Now that we have devoted so much time and space to the Reformed Confessions and Catechism, it is natural that we should ask, to what extent are these still authoritative and binding on the Church and on individual believ­ers? Naturally no one would claim that any of the Reformed confessions or cat­echisms stand on the same level with the Bible. They are the products of man, and therefore errors and disagreements must be expected, but on the other hand we must own them for what they are. It is no exaggeration to say that the creeds, confessions, and catechisms are the best and most perfect works ever produced by the Church through the ages since the days of the apostles.

Church Roots⤒🔗

First we must recognize what was done before the Reformation. We have the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed (325), the Creed of Chalcedon adopted by the Ecumenical Council held at Chalcedon (451), and the Athanasian Creed. Fur­ther, we must recognize the seven great Ecumenical Councils, each of which was attended by 150 to 520 bishops. The first four are the most important, because they settled the orthodox faith on the Trinity and the Incarnation. Besides this, there is a host of Church Fathers with their voluminous writings. These short creeds seem to have been sufficient for the early Church which stood so close to the days of the apostles and had not been molested by too many heresies.

But coming now to the Reformation after the dark days of Roman ignorance and corruption, the Reformers found it necessary to state the doctrines anew; not new doctrines, but to state the biblical doctrines again. While at first short state­ments were sufficient, yet by and by it be­came necessary to present a whole system of biblical doctrines. Into this work went the sincerity, devotion, and biblical schol­arship of the best men the Church could ever assemble — Zwingli, Bullinger, Calvin, de Brés, Lasco, Knox, etc. In Scotland the six Johns, great theologians of that land, drew up the Scottish Confession, At the Synod of Dort 84 divines of great learning and piety from all the Reformed countries worked for almost six months to draw up the Canons of Dort.

In England learned theologians from Scotland and England, originally 151 in number, worked over six years to prepare the Westminster Confession and the two Catechisms. And what learned men did Frederick III gather to prepare the Hei­delberg Catechism? Some theologians have a life-time of study behind them be­fore writing a great work, but we must re­member that most of the men that worked on the Confessions and Catechisms had also a lifetime of hard study behind them before they offered the Confessions and Catechisms to the world.

Confessional Authority←⤒🔗

Now when we consider the authorita­tiveness and the binding character of the creeds, confessions and catechisms, it is necessary to consider what these contain. When we go through these confessions and catechisms; we find statements about the inspiration of the Scriptures, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost; man's original state and his fall and total depravity; this is followed by the mediatorial work of Christ, with state­ments concerning his divine and human natures. Since this is a subject that was fought out against great heresies through­out the ages, the Church has carved out words that are fixed in their meaning and clearly understood. The doctrines of vi­carious suffering and death, atonement, justification, forgiveness of sin, and eter­nal life are all linked up with the person of Christ. Then we have the doctrines concerning the Holy Spirit, regeneration, conversion, sanctification, the Sacraments, concerning the Church, judgment, preser­vation, election, effectual calling, resurrec­tion and the final judgment. While these are not all arranged in their proper order, yet we have here the sum and substance of the confessions and catechisms. Will any one dare to say that these doctrines of the Bible are not authoritative and binding? The Bible is a Word that "altereth not." If its doctrines are once accurately stated, then these statements have an enduring character, and are therefore authoritative and binding.

Revision?←⤒🔗

There is a reason for stressing the im­portance of the confessions and cate­chisms and for emphasizing what has just been said. On every side we are told that it is necessary to rewrite our confessions. If this remark is repeated often enough, the people might be inclined to think there is something to it.

Let me give you a plain sample of what these men mean. Dr. William A. Curtis in his book, A History of the Creeds and Confessions of Faith, after writing so loftily about John Calvin, of his exact acquain­tance with the teaching of the Bible as a whole, and that he had no peer as a student of Holy Writ, says that he had one defect, that he could not detach at any point the Old and New Testaments from each other, because he regarded both equally inspired. And this was the rea­son why Dr. Curtis concluded that Cal­vin left out of his own doctrinal scheme all mention of the universal Fatherhood of God. Curtis regards this as a teaching of Christ in the New Testament. Naturally, Calvin never believed nor taught the "universal Fatherhood of God," because such a doctrine is contained neither in the Old nor in the New Testament. Do you see what Dr. Curtis is doing? He is trying to establish his false belief in the "universal Fatherhood of God" by saying that Cal­vin was wrong, though he does not prove it. This is just the very thing that we find in those who propose a rewriting of the Confessions. It is some false belief, which they cherish, or at least a rejection of some points of our biblical faith, and in order to establish their position, they want to rewrite the confession, if they care for one at all, that leaves out every doctrine that is against them. We are warned in Scripture that Satan comes as an angel of light and also in sheep's clothing. Beware, before you leave your confessions and your catechisms.

Biblical Authority←⤒🔗

One thing that all the authors of the confessions and catechisms had in common was their belief in a plenary, verbal inspiration of the Bible. The written Word of God was to them a great rock in the ocean of time, which though beaten by the great billows whipped up by the gales of fierce heresies, remained firm and glorious. While you may point your finger at some for holding a view of a mechanical inspira­tion, yet they believed in inspiration as a fact. It was not the men that were inspired, but the Book itself. It is all Scripture, it is all that is written, that is inspired of God. We are not told, and we are not asked, how God did it. All that was written were words from God. And in this belief they supported every statement with Scripture proofs. They were also most careful in the use of Scripture, to ascertain by sound exegesis the true sense of Scripture. They did not resort to careless translations to establish a doctrine.

The Bible stands separate all by itself. It is in agreement only with God's eternal wisdom from whence it came, and was never intended that it should agree with the views of man in any age. The same is true in respect to any of its statements on science. If they were in agreement with the views of one age, they would be wrong in another age with different theories and hypotheses. If the Bible had agreed with Swedenborg, it would have been wrong for Schleiermacher; if it had agreed with Schleiermacher, it would have been wrong for Wellhausen; if it agreed with some of our modern theologians, it certainly would not agree with a future generation that has different views. Our reformers who wrote the confessions and catechisms knew the permanent character of the Word of God, and that is why they based the doctrines which they stated upon the very words of Scripture. This is why the true doctrines of the Scriptures have a lasting character and are always authoritative and bind­ing. In connection herewith, however, we should be reminded of a matter to which The Scotch Confession of Faith calls atten­tion, when it speaks of good policy and order agreed on by a general assembly: "Not that we think that any polity or any order in ceremonies can be appointed for all ages, times, and places: for as ceremonies, such as men have devised, are but tempo­ral; so may and ought they to be changed, when they rather foster superstition than that they edify the Church using the same." We must always be careful to dis­tinguish policy and order from doctrines.

Doctrine Unchanged←⤒🔗

Now as to the permanency and the unchangeable character of doctrine, let us briefly review a few things: the same Bible which the reformers received as inspired is still, after 400 years, the same inspired (theopneustia) Bible; the same God, as a Trinity of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whom they found revealed in Scripture, is still the same triune God, whom all true believers worship today; the same Savior, who was to them very God of very God, and very man of very man, is still the same human and divine Jesus Christ blessed for ever; just as then no one could ever see the kingdom of God without being born again by water and by Spirit, so even today none enters into the kingdom of God who is not regenerated.

The Reformers stated that true faith is the work of the Holy Spirit by the Gospel in our hearts, so even today we have no greater authority than this: the gospel of Jesus Christ "is the power of God unto sal­vation to every one that believeth." Romans 1:16. We are still justified by faith; satisfaction to God for our sins still rests upon the vicarious suffering and death of Christ as an atonement; we are still saved by grace; the Holy Spirit is still the Indweller and Sanctifier of the saints, the Giver of comfort and the Author of all our good works; the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper have not changed in char­acter nor in virtue; the Church is still the body of all true believers gathered from all the four corners of the earth by the gospel, to which no one is joined except by an individual new birth; the saints are still heirs of eternal life, and are preserved in the hands of God; the providence of God is still over all to accomplish God's good pleasure and will; the saints still have a sure hope of a blessed resurrection, and of a glorious translation into the full and everlasting enjoyment of heaven's bliss. God still calls effectually and election is still a biblical doctrine, which is the comfort of all of God's children, otherwise none would be saved. These doctrines are eter­nal truths and they change not with time.

Not Exhaustive←⤒🔗

The Reformed confessions and cat­echisms are not all inclusive. There are many other truths stated in the Bible that are not expressly formulated into doctri­nal statements by the Church, and many of those already stated are much fuller and more comprehensively taught in Scripture. However, what the fathers gave us in these confessions and catechisms is suffi­cient as a systematic form of instruction to train the youth and the adults in the principal truths of Scripture, and as a me­dium whereby they can easily distinguish the truth from the heresies of the times.

Perhaps it is in place at this point to call attention to a most serious matter about confessions and catechisms. You know, the Church teaches these confessions and cat­echisms and this is usually followed by a public examination before the church and by confirmation. I remember years ago a lady expressed herself in a rather Luther, a fashion, when speaking of her daughter by saying, jetzt ist sie eingesegnet. The idea which she expressed was, that "now every­thing is all right."

No Formal Adherence←⤒🔗

It is necessary to warn against a mere notional or rational knowledge of our standards and a mere memorizing of a catechism. There is a notional knowledge, and there is a saving knowledge.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.John 17:3

Peter once answered the Lord and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.John 6:68

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.John 5:39

In Hebrews 4:2 we have a remarkable passage: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (that enter not into his rest): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."

It is not enough that we have studied and now know the contents of the confessions; it is not enough that we have memorized our catechism. It is a matter whether, after having learned these bibli­cal truths, we can say: God is my Father and I am his child; Christ is my Saviour, who suffered and died for my sins, and now I have forgiveness of sin; I am saved by grace through faith, and am now an heir of eternal life; I have been regenerated by the Holy Ghost, and now I am a new crea­ture; I have communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; I am and forever shall remain a member of his Church, and have the promise of entering into his rest. This is a saving knowledge which we attain through the Holy Ghost, who works faith by the Gospel. Certainly the fathers who wrote our confessions never once thought that a bare knowledge of the confessions and catechisms was sufficient, but they thought of a saving knowledge of those things which they stated.

The Sure Word of God←⤒🔗

In closing this long subject of the Re­formed Confessions and Catechisms, I would like to answer one more question: Did the Reformers have a Bible in such a pure form, that they could rest their statements on the words of Scripture, and were their Scripture proofs so correct as to words so as to be vindicative (tending to vindicate)? To this our answer is: Yes. Of this there is no doubt. As to their faith in their Bible, they did not need a spade to dig up an archeology, nor a volume of apologetics as external props; their faith rested on internal evidences.

This now brings to a close a long subject. I have tried to be honest and fair to the Reformed Confessions and Catechisms, to the reformers and the authors, and to the Church to which they were given. I have been very open in my convictions about them, and did not hesitate to give my reasons for these convictions. I believe that many Re­formed church members were blessed by going over this subject with me, and I hope some ministers too.