There is an essay by a well-known British author of this century entitled,
"Creed or Chaos."1 While not
agreeing with much of the content of the essay, the title very nicely describes
the urgency of having and using the historic creeds of the church. We are
convinced that the only alternative to creeds is ecclesiastical chaos. History
has proved that, especially in this century. In refusing to have creeds or in
moving away from her creeds the church has exposed herself to the chaos that the
floods and winds of doctrinal change, spiritual ignorance, and worldliness
bring.
Some have begun to realize this and to return to the creeds, and for
this we are profoundly thankful. Others, however, continue to neglect and
despise the creeds, and it is to them especially that this article is addressed
in the hope they will reconsider and see both the Biblical basis and the need
for creeds in the church.
It is that Biblical basis that we hope to establish
first of all. Then we wish also to address some of the objections that are
raised against creeds. Finally, having established and defended the necessity of
creeds, we wish to point out some of the specific uses of creeds in the church,
for unless the creeds are known and used, having them is of no value.
In order to see that the use of creeds is Biblical, we must remember that
"creed" is from a Latin word which means, "I believe." That tells us what creeds
are. They are an expression of the faith that lives in the hearts of God's
people. In the creeds, believers, usually as a body, tell the world what they
believe the Word of God teaches. Creeds, then, do not exist apart from Scripture
or over against it, but are simply a confession of what believers find in the
Word of God. And what they find in the Word of God, they confess.
In having
creeds, therefore, believers are only doing what the Word of God itself commands
them to do - confessing their faith. For this reason the creeds are often called
"confessions." So it is here first of all, in the fact that creeds are
confessions, that we find a Biblical basis for having them.
There are any
number of passages that command believers to confess their faith. In Matthew
10:32 Jesus makes this very necessary when He says: "Whosoever therefore
shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is
in heaven." Romans
10:9, 10 connect our confessing Christ with salvation: "If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation."
In confessing their faith in creeds believers are only doing in
unison what Nathanael did when he said, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou
art the King of Israel" (Jn.
1:49), or what Peter did when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God" (Matt.
16:16). In recording their confession they are only doing what Scripture
itself does in recording such confessions as these.
That they are required by
Scripture to make a common confession is also clear. In Romans
15:6 the Apostle Paul prays that the members of the church in Rome might
"with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ." In I
Corinthians 2:10 the Word of God commands believers that they all "speak the
same thing." Not only that, but in the context (vs. 2) they are commanded to do
this "with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord."
This, as far as we are able to see, can only be done by way of
creeds.2
This is
exactly the way in which creeds are justified by those who have written them. In
the preface to his "Confession,"3 for
example, John Knox says:
For we are most certainly persuaded that whosoever denies Christ Jesus, or is ashamed of Him, in the presence of men, shall be denied before the Father, and before His holy angels (p. 342).
It is really impossible to be without creeds. Every believer believes
something about what the Word of God teaches. And insofar as that faith is
precious to him he confesses it. He really cannot do otherwise, if he loves
Christ and loves the Word. Everyone and every church has a creed whether it is
written down or not. Even in those churches that reject creeds there is a creed
which has there as much force and authority as the written creeds do in churches
that have them.
Likewise, those who use the slogan, "No creed but Christ,"
will very quickly be found to have quite an extensive "creed" or belief, not
only about Christ. Ask them, for example, which Christ they confess - the Christ
of the liberals who is only an example to believers and who did not shed His
blood for their sins, the Christ of the Mormons or of the Jews, or of the Romish
church. Thankfully, you will find that their creeds includes a great deal of
sound Biblical teaching about Christ and His work.
You also find that their
creed, their belief, includes much more than a confession of Christ.
Though they have no written creeds and say "No creed but Christ," they do not
really hold to what they say. Try, for example, to teach the Biblical doctrines
of election or of limited atonement in many such churches. You will be politely
but firmly told, "We do not believe that here," that is, "It is not part
of our creed." Or, ask to have an infant baptized in most such churches,
and you will be shown the door. "We do not believe," you will hear as you
leave, "in infant baptism."
The second way of demonstrating the necessity and importance of creeds is by
way of reference to the promise of Jesus in John
16:13: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you
into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." This promise of Jesus
is fulfilled as the Holy Spirit gives God's people the ability to understand the
Word of God.
The creeds are one of the fruits of that work of the Spirit. To
deny the usefulness of creeds and their place in the church is to deny that the
Spirit of truth has worked in the church of the past, or at least to deny that
His work has any relevance for the church today. By so doing the church today
cuts herself off from the church of the past, denying the fundamental unity of
the church in all ages. This is one of the great weaknesses of the church today,
that she has no ties to the church of the past - does not know the history and
lessons of the past, nor the battles the church has fought, nor God's
faithfulness to His church through all the ages. She tries to stand completely
on her own against the forces of evil, instead of seeing herself as part of that
great "army with banners" that is "fair as the moon, clear as the sun" (Song
6:10).
Not only that, but by cutting herself off from the church of past,
the church today says in effect that every generation must start all over in its
searching of the Scriptures and pursuit of the truth. Thus she sets herself an
impossible task - a task that is either set aside as too great so that there is
little knowledge of the truth in the church, or which leaves her no time for
other things.
This is well-stated by the Presbyterian author, G.I.
Williamson:
The Bible contains a great wealth of information. It isn't easy to master it all - in fact, no one has ever mastered it completely. It would therefore be foolish for us to try to do it on our own, starting from scratch. We would be ignoring all the study of the Word of God that other people have done down through the centuries. That is exactly why we have creeds. They are the product of many centuries of Bible study by a great company of believers. They are a kind of spiritual "road map" of the teaching of the Bible, already worked out an proved by others before us. And, after all, isn't this exactly what Jesus promised? When he was about to finish his work on earth, he made this promise to his disciples: "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). And Christ kept his promise. When the Day of Pentecost came, he sent his Spirit to dwell in his people. The Holy Spirit was poured out - not on individuals, each by himself, but on the whole body of Christian believers together ( Acts 2). And from that time until this, he has been giving his church an understanding of the Scriptures. It is no wonder that the church expressed itself from very early times through creeds (p. 3).4
He adds:
And right here we see one of the most important things about a creed that is true to the Bible - it remains true down through the ages. It does not need to be changed again and again, with each generation, because it deals with things that are unchanging. Thus, an accurate creed binds the generations together. It reminds us that the church of Jesus Christ is not confined to one age, just as it is not confined to any one place. In other words, there is a unity in what Christians have believed, right down through the ages. Just think of it: when we confess our faith together . . . we join with all those believers who have gone before us. Does not this demonstrate that there is indeed just one Lord and one true faith? (p. 3).
The third line of reasoning in defense of creeds makes reference to II
Timothy 3:16, 17, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all
good works." It is the reference to doctrine that is important here.
Strictly
speaking, Scripture is not doctrine (the systematic exposition of the
truths of Scripture in their relation to one another). This is implied in
II
Timothy 3:16 in that Scripture is said to be profitable for doctrine.
And we should notice, too, that doctrine is the first thing that
Scripture is profitable for. Creeds are doctrine. They take all the passages of
Scripture regarding a certain teaching and put them together into a statement of
that doctrine and then show also how that doctrine relates to others. They are,
doctrinally, a "setting in order of those things which are most surely believed
among us" (Lk. 1:1).
Now it ought to be evident to everyone that a good part
of the opposition to creeds is rooted in the fact that doctrine is very
unpopular today. In spite of II
Timothy 3:16, 17 there is neither teaching of nor interest in doctrine any
more, and so the creeds, which are statements of doctrine are either despised or
set aside.
If Scripture is profitable for doctrine, then the church does
right in setting forth doctrine in her creeds. If doctrine is as important as
the Word indicates, then the church ought to have such doctrinal statements.
Some of the objections that are raised against creeds we have already dealt
with, but there are other, more important objections, as well. Some say that
having creeds denies the unique authority of Scripture, and that the creeds, in
fact, take us away from Scripture and lead to the neglect of Scripture in the
church. Others say that creeds cause division in the church of Christ, even that
they are the primary cause of division between Christians. Both of these
objections are easily answered.
As far as the authority of Scripture is
concerned, the creeds when properly used neither push aside the authority of
Scripture nor draw Christians away from Scripture. Rather, they point to the
Scriptures and serve as a kind of "map" of the teaching of the Word. This they
do especially by the numerous references to Scripture that are found in most
creeds. No doubt there are a few who attach too much authority to the creeds,
but the creeds themselves claim that Scripture is the only authority and show it
is by referring to it.
From that point of view they do the same thing that
the preaching does - they compel believers to search the Scriptures to see if
the things taught in them are true (cf. Acts
17:11). Like a map they even show where to begin in searching the
Scriptures. Indeed, in our experience, it is in those churches that do not have
or use creeds, where there is appalling ignorance of the teaching of Scripture.
People sit for years in such churches and never seem to learn anything.
That
creeds cause division in the church is another red herring. The creeds do not
cause the divisions that do exist in the church, but only recognize those that
are already there. In fact, insofar as the creeds do teach the truth of
Scripture (and we have the promise of Jesus in John
16:13 that they do, though not perfectly), the creeds instead of causing
division promote unity. It is, of course, the truth that brings unity. We learn
that from Amos
3:3, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" We learn it also from
Ephesians
4:15-16; "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying (building up) of itself in love." The existing divisions,
therefore, are not caused by creeds but by a failure to know and submit to the
truth. It is the lie that divides, not the truth.
That brings us to speak of the usefulness of creeds, since the very first and
one of the more important uses is what might be called their constitutional or
unifying use. The creeds of a church are her "banner displayed because of the
truth" (Ps.
60:4), and serve as a rallying point for all those who make the same
confession of the truth. Thus, the creeds of the Reformed churches are sometimes
referred to as the "Three Forms of Unity."
Closely related is the apologetic
use of the creeds. Apologetics is the defense of the truth of the gospel (the
"answer" in I
Peter 3:15 is the Greek word "apology"). This apologetic use of the creeds
follows from the fact that most creeds were written in defense of the truth of
God's Word. They are the "answer" that the church has given to those who have
denied her hope. They were not written in some ivory tower but on the
battlefield of faith. And, the errors they address are still around today. There
is nothing new under the sun. So too the Scripture passages they reference help
us find a Biblical answer when we must stand in defense of the faith.
Then
there is also what could be called their juridical use, that is, they are useful
in settling and avoiding disputes. They are useful in settling disputes because
they show what Scripture teaches, bringing together the teaching of all
Scripture on a certain matter. They are useful in avoiding disputes because they
set forth the things that are important, thus steering clear of "foolish and
unlearned questions" that gender strife (II
Tim. 2:23).
Very important is the catechetical use of the creeds. By this
we mean that they are used to teach the truth to children and to new converts.
They are useful in this respect because they teach the doctrines of Scripture.
Anyone who has done any teaching knows that it is almost impossible to learn
anything unless the teaching is systematic and carefully arranged in its logical
relations. This the creeds do, especially the catechisms which were designed for
teaching both young and old.
The creeds can even be used pastorally. They are
not cold, abstract statements, but warm, practical expositions of the truth and
can be used to direct the attention of those who are in need of pastoral counsel
to the Word of God. A good example is the application of the doctrine of
predestination in the Canons of Dort, I, 13:
The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before him, for adoring the depth of his mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful returns of ardent love to him, who first manifested so great love towards them. The consideration of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remissness in the observance of the divine commands, or from sinking men in carnal security, that these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects of rash presumption, or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election, in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.
Several other uses of lesser importance are the homiletical and the
liturgical. Some churches, by way of insuring that the whole counsel of God is
preached in the church (Acts
20:27), follow in the preaching at least one service each Lord's Day, the
teaching of a particular creed. In this way all the doctrines of the faith are
set forth in the church and the people of God well grounded in the truth. This
is the homiletical (having to do with sermon making) use. In other churches the
creeds, usually the shorter creeds like the Apostle's or Nicene Creeds are
recited as part of the worship of the church. In this way believers make mutual
confession of their faith in obedience to Christ's command in Matthew
10.
There are, we believe, other uses of the creeds as well, but these
are the most important. What needs to be emphasised, however, is that the creeds
are of value ONLY if they are used. If they are just matters of the church
archives and are left to gather dust in the church, there is no profit at all in
having them. Nevertheless, it is necessary to have and use them, as we have
shown. The alternative is ecclesiastical chaos, the kind of chaos that is
destroying the church today, making her witness ineffective and troubling the
lives of her members.
In Jeremiah
6:16, the Lord himself says: "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the
old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for
your souls." The church today says, "We will not walk therein." Thus, she has no
rest, for she has no old ways.
End-notes:
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Last modified, 27-Mar-1998