One of this week's highlights was the long awaited draft Theology and Polity documents of the Fellowship of Presbyterians (available here: http://www.fellowship-pres.org/documents/). I quote the Essential Tenets portion of the Theology document at length, as it is an excellent introduction to the thinking of the Reformed family of Christians, both theologically and pastorally.
ESSENTIAL TENETS
Presbyterians have been of two minds about
essential tenets.” We recognize that some truths of the gospel are central and
foundational, and should be sincerely received and adopted by all who are
called to ordered ministries in the church. Yet we also recognize the danger in
reducing the truth of the gospel to propositions that demand assent.
Essential tenets are tied to the teaching
of the confessions as reliable expositions of scripture. The PCUSA’s
“Foundations of Presbyterian Polity” identifies central affirmations of the
confessions (F-2.03 through 2.05). These affirmations call out for explication,
not as “another confession”, but as indispensable indicators of confessional
convictions about what Scripture leads us to believe and do. Essential tenets
do not replace the confessions, but rather witness to the confessions’ common
core.
In articulating the essential tenets of our
faith, we recognize our oneness with Christians of many different traditions.
Although we speak our shared faith with a Reformed accent, we do not claim that
this is the only way to speak. The worldwide Reformed communion is our family,
and the Reformed tradition is our tradition. For that reason in this document
we set out what we understand as a particularly Reformed way of stating what
Christians everywhere believe.
The great purpose toward which each human
life is drawn is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. The church glorifies
God by recognizing and naming his glory, which is the manifestation and
revelation of his own nature. Each of us enjoys God by being so united with
Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit as to become a participant in that
divine nature, transformed from one degree of glory to another and escorted by
Christ into the loving communion of the Trinity. So we confess our faith not as
a matter of dispassionate intellectual assent, but rather as an act by which we
give God glory and announce our membership in the body of Christ.
I. God’s Word: The Sole Authority for Our Confession
The clearest declaration of God’s glory is
found in his Word, both incarnate and written. The Son eternally proceeds from
the Father as his Word, the full expression of the Father’s nature, and since
in the incarnation the Word became flesh all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are given to his disciples. The written Word grants us those
treasures, proclaims the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and graciously teaches
all that is necessary for faith and life. We glorify God by recognizing and
receiving his authoritative self-revelation, both in the Scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments and also in the incarnation of God the son. We affirm that
the Holy Spirit overshadowed the virgin Mary so that she would conceive a son,
and that he also inspired the writing and preservation of the Scriptures. The
Holy Spirit testifies to the authority of God’s word and illumines our hearts
and minds so that we might receive both the scriptures and Christ himself
aright.
We confess that “God alone is Lord of the
conscience,” but this freedom is for the purpose of allowing us to be subject
always and primarily to God’s Word. The Spirit will never prompt our conscience
to conclusions that are at odds with the Scriptures that he has inspired. The
revelation of the incarnate Word does not minimize, qualify, or set aside the
authority of the written Word. We are happy to confess ourselves captive to the
Word of God, not just individually, but also as members of a community of
faith, extending through time and around the globe. In particular, we join with
other members of the Presbyterian and Reformed community to affirm the
secondary authority of the Book of Confessions as a faithful exposition of the
Word of God.
II. Trinity and Incarnation: The Two Central Christian Mysteries
A. Trinity
With Christians everywhere, we worship the
only true God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - who is both one essence and
three persons. In his essence, God is infinite, eternal, immutable, impassible,
and ineffable. He cannot be divided against himself, nor is he becoming more
than he has been, since there is no potential or becoming in him. He is the
source of all goodness, all truth and all beauty, of all love and all life,
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The three persons are consubstantial
with one another, being both coeternal, and coequal, such that there are not
three gods, nor are there three parts of God, but rather three persons or three
relations within the one Godhead. The Son is eternally begotten from the
Father, and the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. All
three persons are worthy of worship and praise.
As a loving communion of three persons, God
has no need of anyone or anything beyond himself in order to be Love. Yet in grace
this Triune God is the one Creator of all things. The Father is the Maker of
heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; the Son is the one
by whom all things were made; the Spirit is the Lord and giver of life. The
ongoing act of creation is further manifested in God’s gracious sovereignty and
providence, maintaining the existence of the world and all living creatures for
the sake of his own glory. He is the Holy One, the ground of all being, whose
glory is so great that for us to see him is to die. Yet he has made the
creation to reflect his glory, and he has made us in his own image, with a
unique desire to know him and a capacity for relationship with him. Since our
God is a consuming fire whom we in our sin cannot safely approach, he has
approached us in the person of Jesus Christ.
B. Incarnation
This is the second great mystery of the
Christian faith, affirmed by all Christians everywhere: that Jesus Christ is
both truly God and truly human. As to his divinity, he
is the Son, the second person of the
Trinity, being of one substance with the Father; as to his humanity, he is like
us in every way but sin, of one substance with us, like us in having both a
human soul and a human body. As to his divinity, he is eternally begotten of
the Father; as to his humanity, he is born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the
Holy Spirit. as to his divinity, his glory fills heaven and earth; as to his
humanity, his glory is shown in the form of a suffering servant, most clearly
when he is lifted up on the cross.
We confess the mystery of his two natures,
divine and human, in one person. We reject any understanding of the
communication of attributes that must result in a blending of the two natures
such that Jesus Christ is neither truly God nor truly human. We insist upon
sufficient distinction between the two natures to preserve the truth of the
incarnation, that Jesus Christ is indeed Immanuel, God-with-us, not one who
used to be God, nor one who has merely been sent from God. Rather, in his coming
we have seen God’s glory, for Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s very being
and in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. so we confess that the
divinity of the son is in no way impaired, limited, or changed by his gracious
act of assuming a human nature, and that his true humanity is in no way undermined
by his continued divinity. This is a mystery that we cannot explain, but we affirm
it with joy and confidence.
We further confess that the mystery of the
incarnation is ongoing, for the risen Jesus has ascended to the Father in the
body and remains, now and everlastingly, truly human. he is locally present at
the right hand of the Father. When we are promised that one day we will see him
face to face, we acknowledge that it is the face of Jesus of Nazareth we will
someday see. The one who was born of Mary, died at Calvary, and walked with
disciples to Emmaus is the same Jesus Christ who is now ascended and whom each
of us will one day know fully, even as he already knows us.
III. Essentials of the Reformed Tradition
A. God’s grace in Christ
God declared that the world he created was
good and that human beings, made in his own image, were very good. We therefore
confess that the present disordered state of the world, in which we and all
things are subject to misery and to evil, is not God’s doing, but is rather a
result of humanity’s free, sinful rebellion against God’s will. God created
human beings from the dust of the earth and his own breath, to be mediators
between God and his creation, offering creation’s praise to God, channeling
God’s grace to the creation. Since the fall our natural tendency is to abuse
and exploit the creation, preferring evil to goodness. God also created human
beings to mediate his grace to one another, so that our social relationships
would strengthen our ability to serve and obey him. Since the fall, our natural
tendency is to engage in relationships of tyranny and injustice with one
another, in which power is used not to protect and serve but to demean. God
further created human beings with the capacity for relationship with him, the
ability to worship him in love and obey him by living holy lives. since the
fall, our natural tendency is to hate both God and our neighbor, to worship
idols of our own devising rather than the one true God.
As a result of sin, human life is poisoned
by everlasting death. No part of human life is untouched by sin. Our desires
are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what seems natural to us no
longer corresponds to God’s design. We are not merely wounded in our sin; we
are dead, unable to save ourselves. Apart from God’s initiative, salvation is
not possible for us. Our only hope is God’s grace. We discover in Scripture
that this is a great hope, for our God is the one whose mercy is from
everlasting to everlasting. Already in the creation of the world, we see God’s
character as gracious love, for the creation adds nothing to God’s own life, or
love, or joy. We are not necessary to God. His love for us is free.
This grace does not end when we turn to
sin. Although we are each deserving of God’s eternal condemnation, the eternal
son assumed our human nature, joining us in our misery and offering himself on
the cross in order to free us from slavery to death and sin and to make us new
creations. All humanity participates in the fall into sin because of our union
with each other; we participate in redemption because of our union with Christ.
The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ’s humanity in baptism, so that his sacrifice,
his victory, and his resurrection life might become ours. In union with Christ
through the power of the Spirit we are brought into right relation with the
Father, who receives us as his adopted children.
Jesus Christ is the only way to this adoption,
the sole path by which sinners become children of God, for he is the
only-begotten Son, and it is only in union with him that a believer is able to
know God as Father. Jesus Christ is the only source of truth about the Triune
God whom each of us is created to know, for only he is the Truth, only he has
seen the Father, and only he can make the Father known. Only Jesus Christ is
the new life that is offered, for he is the bread from heaven and the fountain
of living water, the one by whom all things were made, in whom all things hold
together, and through whom the life-giving spirit enters into the world. The
exclusivity of these claims establishes that God’s love is not impersonal, but
a particular and intimate love in which each individual child of God is called
by name and known as precious; that God’s love is not only acceptance, but a
transforming and effective love in which his image within us is restored so
that we are capable of holy living.
B. Election for salvation and service
The call of God to the individual Christian
is not merely an invitation that each person may accept or reject by his or her
own free will. Having lost true freedom of will in the fall, we confess that we
are incapable of turning toward God of our own volition. God chooses us for
himself in grace before the foundation of the world, not because of any merit
on our part, but only because of his love and mercy. Each of us is chosen in
Christ, who is eternally appointed to be head of the body of the elect, our
brother and our high priest. He is the one who is bone of our bone, flesh of
our flesh, our divine helper who is also our bridegroom, sharing our human
nature so that we may see his glory. We who receive him and believe in his name
do so not by our own will or wisdom, but because his glory compels us
irresistibly to turn toward him. By his enticing call on our lives, Jesus
enlightens our minds, softens our hearts, and renews our wills, restoring the
freedom that we lost in the fall.
We are all sinners who fall short of God’s
glory, and we all deserve God’s judgment. apart from the saving work of Jesus
Christ, we are incapable of being in God’s presence, incapable of bearing the
weight of his glory. We rejoice that Jesus Christ offers us safe conduct into
the heart of God’s consuming and purifying fire, shielding us with his perfect
humanity and transforming us by his divine power. Having received such grace,
we extend grace to others.
We are not elect for our own benefit alone.
God gathers his covenant community to be an instrument of his saving purpose.
Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, the image of God is being
restored in us, so that we may be witnesses of God’s saving presence to those
who are lost. The spirit gathers us in a community that is built up and
equipped to be light, salt, and yeast in the world. Christ sends us into the
world to make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Christ has
commanded us. We are now in service to God’s plan for the fullness of time,
made known to us in Christ: uniting all things in heaven and earth to himself.
To this end, we not only preach the gospel, but we also care for the natural
world, claim all areas of culture in the name of Jesus, serve the poor, feed
the hungry, visit the prisoner, and defend the helpless.
C. Covenant life in the church
We are elect in Christ to become members of
the community of the new covenant. This covenant, which God himself guarantees,
unites us to God and to one another. already in the creation, we discover that
we are made to live in relationships to others, male and female, created
together in God’s image. In Christ, we are adopted into the family of God and
find our new identity as brothers and sisters of one another, since we now
share one Father. Our faith requires our active participation in that covenant
community.
Jesus prays that his followers will all be
one, and so we both pray and work for the union of the church throughout the
world. Even where institutional unity does not seem possible, we are bound to
other Christians as our brothers and sisters. In Christ the dividing wall of
hostility created by nationality, ethnicity, gender, race and language
differences is brought down. God created people so that the rich variety of his
wisdom might be reflected in the rich variety of human beings, and the church
must already now begin to reflect the eschatological reality of people from
every tribe, and tongue and nation bringing the treasures of their kingdoms
into the new city of God.
Within the covenant community of the
church, God’s grace is extended through the preaching of the word, the
administration of the sacraments, and the faithful practice of mutual
discipline. First, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the word proclaimed may
indeed become God’s address to us. The Spirit’s illuminating work is necessary
both for the one who preaches and for those who listen. Second, the sacraments
of baptism and the lord’s supper are signs that are linked to the things
signified, sealing to us the promises of Jesus and uniting us to his cleansing
and nourishing life. In the baptism of infants, we confess our confidence in
God’s prevenient grace, that a baby who cannot turn to God is nonetheless
claimed as a member of the covenant community, a child of God, cleansed by
grace and sealed by the spirit; in the baptism of adults, we confess our confidence
that God’s grace can make us new creations at any stage of our lives. In the
Lord’s Supper, we confess that as we eat the bread and share one cup the Spirit
unites us to the ascended Christ, joining our humanity to his humanity, so that
his resurrection life may nourish, strengthen and transform us. Third, the
community of the Church practices discipline in order to help one another along
the path to new life, speaking the truth in love to one another, bearing one
another’s burdens, and offering to one another the grace of Christ.
D. Faithful stewardship of all of life
The ministries of the church reflect the
three-fold office of Christ as prophet, priest and king. We affirm that men and
women alike are called to all the ministries of the Church. Our participation
in the three-fold office of Christ extends beyond the Church and into the
world. Every Christian is called to a prophetic life, proclaiming the good news
to the world and enacting that good news. Every Christian is called to extend
the lordship of Christ to every corner of the world. And every Christian is
called to participate in Christ’s priestly, mediatorial work, sharing in the
suffering of the world in ways that extend God’s blessing and offering
intercession to God on behalf of the world. We are equipped to share in these
offices by the Holy Spirit, who conforms us to the pattern of Christ’s life.
Jesus teaches us that we are to love the
lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.
There is no part of human life that is off limits to the sanctifying claims of
God. We reject the claim that love of any sort is self-justifying and accept
that all our affections and desires must be brought under God’s authority. We
reject the claim that human souls are unaffected by the fall and remain
naturally inclined to God and accept that soul and body alike must be cleansed
and purified in order to love God properly. We reject the claim that the life
of the mind is independent from faith and accept that unless we believe we
cannot properly understand either God or the world around us. Historically, the
Presbyterian tradition has been especially called to explore what it is to love
God with all our minds, being committed to the on-going project of Christian
education and study at all levels of Christian life.
E. Living in obedience to the Word of God
Progress in holiness is an expected
response of gratitude to the grace of God, which is initiated, sustained and
fulfilled by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The
first response of gratitude is prayer, and
the daily discipline of prayer – both individually and together – should mark
the Christian life. The life of prayer includes praise to God for his nature
and works, intercession for the needs of those we know and for the needs of the
world, and sincere confession of our sin. As we practice the discipline of
regular self-examination and confession, we are especially guided by the ten
commandments. We therefore hold one another accountable to:
1. worship God alone, living all of life to
his glory, renouncing all idolatry and all inordinate loves that might lead us
to trust in any other help;
2. worship God in humility, being reticent
in either describing or picturing God, recognizing that right worship is best
supported not by our own innovative practices but through the living preaching
of the word and the faithful administration of the sacraments;
3. eliminate from both speech and thought
any blasphemy, irreverence, or impurity;
4. observe Sunday as a day of worship and
rest, being faithful in gathering with the people of God;
5. give honor toward those set in authority
over us and practice mutual submission within the community of the church;
6. eradicate a spirit of anger, resentment,
violence, or bitterness, and instead cultivate a spirit of gentleness,
kindness, peace, and love;
7. maintain chastity in thought and deed,
being faithful within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman as
established by God at the creation or embracing a celibate life as established
by Jesus in the new covenant;
8. practice right stewardship of the goods
we have been given, showing charity to those in need and offering generous
support of the Church and its ministries;
9. pursue truth, even when such pursuit is
costly, and defend truth when it is challenged, recognizing that truth is in
order to goodness and that its preservation matters;
10. resist the pull of envy, greed and
acquisition, and instead cultivate a spirit of contentment with the gifts God
has given us.
In Jesus Christ we see the perfect
expression of God’s holy will for human beings offered to God in our place. His
holy life must now become our holy life. In Christ,
God’s will is now written on our hearts,
and we look for- ward to the day when we will be so confirmed in holiness that
we will no longer be able to sin. As the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
Jesus leads us along the path of life toward that goal, bringing us into ever
deeper intimacy with the Triune God, in whose presence is fullness of joy.
