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AGAINST
CREEDS
Modern
Christianity in the United States has become so non-doctrinal that the common
assumption is that just believing in Jesus is all that is necessary to be a
Christian. But that begs the questions of who is Jesus; what is Jesus; and, why
is it important to believe in Jesus. No one can be a Christian without believing
certain things about the Christian faith and, particularly, Jesus. These things
may be called doctrines, or teachings, but they are far more than just
doctrines, they are actual facts. These facts are vital to the Christian faith
and must be believed for one to be a genuine Christian. Belief in these facts
involves much more than just an intellectual assent to them; it involves
confidence in and reliance upon the facts. This kind of belief brings about
regeneration of the soul and restores one to a right relationship with God.
These facts expressed as doctrines, or teachings, are things to be believed, or,
if you please, they are a creed—a credere. In
spite of the necessity of these doctrines of fact, there are those who are
against the use of any and all creeds in the Christian church. It is felt that
creeds limit what people believe concerning the faith and interfere with a
Christian’s ability to discern deeper truths of the Scriptures. It is asserted
that creeds were written by men; therefore, they must fall short of all truth
and contain some degree of error or false doctrine. Yes, creeds were written by
men and, by definition, they do not contain all the truth of Scripture; and,
yes, some creeds contain error, or at least they contain denominationally
distinctive statements of certain beliefs that some may consider to be error.
For this reason, Christians should be very careful as to what creed or creeds
they may accept and to understand exactly what is taught in the creed either by
inclusion or by exclusion. Primitivism
And Creeds Christian
Primitivism, also known as Restorationism, is a church movement founded on the
belief that a purer form of Christianity can be achieved by following the model
of the Early Church. There are several denominations and church groups that grew
out of this movement that have survived and are very active in today’s church
world. In spite of the existence of these churches, the movement never
consolidated or unified, the reason being that each group that formed around the
movement had different views on what the Early Church model really is and how it
should be expressed in the modern environment. The movement had a single
philosophy but no unifying creed and was doomed to division from its inception. Restorationism
was birthed on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening
(1790–1840). The Protestant Reformation succeeded in restoring the essential
teachings of salvation through faith but it was not successful in calling out a
united church. National Protestant Churches were established in Europe and those
churches followed their members as they migrated to North America, where they
found cause to divide along social and ethnic lines creating many denominations,
each with their individual creeds or confessions. The Restoration Movement was
altruistic at its inception having a two-fold goal to reform “the church”
from within and to unite all Christians in a single body patterned after the New
Testament Church. The most recognized body representing Primitivism was the
Stone-Campbell Movement, which later morphed into the various factions of the
Churches of Christ. Among
Primitivists it was believed that the various divisions within Catholicism and
Protestantism were the result of the apostasy of Christianity in general. The
different creeds of the various churches and denominations were seen as major
impediments to any kind of unity among Christians as these creeds caused people
to believe different things rather than to have a common faith. The Primitivists
held that the Early Church as seen in the New Testament must be taken as the
absolute model for the Christian Church and since the Early Church had no
creeds, according to Primitivists, the Modern Church should have no creeds
either. They believed that without creeds, Christians would have only the Bible,
which would be sufficient to guarantee a united faith and a united Church. The
Church of God Reformation Movement, centering around the holiness paper “The
Gospel Trumpet” and charismatic leaders such as Daniel Warner, began around
1880 and took the same attitude against creeds. It condemned creeds as the cause
of division and strongly preached the Bible as the only rule of faith. Charles
Naylor in his song The Church’s Jubilee
articulates the position in these words: “The Bible is our rule of faith and
Christ alone is Lord.” The implication is that creeds are not the Bible and
they have no place in the faith of the Church; to accept a creed is to reject
the proper lordship of Jesus Christ over His Church. D. O. Teasley expressed
this belief even stronger in his song Back
to the Blessed Old Bible: “Back from the land of confusion, Free from the
bondage of creeds; Back to the light of the morning, Jesus our Captain leads.”
The perhaps somewhat naïve conclusion is that creeds cause division and hold
Christians in an ecclesiastic bondage that causes them not to follow Christ.
Richard Niebuhr in his book The Social Sources of Denominationalism
debunks this conclusion and ably shows that the propagation of denominationalism
in the United States is largely a habitual pattern of new groups coming out of
old groups, which, in turn, become old groups out of which new groups emerge.
While doctrinal issues may be involved in forming new groups, the major factors
were more ethnic and social factors. E.
E. Byrum in his book The Secret of Salvation proclaims the
Primitivist’s prejudice against creed in strong language: Hear
what the Lord says: Come out from among such ones. These religious creeds and
associations organized by men, make a regular spiritual confusion, which the
Word of God terms Babylon; and the time has now come when God is calling his
people out of such. And he says in Colossians 2:10, “And ye are complete in
him, which is the head of all principality and power. For in him dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And in Revelation 18:4 says, “Come out
of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not
of her plagues.” As the light and truth of God’s word goes forth it draws
the line between God’s church and the creeds of men. God has many children in
the various creeds, but from the scripture just quoted we find that he is
calling them out, because their rules and
disciplines and regulations so separate and divide the people of God that they
do not dare to believe alike, and God in his word says it is his will that
they be of one mind, one accord, one heart, and all speak the same thing. They will never do so as long as they stay in the various creeds of
division! This is one of the yokes that needs to be taken off, or for a person
to get out from under in order to get the experience set forth in the Word of
God. People often think they must join some so called church or association
in order to have a home, just as if the Word was not true where it says, “Ye
are complete in him;” and he is our Father, Jesus Christ our elder brother,
and all who are children of God our brothers and sisters; all belong to the same
family, and are at home when we are in Christ Jesus.[1]
(Italic added for emphasis.) Byrum
asserts that denominational Christians dare not believe alike because of their
various creeds. He claims that those who are held in denominational sectarianism
are held there because they have been lead to believe their specific creed and
church are the only means of salvation and there can be no salvation in the
creeds of other churches or denominations. Byrum’s solution was for people to
throw off the yoke of their creeds and submit only to the Word of God; “God is
calling people out of such.” This thinking was revolutionary and very powerful
in its day, and it did help many people to come to a real experience of
salvation from sin they otherwise might not have found through the teachings of,
and membership in, their particular churches. Attitudes
Have Changed Times
have changed since the advent of the Restoration Movement and the attitudes of
the denominations have changed allowing for tolerance and general acceptance of
all Christians, regardless of their creeds or confessions. In our day people
have very little loyalty to any church or denomination, let alone to a
church’s particular teachings. People in general are less Biblically literate
than they were 130 years ago and for this reason creeds are no longer an issue.
Nevertheless, Christians do believe something, or at least they should believe
something. Holiness churches and other such “Bible” churches like to boast
that they have no creed but the Bible; but that tends to be more braggadocio
than substance. 1 Peter 3:15 mandates that we not only believe the teachings
essential for salvation and a right relationship with God, but that we must also
be able to articulate these beliefs to others, our credere: “But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason
for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” To
say we have no creed but the Bible obligates one to quote the entire Bible from
Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 every time someone asks us what we believe. This
may sound silly but it is the natural consequence of such a statement. Failing
to quote every passage in the Bible would shorten or abridge what we say about
the faith making our statement of faith less comprehensive than it really is.
But then, this is the definition of a creed. Most devout and sincere Christians
would never think of quoting the entire Bible in explaining what they believe;
instead they would summarize what they believe to be the most crucial points.
There is no doubt that they would quote some passages of Scripture at length,
but most of what they would say would be summary statements in their own words
of the important teachings. In other words, they are making a creedal
statement—a credere. The
Problem Of No Creeds Modern
Christians may feel that doctrinal issues are no longer important, or that they
are divisive, and choose to ignore them. Yet, there are those who are well
versed in Scripture but have no concept of what is sufficient or essential to
pass on to inquirers. Jesus commanded His church to “preach the gospel to
every creature.” (Mark 16:15). These extremes present an evangelical conundrum
in spreading the gospel. It
is one thing to tell inquirers to believe in Jesus but how can they effectively
do this if they don’t know what it means to believe in Jesus or why that is so
important? On the other hand, if inquirers are overwhelmed with biblical facts
or with more information they can assimilate, it still presents the problem for
them to know what it means to believe in Jesus or why it is so important. Reciting
a creed, such as the Apostles’ Creed, in a church service will not necessarily
bring the unchurched to an experience of salvation but it can serve to inform
them as to the essential points of the Christian faith and suggest why it is
important to believe in Jesus for one’s salvation from sin.
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