The Fundamentals of the Faith (Part 1)

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 3)

Jude exhorted believers to earnestly contend for “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” “The faith” here, means the embodiment of doctrine taught by the apostles. Some have called this body of doctrine “the fundamentals of the faith.”

Historical Background

In the 1800’s, most “protestant” churches in the USA adhered to the teachings of the Bible. Then, near the turn of the century, “modern thought” began to creep into the universities, public schools, seminaries, and churches. This modern thought may be referred to as “Modernism”. It was strongly influenced by the theory of evolution promoted by T.H. Huxley and Charles Darwin.

Also around that time religious leaders such as Julius WellHausen, Herman Gunkel, and Rudolf Bultmann pioneered and developed a "Form-Critical Method" of biblical studies, or what is also known as “higher criticism”. Form criticism is really an evolutionary reshuffling of Scripture. As this line of thought maturated in seminaries and churches, material from the Bible was accepted or rejected based on its ability to be comprehended “scientifically”. Accordingly, the virgin birth, deity of Jesus, His substitutionary blood atonement for sin, His resurrection, ascension, and His imminent and physical return were also questioned or simply denied. Modernism (then and now), denies the complete and divine authorship, and historical content of the Scriptures and the authority they possess.

Contrarily, “Fundamentalism” is a term used to describe the system of thought embodying the concepts of the fundamentals of “the faith.” These fundamentals are not about denominational distinctions. The Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy, at its peak in the 1900’s, crossed virtually all denominational lines. Heated battles over the fundamentals of the faith raged within all of Christendom. Position, property and prominence were threatened in these battles. Many Fundamentalists lost their jobs, pensions, homes and church buildings because of their convictions. They separated sadly, yet willingly from their drifting churches and united with other fundamentalists. These “contenders for the faith” were sometimes called “Fighting Fundamentalists,” and they were not always ashamed of that label.

Men such as J. G. Machen, B. B. Warfield, R. A. Torrey, C. I. Scofield, Thomas Spurgeon (the son of C.H. Spurgeon), Robert T. Ketcham, Bob Jones, G. Campbell Morgan, W. B. Riley, and others helped to defend Fundamental thought and scholarship, demonstrating that it is a reasonable approach to life itself.

I will hurry through this discussion by delineating The Major Issues stating in the clearest terms what the fundamentals of the faith are, what they are not, and what we can do to proclaim them in the light of Scripture.