There are many people that dismiss Christianity, pointing to more than 40,000 different denominations across the world today.

That’s likely true as far as the number of individually distinct organizations. But the separation collapses when categorized by truly substantial differences. From that perspective, the number radically shrinks to as few as two to six major Christian groups.

But what’s missing in the counting is the much deeper truth of real spiritual unity as nearly all Christians share a common set of identical core beliefs. (A thousand varieties of ketchup brands is still ketchup, not mustard).

So what do the vast majority of all Christians agree on?

• God exists, and there is only one true God.

• There are a core 66 books that comprise the Holy Bible (some traditions accept more) given to us through men by God.

• God is Triune (One God in Three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

• God

  • is love

  • is gracious and merciful

  • is holy

  • is righteous and just

  • is able to be truly known

  • is unable to be fully known

  • is good (omnibenevolent)

  • always has and always will exist (eternal)

  • is absolutely free (aseity)

  • is with us (immanent)

  • is beyond us (transcendent)

  • is all-powerful (omnipotent)

  • is all-knowing (omniscience)

  • is everywhere always (omnipresent)

• God created the world (the universe is not eternal)

• God is separate from His creation (non-pantheistic)

• Jesus is God’s uncreated Son without beginning or end.

• Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and is fully God and fully man.

• Humanity needs atonement.

• Jesus is the Savior of the world.

• Jesus physically died for our sins on a Roman cross.

• His death accomplished the purpose the Father intended.

• Jesus literally rose from the dead.

• He then ascended to heaven and is seated at the Father’s right hand.

• The Holy Spirit is God, the Third Person of the Trinity, who indwells and empowers believers.

• The Gospel is the good news of Christ’s life, death and resurrection bringing lost mankind salvation (forgiveness, righteousness and everlasting life).

• The fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23 love, joy, peace…) should be growing and increasing in every Christian over the course of a lifetime.

• The Church is a supernatural, called-out community that follows the Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 24:14,22).

• Christians are saved by grace through faith leading to a life of love and good works. The dispute among Christian traditions is whether the phrase “faith alone” is acceptable. Interestingly, the only time the Bible uses that phrase is “not by faith alone” (James 2:24). The essential next question is this: Are good works (1) an essential joint cause or mandatory concurrent reality of true salvation along with faith (James 2:14-26), or (2) best understood as a normative result, an effect not a cause, of salvation that is received only by faith without works (Romans 4:4-5 / Ephesians 2:8 / Titus 3:4-5)?

• Christians are called to love God and neighbor (Luke 10:27).

• Loving our neighbor includes, at minimum, (1) sharing the Gospel, (2) feeding the hungry, (3) giving water to the thirsty, (4) healing the sick, (5) clothing the naked, (6) housing the homeless, (7) showing compassion to the hurting, (8) visiting prisoners, (9) caring for widows and orphans, (10) helping the poor, (11) bringing literacy and education to communities in need, (12) working against modern slavery and human trafficking, and more.

• Christians are called to grow in holiness. (Exactly what beliefs and behavior comprise or compromise holiness is where differences begin).

• Biblical justice should be pursued with a strong stand against injustice. (Exactly what is unjust and what priority that has above or below preaching the Gospel is where disagreements begin).

• A Christian is called to be generous with their time, talent and treasure.

• The Christian faith is never to be practiced or advanced with physical violence or coercion. This is the general consensus nearly everywhere today. But violence is a sad, ugly part of Christian history with unbelieving or hypocritical men twisting the holy Scriptures to their own ends. The Word has been abused to falsely justify all kinds of evil: for example, violence (Luke 14:23; 19:26-27, Matthew 11:12) and slavery (Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, and 1 Peter 2:18).

• Care for God’s created world is a priority (though not necessarily fully in line with secular or pagan environmentalism).

• Humans physically die once (Hebrews 9:27) and will face judgment (reincarnation is false).

• Heaven is real and life continues after our physical death with punishment for the unsaved (endless Hell or eventual annihilation) and endless bliss for the saved who will be forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

• Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42 / 2 Timothy 4:1 / 1 Peter 4:5).

• Our bodies will be resurrected in incorruptible immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53-55).

• The entire cosmos will be dissolved (2 Peter 3:10-12) and restored with the “new creation” consisting of a “new heavens and new earth” (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22 / 1 Peter 3:13), mirroring the inward work of salvation, the “new creation” God accomplishes for all who are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17 / Galatians 6:15).