Secondary Issues
One of the constant refrains in modern Christianity’s discussion of biblical prophecy and eschatology is the exhortation to remember that these topics are “secondary.” The Gospel, its proclamation, and the saving of souls is the primary thing and as such ought to receive from us our utmost attention and focus, both as individuals and corporate church bodies.
And while this notion is true, we live in a time when an obsessive fixation* on it leads to an altogether inappropriate diminishing of the value of eschatological study and prophetic proclamation. It seems to this writer that most of the time when pastors and Christian leaders are reminding their congregations of the secondary nature of these topics, it is to avoid potential confrontation and infighting within the church membership or, perhaps, to avoid an admission of ignorance on the part of the leaders themselves.
All of that to say, for most of us, we better not be holding our breath waiting for our churches to seriously teach us about all that the Bible has to say on the topics of prophecy and eschatology.
(Be honest: when was the last time you heard a pastor preach a sermon out of Nahum or explain what the book of Zephaniah was about?)
I learned this lesson firsthand last year when I was given an opportunity to teach a small group on the topic. To use just a single example, most of the group seemed completely floored when I told them that Revelation, in accordance with dozens of Old Testament prophecies, teaches that Christ will reign here on this earth for one thousand years before the advent of the eternal state. In a group full of longtime Baptist believers, it was not that they disagreed with the sentiment of a literal Millennial Kingdom, but that they had never been taught about it one way or the other.
So, for whatever else it is, biblical prophecy has been relegated to secondary status by most of Evangelicalism simply because it is not the Gospel. To that issue, I would like to suggest a few considerations.
Firstly, in a kingdom, the king reigns supreme. His authority is absolute, his word is law, his will is ultimate. In short, he is primary.
But what do you think would happen if someone were to stride into his throne room and treat his queen as altogether unimportant and largely inconsequential simply because she was not the king? How might the king respond to that level of disrespect? How would a person with that level of hubris and presumption be treated by the king?
In this allegory, the primacy of the king represents the doctrines of salvation and justification. They are of utmost importance. If there is only one single thing a believer or church attendee or new convert needs to understand, it is those doctrines: How does a person get right with God? What must someone do to be saved? How do I deal with my sin problem? How do I avoid an eternity in Hell? What did God do to help me because it’s obvious that I cannot save myself? What was the cross all about? Why does the resurrection of Christ matter?
These could be categorized as the king doctrines of Christianity.
But the queen matters to the king. We may view her as “secondary,” but what does that mean, exactly? Does it mean we ought to ignore her? Does it mean she is unimportant? Does it mean we can dismiss her almost entirely because, after all, she’s not the king?
I suggest that such an understanding of “secondary” is unwise in the extreme. The queen is important to the king and so she ought to be important to his subjects. He respects and honors her, so we should as well. And so the “lesser”, “secondary” doctrines of Christianity, namely prophecy and eschatology in this particular case, ought to be rightly respected and honored by us. Just because they are secondary does not mean they do not deserve serious reflection, study and consideration.
Furthermore, if justification and salvation are the primary doctrines of Christianity, then other teachings of the faith are secondary, as well. Issues such as Christian living, marriage and family, finances, and anything and everything else that is not salvation. It isn’t just the prophetic passages of the Bible that get relegated, but the wisdom literature and the historical books, as well. All of Proverbs, the Psalms, the Pentateuch and the vast majority of Acts are “secondary.” And if by “secondary,” we mean “unimportant,” then what we are effectively saying is that the overwhelming majority of what’s in the Bible is unimportant because it’s not strictly about the Gospel.
And since no actual Christian would think to say that, we should probably stop thinking that way about any of the Scriptures.
To label the prophetic and eschatological portions of scripture “unimportant” because they’re “secondary” is to effectively treat about a third of the Bible as not worth your full attention, time or energy.
The prophecies matter to God, that’s why He declared them, had them recorded and has had them preserved all this time. Yes, there is room for disagreement. No, your salvation does not depend on you fully understanding or knowing all there is to know about them.
But that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant.
Stop letting yourself off the hook and instead get to work learning the Bible for yourself, in its entirety. Stop waiting for churches and pastors to do the work for you if they haven’t already. There are plenty of resources available outside of the ninety minutes you invest on Sunday mornings.
Stop disrespecting the queen simply because she isn’t the king.
Stop equating “secondary” with “unimportant.”
If it’s in the Bible, it matters to God. It ought to matter to us.
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…for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. - Acts 20:27
All Scripture is breathed out by God… - II Timothy 3:16
* How many of us have attended churches where there is some form of alter call or invitation to accept Christ given during every single service?