Direct Answer
They assumed the essentials were few, plain and received from the apostles. The list stayed short because they believed Christianity is mainly about how we live and that only a small amount of theology is truly essential.
Support from the Message
- The creed of Tertullian's church covers the one almighty God, His Son, the virgin birth, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension and the coming judgment. - Tertullian called the rule of faith immovable and unchangeable, so nothing was to be added to it. - Each church or region had its own creed, and these were similar, with no church hierarchy to impose one wording. - David Bercot says that anyone who rejects so basic a creed does not believe the New Testament. - He says the early Christians might have written 12,000 words on aspects of the faith, yet they would never have called all of that essential.
Discussion Follow-up
If your church had to state its essentials in under a hundred words, what would stay and what would go? What would that exercise reveal about your priorities?