Is a creedal statement a device which unites or divides? Should our creeds be brief and drawn with thick black lines as concise as the Apostle’s Creed, or can they include more comprehensive expressions of the Christian faith? The Dutch Remonstrants in the early part of the 17^th century opposed the confessions because they believed they violated the authority of the Bible and interfered with freedom of conscience. Since then others have emulated their position. The slogan “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible” is defended on the basis of the charge that creeds and confessions are given the same authority as the Bible, perhaps not as a stated position, but in practice. Questions like these give us oc­casion to reflect on the place and value of creeds. What precedent is there in the Bible to formulate creeds and con­fessions? Does the church as “the church of the living God, pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15) have a mandate to draw up creeds and confes­sions? What value do the creeds have for the church today?

The Witness of Scripture⤒🔗

Christianity has always been “a creedal religion” (J.H. Keith (ed), Creeds of the Churches) not just because of the need to address new situations or to correct heresy with the truth of God’s word, but because Christianity is theological. Christianity’s foundational document, the Bible, is a theological book. God created us in His image as intelligent beings, with a sense of the divine; beings whose chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. One way we are to do that is to articulate the truth about God, our love for God and enjoyment of God. This doesn’t come naturally to us due to the effects of sin. Faith is needed and faith is intellectual, emotional and volitional. God wants us to serve Him with our minds as well as our hands, mouths, feet and heart. Hence Christianity is rooted in the theological tradition of ancient Israel, which was united by its stated affirmations of faith such as “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4&5). Peter Craigie in The Book of Deuteronomy, pg. 169, called it the “fundamental monotheistic dogma of the Old Testament” otherwise known as the “Shema” and used by Israelites as a regular part of their worship. (See also Feinberg, ‘Synagogue’ in New Bible Dictionary, page 1228.) There are several similar declaratory statements in the Bible such a Peter’s famous confession of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah (Mark 8:29) or the christological confession of faith in Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved”. In addition to the christological confessions there are also statements which reveal the triune God, and from which our trinitarian confessions are derived. Two well-known trinitarian affirmations are found in Mathew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And again, 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Thus in the Bible certain expressions of faith in God, Christ and the Trinity became more or less fixed in creed-like formulas. But does that provide the church with a precedent to write creeds?

The Church’s Mandate←⤒🔗

The church is endowed with power and authority from God. This is clearly seen in Matthew 16:19 where Jesus said to Peter and the disciples “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Ac­cording to Louis Berkhof’s summary of the church’s power, this power is;

1. spiritual rather than civil,
    
2. it is derived from and subordinate to the Word of God,
    
3. designed to serve Christ and His church. This includes a duty to
   i.) pre­serve the Word of God against unbelief and error (1 Tim 1:3&4),
   ii.) administer the Word and sacraments and
   iii.) write up creeds and confessions (Systematic Theology, page 595). An early example is found in Acts 15, at the council of Jerusalem, where the apostles made a statement reasserting the doctrine of Christian liberty. Likewise in 1 Corin­thians 15 Paul restates the doctrine of the resurrection because of deniers in that city. In fact the church’s mandate to write confessions is seen in numer­ous situations in the life of the church, such as in preaching (Acts 2-3), teach­ing (1 Corinthians 15:3-7), baptism (Acts 8:36-38), confession (1 Timothy 6:1­ 16), and polemics (1 John 4:2). Since then, throughout the church age, she has exercised her God-given mandate to write creeds and confessions as the needs arose.

The Value of the Creeds←⤒🔗

Creeds often arise out of historical situations, where conflicts from within the church or forces pressing on the church from without, endanger the life and mission of the church. Disagreements in the church at Nicea about the content of faith during the fourth century, or in Europe during the 16^th century, created the need to reassert the Bible’s teachings and the church’s faithful witness. As this teaching was formed into a creed and widely accepted by the churches, the creed itself began to shape history, influencing the personal piety, worship and culture of subsequent generations of Christians. Creeds and confessions often become source materials for future theological decisions. For example, the addition of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) to our own denomination’s subordinate standards has influenced the office bearers in our denomination to hold more strongly to the cessationist position with respect to special revelation. This is in contrast to our close neighbour, the Christian Reformed Church of Australia, which only requires its office bearers to hold to the three forms of unity and doesn’t bind them to the WCF where it goes beyond the Belgic Confession. Thus the cessationist position is not as strongly held and allows for occasional, non-authoritative, special revelation.

The great creeds have not only shaped theological thought and practice but have also had the effect of uniting the churches by succinctly stating the faith of the Christian church. This is especial­ly true of the older ecumenical creeds, which have a long history of wide ac­ceptance in the churches. On the basis of the ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian) we regard folk who profess faith in God in the language of the ecumenical creeds as fellow Chris­tians, brothers and sisters in the wider body of Christ. The more detailed expres­sions of faith in the longstanding creeds of the Reformation provide a basis for unity among like-minded churches such as those in the International Council of Reformed Churches; and then again as a basis for unity in our own federation of churches, the RCNZ.

Church liturgy is enhanced by creeds and confessions. Hymns, prayers and sermons often contain affirmations of faith using words contained in the creeds such as the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1. In our own Reformed tradition we regularly recite/rehearse the Christian faith during worship using the creeds, (joyfully and without problems of con­science!). Furthermore, the creeds and confessions of the Reformation are often used as a guide for topical preaching in worship. However, some have jetti­soned that particular use of the creeds, believing the church has outgrown them and that they are no longer relevant for today’s issues. But history shows that where creeds have been ignored or where church officers have been given freedom of interpretation of their confes­sional statements, doctrinal integrity has suffered to the extent that the inspiration and authority of the Bible itself is attacked. Besides, the confessions address central questions of human existence such as: Who is God? How has God re­vealed Himself? Who am I? How are we made right with God? What institutions has God given humanity? How best do the institutions of church, marriage and the family and state function under the sovereignty of God? These questions are important in every age. The confessions help keep the answers to these questions in the forefront of our minds, especially through regular liturgical use.

Another valuable use of the creeds is the teaching ministry of the church; especially the catechetical instruction of covenant children and those preparing for church membership. Since the early days of the church candidates have been taught the faith handed down by the apostles as a preparation for baptism. Later, according to J.H. Leith, Creeds of the Churches, page 7, “Augustine recog­nised the importance of a robust ques­tion and answer method of theological education for catechumens.” The Prot­estant reformers developed that method even further by producing a number of catechisms which continue to be widely used in Reformed circles today, especially among the young but also in other con­texts such as home group Bible studies. Young people who are well instructed in the Christian faith are more likely to be the next generation of active church members and leaders. A lack of sound theological knowledge will only contrib­ute to a church’s demise. The warnings in Scripture are plain enough.

The prophet Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of the Lord said, “‘My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children, they have no un­derstanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good’ ... ‘they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirement of their God.’ But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” (4:22; 5:4&5) The prophet was in despair, even the religious leaders of the nation Israel seemed ignorant of true knowledge of God. They seemed to think that the Lord would tolerate their syncretistic ways. Jeremiah was incred­ulous “Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols.” (2:11) There can be no argument; a thorough confessional teaching program will only enhance the doctrinal integrity and spiritual health of any church.

Another need which was addressed by the creeds and confessions was the need for sound principles of interpre­tation. During the church’s infancy it needed to understand the Old Testament in relationship to itself. Later, the church needed to determine which New Testament books were canonical. Later still, after the canon of Scripture was fixed, principles of interpretation were necessary to distinguish the important from the peripheral in the Bible and to discern the golden rule of interpreta­tion: “Scripture is its own interpreter”. The Reformed confessions have done the churches a great service in provid­ing such principles derived from Scrip­ture. The last and most comprehensive of our confession; the WCF, contains a set of standards (e.g. chapter 1 articles 4-10) providing our churches with principles for Bible interpretation which have stood the test of time and to which faithful Bible-believing churches adhere to this day.

The propagation of heresy was another challenge for the church which the creeds and confessions confronted. Challenges concerning the true deity and humanity of Christ, the unity of His per­sonality and the relationship of His two natures (human and divine), the person­ality of the Holy Spirit and His place in the Godhead, the way we are justified, the inspiration and perfections of Scrip­ture, the supremacy of Christ and grace in salvation; these and many other issues sent the framers of our creeds and con­fessions back to the Bible to examine the matters raised. The results of their faithful labours are contained in the creeds and confessions. They refuted the pseudo- Christianity of the heretics and set forth the tenets of true faith in confessional form for the edification and instruction of the body of Christ.

It is clear that the creeds and confes­sions continue to have abiding relevance for the church in every age. That doesn’t mean they are exhaustive, or that further issues may not necessitate the formula­tion of some new subordinate standard in the future. However, we ignore the lessons of history at our peril. It would be foolish to relegate creeds and con­fessions to the scrap heap of irrelevance and impotence. Rather, they are useful instruments to help us teach, defend the faith, and build foundations for our theology.