So Let it be Written…
Core Theological Statements of the Christian Faith
THEO 360-B02
Professor Todd Campo
Theological understanding and interpretation of the Scripture is the responsibility of all
who call themselves by Christ’s name. The Bible is the literal, spoken word of God, delivered to
the world through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and recorded by the hands of His chosen
people. Throughout the Scripture, evidence of God’s hand can be seen in its consistency, its
inerrancy, and its prophetic power. The message of the Scripture is also a living one, not
changing in its meanings, but becoming something different to everyone throughout time. For
many, the same passage they read months earlier has a different impact when read again. While
the impact of the Scriptures can vary, there are certain theological doctrines that are set forth by
the Scripture that cannot be reinvented or reinterpreted, despite the efforts of both secular and
Christian influences alike. Subjects such as the absolute authority of Scripture, the sanctity of
marriage and the family, and the truth about gender and sexuality are set forth in God’s word
and, in spite of many who oppose them, cannot be compromised.
The Authority of Scripture
Perhaps no aspect of Christianity is as hotly debated as the authority and truthfulness of
the Scripture. The Apostle Paul declared that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”1 The phrase “God-breathed,” or
theópneustos, in the Greek, literally means that the entire Bible is divinely inspired.2 Its message
was delivered to the writers through the very inspiration of God Himself, and, as a result, is
perfect. This means that the authority of the Scripture is absolute.
“To confess that the Bible has authority is just not the same as confessing that Christ,
through the Spirit, has authority. The beginning and end of any study of Scriptures authority is
12 Timothy 3:16. NIV.
2Strong, James. Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009)
therefore the conviction that authority is indispensable for Christianity…”3 Believing that the
Bible is the inspired word of God is only half the battle, however. Christians must also accept
the authority of its message. In recent decades the authority of the Scripture has come under
great fire from both within and without the Body of Christ. This is because to accept the
authority of the Scripture is to accept the authority of God. In fact, God’s authority is the only
real authority in the universe because it was never given to Him as it is with mortals on earth. In
fact, “God did not inherit His authority—there was no one to bequeath it to Him. God did not
receive His authority—there was no one to bestow it on Him. God’s authority did not come by
way of an election—there was no one to vote for Him. God did not seize His authority—there
was no one to steal it from. God did not earn His authority—it was already His. God inherently
embodies authority because He is the great ‘I AM’ (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58).”4
Denying the authority of Scripture and God’s authority in the process produces doubt in
the truth of the Bible. The reality is that if the Bible is not completely true and accurate from
cover to cover, the faith of billions is called into question. The Christian faith is built on the
revelation of Christ in the person of Jesus, the physical incarnation of God Himself. If the Bible
is inaccurate in any way, the identity of Jesus as God comes into question. Only through
acceptance of the perfect inerrancy and perfect authority of the Scripture do Christians have any
real meaning to their faith.
Marriage and Family
3PADDISON, A. (2011), “The Authority of Scripture and the Triune God.” International Journal of Systematic Theology, 13:
448-462. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/j.1468-2400.2011.00594.x
4Mayhue, Richard L. “The Authority of Scripture.” The Masters Seminary Journal. 15/2 (Fall 2004) 227-236. Retrieved from:
tmsj15j.pdf
Over the last twenty years, the institution of marriage and the family have come under
enormous attack. The pervasiveness of the human heart has given way to all manner of
perversions and the God-given gift of marriage is the target on the front line. God established the
guidelines for marriage at the very beginning of time. After creating Man and Woman in the
Garden of Eden, God declared, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and
be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”5 God openly declared that marriage is to
be between one man and one woman, and to remain unbroken, save by death itself. The
establishment of the covenant of marriage is one of the most fundamental of all God’s
commands. It is for this reason that it is shocking that it has come under so much fire.
In the secular world, marriage is not defined by God any longer, for to base the definition
of marriage on what God has declared it to be would have to include an acknowledgement that
God is the authority by which all things operate. The need for the elimination of all aspects of
God in society is the driving force behind the push to alter the definition of marriage and force
the body of Christ to accept the deviation from God’s standard. It is interesting to note, that
while many have assumed over the years that Christianity has been a driving force in the
continuing of the traditional marriage model, it may be, in fact, that the very faith that
established the definition of marriage has become the institution that has driven it to change.6
There is more to the covenant of marriage than simply a male and female human joining
together in a lifelong commitment to each other. The union between man and woman in the
covenant of marriage is an earthly image of the intimacy that God wishes to have with His
children. The complete and unbreakable bond that marriage represents in the spiritual world is a
direct allusion to the relationship we will have with God when we are taken to Him at the end of
5Genesis 2:24. NASB.
6Rademaker, L. and Petterson, C. (2019). “What God Has Joined Together: Histories of Religion and Marriage.” Journal
of Religious History, 43: 143-147. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/1467-9809.12597
history. The Song of Solomon, which many scholars believe to be an allegorical account of the
relationship between God and the believer, is the perfect picture of the love of one man and one
woman, as well as the love of God for His children. In it, God declares, “I am my beloved’s, and
my beloved is mine.”7 The word picture presented here is one of inseparable union and the
inability to distinguish where each person in the union begins and ends.
Gender & Sexuality
Coupled with the war on the divine institution of marriage in our society is the equally
important concepts of gender and sexuality. No other aspect of human existence has come under
greater attack by Satan than the blessing of sex. Prior to the 21st century, questioning what
makes one male or female would have never graced the most liberal newspapers, yet today the
post- modern society has caused hundreds of millions of people to believe that they are the
makers of their own gender and a person’s sexuality is as fluid as a glass of water. In fact, many
outside the church view the absolute, literal word of God on the subjects of gender and sexuality
to be a form of religious fundamentalism and constitute a source of prejudice against women.8
Yet, as with the other key theological statements of the Christian faith, failure to give
unwavering acceptance to God’s view of gender and sexuality is to invite disaster and cause
dissention among the brethren.
The Apostle Paul provided the explanation as to why people have perverted the gifts and
creation of God. In Romans 1:24-27 he wrote, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful
desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They
7Song of Song’s 6:3.
8Peek, Charles W., George D. Lowe, and L. Susan Williams. "Gender and God's Word: Another Look at Religious Fundamentalism
and Sexism." Social Forces 69, no. 4 (1991): 1205-221. Accessed March 2, 2021. doi:10.2307/2579309
exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the
Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the
men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.
Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for
their error.” Here God has declared that because humanity pursued a perverted mindset, God
allowed them to experience what they wanted, leading to the increasing amount of sexual
depravity among the human race.
With the increasing resistance to the traditional views of gender and sexuality, namely
that God is the deciding factor for gender at birth and that same-sex relations are an abomination
according to God’s word, it is imperative that the church be united in fighting against the
encroaching pervasiveness of the world. Regrettably, some church denominations choose to
ignore God’s spoken word that gender is His to determine and sexuality is defined by God. The
Episcopal Church is one example of this deviation from God’s truth, who in 2012 voted to
establish a marriage rite for same sex couples.9 By opening itself up to the secular debate on
homosexuality, the Episcopal Church has forgotten the command of God spoken through the
Apostle Paul. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind.”10
The problem that many Christians fall into in the subject of sexuality is that they do not
understand that homosexuality is not the real problem, but rather it is sex outside the covenant of
marriage that God forbids. Christians who condemn homosexual couples while they themselves
engage in sexual activity outside of marriage are in equal violation with those who practice
9Harrison, B.F. and Michelson, M.R. (2015), God and Marriage: The Impact of Religious Identity Priming on Attitudes
Toward Same‐Sex Marriage.” Social Science Quarterly, 96: 1411-1423. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/ssqu.12169
10 Romans 12:2.
homosexuality. All Christians must strive to follow God’s command that marriage is the only
place where sexual relations may be had in the sight of God. Until Christians unilaterally accept
and affirm God’s law for sexuality and gender, the influence of the secular world and its
depravity will remain unchecked and unchallenged.
Conclusion
The Christian faith is rooted in the infallible, literal word of God Himself. The sixty-six
books that make up the Bible outline the blueprint for living in a world of sin that is entrenched
in a war for the very souls of humanity. Christianity is often viewed by those who wage this war
as a religion built on rules handed down by a vengeful God who will punish any who disobey
Him. This image of the church has been perpetuated by Christians who do not recognize and
follow the most basic of theological concepts that define the faith they claim. If Christianity is to
endure until Christ returns, these fundamental values of the faith must be reaffirmed as true. For
it is only by a return to the basic principles of the Gospel and the core teachings of Christ can the
Christian church ever hope to be the city on the hill that Jesus said it should be.
Bibliography
Harrison, B.F. and Michelson, M.R. (2015), God and Marriage: The Impact of Religious
Identity Priming on Attitudes Toward Same‐Sex Marriage.” Social Science Quarterly, 96:
1411- 1423. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/ssqu.12169
Mayhue, Richard L. “The Authority of Scripture.” The Masters Seminary Journal. 15/2 (Fall
2004) 227-236. Retrieved from: tmsj15j.pdf
PADDISON, A. (2011), “The Authority of Scripture and the Triune God.” International Journal
of Systematic Theology, 13: 448-462. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/j.1468-
2400.2011.00594.x
Peek, Charles W., George D. Lowe, and L. Susan Williams. "Gender and God's Word: Another
Look at Religious Fundamentalism and Sexism." Social Forces 69, no. 4 (1991): 1205-221.
Accessed
March 2, 2021. doi:10.2307/2579309
Rademaker, L. and Petterson, C. (2019). “What God Has Joined Together: Histories of
Religion and Marriage.” Journal of Religious History, 43: 143-147. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1111/1467-9809.12597
Strong, James. Strong's Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Thomas
Nelson, 2009)
