estranged brothers; they are sisters who will not speak to one another. The true family cord is not broken and cannot be broken. What God has joined together cannot be torn asunder.

The true Church is united in the essentials of the faith, what it is that makes one a Christian. We disagree on what are sometimes very important but secondary issues, as a family might. The biblical term, Adiaphora (yes, this issue came up in the early church). Got Questions provides a meaning:

Adiaphora, in biblical terms, would be the “disputable matters” mentioned in Romans 14:1 (the ESV calls them “opinions”). We are not to quarrel over them. Some things are right, because the Bible says they are right; other things are wrong, because the Bible says they are wrong. But some things the Bible neither condemns nor approves. We often refer to these issues as “gray areas” or matters of conscience. We could also call them adiaphora. For example, the Bible clearly promotes truth-telling and condemns lying. But what about writing fiction? As long as everyone knows it’s fiction, that’s adiaphora.

We can also think of the “non-essentials” of the faith as adiaphora. Teachings on the timing of the rapture, the number of angels, or the identity of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 are non-essential to the faith; they are adiaphora. On the other hand, doctrines such as the deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith, and the bodily resurrection are essential and non-negotiable.

We agree that “in the beginning God created” but may not agree on when or how. We don’t agree on the timing or method of baptism. We wrangle over whether the sign gifts are for today or if they ceased in the First Century. The list is long but really comes down to orthopraxy – how we practice the faith – and not orthodoxy – what the faith is.

So, yes, we do even disagree with many of the guests we have on our Unknown Webcast on any number of issues. That doesn’t mean we need to “separate” – Joy and I disagree on many things, but we are still family. She might even suggest that I have every right to be wrong. We, along with our son and our daughter, and our brothers and sisters, do not agree on everything (imagine that!) and yet we are family and will remain so. That said, it is always important to subject our personal or church-held beliefs to the scrutiny of the scriptures.

The essentials of the faith demonstrate how to identify the family called the Church, which is the Body of Christ. The differences demonstrate how we in the Church are truly human and, as such, perhaps flawed in our thinking. But this condition we find ourselves in will not last forever; for one day, perhaps soon, “we will all be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2)Ω

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