Many Protestants assume that within the various denominations, while Protestants admittedly disagree on various secondary points on Christian faith and life, at least they agree on the “essentials” necessary for salvation. This is more often assumed than stated outright. Either way, when the claim is even briefly examined, it is clearly proven to be false. Protestants disagree not only on innumerable “secondary issues,” but the various denominations hold views on primary issues regarding faith and morals in direct contradiction to other denominations.
This is because Protestants hold to sola scriptura, a foundational doctrine from the Protestant Reformation that asserts “the Bible alone” is the sole infallible guide for Christians. Scripture is indeed God’s inerrant inspired word, but it never claims to be—nor could it ever be, given it is still a book in need of interpretation—the sole infallible guide to determine the essentials necessary for salvation. The Bible alone does not clearly state what is essential for salvation and cannot resolve disagreements between Christians on what is necessary for salvation.
Here is a partial list of essential disagreements among Protestants. For each question below some Protestants say yes, others say no, and still other Protestant responses land anywhere in between.
Protestants do not agree on any of these and many other doctrines because Scripture doesn’t provide a list of what is essential for salvation. (Even if it did, the list would need to be interpreted, and the list would not include future moral issues made possible by modern technology like IVF and surrogacy.) Yet we must know what are the essentials for salvation and need to have certainty about what sins lead to damnation, if any.
Even if you boil down the “essentials” to a basic gospel message, like “Christ saves us from sin,” there still is not agreement among Protestants. These terms need to be defined. Who is Christ and what is his nature? How does he save us? What actions are considered sin? There are disagreements even on these basic points integral to the gospel.
Most Protestants would say not any gospel saves. Having the correct gospel and correct theology matters. For example, some Protestants would say you must hold the correct Christology from the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon, or you must accept that Baptism is necessary for salvation or else jeopardize the salvation of those who are not baptized (to their credit, from a Catholic perspective). But, of course, other Protestants disagree. Trying to find a least common denominator between Protestants is perhaps understandable, given the ever-increasing fractionalization within Protestantism and the desire to try to minimize the significance of divergent views, but it is a futile task. Protestantism, which is founded on the principle of sola scriptura, was fatally flawed from the start. There is no way for Protestants to resolve doctrinal disputes of even the greatest magnitude.
At this point, some may be tempted to throw up their hands and say, “Well it doesn’t really matter if there are disagreements, still the only thing that really matters is having authentic faith in Christ.” This would be simply a dismissal of the unavoidable conclusion that Protestants disagree on various points of the gospel and disagree on what is considered authentic faith and life in Christ. Protestantism leads to subjectivity leaving every Protestant to try to figure out Christianity for oneself based on one’s own interpretation of Scripture. That is a heavy burden for any Christian to carry. How is anyone to know if his or her interpretation is correct, even on essential doctrines? Thankfully, Christ left us with an alternative: the Catholic Church, which Scripture calls “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).
In conclusion, here is the pivotal question: Who gets to decide what the “essentials” are? Is it up for each individual Christian to decide? I submit, only God can determine what is necessary for salvation, and because it is essential to know what is essential, God must have provided a means for us to know the essentials not based on anyone’s individual opinions. Scripture alone does not—and cannot—provide that certainty. One reason is because the canon of Scripture itself is a Tradition accepted based on the authority of the Catholic Church (whether Protestants realize it or not). Only an infallible living authority guided by the Holy Spirit can provide the assurance of what is needed for salvation, and indeed, authoritatively declare what books belongs in Scripture in the first place. This is the authority Christ granted to the Church he established, the Catholic Church.
Jesus established the Catholic Church for our salvation. Without the Catholic Church, we have neither confidence in the essentials of the faith nor the means of obtaining that saving faith, which is granted at baptism, Jesus’s chosen entry point for us into the Church. With the Catholic Church, we are granted the certainty of faith as passed down from Christ to the Apostles. The teachings of the Apostles were then passed on through the Church in both Scripture and Tradition and are safeguarded by the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church which is guided by the Holy Spirit. Most importantly, by being united to Christ in the Church, we not only have the certainty of faith and the truths necessary for salvation, but we receive a share in Christ’s life in the most intimate way here on earth. Through the sacraments—especially the Eucharist—Christ unites us with himself and transforms us. All are invited to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church where the faithful are given true peace, freedom, and the hope of entering into eternal union with the Word who became flesh (John 1:14), who gave himself freely to us on the cross for our salvation.
