Doctrine: Cardinal vs. Peripheral

Let's make this an interactive discussion. What is CARDINAL Christian doctrine and what is PERIPHERAL Christian doctrine? Let's get your thoughts on this. We'll post the answer(s) on the 7th day of the original post (March 22).

March 20 - While waiting for the others to check in, let me start by re-introducing to you the Apostle's Creed:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ His only (begotten) Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen."

So, is the Apostle's Creed a statement of Cardinal doctrine? or Peripheral doctrine? Why? Why not?

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Cardinal comes from Greek word “kardia” meaning heart. Technically, these are doctrines that are directly related to a set of Christian beliefs which are necessary for personal salvation. In the history of the Christian church, rejection of any one of the cardinal doctrines condemns a member of the church as a heretic. Heretics during the Roman Catholic Inquisition were normally burned at the stake.
Peripheral comes from the Greek word "peri", the same word as perimeter, meaning "around". In computers, peripheral devices are not necessary for a computer to operate. Hence, peripheral doctrines are mostly traditional beliefs or practices of the church which have no direct bearing on one’s salvation. A Christian may or may not agree with these doctrines without endangering personal salvation.

The Apostle’s Creed was so named not because the apostles wrote them but it evolved in the early church as a summary of the doctrines that their immediate disciples believed was cardinal doctrine. Rejection of any one of its salient points puts one's eternal life in jeopardy. Its early originals were mostly baptismal confessions, i.e., candidates for Christian baptism were required to declare these set of beliefs in the same way that an oath is administered by our judicial system when a person takes the witness stand.

For our blog, please study the phrases of the creed carefully as we will be dealing with many of these in our future discussions. One good example is the phrase "born of the Virgin Mary".

Implicit in the phrase are the following cardinal beliefs:


1. Christ became fully human (This is called the Incarnation of Christ). Christ had to be human, otherwise, he could not die on the cross for our sins.
2. Mary was a virgin before Christ was born. Note that if she was not, then the divine lineage of Christ would be doubtful. God can accept ONLY a PERFECT sacrifice which no human can offer. Since Christ is God, then He is able to offer a PERFECT sacrifice. Christ is the spotless Lamb of God.

Why do we need to know the difference between Cardinal vs. Peripheral doctrine? Mainly because we need to determine everytime there is a discussion on doctrine whether we need to defend our faith or not. If someone disagrees with us on Cardinal doctrine, he is in danger of condemnation and we do our utmost to convince them otherwise. On the other hand, if someone disagrees with us on peripheral doctrine, we know we are just engaging each other in the arena of ideas and hence do not need to fight over it unnecessarily.

Each one is really free to believe what he thinks is right when it comes to peripheral doctrine. Everyone is also free to discuss his beliefs. However, no Christian has the right to impose peripheral beliefs on each other. Most churches have divided resentfully over peripheral issues and lost the blessing of true fellowship.

Examples of peripheral doctrine (NOT in the Apostle's Creed) are what food to eat (crabs or vegetables), whether or not to drink wine, what type of baptism is right (immersion, sprinkling, etc), whether a male baby should be circumcised or not, what clothes to wear in church, is it sin to wear make-up, pierce our bodies, wear tatoos, etc.

So let this be clear: a violation of Cardinal doctrine is heresy because it eliminates important and necessary components in God's Salvation Plan for man.