August 2015

The creeds and confessions expand and develop over the entire existence of the church. A creed is a concise declaration or confession of beliefs that outlines the essential truths of the Christian faith. They progress from simple statements in the bible, to brief statements like the Nicene Creed, to complex confessions like the Westminster Confession of Faith. The following are hand selected among the thousands of creeds that have been written.

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The Ecumenical Creeds (in .pdf format)

Apostle's Creed c.200 – Nicene Creed 325 – Athanasian Creed c.500 – Chalcedonian Creed 451 – Council of Orange - 529

Comment: The bible inspires unwarranted feelings of moral superiority and may be used to excuse obnoxious and malicious behavior of its readers

Response: Sadly, some professing Christians have indeed been known to be obnoxious, but, I would argue, it is not because of the Bible. It is because pride is a natural trait of fallen humanity. Some professing Christians have neither understood nor experienced grace. Understood rightly, the Bible teaches that Christians were not saved because they were good or because they were better than others, but because, by the grace of God, they knew they were morally bankrupt, and in many cases worse than others, and in desperate need of help. They were saved by mercy alone and, not in any case, because they were morally superior.(Deut 9:4-6) In fact, any person who now professes to be a Christian and thinks they are more deserving of heaven than you, according to the Bible (Luke 18:9-14), have missed the gospel, and is, most likely, not a Christian to begin with. That is Christianity.101.

"It is sad but true—our refusal to give grace to others reveals how much we still need grace ourselves. Our failure to forgive shows how much we still need God’s moment-by-moment forgiveness. The weakness in our love demonstrates how much our hope still rests on a God who will love us even on our very worst day. Struggles to live the gospel in our relationships with others picture how much we need the rich gospel ourselves. And it all argues that we still don’t deserve the favor that we are given daily and are called to give to others who are as undeserving as we are." - Paul Tripp

We should never cease speaking moral truth prophetically into the culture(s) in which we live ... proclaiming God's standard of right and wrong to which all people's conscience already bears witness. But we must remember that even if you were to persuade a few people of the truth of your moral cause you have still done nothing to advance the kingdom of God unless you proclaim the gospel with even greater clarity.  Apart from grace it is the natural state of man to love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19, 20) so having them exchange a specific sin for some kind of moralism has done nothing beneficial, in any redemptive sense, for their soul. You have merely exchanged one sin for another. No amount of moral agreement with you or behavior modification will save their soul.

So while we must declare God's moral law we must take even greater efforts to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only person to have fulfilled God's law  - this must be our main focus. Only as the Holy Spirit germinates the seed of the gospel does true life begin. It is through this, and this alone that God's kingdom advances, because the word of the gospel is where God has promised to changes hearts ... and indeed moral advance will follow (1John 5:1-4). If you want to change the culture then remember, first and foremost, that people need a new heart. outward laws may restrain certain evils, but the inward writing of the law on the heart transforms the person. While politics certainly has its place, politics is small and limited in scope. On the other hand, Christ touches the whole man - the nature of the universe, the meaning of life and death and everything.