What to consider about Secondary views today

By Moderator -
In Protestantism aka Christianity we have two areas to consider. The first is essential. Esentials are essential because it tells us who we can associate with. It sets us apart from religions and cults like Roman Catholicism, Mormons and JWs. 

The other are non essentials. The areas that after we agree on the essentials... are other areas where we grow and learn about and can help us find a likeminded church that holds to what we believe. These are usually called Secondary and Tertiary beliefs. 

Remember, the Reformers came out of Roman Catholicism. When they began reforming, they concentrated on immediate concerns having to do with essentials, (salvation issues, indulgences, etc), the finer ecclesiastic issues. So secondary issues like eschatology were way down a list and they would not have time to deeply study and address prior to martyrdom. They never got that far. Even Luther still clung to his error concerning the Jews, with the opinion that the "Jesus murderers" ought to be killed. That view is right out of Roman Catholicism beliefs.

Had the Reformers lived, they would agree, I have little doubt, they would come to believe in believers baptism, Premil pre trib end times, and that God is not done with Israel, as Paul asserted in Romans 11 in particular. Even the late great RC Sproul (no doubt due to his good close friendship with Dr. John MacArthur) eventually reformed his view further on Israel.

Traditions can be hard, and the covenantal mentality is no different. These ones cling to where the Reformers left off over 500 years ago and sadly have stopped reforming. In the face of what is biblical, we all ought to be willing to continue reforming our theology as we learn and mature. Ironically, it was the Reformers who balked against a Roman Catholic System that "was their tradition",  to being in favor of "truth from Scripture". Today's Reformed Theology bunch, in large part, cling to a new tradition of incomplete Reformation. Something the reformers would not have done.(1)


If you investigate with open mind I hope you will find out what the rest of us did. If you want to grow in faith and maturity in the Word... examine it. 🙂


Resources for Examination 



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