The Bible is a big book. There is a lot to read and understand. If you are a new Christian, or a non-Christian wanting to learn about Christianity, where do you start? What page do you turn to?

Although there is more than one answer to those questions, it may be helpful to point out that within the Bible is a short list of what are considered “the elementary principles of the oracles of God.” These would be things that are considered essentials of Christianity, foundations of the faith:

• Repentance from dead works
• Faith toward God
• Instructions about washing and laying on of hands
• Resurrection of the dead
• Eternal judgment

This list is taken from the sixth chapter of the book of Hebrews. Implicit in the list are two more principles:

• God reveals His oracles
• God’s oracles center around Christ

Here is the passage these principles are taken from:

These seven principles are a good place to start when studying the Christian faith. All the blog posts on this site categorized as “Faith Foundations” discuss in greater detail this list of seven essential doctrines and what they mean.