,.

' '
We learn in 1 Timothy 3:'15 thai
God has called the Church of Jesus
Christto be the pillar and ground of
the trutIJ. This does not mean, as is
sometimes claimed, ihat the Church,
istlJe detenniner of the truth. This
is essentially the RomanC.atholic ,
position (cf. VaticanII,Dogmatic.
Constitution on Divine Revelation).
On the contrary, both of these terms
indicate that one of ihe Church's
is to support,
teach, and defend God's truih. The
Church was created by Gp.d to
teach, preserve, and propagale
truth so that men might be con-
fronted with the Word of God and
brought by God's Spirit into the
kingdom of God. Accordingly, truth'
is paramount in the Church. False
teaching and half:truths are more
than tragic, lamentable .
weakness in ihe Church. They are
denials of the identity and responsi-
bility we have as God's redeeIUed
people. All earnest Christians must
mourn and repent of doctrinal.
compromise and weakness .. Reg!!1'd-
less of how difficult ceitain truths of
Scripture are to belieVe or contrary
to the modern outlook, we : "
carefully, lovingly, and zealously
defend the truths of God's Word.
In order to live ,!l! to aur divine
"
charter we must know wllat the truih
is. Anyone can say, "I.believe the
Bible." Unfortunately, this little
sentence is open to all sorts of
misinterpretations. It often means,
"I believe in Jesus Christ and the
gospel, but I don't give much
\veight to ihe .Old Testament or,
doctrinal of iheNew
Testament.'" Or, "I generally hold to
the Christian outlook on things, but
I reserve right to reject anything
that seems outdated or contrary to
my reason and experience." !'ven
cultic groups express' to
the Bible. For them, however, ihe
Bible is correctly interpreted ouly
through the writings of one of their
leaders. 'To some, it's an excuse to
avoid the hard worl< of Bible study,
and organization.
They think it sufficient to give a
general lip-service to the Bible,
forgetting that God commands us to
know and do the specifics of his '
Word.
Because it is the duty of every
to know, understand, and
defend the specific teachings of.
Scnp!ure (cf.l Pet. 3:15; 3), the
Church has from the set
forth the fundameiltal"teachings, or
system oft;uth contained in '
Scripture into. summaries,
.,,'
,," '
26 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - April/May, 1999 ..
. ' ,
....
called creeds or confessions of
faith. These set forth systematically
what the Scriptures principally ,
teaCh, especially what must be
believed in order to obtain salvation
through Jesus Christ and lead a
holy life. These main points are
then arranged into catechisms - a
series of questions and answers
about the Christian faith used in the
instruction of young converts or the
Christian young people who have
grown up in the bosom of the
Church. Through creeds, confes-
sions, and catechisms, new genera-
tions of believers systematically
learn the doctrines of Scripture.
From its inception, the Presbyte-
rian Church iu this country has
subscribed to one of the leading
statements of doctrine in the history
of the Church, the Westminster
Confession of Faith. Though the
Presbyterian communions are
divided now, virtually all of them
pay some homage to the
Westminster productions. SOme,
like the mainline Presbyterian
Church in the United.States, have
revised the Confession to include
certain elements of doctrine more in
line with their compromised status,
and have omitted other important
statements because they no longer
reflect the faith of the PCUSA.
Others continue to stand by the
explicit statements of the
Westminster Confession of Faith as
faithful, clear, and concise summa-
ries of the system of truth taught in
the Scriptures. Every minister and
officer in our own Presbytery is
required to take a vow of subscrip-
tion to it. In this vow, the officer-
elect affirms his belief ihat the
Westminster Confession of Faith, in
its general doctrines and. specific
statements, faithfully sets forth
what the Bible teaches. Because of
our ongoing commitment to these
Standards, it is incumbent upon our
congregation to understand them.
The purpose of this series, accord-
ingly, is to set forlll the formal
doctrinal positiou of Reformed,
biblical, and evangelical
Presbyterianism. It will not be
merely an exercise in doctrinal
history. We believe Illis to be what
God would have us believe, and the
faith he commands us to proclaim to
a lost and dying culture. May the
Lord bless us to examine carefully
what our Confession teaches,
compare it to the express statements
of his holy Word, and reform our
lives accordingly.
I. The Importance of
Doctrinal Fidelity in the
Church of Jesus Christ
The question is sometimes
posed: "Why study the
Westminster Confession of Faith?"
The primary reason is that we are to
be people of the book. Christians
are committed to a certain way of
life, belief system, or worldview.
The Bible alone sets forth this belief
system. The Westminster Confes-
sion of Faith does not purport to
replace or compete with the Bible,
but to set forth in summary fashiou
the central doctrines of Scripture -
what we are to believe about God,
his salvatiou iu Jesus Christ,
ourselves, and how we are to live in
obedieuce to our God. Because
even Christians criticize "doctrine"
today, it will be helpful to remind
ourselves of the importance of
doctrinal soundness to the Church
of Jesus Christ.
A. The God of Truth
The Bible is unified in its claim
that we serve a God of truth.
Specific statements to this effect are
found in Ex. 34:6, Deut. 32:4; Ps.
31:5, and lsa. 65: 16. These verses
teach that truthfulness is essential
to God's nature. He cannot lie
(Heb. 6: 18). Whatever he says,
because he says it, is absolutely
and unquestionably true. The Bible
moreover presents God as the onlY'
source of truth, wisdom, and
knowledge. "For Jehovah giveth
wisdom; out of his mouth cometh
knowledge and understanding"
(Prov.2:6). In Christ are hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge (Col. 2:3). Christ Jesus,
in his person and work, is and
reveals the truth (cf. John 14:6).
Accordingly, if we are to understand
anything at all correctly, we must
think God's thoughts after him. We
must conform our thoughts to God's
revealed thoughts. As the Psalmist
wrote, "For with thee is the fountain
of life: in thy light shall we see
light" (ps. 36:9). This is the unas-
sailable starting point of the
Christian religion. The God we
serve is absolutely true and faithful.
His words are certain, pure, and
trustworthy (cf. Ps. 18:30;
119:60,140; Prov. 22:21; John 17:17).
They may be counted upon as the
bedrock of our faith and lives.
Whatever contradicts him or his
revelatiou, therefore is false. "There
is no wisdom nor understanding nor
counsel against Jehovah" (Prov.
21 :30). Because we serve the God of
truth, it is imperative that we
understand his truth and pattern our
whole lives by it. We cannot be a
people of lies, half-truths, or
ignorance, or we dishonor our King
and prove faithless to our charge.
Accordingly, if we rebel against the
truth of God's Word in favor of the
opinions and (mditions of men, we
show ourselves to be rebels against
God. It is not surprising that
conversion occurs when the Spirit
implants a "love of the truth" in our
hearts, enabling us to turn away
from our sin-blinded errors and
submit to God's revelation in
Scripture (2 Thess. 2: 10).
B. Thy Word is Truth
In his providence, tlle God of
trulll has been pleased to inscribe
his trulll permanently in written
form. The Bible is clear that (he
written Word of God is as authorita-
tive and trustworthy as the spoken
Word of God (Ex. 34: 1 ,27; Deut. 6:9;
27:8; Ps. 19;119:16; Isa. 30:8; Jere.
30:2; 36::?;,Hab. 2:2; 1 Cor. 14;37; 2
Thess. 2:15; Rev. 1:11,19;21:5). God
communicates his IllOughts to us in
propositional language that is true,
objective, and clear. This is an
important point that directly
cOlltradicts one of the leading
tenets of modem theology. It is
commonly assumed that transcen-
dent trulll cannot be adequately
revealed iu human language. Under
this philosophy, the Bible becomes
nothiug more than a poiuter toward
the truth, a stab in the dark, a
symbol of revelation. The Bible is
man's best approximation of what
God's will is for our lives. It is not
surprising that this philosophy
leads to interpretative anarchy. For
then we are not confronted in the
Bible with an objective revelation
from God that carries only one
sense, but rather with religious,
metaphorical language that means
different things to different indi-
viduals in different contexts.
Hence, there is no one way to speak
of God, Christ, and salvation. All
religious expressions, regardless of
how perverse or whether specifi-
cally forbidden in Scripture, are
allowable. This is the foundation of
the modern religious pluralism that
is destroying the mainline churches
in the United States, and it explains
why the majority of churches today
are too cowardly to come down
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 27
firmly on the side of the Bible and
say, "Thus saith the Lord." For an
example of the devastating outcome
of these presuppositions, we can
tnm to John Shelby Spong's new
book, Why Christianity Must
Change or Die? Spong fully
imbibes this destructive philosophy,
and insists that faith can only be
anthentic if we get away from a
literalistic approach to the Bible.
Early in the book, he writes: "The
God I know is not concrete or
specific. This God is rather
shrouded in mystery, wonder, and
awe. The deeper I journey into this
divine presence, the less any
literalized phrases, including the
phrases of the Christian creed, seem
relevant. The God I know can only
be pointed to; this God can never be
enclosed by propositional Slnte-
ments" (p. 4). On the contrary, we
must insist that the God of truth has
created man as his image and
therefore capable of receiving
divine revelation. Man's very
environment is revelation. Both
within and without, man is continu-
ally confronted with God (cf. Ps. 19;
Rom. 1:18-21). Godcreatedhuman
language as a sufficient medium to
convey his thoughts to man, albeit
on a creaturely level man can
understand. Moreover, it is exactly
because the God of biblical Chris-
tianity is filled with wonder, mys-
tery, and awe, much higher than we
are, infinitely glorious, powerful,
and wise, that he is able to commu-
nicate with us propositionally in
relevant ways that accurately reveal
his nature to us (Isa. 55:8,9). We
would never affirm propositional
language places God in a box. Yet
the Bible is his Word telling us how
we are to think about him. It is not
limiting God to believe and affirm
the specific Slntements of Scripture
about God. On the contrary, it is
obedience. Th adopt Spong's
position is to affmn that Christian- .
ity, and all religion, is a purely
existential encounter with God that
lacks concrete definition and
content. It is therefore meaningless,
unobjective, and irrational. If this is
true, then Spong refutes himself ..
For even though you really can't
say anything about God, he is
telling us at least what you cannot
believe about God. It is this sort of
Christianity that is espoused
theoretically in the seminaries and
practically from thousands of
pulpits in our land. It is responsible
for effeminate and irrelevant
Christianity in the 20th centory. It
is opening the door for the return of
barbarism, homosexuality, witch-
craft, and mysticism, not as enemies
of the Christian faith and Church,
but as meaningful expressions of
religious faith within it. It is
bringing down the judgment of God
upon us.
C. The Binding Authority of
Apostolic Doctrine
The apostles are pivotnl figures
in the history of the world. Christ
chose these twelve men to be
foundation layers for the Church
(Eph. 2:20). In that capacity, they
were uniquely fI.1led with the Holy
Spirit so that the words they uttered
and penned in their official capacity
were the very Word of God (John
16:13; 1 Cor. 14:37; I Thess.2:13;2
Pet. 3: 15). Moreover, they left
This is where our responsibility
becomes clear. We must know"
understnnd, and defend apostolic
doctrine. We cannot view the Bible.
as dead doctrine, the faith Slnte-
ments of a bygone age. Nor can we
expect additional revelation that will
supposedly be more relevant for the
modern man. The faith, the truth of
God in Jesus Christ, has been given
once for all to the saints (Jude 3).
In those Scriptures, We now have
everything we need for every good
work (2 Tim. 3:15-17).
D. The Preacher's Responsi-
bility to Proclaim Solid,
Biblical Doctrine
We learn from the New Testa-
ment that it is the preacher's
responsibility to proclaim solid,
hiblical doctrine. God's Word
cannot be watered down to suit the
fancy oflost men (cf. I Cor. 1:18ff.).
It must be proclaimed in all its glory
and fullness as the power of.God
unto salvation (Rom. 1: 16). Accord-
ingly, teachers are to teach no other
doctrine than that given through
Christ's apostles and prophets (1
Tim. 1:3). A good minister is one
who is nourishedjn the faith and
good doctrine (1 Tim. 4:6). The
minister is to give attention to
doctrine (1 Tim. 4: 13,16), labor in the
wordanddocnine (1 Tim. 5:17),
speak sound doctrine (Tit. 2:1),
carefully study and apply God's
truth to the Church (2 Tim. 2: 15),
and zealously guard the solemn
behind an authoritative collection of trust of sound doctrine committed
inspired writings which canne to be to him by God (I Tim. 6:20). Con-
recognized as our New Teslnment
canon. All subsequent doctrine in
the Church must be evaluated in the
light of apostolic doctrine, the Old
and New Testnment Scriptures they
sanctioned as the authoritative
documents of the Christian faith (cf.
Acts 2:42; Gal. 1:8,9; 2 Thess. 2:15).
trary to the tastes and emphasis of
the modern church, a good pastor is
not a cheerleader, motivational
speaker, self-help guru, or a broad-
minded integrator of everyone's pet
ideas. Nor does he seek novel
things to preach. He is a man well
grounded in sound doctrine, al?le to
28 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - April/May, 1999
preach, teach, and counsel in the
truths of God's Word, and ready to
refute those who resist the truth (2
Tim. 2:24,25).
E. The Christian's Responsi-
bility to Maintain Sound
Doctrine and Reject False
Teaching and Teachers
Moreover, it is the Christian's
private responsibility to maintain
sound doctrine in his own life. The
Word of Christ is to dwell richly in
you (Col. 3:16) and transform your
thinking and living (Ps.119:9-1l;
Rom. 12:1). Peter commands you to
be established in the truth (2 Pet.
1:12). So central is sound doctrine
to the Christian life that Paul can
describe conversion as "obedience
to the form of doctrine which was
delivered to you" (Rom. 6: 17). For
this reason, you must be discrimi-
nating in your doctrinal tastes (1
John 4:1). Anything contrary to
biblical doctrine must be rejected
(Rom. 16:17). You are to guard
against Inkewarmness toward sound
doctrine, for the times do come
when men turn away from sound
doctrine because of the hardness of
their hearts (2 Tim. 4:2,3). You must
refuse to associate with those who
preach false doctrine (2 John 9,10).
In short, sound, biblical, practical
doctrine is not to be a side issue in
your life. For above all things, you
want to know and do God's will for
your life. You therefore study the
Bible carefully, place yourself as
often as possible under the faithful
preaching of the Bible, and spurn
those who would teach you novel
ideas or doctrine contrary to it.
E The Elders' Responsibility
to Protect the Church from
False Doctrine
So important is sound doctrine
for the health of the Church, that
one entire office exists and has as
one of its primary functions to
protect God's people from false
doctrine. I am referring, of course,
to the elders. Elders are to be men
who hold fast sound doctrine
themselves (Tit. 1:9), so that they
may protect.the flock from false
teachers (Acts 20:28,29; Bph. 4: 14).
Many congregations are divided
and godly members eventually leave
because the elders did not protect
the pulpit from false doctrines, half-
truths, or one-sided preaching.
Elders must realize that purity of
doctrine in the body of Christ is one
essential aspect of their office, and
the dearly purchased liberties of
God's redeemed people are always
at risk when elders "go along with
the preacher."
G. The Dividing Power
of Doctrine
"But doesn't doctrine divide?"
This is perhaps the leading reason
why many churches refuse to teach
sound doctrinal truths and the
majority of professing Christians
show little concern for strenuous
doctrinal study and defense. The
answer to this question is "yes."
Doctrine does divide. It divides
those who believe in God and his
Word from those who live by their
own experiences and imaginations.
It separates truth from error. It
forces pastors, Christians, elders,
congregations, and entire denomi-
nations to decide whether or not to
stand by Scripture or the opinions
of men. Scripture commends the
dividing power of doctrine (cf. 1
John 2: 19). It never calls us to
peace at the expense of truth (Jere.
6:13,14). As a matter offact, it
commands us to choose faithful-
ness to God and his Word over
peace with men (Matt. 1O:34ff.).
This is clearly not a pleasant
situation, when professing Christian
brothers divide over doctrinal
differences. We are to pursue those
things that make for peace. As
much as lies in us, we are to live
peaceably with men. It is not within
our power or right, however, to
compromise the truths of God's
Word. Rather than refuse to speak
the truth for fear of strife, let us
learn to speak the Word of God and
defend his truth will zeal. For it is
only when the proclamation of
God's Word results in the conver-
sion of the nations and the sanctifi-
cation of the Church, that the world
will know lasting peace.
H. The Necessity of Sound
Doctrine in Evangelism and
Discipleship
There is one important reason
we ought to study our Standards in
detail. It is frequently claimed that
when we are seeking to gain a new
area for Jesus Christ, we ought to
avoid doctrinal issues and just stick
to the basics of Jesus. This sounds
initially plausible, but the moment
we begin to talk of Jesus, we are
immediately forced to make certain
doctrinal claims: how do we con-
ceive of Christ's death on the
cross? Why did Jesus have to die?
What is sin? Who is God? What is
faith? The list goes on. I believe,
and Scripture bears this out, that
initial confrontations with the lost
are the best time to teach sound
doctrine, to give them an overview
of what Christianity is all about. For
being a Christian is not having a
few warm fuzzies about Jesus. It is
about submitting tlle entirety of our
lives to what God has spoken in his
Word. It is no wonder that we have
churches filled with Christians who
have little interest in the doctrinal
teachings of Scripture. They were
evangelized from the perspective
that being a Christian is about
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 29
walking /lll aisle and llelieving a'Jew
thing abont Jesus' earthly life.
They were never taught that
bringing every thought captive to
the obedience of Christ is essential
to submitting to his Lordship (2 Cor.
10:5).' As we continue our church
history in this area, therefore, and
seek to reach our friends and
neighbors for Christ, what better
way to win them to the faith than a
careful, wann, evangelistic, /llld
zealous presentation of what we as
Christians believe? In the process,
not only will we ,present the truths
of God's Word to a lost and dying
culture, but we will be more knowl-
edgeable of our faith, amazed with
the riches of God's grace,and
wisdom to us, in Jesus Christ, and '
able to defend it 'against modern
errors.
I. The Sanctifying Power
of the Truth
Perhaps the primary reason why
sound doctrine receives so little
emphasis today is the spiritual
immaturity of God's people. When
it comes to the Christian life, "get-
rich-quick" Schetues are all the rage.
Many oelievers would rather seek' ,
holiness and communion with God' '
through mystical, spiritual experi-
ences and self-help techniques
rather than follow what Scripture
teaches. Jesus makes it very clear
that we,are sanctified by the ttuth
(cf.John 17:17,19;Eph.5:26). The
Holy Spirit is generally portrayed in
the New Testament as the primary
agent of the believer's ,sanctification
(cf. 2 Theils. 2:13; 1 Pet: 1:2). How
does he work? He works '
his truth (cf. Jqhn 16:13). As we
humbly place ourselves before the
truths of Scripture, the Spirit works,
convicts of sin, enlightens the mind,
and enables the will to love and
obey God and his truth. Accord-
ingly, adherence to sound doctrine
is Uo! only the divinely appointed
way we learn God's will but also one
of the most practical things the
believer can do to grow in grace.
One last thing on this point.
Doctrine and Christian living go
hand in hand. It is difficult if not
impossible to be a faithful Christian
and be ignorant of biblical doctrine.
Doctrine and piety are two sides of
one glorious coin. The knowledge
of the truth leads to faithful Chris-
tian living. Faithful Christian living,
in turn, will lead a l11an to search the
Scriptures daily, and seek divine
grace to conform his life to the
living precepts of God's Word. We
can only lament, therefore, the
devilish spirit that pervades
Christendom today, that would
encourage Christians not to study
doctrine for fear of becoming
impractical. On the contrary, it is
exactly because we have abandoned
conformity to Scripture as a funda-
mental focus of our thinkiug and
living that we have los( true piety
and spirituality, run after self-help
gurus that claim to know the secret
of successfnl Christian living, and
find ourselves unable to fulfill our
Lord's great commission and make
disciples of the nations.
I. The Nature of
Confessional Christianity
The modern church is anti-
creedal. It is not merely disinter-
ested in creeds or doctrinal state-
ments. It is outright opposed to
them. There are tuany reasons for
this. For many, the truth is relative.
Others believe that any attel11pt to
define truth cuts us off from God.
They maintain this because they
believe religion is primarily an
existential encounter with God.
Democracy also undermines
creedalism. For creedalism affirms
30 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - April/May, 1999
that the will of God revealed in
Scripture is supreme over the will of
the individual or of the majority. We
might also mention laziness,
arbitrariness, and worldliness as
prevalent causes of anti-creedalism
in our churches. Because of the age
in which we live, a brief review of
the nature and importance of creeds
and confessions will be a useful
way to begin our study of the
Westminster Confession of Faith.
A. What is a creed?
The English word creed comes
from the Latin credo, I believe.
Creeds abound. "In God We Trust"
is a creed. In Christian circles, a
creed is a statement of personal
belief or confes'sion of faith. It sets
forth what we believe about God,
his Son Jesus Christ, and our duty
to him. Historically, the Church has
been blessed with many wonderful
the Apostles' ,Nicene,
Athanasian, and our own
Westminster Confession of Faith,
just to name a few.
B. What is the relationship
between creeds and the Bible?
It is often asked, "Are creeds
even biblical?" Absolutely. While
there is no direct command in the
Bible to formulate doctrinal creeds,
there is plenty of evidence to
suggest that it is incumbent upon
us to develop balanced summaries
of what the Bible principally
teaches. Creeds and confessions,
moreover, are not superi.or to the
Bible, nor are they designed to lead
us away from it as our only rule of
faith and practice. Rather, because
we cannot quote the entire Bible
when asked to state what we
believe, and because the statement
"I believe in the Bible" is open to
conflicting interpretations, creeds
and confessions are useful as
summaries of what we believe the
Bible specifically teaches. As the
Christian community becomes more
aware of its own history, the
statement, "I subscribe to the
Westminster Confession of Faith,"
will be pregnant with meaning, and
identified with biblical, historic, and
orthodox Christianity. Lest anyone
still fear that creeds and confes-
sions inevitably supplant the
Bible's authority, it should be
noticed that the Westminster
Confession of Faith itself claims
that the Bible is supreme to it (cf.
1:10). So following our own Confes-
sion, any statements found in it that
are contradicted by Scripture are
eIToneous, and ought to be
amended.
1. The Relationship of
Creeds to Scripture
i. The Bible calls for a public
confession of faith - Deut. 27; Matt.
10:32; Rom. 10:9-10. Belief in God is
not exclusively a private affair of the
heart. There are cOll'Orate, very
public duties we have as members
of the visible Church. One of these
duties is to confess our faith
publicly, coherently, and cheerfully
whenever we are called upon to do
so.
ii. The Bible contains mini-
creeds and confessions - Acts
15:23-29; Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil.
2: 11. Bible scholars are increasingly
convinced that the little phrase
"Jesus is Lord" was an early
confessional statement or creed of
the early believers. To confess that
Jesus was Lord was not only to
affirm faith in the full deity of Jesus
Christ, but also to express a convic-
tion that he was King even over the
political realm.
iii. The Bible shows official
.Church Councils formulating
authoritative creeds - Acts 15. Even
in tlle days in which the Bible was
being written, when a doctrinal
controversy arose in the young
churches, an authoritative church
council convened and decided the
issue. Their creed or confession of
faith was binding upon all the
churches (cf. Acts 16:4).
2. The Functions of Creeds
(from Ken Gentry's "The
Usefulness of Creeds")
We should also notice that
creeds and confessions of faith are
not dead letters. They serve
ongoing, practical, and important
functions in the Church. Ken
Gentry summarizes their most
important uses for us.
i. Creeds serve'as II baSis for
. ecclesiastical fellowship and labor.
Because doctrine does ani!, '"
doctrine is the foundation of
practice, we may not cooperate with
certain religious groups <l.r denomi:
nation (cf. 1 Tim. 1:19,20; 210hn
9,10). It may be that the views and
practices of a given church are so .
diametrically opposed to biblical
Christianity, that there is no possi-
bility of working together. This is a
tragic but unavoidable cirC]1m-
stance. Creedalism preserves us
from embarrassment and compro-
mise.
ii. Creeds serve as tools for
Christian education. Summaries of
our faith, whether formal confes-
sional statement or catechisms are
wonderful tools to teach new
converts and young people the
essential tenets of biblical Christian-
ity.
iii. Creeds provide an objectj,/e,
concrete standard for church
discipline. This is true particularly
with respect to church officers, who
are required to make a vow of
subscription to the doctrinal
statements of our church. WIlen a
public ConfesSibiI of Faith is
operating within the congregation
or denomination, departures from
the. truth become very apparent, and
can be dealt with judicially before
the sheep are scattered by false
teachers; Moreover, the members of
any lotal COrigregatiOn will know its
do.ctrinai position and how they are
expected to believe and live.
iv. Creeds help to preserve the
orthodox Christian faith in the
ongoing church. The faith or
teachings God wants us to believe
are permanently inscribed in the Old
and New Testament Scriptures
(John 16:13; 2 Tim. 3:16,17; lude3).
We are .up to defend these
truths (1 Pet. 3:15). Our creeds and
confessions are extremely helpful in
. learning and teaching Scripture. As
we compare our teaching miIlistries
with \hem, we Can detenlline if we
are being balanced and Scriptural in
our presentation of God's Word.'
.. v. Creeds offer a witness to the
truth to those 'outside the church: .
When someone asks, "What do you
believe?" it is not enough to
respond, "Ibelieve the Bible." It is
more helpful to affirm belief in the
Bible with the follow-up statement.
"And this is what we believe the
Bible teaches." In an age of
relativism and multitudinous truth
alternatives, it is particularly vital
that our congregation give an
objective, clear. and bold profession
of faith to the world.
vi. Creeds provide a standard by
which to judge new teaching within
the chUrch. There is always the
danger of false teaching infiltrating
the teaching ministry of a local
congregation (cf. 2 Peter 2; Rev.
2: 14, 15.20). A creed or confession
calls the congregation to evaluate
itself continuously in the light of
God's Word and the faith of its
fathers ..
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSELof Chalcedon - 31
,. '
C. N o creed but (!}lirist? ' '
One of the objectlonsio '
creeds anc! is that they
from the w!rin ,',
Jesus Christ. It certainly s()unds .
, , ,'_ 'I" ,
right to say that Jesps, is the main
thing. We must avoid anytliing, that
tai<es us away from hhn. This' .
objection is most fi;equently
expressed as "No creed but,Christ."
In'response to ihis; I ",ouid bring
out one major objection from
ofthl;;
theory iea.jethe general impression
that objective trutli or doctiinai
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statements get iIi the way of '
worshipping Jesus Chris!,Ji"deve\-'
oping a relatiorisljipwith him): Is,
this true? Absolutely not. When Witnesses afIrrm allegiance to there is absolutely no relationship
Jesus came to 2,000 yeltfs,,/fgo, Jesus. Th,e name Jesus, we must between doctrillal siricmess and '
how did men relate to him? It iSi ever remember, is not a lucky chlt\'ffi. dead churches. On the 'contrary,
certain that they lovec! tobe in his' Our concep
tio
ll of Je,sus Christ must wherecoIifessions, creeds, !lOd,
company, eat and drink with hi"1' be based upon sound; biblical, and catechisms are energeti-
talk to him, and worship him. Yet doctrinal content, or he becomes an cally, and lovingly used, the,' , ,
these were all secondary to listen- idol of our own creation., The congregation is carefully,instructed
ing i6'his teaching (Matt. 7:24-29; Bible's teachings on Jesus haveas in. the faith. The result is a better'
Mark 1:22; Lnke 24:32), The amaz- their primary purpose to lead to a' of God and the savmg,
ing thing abollt1 esus Christ was closer walk with the, person, Jesus work of Jesus Christ. The Congre-
that he taught asone who had Christ, our Gpdand,Sav1or (cf, John gation with
authority. He spqke as the exegete 20:30,31). the,whole counselof God andtlieir
of the Father (John 1:18). He had D. Does creedal strictness duty to stand Jor, the interests oi'
many
'thing' s to say to his disciples, Kl'ng Jes'us m' every area oflife I
equal dead orthodoxy? ' , .
and one of their most fundamental believe it to bean indisputable truth
duties was to listen, remember, and I was recently in a local religious that only churches rrrmly estab-
communicate his Wor!! to the , meeting in which the speaker lished upon the bedrock of sound
Church (Mark6:34; John 8:26; encouraged everyone to return the biblical doctrine and
16:12). We might even say thai, following Sunday, where they would confessionalism can remain ener-
Jesus cannot be known ' hear, m()re living word rather than getic, faithful, and influential. If
biblical statement reflecting upon "dead doctrine." There is a perva- you do not build your house upon
his person and work ltfeclearly sive idea out there that doctrinal or the.rock ofJesus Christ and his
understood and believed:' 'There- cre,edal strictness necessarily means truth, you may keep afloat for a
fore, worshipping Jesus christ and lifeless and cold churches. 1 \yould
while
with social programs galore; .
walking with him demand creeds never deny the fact that heavily emotionalism, and large numbers,
and confessions. Discipleship doctrinal churches can become built will eventually crashunder
demands truth content. It is never guilty of coldexternalism, but non- the weight of persecution, unbelief,
enough to say, "I follow Jesus." creedal churches can become and disobedience (cf. Matt. 7:24f.) ..
The Arians, ancient heretics who iiuindated with arbitrariness,
denied the essentiaI'deityof Jeslls emotionalism, fanaticism, and
Christ affirmed as much. Jehovah's instability. Ad hominems aside,
32 - THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon - April/May, 1999