Not having come from a creedal background myself, the invaluable testimony of the creeds and confessions caught me entirely by suprise. Names that could have, perhaps even should have, been commonplace were beyond my experience. The Belgic Confession, the 49 Articles, the Creed of Chalcedon, even the Westminster Confession are still like strangers whose faces I'm only now beginning to recognize when I pass them on the street. Their value, however, will become more apparent the more we make their acquaintance.
One of the greatest values I can see in a creed is the way it captures large volumes of truth. It's systematic theology in capsule form. It's the root, the core, of a much larger body of truth.
Creeds and confessions represent the positions of the historic church. To be caught in the 21st century myopia that fails to recognize the value of church history is to condemn the modern church to either repeat the failures of the past or, at best, re-tread ground already well-covered by those who have gone before us.
Creeds and confessions are foundational in their apologetic approach to doctrinal error. Their exacting thoroughness, comprehension of the raging issues, and cogent statements of sound rebuttal are monumental examples we would do well to learn. How well would modern Christianity do if it had to construct a creed that would stand as a foundation for orthodox doctrine into the 38th century?
The value of creeds and confessions cannot be divorced from their original contexts, however. Creeds didn't explain the nature of the doctrines they espoused in their positive entirety. They didn't give all the answers, and some are essentially negative. Like a double row of lights on a runway marking its borders, creeds indicate the area you want to stay between, not the railroad tracks you must unthinkingly match. Creeds aren't meant to be taken as complete explanations, therefore they shouldn't be viewed as the sum of all answers, the pinnacle of all truth.
Take an illustrative math problem. You know how to multiply, right? Ok, then tell me without the use of a calculator in 10 seconds what the answer is to 5870x6745.
Suppose you said, "16." I'd say, "Wrong." So you say, "What is the right answer?" I'd say, "I don't know, but it's not 16." So you try again. "43,546" That may be closer, but I'm still going to say "Wrong." The principles of math say you can't multiply a zero by anything and get something besides a zero, so we've got to have a zero in the ones place. So we still know that's a wrong answer, even if we can't explain exactly what the right answer is. So it is with a creed.
I would like very much to become better acquainted with the great creeds and confessions of the past. Maybe someday they'll be my friends instead of passing strangers, and I'll be the richer for it. And I'm confident that if you would take the time, you will be too.
Posted by apelles at February 17, 2003 04:29 PM