Dark Brightness

On subordinate standards, or why I hate modern creeds.

Posted on 01/09/2014 | By Chris Gale | 5 responses

I have an aversion to the nice, the pretty, the culturally correct, the binational. I prefer the statements and formulae of the church that have been tested, over generations, in many nations.

And as a linguistic snob, I prefer them to be in Greek, Hebrew and Latin. If in English, I hope like anything they are archaic.

Which is why I have difficulties with this.

Kupu Whakapono (Confession of Faith)

From this land of Aotearoa New Zealand
we confess that we believe in and belong
to the one true and living God,
who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Love before all love.
We believe in God the Father,
sovereign and holy,
Creator and nurturer of all,
Father of Jesus Christ,
sender of the Holy Spirit,
and Judge of all the earth.

We believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour,
truly human and truly divine,
who lived among us full of grace and truth.
For our sin he was crucified
and by the power of God was raised from death,
forgiving us, setting us free and bringing to birth God’s new creation.
Now ascended, he calls us to repentance and faith
and restores us to God and to one another.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,
the giver of life at work in all creation,
who inspired the Scriptures and makes Christ known,
who transforms hearts and minds
and gathers us into the community of Christ,
empowering the Church in worship and in mission.

We belong to this triune God,
women and men,
young and old,
from many nations,
in Christ he iwi kotahi tatou, [we are one people]
witnesses to God’s love in word and action,
servants of reconciliation,
and stewards of creation.

As God’s people,
we look forward in hope and joy
to the return of Christ,
to the new heaven and earth,
where evil and death will be no more,
justice and peace will flourish,
and we shall forever delight in the glory of God.

Now, many would say there is nothing in that that is offensive. Well, the church is universal, and this is national. It flips between two languages, English and Maori, and is written with at tin ear. Moreoever it is inclusive — yet national. It uses dog whistle words, such as justice and peace. This was written in 2010: at the peak of the Boomer generation: when NZ had a female PM, Governer General, and the “black arm” version of history was accepted.

This is a post colonial document, and it is already dated.

Compare this with the Reformed Church of NZ. They do not bother revising the creeds, but refer instead to the classic creeds within the reformed branch of Christianity.

The Reformed Churches of New Zealand hold to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired and infallible word of God. We confess that these Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, fully contain the will of God, and that whatever we ought to believe for salvation is sufficiently taught in them. Our creeds and confessions, which are summaries of biblical teaching, provide summaries of what we believe the Bible teaches so that it may be clear for all.

Creeds and confessions are useful in a number of ways. They assist in answering the question, “What do the Reformed churches believe or teach?” They provide a common standard, uniting the members of our churches in a common confession. They also provide a standard for discipline for all the office-bearers in the church, and enable the church to guard its members from false doctrine and to maintain the purity of the truth taught by its members (2 Timothy 1:13,14).

Our churches have adopted the following creeds and confessions, which are derived from and always subject to the teaching of the Bible.

Creeds: Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed

Confessional statements: The Belgic Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, The Canons of Dort, The Westminster Confession

Now, many of us know the Nicene creed. We recite it in most services where we come to the table. But let us look at the more ancient creet, the Athanasian Creed.

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Spirit uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.

And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensibles, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.

So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.

For like as we are compelled by the christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is afore, nor after another; none is greater, or less than another.

But the whole three persons are co-eternal, and co-equal.

So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and made of the substance of his mother, born in the world.

Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching his manhood. Who, although he is God and man, yet he is not two, but one Christ.

One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. One altogether, not by the confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; And shall give account of their own works.

And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

I’m reformed. The Scriptures give the full word of Christ and the gospel by which we are saved, and the subordinate standards of the church are those creeds and statements that have been tested. That have been shown to discern truth from error. Over the generations: in every nation, and in every time.

Not the fashionable statements put out by effete prelates. These modern standards have not been tested: they do not conform to scripture, they have not been tested: they have no teeth.

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Chris Gale

Posted in Daybook | Tags: anatasius, modern creeds, PCANZ