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2020 For the Church Book Award This brief, accessible invitation to the historic creeds and confessions makes a biblical and historical case for their necessity and shows why they are essential for Christian faith and practice today. J.V. Fesko, a leading Reformed theologian with a broad readership in the academy and the church, demonstrates that creeds are not just any human documents but biblically commended resources for the well-being of the church, as long as they remain subordinate to biblical authority. He also explains how the current skepticism and even hostility toward creeds and confessions came about.
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History of ChristianityONE
Biblical Arguments for Confessions
Introduction
As democracy spread throughout the burgeoning United States of America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, ideals of freedom and Christianity mingled and gave birth to a decidedly American form of religion. Barton W. Stone (1772ā1844), Thomas Campbell (1763ā1845), and Thomasās son Alexander Campbell (1788ā1866) were leaders of the Restoration movement (also known as the Stone-Campbell movement), which wanted to peel back the layers of accumulated dogma and return Christianity to what they believed was its purest, most primitive form. The movement leaders referred to their break with the Presbyterian church as their ādeclaration of independence.ā And Alexander Campbell encouraged his followers to commemorate July 4, 1776, as a day equal to the Jewish Passover. That is to say, Stone and the Campbells created a populist movement that rode on the winds of American democracy and freedom. Instead of confessions of faith, the Stone-Campbell movement trumpeted the motto āno creed but the Bible.ā It was clear that many in the new world had little space for confessional, old-world faith.1
The anti-creedal movement grew as those churches that embraced theological democracy outpaced their confessional competitors. In 1776, Congregationalist and Presbyterian churches were dominant, holding almost 40 percent of the American churchgoing population. But by 1850, about 54 percent of American churchgoers were attending Baptist and Methodist churches, with Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches together claiming only about 15 percent of the pie.2 The sentiment that creeds and confessions were unbiblical, and thus to be rejected, thrived in the nascent nation. Considering how popular the āno creed but the Bibleā mentality was and continues to be, we must ask, What does the Bible have to say about confessions?
At first blush, such a question might seem absurd. Some might ask, What does the Spirit-inspired Bible have to do with these all-too-human documents? But closer examination shows that there is biblical evidence to support the claim that confessions of faith are both biblical and necessary. To prove this claim, this chapter surveys eight biblical texts: the institution of the Passover liturgy (Exod. 13:14ā15), the giving of the Shema (Deut. 6:4ā6), the apostle Paulās five ātrustworthy sayingsā (1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:7ā9; 2 Tim. 2:11ā13; Titus 3:4ā8), and Judeās exhortation to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3).3 Each of these texts captures the idea that God expects his people to take his authoritative revelation, reflect on and study it, restate it in their own words, and pass it down to future generations. The Bible mandates the creation and maintenance of a biblically faithful confessional and catechetical tradition. After surveying the eight texts, the chapter presents an analysis, exploring how the Bible warrants confessions and catechesis, provides protections against dead confessionalism, and reveals an indissoluble link between confession and piety. It then concludes with summary observations about the need for biblically faithful confessions of faith.
Instruct Future Generations (Exod. 13:14ā15)
Godās revelation comes in several different forms, but it is more than a divine memorial, an echo of Godās voice. Israel is supposed to record Godās Word and reflect on it for generations to come. The first time God commands Israel to perform this catechetical task is when he gives instructions for the celebration of the Passover. The Israelites are supposed to reenact, remember, and rationalize the Passover:4
And when in time to come your son asks you, āWhat does this mean?ā you shall say to him, āBy a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.ā (Exod. 13:14ā15)
As Israelite families gathered and partook of the Passover meal, God knew that younger members of the community would ask about its significance. As children tasted the food and stepped into Israelās past, their parents would explain the Passover to them. They would recall Godās mighty deliverance from a powerful foe and the judgment that fell upon the firstborn of Egypt, which constituted the rationale for the sacrifice or dedication of the firstborn. This is evident by the use of a result clause: āTherefore [×¢Ö·×Ö¾×Ö¼Öµ×] I sacrifice.ā The Bible presents a pattern of Godās word-act-word revelation along with the subsequent, biblically governed reflection on it and repetition and explanation of it.5 In other words, God first gave his word to depart Egypt. He then performed a mighty act in delivering Israel from Egypt. God then gave a subsequent word explaining the significance of the act of deliverance. Through Godās word-act-word revelation, he is his own interpreter. This same pattern unfolds in the celebration of the Passover. God instructs Israel to perform the Passover. The Israelites perform the act and reflect upon Godās word and deliverance. Parents then explain the significance of the Passover to their children with a subsequent word. The revelation-reflection-repetition pattern appears in Jewish halakah, the laws derived from the written and oral forms of the Torah and that extend into the Hellenistic traditions and rituals in Talmudic form.6 In short, God instructed the Israelites to pass the knowledge and significance of his word-act-word revelation down to future generations. This is a divinely commanded traditio. The word traditio is derived from the Latin term trado (to hand over); hence, a traditioāor ātraditionāāis a teaching, doctrine, or saying handed down from generation to generation.7
Hear O Israel (Deut. 6:4ā6)
Many are familiar with the first and greatest commandment, otherwise known as Israelās Shema: āHear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heartā (Deut. 6:4ā6). But what might not immediately strike the reader is that this is a confession of Israelās faith for every individual and ultimately the entire nation. The Shema is Israelās fundamental dogma, her magna carta.8 To preserve Israelās faith, God bound covenant, confession, and catechesis together in the Shema.9 At the heart of the covenant lies Israelās chief confession of faith, which consists of four words in the Hebrew text: ×Ö°××Öø× ×Ö±×Ö¹×Öµ×× ×Ö¼ ×Ö°××Öø× × ×Ö¶×Öø× (āThe LORD our God, the LORD is one,ā Deut. 6:4). Pious Jews recited this confession as a daily prayer, along with Deuteronomy 11:18ā32 and Numbers 15:37ā41. These references direct the Israelites to bind Godās laws on their foreheads, which they took literally and thus tied phylacteries to their heads (i.e., small leather pouches containing miniscule scrolls inscribed with Godās commands).10 The command to bind Godās law on their hands, foreheads, doorposts, and gates (Deut. 6:8) was an exhortation to meditate on and to memorize Godās law, not to tie leather pouches to their foreheads (see Prov. 6:20ā22).11 Nevertheless, the point of the confession was to cement Israelās collective conviction that Yahweh was to be the sole object of their adoration, affection, and allegiance. Israelās external profession of this brief confession was supposed to serve as the sign of the internal disposition of the heartāthe outward confession mirroring the inward conviction. There was no place for prevarication; a disjunction between confession and conviction was inconceivable.12
God wanted Israel to profess their faith, and he wanted their profession to protect theological orthodoxy, to express love for God, and to ground catechesis. Israelās confession was a theological guardrail to keep them on the road of biblical monotheism.13 The confession reminded Israel to be devoted exclusively to Yahwehāconfessional and theological orthodoxy going hand in hand with orthopraxy. One cannot take the confession of the Shema on oneās lips and then bow down and worship an idol. At the same time, God intended that love would mark this confessional orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Confession of the one true living God was not supposed to spring from legalism, from duty, but rather from love for him. Israelās love for God was to be holistic and total, which Deuteronomy 6:5 captures with the injunction to ālove the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.ā14 According to Hebrew thought, the heart is the seat of the mind, will, and affections; the soul is the source of life and vitalityāessentially, oneās existence. Deuteronomy 6:5 connecting heart and soul shows that the confession is meant to express whole-person devotion, and the inclusion of oneās whole āmightā then emphasizes this intention. The New Testament adds another element: the mind (Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).15 This love for God, therefore, is not to be merely affective; it is also to consist of obedience and use of the intellect.
As with the divine instructions regarding Passover, God commands Israel to use this confession for catechesis: āAnd these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gatesā (Deut. 6:6ā9). Individual Israelites would internalize the significance of this confession through meditation and study. But this internal reflection on the confession would ideally lead to catechesis: instruction of oneās family.16 God intends confession and catechesis to permeate every sphere of life, which is evident in the placement of the Shema (it serves as a springboard to chapters 12ā26).17 Covenant, love, obedience, and catechesis are all enshrined in confession in this well-known passage from the Old Testament. This confession is a guardian, or a plumb line, to ensure Israelās fidelity to its covenant Lord.18
Trustworthy Sayings (1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 4:7ā9; 2 Tim. 2:11ā13; Titus 3:4ā8)
The foregoing confessional and catechetical instruction lies at the foundation of Israelās theology; therefore, it should not surprise us to find the same pattern in the New Testament. This pattern appears prominently in Paulās Pastoral Epistles and his five trustworthy sayings (ĻĪ¹ĻĻį½øĻ į½ Ī»į½¹Ī³ĪæĻ).19 What does the apostle intend to convey by this lexeme, and what are its origins? The most plausible idea is that these are objective restatements of what Jesus taught about himself, as recorded in the Gospels, and also reiterations of other biblical teachings. That is, they repeat phrases and concepts that appear in the Gospels or in other portions of Scripture.20 Paul often employs earlier catechetical or liturgical material.21 The formula itself, āthis is a trustworthy saying...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Biblical Arguments for Confessions
- 2. Reformed Confessions (1500ā1700)
- 3. Causes of Deconfessionalization
- 4. Benefits of Confessions
- 5. Confessions and Piety
- Conclusion
- For Further Reading
- Scripture Index
- Subject Index
- Back Cover