The 5 Basic Beliefs Of Christianity
Christianity has shaped the world as we know it today. Understanding its core tenets can provide insight into Western history, values, culture, and politics. At its foundation, Christianity is centered around five key beliefs.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: The 5 basic beliefs of Christianity are belief in God, Jesus Christ as the Son of God and mankind’s savior, the Holy Spirit, the Bible as the Word of God, and salvation through Christ alone.
Belief in God
God as all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present
Christians believe in one God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. As the all-powerful Creator, God brought the universe into existence and sustains it by His power. Nothing is impossible for God, and His power is unlimited.
As the all-knowing God, He possesses infinite knowledge and wisdom. God knows everything about the past, present, and future. As the ever-present God, He is everywhere at all times and fills the universe. God is immanent, meaning He is personally involved in the lives of His creations.
God as just, loving, and merciful
Christians believe God has a perfect moral character. He is completely holy, righteous, and just. God’s justice means He will punish sin and rebellion against Him. However, God is also rich in mercy, grace, and love. His love is unconditional, infinite, and eternal.
Even though all people have sinned and deserve God’s wrath, He provided a way of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. This demonstrates God’s amazing grace and unfathomable love. God is also patient and long-suffering towards sinners, giving them opportunities to repent and turn to Him.
God as Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
A distinctive doctrine of Christianity is the Trinity – the belief that God eternally exists as three persons, yet one God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all fully God and share the same divine nature, but are also distinct persons.
This mystery of one God in three persons is hard to understand, but it’s clearly taught in Scripture. God the Father is the Creator and sovereign Ruler of all things. The Son, Jesus Christ, is God who took on human flesh to save sinners.
The Holy Spirit is God present in the world convicting people of sin and empowering believers. The Trinity shows the amazing richness of God’s nature and His deep desire for relationship.
Jesus Christ as Savior
Jesus as Son of God and incarnation of God on earth
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the incarnation of God on earth. According to the Bible, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to the Virgin Mary, which shows his divine nature as the Son of God.
But Jesus was also fully human, allowing him to relate to the struggles of humanity. This belief in Jesus as both fully God and fully human is known as the hypostatic union. Jesus embodied God’s love and mercy towards humanity while living on earth.
Jesus’s teachings, miracles, death by crucifixion, and resurrection
During his earthly ministry, Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God and how to love God and neighbor. He performed miracles like healing the sick and feeding the masses, demonstrating his divine power and compassion.
Though innocent, Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion by the Roman authorities. His suffering and sacrificial death on the cross paid the penalty for humanity’s sins. But the story doesn’t end there!
On the third day after his death, Jesus rose from the grave, conquering sin and death forever. His resurrection proved his divinity and paved the way for the salvation of mankind.
Jesus as path to salvation and forgiveness of sins
For Christians, Jesus is the only way to salvation and restoration of fellowship with God. By dying on the cross, Jesus took the punishment for sin that humans deserved, so that through faith in him, believers can receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Jesus bridged the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity by blotting out sin through his blood shed on the cross. When people repent and believe in Christ’s redemptive work, they are saved from the consequences of sin.
Salvation is the free gift of God’s grace received through faith alone in Christ.
Some key Bible verses about salvation in Christ include:
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
- “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
- “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)
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit as member of the Trinity
Christians believe in one God that exists as three persons – God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is referred to as the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but is a person that is coequal with the Father and the Son.
The Spirit was present and involved in creation and continues to be actively involved in the world and in the lives of believers today.
The Holy Spirit’s role in emboldening and empowering believers
One key role of the Holy Spirit is to empower and embolden believers to live out their faith with boldness and confidence. In the Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, the previously timid disciples became courageous evangelists for the gospel.
The Spirit gives believers spiritual gifts for ministry and service. He guides, instructs, comforts, and encourages Christians in their walk with God. Through the Spirit, believers can produce the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, and more.
The Spirit makes believers more like Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit’s gifts and fruits
The Bible outlines specific supernatural gifts imparted by the Holy Spirit such as prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, words of wisdom and knowledge, healing, and discernment of spirits. These gifts are given by grace and empower believers to serve and build up the church.
The fruits of the Spirit refer to Christlike virtues such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that the Spirit produces in the lives of believers.
Becoming more loving, patient, kind and self-controlled is evidence of the Spirit’s sanctifying work to make Christians more like Jesus.
According to a Pew Research study, over 75% of Christians say they have experienced or witnessed the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not an abstract concept but an active and engaged member of the Godhead working in the world and changing lives today just as dynamically as we read about in Scripture.
The Bible as God’s Word
The Bible is the Word of God that documents God’s revelation of Himself and His plan for humanity. The Bible is composed of divinely inspired scriptures written by more than 40 human authors over a period of 1,500 years.
It is essential for Christians because it reveals who God is, His nature, and His plan for salvation through Christ.
The Bible as divinely inspired Scripture
Christians believe the Bible is God-breathed and that its contents were inspired by God through the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). Although the human authors penned the actual words and texts, God directed and superintended the entire process of writing the Bible through divine inspiration.
As such, the Bible is considered the written revelation of God, infallible and authoritative for faith and practice.
The Old and New Testaments as canonical texts
The Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament records God’s creation of the universe and humanity, His covenants and interactions with the ancient Jewish people, the rise and fall of the ancient kingdom of Israel, etc.
The New Testament documents the coming of Jesus, His life, ministry, death, resurrection, salvation, and the early Christian church. Both Testaments together provide one single unfolding story of God’s redemption of humanity through Jesus.
The Bible as guide for Christian living and theology
For Christians, the Bible as a whole represents the Word of God and a guideline for beliefs, moral and ethical behavior, Christian living, relationships, and theology. Christians believe all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for correction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
Key Christian doctrines like the Virgin Birth, sin and salvation, grace and works, the Trinity, etc. are rooted in and built upon the teachings of Scripture. The written Word of God (the Bible) and the living Word of God (Jesus) transform believers into Christlikeness with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Salvation Through Christ Alone
Belief in Christ as only way to salvation
One of the core beliefs in Christianity is that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way for humans to receive salvation and eternal life (John 14:6). This is rooted in the belief that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to Earth to die for the sins of humanity.
By believing in Christ, accepting His sacrifice, and committing to follow Him, Christians believe that the barrier of sin between God and humans can be removed. There is no other path to restoration with God except through faith in Christ.
This doctrine sets Christianity apart from other religions that teach self-effort and good works as the pathway to heaven. Christians believe humans cannot earn salvation through personal righteousness or merit.
Only the sinless life of Jesus and His atoning death provides the basis for God to deem people righteous, not their own efforts. This flies in the face of other faiths that emphasize humans proving their worthiness before God.
Salvation by grace through faith, not by good works
Flowing from the previous point, Christianity teaches that salvation comes by God’s grace through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace refers to God freely extending forgiveness and restoration to humans who have sinned against Him.
Faith means fully trusting in what Jesus accomplished through His perfect life, death for sins, and resurrection from the dead. Good works play no role in earning salvation.
This contrasts with every other religion that teaches moral effort and obedience as requirements to make someone acceptable before God. Christianity says no amount of good deeds can undo the sin in someone’s heart.
Only by admitting inability to save oneself and embracing Christ’s offer of forgiveness can a person be made right before God. Salvation is a free gift received by faith, not wages that someone earns by doing good (Romans 6:23).
Heaven as eternal reward; hell as consequence of lack of salvation
Christianity sees eternal destinies at stake in a person’s response to Christ in this life. By repenting of sin and believing in Jesus for salvation, Christians believe a person is promised eternal life in heaven after death (John 3:16).
Heaven is pictured as a joyful relationship with God and Christ forever, free from all pain and problems.
However, rejecting God’s offer of salvation through Christ results in the person bearing the weight of their own sin for eternity. This consequence of refusing forgiveness is described as hell or eternal separation from God’s presence.
Hell is depicted as conscious torment under the judgment of God rather than a form of annihilation.
Conclusion
In summary, the 5 foundational beliefs of Christianity center on the nature of the triune God, the redemptive life and work of Jesus Christ, the empowering Holy Spirit, the authority of the Bible, and the path to salvation through faith in Christ alone.
These beliefs have far-reaching implications for how Christians view God, humankind, sin, faith, redemption, ethics, and the afterlife.
Understanding these core tenets provides a window into the heart of the Christian faith, which continues to captivate billions of adherents globally after two millennia.
