Denominations Unite over Secondary Issues, not the Gospel

Or why maintaining denominational distinctives is not unloving or divisive.

Many people today speak of denominations as if they were a regrettable feature of church life, proof of our disunity around the Gospel or a failure to love one another. Yet denominations exist for theological reasons that, properly understood, strengthen our unity in the gospel rather than diminish it.

What is a denomination?

In the first place, denominations do not unite around primary truths like the gospel, since a denomination is only a denomination of the whole Church. The whole Church is made up of those who believe the gospel. The whole unites in the gospel; the parts gather around particular differences.

A denomination, by definition, denominates around secondary issues. That is what a denomination is.

This explains why Baptists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Lutherans can look at one another and say, “You believe the gospel.” We can unite as Protestants around the gospel of Jesus Christ, even while differing on matters of polity, sacrament, or worship.

Yet these differences matter when it comes to local fellowship. We cannot co-pastor in the same congregations if we hold incompatible convictions about baptism, church government, or the Lord’s Supper. And so we denominate as parts of the whole by gathering around particular forms of unity that are, by nature, secondary.

Whatever fellowship we choose to align with, we usually do so because we find greater agreement on secondary matters. Someone may join the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists (FEB) because they share its views more closely than those of the AGC or ADoC. We all affirm the gospel, but we differ on secondary questions. Hence, we denominate.

High fences make good neighbours

Importantly, the high fences that mark denominational boundaries do not weaken gospel unity; they preserve it. These fences prevent us from claiming that our group alone possesses the gospel. Instead, we recognize that each faithful denomination represents one part of the larger body of Christ, which is the invisible communion of saints bound together by the Holy Spirit.

So yes, build high fences around secondary issues for the sake of denominational clarity. But do not confuse those fences with the gospel itself. The gospel must be present for a true denomination to exist at all, yet it is not defined by secondary distinctives. Denominations exist within the household of faith, not apart from it.

It is therefore right and meet to tell Christians who cannot share fellowship in a denomination to find another denomination where they can serve in good conscience. That is not a denial of gospel unity; it is an affirmation of particular differences within the one body of Christ.