Christian Beliefs, Revised Edition: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know

By Wayne A. Grudem

Learn the Teachings of the Bible that Every Christian Must Know.

Now Revised and Updated. Over 300,000 Copies Sold!

Not every Christian needs to go to seminary, but there are certain teachings of the Bible that every Christian should know. Whether you're a relatively new believer in Jesus or a mature Christian looking for a better understanding of basics of the faith, Christian Beliefs is for you.

This readable guide to twenty basic Christian beliefs condenses Wayne Grudem's award-winning book Systematic Theology, prized by pastors and teachers everywhere. He and his son, pastor Elliot Grudem, have boiled down the essentials of theology for everyday Christians and made them both clear and applicable to life. Each brief chapter concludes with questions for personal review or group discussion.

In this revised and updated edition of Christian Beliefs, you will learn about:

• The Bible and its authority for our lives
• The characteristics of God
• The importance of prayer
• Angels and the reality of spiritual warfare
• What it means that we are created in the image of God
• What God has done for us in Christ
• The purpose of the church
• What will happen when Christ returns
• The biblical understanding of heaven
• And much more

Christian Beliefs is the ideal book for every Christian who wants a solid foundation for understanding the most basic and essential teachings of the Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9780310124344

Wayne A. Grudem

Wayne Grudem is distinguished research professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona. He holds degrees from Harvard (AB), Westminster Theological Seminary (MDiv, DD), and Cambridge (PhD). He is the author of more than 30 books including the bestselling Systematic Theology.

Book preview

PREFACE TO THE

SECOND EDITION

I am grateful to God for the way he has been pleased to use the first edition of this book to introduce thousands of people to the basic doctrines of the Christian faith.

This second edition was necessary in order to reflect some of the changes in my book Systematic Theology, second edition, which was published in December 2020 (1,586 pages). However, while the modifications and additions to Systematic Theology were substantial, most of the changes dealt with finer points of doctrine, and very few of them affected my handling of the twenty basic Christian beliefs found in this book. Therefore, the changes to this book are few, and they primarily involve a stronger treatment of the inerrancy of Scripture, a brief description of liberal Protestantism and its view of Scripture, a more extensive treatment of the clarity of Scripture, a significantly revised bibliography, and a number of small corrections elsewhere in the book.

Once again I am grateful for the editorial work of my son Elliot Grudem, founding president of Leaders Collective (a ministry focused on pastoral longevity), and assistant pastor at Christ the King Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Raleigh, North Carolina, who did an excellent job of composing the changes to this book. However, I am responsible for the final wording of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Brett Gray for his help in proofreading, to Jonathan Poland for preparing the indexes, and to Matt Estel of Zondervan for outstanding editorial help.

This book, like the first edition, is dedicated to the memory of Rachael Grudem, first wife of Alexander Grudem (my son and Elliot’s brother), who died in a tragic car accident as we were finishing the first edition. Since that time, Alexander has married Lauren (Demianiuk), whom we have joyfully welcomed into our family. And on March 5, 2020, Alexander and Lauren welcomed into the world Margaret Irene Grudem, our fourth grandchild. Our faith in the doctrines discussed in this book continues to deepen, both in times of sorrow and in times of joy, as does our faith in God, who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11).

Wayne Grudem, Scottsdale, Arizona

February 15, 2021

PREFACE TO THE

FIRST EDITION

This book is a summary of twenty basic beliefs that every Christian should know.

It is a condensed version of my book Bible Doctrine (528 pages), and that itself is a condensed version of my Systematic Theology (1,290 pages).¹ My son Elliot Grudem, an MDiv graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, has done an excellent job in saving the most essential sections from those earlier books, condensing long discussions into a key sentence or two, and revising some of the wording to make it understandable even for people who are brand-new to the Christian faith. I then edited the manuscript lightly, and the responsibility for the final wording is mine alone. (I am also grateful for the work of Steve Eriksson and Robert Polen, who helped with proofreading, and Chris Davis, who prepared the index.)

I hope this shorter book will be useful for new Christians, for new members’ classes in churches, for home and college Bible study groups, and even for Sunday school classes for children from about age thirteen on up. It should also be helpful for non-Christians looking for a brief summary of basic Christian teachings.

The two comments I hear most frequently from people who have read Systematic Theology or Bible Doctrine are Thank you for writing a theology book that I can understand and This book is helping my Christian life. We have attempted to preserve those two qualities—clarity and application to life—in this condensed book as well.

We have kept a strong focus on the Bible as the source for what Christians believe. Instead of just citing references to Bible verses, we have frequently quoted actual verses from the Bible, because God’s very words are living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). The words of the Bible nourish us spiritually. Paul says that the Word of God is able to build you up (Acts 20:32), and Jesus says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).²

Knowing and understanding basic Christian beliefs is important for every Christian. People who don’t know what the Bible teaches will have no ability to distinguish truth from error, and they will be like children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). But Christians who have a solid foundation will be maturer, will not be easily led astray, will have better judgment, and will have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil (Heb. 5:14).

We have dedicated this book to the memory of Rachael Grudem, who died instantly in a tragic car accident in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 9, 2005. Rachael constantly radiated joy and faith in her Lord Jesus Christ and love for her husband of three months, Alexander Grudem, who is Wayne’s son and Elliot’s brother. In the midst of our family’s sadness, God has deepened our faith in the doctrines we discuss in this book, especially our assurance that God is good and wise, that Rachael is in heaven rejoicing, and that we will someday be with her in God’s presence forever.

Wayne Grudem, Scottsdale, Arizona

Elliot Grudem, Raleigh, North Carolina

July 27, 2005

Notes

1. Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, ed. Jeff Purswell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan; Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 1999); and Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan; Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994).

2. All Bible quotations are taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted. Italics in Scripture quotes have been added by the author.

ABBREVIATIONS

OF BIBLE BOOKS

chapter

1

WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

Any responsible look at a single Christian belief should be based on what God says about that subject. Therefore, as we begin to look at a series of basic Christian beliefs, it makes sense to start with the basis for these beliefs—God’s words, or the Bible. One topic the Bible thoroughly covers is itself; that is, the Bible tells us what God thinks about his very words. God’s opinion of his words can be broken down into four general categories: authority, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency.

The Authority of the Bible

All the words in the Bible are God’s words. Therefore, to disbelieve or disobey them is to disbelieve or disobey God himself. Oftentimes passages in the Old Testament are introduced with the phrase, Thus says the LORD (see Ex. 4:22; Josh. 24:2; 1 Sam. 10:18; Isa. 10:24; also Deut. 18:18–20; Jer. 1:9). This phrase, understood to be like the command of a king, indicated that what followed was to be obeyed without challenge or question. Even the words in the Old Testament not attributed as direct quotes from God are considered to be God’s words. Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:16, makes this clear when he writes that all Scripture is breathed out by God.

The New Testament also affirms that its words are the very words of God. In 2 Peter 3:16 Peter refers to all of Paul’s letters as one part of the Scriptures. This means that Peter, and the early church, considered Paul’s writings to be in the same category as the Old Testament writings. Therefore, they considered Paul’s writings to be the very words of God.

In addition, Paul, in 1 Timothy 5:18, writes that the Scripture says two things: You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and The laborer deserves his wages. The first quote, regarding an ox, comes from the Old Testament; it is found in Deuteronomy 25:4. The second comes from the New Testament; it is found in Luke 10:7. Paul, without any hesitation, quotes from both the Old and New Testaments, calling them both Scripture. Therefore, again, the words of the New Testament are considered to be the very words of God. That is why Paul could write, The things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord (1 Cor. 14:37).

Since the Old and New Testament writings are both considered Scripture, it is right to say they are both, in the words of 2 Timothy 3:16, breathed out by God. This makes sense when we consider Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit would bring to the disciples’ remembrance all that Jesus said to them (John 14:26). It was as the disciples wrote the Spirit-enabled words that books such as Matthew, John, and 1 and 2 Peter were written.

The Bible says there are many ways (Heb. 1:1) in which the actual words of the Bible were written. Sometimes God spoke directly to the author, who simply recorded what he heard (Rev. 2:1, 8, 12). At other times, the author based much of his writings on interviews and research (Luke 1:1–3). And at yet other times, the Holy Spirit brought to mind things that Jesus taught (John 14:26). Regardless of the way the words came to the authors, the words they put down were an extension of them—their personalities, skills, backgrounds, and training. But they were also exactly the words God wanted them to write.

Though every word in the Bible was written by a human person, the words are more than merely human writings. They are also the very words of God himself, the very words God claims as his own.

This view—that the human words of the Bible are also God’s very words to us—is the primary difference between Bible-believing (or evangelical) Protestant theology and liberal Protestant theology. People who hold to liberal Protestant theology would say that the words of the Bible are merely human words that bear witness to some ancient writers’ understandings of their experience of God, and therefore they might be inconsistent or contradictory or untrustworthy in various places.

If God claims that the words of Scripture are his own, then there is ultimately no higher authority one can appeal to for proof of this claim than Scripture itself. For what authority could be higher than God? So, Scripture ultimately gains its authority from itself. But the claims of Scripture only become our personal convictions through the work of the Holy Spirit in our individual hearts.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t change the words of Scripture in any way; he doesn’t supernaturally make them become the words of God (for they always have been). He does, however, change the reader of Scripture. The Holy Spirit makes readers realize the Bible is unlike any book they have ever read. Through reading, they believe that the words of Scripture are the very words of God himself. It is as Jesus said in John 10:27: My sheep hear my voice . . . and they follow me. Other kinds of arguments (such as historical reliability, internal consistency, fulfilled prophecies, influence on others, and the majestic beauty and wisdom of the content) can be useful in helping us see the reasonableness of the claims of the Bible.

As God’s very words, the words of Scripture are more than simply true; they are truth itself (John 17:17). They are the final measure by which all supposed truth is to be gauged. Therefore, that which conforms to Scripture is true; that which doesn’t conform to Scripture is not true. New scientific or historical facts may cause us to reexamine our interpretation of Scripture, but they will never directly contradict Scripture.

The truth of the Scriptures does not demand that the Bible report events with exact scientific detail (though all the details it does report are true). For example, in Matthew 13:32 Jesus says that a mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds. Jesus was not speaking to a group of modern seed scientists but to a group of first-century agrarian people. They would understand seed to refer to an agricultural seed planted in the ground to grow crops. In that sense, Jesus spoke truly and rightly.

The truth of the Scriptures also doesn’t demand that the Bible tell us everything we need to know or ever could know about a subject. It never makes either of these claims. For example, Acts 5:34–39 records a speech by a Pharisee named Gamaliel, in which he talks about two Jewish revolutionaries, Theudas and Judas. Luke records Gamaliel claiming the Theudas-led revolution came before the Judas-led revolution. This seems to contradict the account of the Jewish historian Josephus, who wrote in AD 95 that a Judas-led revolution came before a Theudas-led revolution.

This apparent contradiction doesn’t require us to admit an error in the Scriptures, however. It could be that Josephus, writing fifty years later, made a mistake about the order. Or it could be that Gamaliel and Josephus are writing about two different revolutionaries named Theudas (which was not a rare name then).

The Bible was written by ordinary men in an ordinary language with an ordinary style. Therefore, it does contain loose or free quotations and some uncommon and unusual forms of grammar or spelling. However, these are not matters of truthfulness. The Bible does not, in its original form, affirm anything contrary to fact.

If the Bible does affirm something contrary to fact, then it cannot be trusted. And if the Bible cannot be trusted, then God himself cannot be trusted. To believe that the Bible affirms something false would be to disbelieve God himself. To disbelieve God himself is to place yourself as a higher authority with a deeper, more developed understanding on a topic or topics than God himself.

Therefore, since the Bible affirms that it is the very words of God, we are to seek to understand those words, for in doing so, we are seeking to understand God himself. We are to seek to trust the words of Scripture, for in doing so, we are seeking to trust God himself. And we are to seek to obey the words of Scripture, for in doing so, we are seeking to obey God himself.

The Clarity of Scripture

As we read Scripture and seek to understand and obey it, we discover that some passages are easier to understand than others. Peter affirmed this when he wrote the following about Paul’s letters: There are some things in them that are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16).

That said, you don’t need an advanced degree to understand the teachings of Scripture. For