In our NXTGEN Pastors Cohort, in which we meet monthly to teach seminary students soft skills, we recently discussed the module “Choosing Wisely: Leadership Triage”. This article is inspired by that module.

A part of the module was based on Gavin Ortlund’s book Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage. The phrase “Not a hill worth dying for” has often been associated with the battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. The word “triage” comes from the French word trier, “to sort things out.” The word is often used in a medical situation such as “the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care.” In Ortlund’s book, he points to Albert Mohler’s metaphor of theological triage as a system of prioritization (see Mohler’s article “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity”).

When you consider the doctrines of Christianity, or the theological issues we face, which of those would you consider to be ones that were “worth dying for”? For example, during the Reformation, people were willing to die for theological issues such as justification by faith alone, or the presence of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.

Allan MacRae said that “All through the history of the church of Christ there has been a ceaseless struggle to maintain the truth.”  From 1890 through the 1930’s, liberalism raised its ugly head.  H. Richard Niebuhr described it as teaching that “a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

It’s not unusual for a question to come up at a theology conference such as “Can you be a Christian if you don’t believe in (fill in the blank)?” Which doctrines are essential to Christianity? Which doctrines should be affirmed in order to become a member of a church?

In his book, Ortlund lists four ranks he believes are important:

• First-rank doctrines are essential to the gospel itself.
• Second-rank doctrines are urgent for the health and practice of the church such that they frequently cause Christians to separate at the level of the local church, denomination, and/or ministry.
• Third-rank doctrines are relevantto Christian theology but not enough to justify separation or division among Christians.
• Fourth-rank doctrines are unimportant to our gospel witness and ministry collaboration.

In Albert Mohler’s 2005 article, he identifies three levels:

• First order theological issues would include those doctrines most central and essential to the Christian faith. Included among these most crucial doctrines would be doctrines such as the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, and the authority of Scripture. These first-order doctrines represent the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and a denial of these doctrines represents nothing less than an eventual denial of Christianity itself.
• The set of second-order doctrines is distinguished from the first-order set by the fact that believing Christians may disagree on the second-order issues, though this disagreement will create significant boundaries between believers. When Christians organize themselves into congregations and denominational forms, these boundaries become evident. Second-order issues would include the meaning and mode of baptism.
• Third-order issues are doctrines over which Christians may disagree and remain in close fellowship, even within local congregations. Mohler puts most of the debates over eschatology, for example, in this category.

Another way to look at this question is with the below diagram that is included in the ESV Study Bible, using Absolutes, Convictions, Opinions and Questions. For example, when addressing a doctrine, theological issue or problem, we can consider:

Absolutes: What do you think are doctrines worth fighting for?
Convictions: What truths do you hold firmly?
Opinions: What do you believe to be accurate but not divide over?
Questions: What is indifferent, neither commanded nor forbidden in Scripture?

The discussion in our Cohort taught us that when everything is theologically critical, a leader will be driven to distraction. Healthy leadership requires a measured response to the various issues that face a pastor and session.

Additional Resources:

• The Gospel Coalition podcast “Why Church Leaders Need to Practice Theological Triage” a panel discussion featuring Matt Smethurst, Albert Mohler, Gavin Ortlund, and Afshin Ziafat that took place at the 2021 Gospel Coalition National Conference.
• Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R.C. Sproul