The
No-Creed View Can Make Dictators of Pastors
As
mentioned above, the anti-creed attitude reflects the spirit of the age, which
is dead set against authorities and historical tradition.
However,
not having a public creed, which sets the bounds for the essentials of the
Faith, then anything goes for the pastor. A popular response might be, “No! Our
pastor only preaches the Bible!” The fact is that, their pastor preaches what
his personal understanding of what the Bible means.
So,
if a church has “No book/creed but the Bible!” and the pastor is the best
trained person to interpret the Bible, then what the pastor says the Bible
means will be the most authoritative voice in that church. Without a creed, the
members of the church have nothing against which they can check whether what
their pastor is saying is true or not.
Taken
to its logical end, without a public creed, the pastor is the ultimate authority!
If
the pastor best knows what the Bible teaches, and there arises a question of
doctrine or life, then what the pastor says is the last word on the issue. On
the flip side, if a church has a public creed and confession, the other elders
or even members of the church have a standard or rule by which they can test
the teaching.
In
I John 4:1, the apostle John says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits (i.e., teachings, messages) to see whether they are from God,
for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (ESV).
In
the very next verse (v. 2), the Apostle then goes on to give the standard by
which the teachings are to be evaluated. In this, he gives us a creed, a
confession!! “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is from God” (ESV). This statement functioned as a creed, over against the
group in the church known as the Gnostics, which denied that the man Jesus was
the Christ. Rather, they taught that the Christ was pure spirit that used the
mere human Jesus of Nazareth as a sort of vehicle, as he cruised around
teaching those in the know how to escape earthly reality. The Apostle teaches
us to reject Gnosticism, since it contradicts our confession of Christ,
“conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary...etc.,” that is,
Christ’s incarnation.
So,
just like the apostle John prescribed, public creeds function to test the
claims of those who are responsible to teach and rule in the church.
Wrapping It Up
Despite
how popular the sloganeering claims of “No creed but...” are in today’s church
culture, they are something that may work on a bumper sticker, but cannot stand
against logic, the Bible, church history. This attitude also creates
dysfunction in the life of the church.
In
summary:
1. “No creed but...” is
self-refuting, because “No creed...” is a creed!
2.
“No book but the Bible” is a claim that is against the teaching of the Bible, because the Bible is full of
creeds and teaches us to maintain them.
3.
The fact is that, everyone has a
creed, whether it is public or private!
4.
The private-creed view can lead to the pastor becoming a dictator, since there
is no standard by which to test the
pastor’s interpretation of the Bible.
How
good is God, that he has graciously worked the thought, circumstances, theology and
history of his church to hand down to us—and future generations—the ancient
creeds, confessions, and catechisms, which have shaped who we are and remind us
of our rich and deep heritage, going back to Christ’s apostles! Let us pray
that as he nurtures our appreciation and use of the creeds, he likewise give us
the grace to help lead the church in a faithful trip back to the future, and in
her seeing the need for creeds!
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