The main points concern the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism and the end of time.
[1][2][3] There are various nuances when comparing Christian denominations that claim to be evangelical, though many of them would adhere to the doctrine of the believers' Church, as with Anabaptism, Baptists and Pentecostalism.
[4] Evangelical Christianity brings together different theological movements, the main ones being fundamentalist or moderate conservative and liberal.
[15] It is therefore important to note that the Greek does not carry the meaning that the terms of the Bible have been "infused" into human writers, but rather that it breathes God.
With the development of moderate evangelical theology in the 1940s in the United States,[18] the study of bible has been combined with disciplines such as hermeneutics, exegesis, epistemology and apologetics.
[19][20] Evangelical churches and denominations have a Trinitarian theology,[21][22] and as in almost every major Christian stream of thought, the God of creation is eternally present and revealed in three divine Persons, namely, the Father (Almighty God), the Son (or "Only Son" - literal "μονογενης", "monogenes", "unique begotten", Jesus Christ); and the Holy Spirit.
The insistence of evangelicals, based on their beliefs found in the Gospels, differs from Catholicism in that evangelicals "only wish to justify this creed on the basis of biblical passages or concepts" and not on the Tradition or the Councils (believing that the birth of this dogma is often attached to the Council of Nicaea which took place at the beginning of the 4th century).
Evangelicals normally adhere (at least informally) to the Nicene Creed (381) defining the relational differentiation of God, both one and triune, as well as the principle of unity and identity, in the case of the two natures, in the person of Christ (christology),[23] as well as the positions of the First Council of Nicaea (and not at the council itself) which condemn Arianism.
Nevertheless, most Evangelical churches, in order to avoid any unnecessary controversy, often posit that the mystery of the exact relations between the three divine persons is beyond any human reason, and will not encourage speculative theology concerning the subject of the Trinity beyond that which is not immediately deductible from the Bible.
She is recognized as "Maria Christotokos" (Mother of Christ) and is considered a model of faith, humility and obedience to God.
Some evangelicals refute the name of "Theotokos" (Mother of God) of the Council of Ephesus (431) to avoid any confusion with the Marian devotion found in the Roman Catholic Church, but most evangelical theologians accept this formulation from a theoretical point of view by relying on the principle of communicating idioms and considering that rejecting it would amount to denying the uniqueness of the person of Christ; they generally complete it cautiously with a "according to its human nature".
[24] Evangelicals almost universally reject the idea that Mary is co-redemptor or mediator, as well as the immaculate conception, the dormition and the assumption, considering them as biblically unjustified, as well as any form of Marian piety as practiced by the Catholic Church.
It is the presence of the Spirit that Jesus promised in the Gospel to those who would be converted, attested by the first witnesses of Christ (Acts of the Apostles chapter 2).
[31] All evangelical movements consider that the Holy Spirit is present and working in the personal stories of each believer, as well as in the future of the universal Church.
[58] These denominations affirm a growth in grace before and after entire sanctification that is accomplished "through a consistent Christian life of faith and good works.
[65] It is responsible for teaching and ordinances, mainly the believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper,[66] and occasionally others such as foot washing.
[68] Common ministries within evangelical congregations are pastor, elder, deacon, evangelist and worship leader.
[76][77] The latin cross is one of the only spiritual symbols that can usually be seen on the building of an evangelical church and that identifies the place's belonging.
[78][79] Because of their understanding of the second of the Ten Commandments, evangelicals do not have religious material representations such as statues, icons, or paintings in their places of worship.
[82] [83][84] For evangelicals, the mission is based on the Great Commission given by Jesus, to share the Good News of Kingdom of God, to form disciples and to baptize the believers.
[85] Most evangelicals believe that the conversion of hearts is the work of God alone, by his Holy Spirit (John 16: 8), but also know that sharing faith with unbelievers is an act of gratitude for what God did for them (Mathieu 10:32) [86] It takes shape in the distribution of leaflets and bibles, the formation of disciples, the support to the churches and the Christian humanitarian aid.
Charity, this concern for helping the needy, is one of three primary Christian virtues and a concept clearly established from the Old Testament.
A particularly controversial doctrine in the Evangelical Churches is that of the prosperity theology, which spread in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States, mainly through televangelism.