"You're most likely to hear that from an evangelical," he pointed out. "All around us we have people telling us we need to care less about theology and more about people. 'Deeds not creeds' is the motto today."
John MacArthur, author and pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, called the doctrine of human unwillingness and inability perhaps the most attacked doctrine in Christianity.
"The idea that sinners are completely helpless to redeem themselves or to make any contribution to that redemption from sin and divine judgment is the most attacked because in the big picture it is the most despised doctrine," MacArthur told the thousands of pastors. "Consequently, it is the most distinctively Christian doctrine contrary to all non-Christian views of man.
"It is distinctively Christian because it affirms the absolute inability of man to do anything to contribute to his salvation."
Meanwhile, all other religions in the world are some form of a "works-righteousness system" which hinges on the idea that people can be good and good enough to contribute to their salvation, MacArthur noted.
The theologians did not shoot down the importance of good works in a Christian's life but rejected it as a substitution for the preaching of the Gospel.
"Never substitute good works for the preaching of the Gospel," said Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC.
Good works such as feeding the poor should only be a "reflection of" or an "attraction to" the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he stressed.
"I believe God cares about issues of justice and so should we, but that's not the Gospel," Dever said. "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not merely about pressing issues of passing policy. It is about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross once for all time."
T4G began with Dever, Duncan, CJ Mahaney, who leads Sovereign Grace Ministries, and Dr R Albert Mohler Jr, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They hold a conference every two years to encourage pastors to "stand together for the Gospel". MacArthur and John Piper, senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are among other friends who were invited to speak at this year's event.
"Don't starve your sheep because they need doctrine for God's glory and for their assurance," Duncan told the pastors. "Truth matters. Doctrine matters. Theology is for life."
