Orthodoxy
Term
Right belief, measured by Scripture and summarised in the historic creeds the church has confessed together.
Also called: historic orthodoxy, theological orthodoxy
What it means
Orthodoxy means "right opinion" or "right praise." In Christian use it refers to the core teachings of the faith that the church has held in every age: one God in three persons, the full deity and humanity of Christ, his atoning death and bodily resurrection, salvation by grace, the authority of Scripture, and Christ's return to judge the living and the dead. These are summarised in the Apostles' and Nicene creeds and the Chalcedonian Definition.
Orthodoxy is not the same as agreeing on every question. Faithful Christians differ on baptism, church government, spiritual gifts, and the millennium, among other things. Those are real differences, but they are held within orthodoxy, not outside it.
On this site, the orthodoxy gate checks a church only against these essentials. A church passes, raises a concern, or fails on each Tier 1 question, and that result is shown on its own, never blended into a score. (Eastern Orthodoxy, the communion of churches, is a different use of the word.)
In Scripture
Follow the pattern of sound words, and guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
An elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word so he can teach sound doctrine and refute opponents.
Contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
The church is a pillar and foundation of the truth.
The early church devoted itself to the apostles' teaching.
Related terms
HeresyTerm
A denial of an essential Christian doctrine, persisted in after correction.
CreedTerm
A short, formal statement of the core beliefs of the Christian faith, confessed by the church together.
A fuller written statement of a church's beliefs, longer than a creed, which its officers and often its members affirm.
Nicene CreedHistoric orthodoxy
The creed of the councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), confessing that the Son and the Spirit are fully God with the Father.
Chalcedonian DefinitionHistoric orthodoxy
The statement of the Council of Chalcedon (451) that Christ is one person in two natures, truly God and truly man, without confusion, change, division, or separation.