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Core essentials are important to any belief system. The essential difference between Christianity and Atheism is that the former acknowledges the existence of a deity while the latter does not. Remove belief in God, and you no longer have Christianity. Enter believe in God, and you no longer have atheism. Likewise, for the Christian worldview to be genuinely Christian, it must adhere to the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit (which, of course, presupposes theism); that Jesus was truly, bodily resurrected from the dead on the third day; and that salvation cannot be merited by works, but must be totally by God's grace through one's faith.

Any view that is professed to be Christian, and yet rejects any of these three things is not actually Christian. Such views are condemned as heresy, not only by the church at large, but also by the Bible. Anyone who teaches heresy in the church is to be initially rebuked and if possible brought back into sound doctrine. If such individuals refuse, they are to be anathemized from the church.

Now, there is one more essential worth talking about. It's not so much a doctrine, as it is more of a practical element. In a way it comes hand in hand with the other essentials, because it brings them all together. Earlier we talked about Pauls' use of the word anathema in the book of Galatians. This word is also used in another place: Let anyone who has no love for the Lord be accursed. 1 Corinthians 16:22. This goes beyond simply assenting to the right doctrine; in the Bible, right conduct should correspond to good theology. Elsewhere, we are warned:

"Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. Matthew 7:15-19.

Jesus, here, warned the people about false "prophets." As mentioned before, prophets claimed a more general role of conveying a message directly from God to the people. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't cite bad doctrine as the thing to look out for (though that doesn't mean he would oppose watching for bad doctrine, either). Rather, we are to judge their fruit. Fruit in the Bible is often a metaphor for one's deeds. Paul gives us a good outline of this usage of "fruit:" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol. Galatians 5:22-23. Of course, this doesn't mean Christians never sin, nor that false teachers may never appear to do good things. Jesus even describes the false prophets as coming in "sheep's clothing." Rather, the fruit represent a person's life as a whole. Christians are to be loving and caring, and in general when they do mess up they are repentitive of it.

Furthermore, we are not just talking about good works, but good works which are pleasing to God. This is an important distinction, because there can be teachers who are obviously not speaking for God (say, for instance, a New Age "priest"), who in the eyes of the world can do very good things. However, would God, as we know Him from the Bible, approve of such deeds? Indeed, Jesus goes on to address people who think they are doing good: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'will enter into the kingdom of heaven-only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!'" Matthew 7:21-23. Blomberg comments, "Neither church leadership nor miraculous powers guarantee that a person is a true follower of Jesus."¹ Paul describes one who spreads false teaching as conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit. 1 Timothy 6:4-5. Even if someone may seem to be doing good on the surface, a false teacher should be obvious to those who pay close enough attention. Heresy, it seems, goes beyond doctrine errors on the surface, but corrupts even the heart.

What this requires is that we to discern the fruit of teachers. One will need to ensure one knows well what God's will is for Christians... but shouldn't we be working towards that knowledge anyways?

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Notes and Citations:

1. Craig L. Blomberg. "The New Testament Definition of Heresy (Or When Do Jesus and the Apostles Really Get Mad?)" The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. vol. 45, no. 1. p. 62. March 2002.