“Consensus Declarations”
By Brad Thayer March 14, 2007
With now seven elders one would think that cyber-dust wouldn’t build up on this blog. Well, as Greg has pointed out, we are working through a Statement of Faith and if readers could see our inboxes, they would notice that our writing efforts have been spent elsewhere. But here we are.
What I’m going to say is taken primarily from Carl Trueman’s recent article at reformation21.com. So none of this is original. The two extremes are, first, what Greg mentioned - our only “creed” is the Bible. Some Christians emphasize the sufficiency of Scripture to the point of denying the need for confessions. Confessions are viewed as “an illegitimate attempt to supplement scripture or to narrow the Christian faith in doctrinal or cultural ways beyond the limits set by scripture itself.” Others regard confessions so highly that the Bible becomes of “secondary importance.” I can say that 3ABC has not fallen into either one of those camps. And yes the Bible is clear enough! We don’t have confessions or creeds because there is a lack of clarity. (I’ll let someone else tackle the perspicuity of Scripture. Midnight is too late for me.)
Confessions are the “consensus declarations of the church.” The use of confessions and creeds is important because they unite Christians throughout all ages. I don’t simply mean confessions unite Christians only in the present or what was then the “present.” Confessions unite Christians from the present to the past. This is why we begin our proposed SoF with the Nicene Creed. We at 3ABC are in consensus with what Christians for nearly two thousand years have affirmed.
One of my church history professors once said, something to the effect, that the most arrogant and naive assumption is that the present is always the best; that progressiveness of today always trumps yesterday’s achievements. I think he was spot on!