New Year New Bible Reading Plan

As the new year was approaching, I received a very interesting email.  The email was from a ministry I both support and learn from called Ligonier.org. In this email contained an article called "Bible Reading Plans for 2016". The article contained, as the title suggests, a compilation of various Bible reading plans of all sorts, shapes, lengths, and sizes. As I scanned this list of plans I had mostly encountered before, a new title caught my eye. As I read the description I was very intrigued.  The plan was unlike any I had seen and the author's challenge of a 30 day "try out" was to much to pass up.  I am currently at day 3, and very much enjoy the results.  I believe that this plan is an awesome contribution to the faith community.  I will leave you to read all the ins and outs at the link below. The very helpful bookmarks that are included in with the free plan should be laminated or pressed in packing tape of some sort.  I strongly encourage you to check out this awesome plan an commit at the very least to the 30 day challenge. May God Truly Bless You 

Horner Bible Reading System

Heidelberg Catechism Devotional

The Heidelberg Catechism is one of the great statements of faith for us that hold fast to Reformed Theology. The catechism was written and designed to have excerpts read from it each Lord's Day or Sunday. Here you can meditate on these truths each “Lord's day”, as you dedicate it to worship and reflecting on who God is and all God has done. Remember to always confirm these biblical truths with hard copy principals from the Word of God. This in itself is a beneficial study with unending effects on one's soul. Another important note to keep in mind while studying the old statements of faith: the term holy catholic church is not the same in kind of what we know as the Roman Catholic Church. The holy catholic church is one church in Christ Jesus of those of united faith in him.

Lords Day 1/ January 3^rd 2016

1. What is the only comfort in life and death?

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that

all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him.

2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?

Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

Lords Day 2/ January 10^th 2016

3. Whence knowest thou thy misery?

Out of the law of God.

4. What doth the law of God require of us?

Christ teaches us that briefly, Matthew 22:37-40, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all they soul, and with all they mind, and with all they strength. This is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

5. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?

In no wise, for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.

Lords Day 3/ January 17^th 2016

6. Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?

By no means; but God created man good, and after His own image, in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him and live with Him in eternal happiness to glorify and praise Him.

7. Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.

8. Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?

Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.

Lords Day 4/ January 24^th 2016

9. Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in His law that which he cannot perform?

Not at all; for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, and His own willful disobedience, deprived Himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.

10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

By no means; but is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in His just judgment temporally and eternally, as He hath declared, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

11. Is not God then also merciful?

God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore His justice requires that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.

Lord's Day 5/ January 31^st 2016

12. Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, is there no way by which we may escape that punishment, and be again received into favor?

God will have His justice satisfied, and therefore we must make this full satisfaction, either by ourselves or by another.

13. Can we ourselves then make this satisfaction?

By no means; but on the contrary we daily increase our debt.

14. Can there be found anywhere one, who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?

None; for, first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man hath committed; and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it.

15. What sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we seek for?

For one who is very man, and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also very God.

Lords Day 6/ February 7^th 2016

16. Why must he be very man, and also perfectly righteous?

Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which hath sinned, should likewise make satisfaction for sin, and one, who is himself a sinner, cannot satisfy for others.

17. Why must He in one person be also very God?

That He might by the power of His Godhead sustain in His human nature the burden of God's wrath; and might obtain for, and restore to us, righteousness and life.

18. Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person both very God, and a real righteous man?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”

19. Whence knowest thou this?

From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise; and afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets, and represented by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and lastly, has fulfilled it by His only begotten Son.

Lord's Day 7/ February 14^th 2016

20. Are all men then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ?

No; only those who are in-grafted into Him, and receive all His benefits, by a true faith.

21. What is true faith?

True faith is not only certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart, that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits.

22. What is then necessary for a Christian to believe?

All things promised us in the Gospel, which the articles of our catholic undoubted Christian faith briefly teach us.

23. What are these articles?

1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
2. And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary;
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell;
5. The third day He arose again from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead;
8. I believe in the Holy Ghost
9. I believe in the holy catholic church; the communion of the saints;
10. The forgiveness of sins;
11. The resurrection of the body;
12. And the life everlasting. Amen.

Lord's Day 8/ February 21^st 2016

24. How are these articles divided?

Into three parts; the first is of God the Father and our creation; the second, of God the Son and our redemption; the third, of God the Holy Ghost and our sanctification.

25. Since there is but one only divine essence, why speakest thou of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

Because God hath so revealed Himself in His Word, that these three distinct persons are the one only true and eternal God.

Lord's Day 9/ February 28^th 2016

26. What believest thou when thou sayest, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth?

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them; who likewise upholds and governs the same by His eternal counsel and providence) is for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father; on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt but He will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body; and further, that He will make whatever evils He sends upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out to my advantage, for He is able to do it, being Almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.

Lord's Day 10/ March 6^th 2016

27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?

The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.

28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by His providence doth still uphold all things?

That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.

Lord's Day 11/ March 13^th 2016

29. Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, a Savior?

Because He saveth us, and delivereth us from our sins; and likewise, because we ought not to seek, neither can find salvation in any other.

30. Do such then believe in Jesus the only Savior, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?

They do not; for though they boast of Him in words, yet in deeds they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Savior; for one of these two things must be true, that either Jesus is not a complete Savior or that they, who by a true faith receive this Savior, must find all things in Him necessary to their salvation.

Lords Day 12/ March 20^th 2016

31. Why is He called Christ, that is, anointed?

Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and to be our High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of His body, has redeemed us, and makes continual intercession with the Father for us; and also to be our eternal King, who governs us by His word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the enjoyment of that salvation He has purchased for us.

32. But why art thou called a Christian?

Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus am partaker of His anointing, that so I may confess His name, and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him; and also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in this life, and afterwards reign with Him eternally, over all creatures.

Lord's Day 13/ March 27^th 2016

33. Why is Christ called the only begotten Son of God, since we are also the children of God?

Because Christ alone is the eternal and natural Son of God; but we are children adopted of God, by grace, for his sake.

34.Wherefore callest thou Him our Lord?

Because He hath redeemed us, both soul and body, from all our sins, not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, and hath delivered us from all the power of the devil; and thus hath made us His own property.

Memorization Tips

One of my favorite hobbies is the memorization of God's Word. It is second only to studying Theology. I love to memorize Scripture by chapters so that I grasp the full and intended meaning of the whole passage. There is no better way that I have found to discover spiritual truths than this method. Each day you are constantly reviewing and meditating on the same passages over and over. By using this method you not only memorize the words, but you also draw meaning out of the text that you have never realized before. My first tip is to pick a translation that you really enjoy and a chapter that you love. I love using the English Standard Version and I do all my memorizing in it. My first chapter I fully memorized was Romans Ch. 8. Start simply by just reading one verse a day out loud repeatedly. Each time you repeat it emphasize your tone on a different word in the verse until you have hit all the words. I then write it ten times. I do this each morning and night with a review during the day when time allows. I do not move on to the next verse until I have the last one down pat. I say aloud the previous verses I have learned everyday as a review as well. Index cards are a hugely helpful tool, as well as a good notebook and a smooth writing pen.

It may sound like a lot, but it only takes a few minutes a day to get started. It is difficult in the beginning I will not lie, but It does get much easier, just like exercising.

When I began I would do well to get one verse down pat every 2 to 3 days. After a couple weeks I was soon doing a verse almost everyday. The really long verses I would split in half and treat as two verses. I cannot express the impact this task will have on your spiritual life for the good. I hope that you will persevere through the hard times in the beginning, for there is a great reward when you can quote your first chapter only from mind.

Sounding the Depths

Sounding the Depths

It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God...

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around the narrow globe....The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

And, whilst humbling and expanding, the subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplation Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.

C.H. Spurgeon January 7^th 1855

New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England

The insight and depth of sounding by Spurgeon is that not of greatness alone, but that of one who “Knows God”. Preaching this sermon at only 20 years of age is that of one who has sought and explored every aspect of the character and attributes of God that has been revealed. Spurgeon, and as we will see later, Martin Luther and John Calvin truly understood what is known in theology as the Incomprehensibility of God.

Many have misunderstood this doctrine over the years and more than one heresy has sprung up from it as well. Namely Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism which in short base their holiness in a mystical knowledge, and know nothing of faith, grace, or sacrifice. Many believe, as the title does imply, that God is unknowable and unable to be comprehended. This is certainly not the case, although there are many attributes and characteristics that God has not revealed to us, there are many that he has bestowed upon us clearly.

Of the limited, yet abundant information that God has revealed to us, we categorize that information into two basic categories. The character of God and the nature of God. To give these subjects even a cursory look would take more pages than we have available at the moment. But in short these two categories take in all that we know of and about God. Both what he does and is. The amount of information that God has revealed to us, is far more than sufficient to fulfill the two primary goals of the whole of Theology and Christianity. God has revealed himself to us so that all of his elect may know how one is to be redeemed, and also once redeemed, how one can have fellowship with him. All aspects of what we know about God in all of Theology and Christianity is summed up in these.

The focus in the doctrine of the Incomprehensibility of God, is the distance between God and his creation. Not in an actual physical measurement of distance, but in that of character and attributes. John Calvin, in understanding this subject coined the phrase, “Finitum non capax infinitum” that is, (The finite cannot grasp the infinite). Calvin insisted that we do not have a comprehensive or whole knowledge of God because we are finite and he is infinite. But he also taught that what God does reveal to us, we are to long to know. He says: “His essence, indeed, is incomprehensible, utterly transcending all human thought; but on each of his works his glory is engraven in characters so bright, so distinct, and so illustrious, that none, however dull and illiterate, can plead ignorance as their excuse.” and also “Since the perfection of blessedness consists in the knowledge of God, he has been pleased, in order that none might be excluded from the means of obtaining felicity, not only to deposit in our minds the seed of religion...but so to manifest his perfections in the whole structure of the universe, and daily place himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold him.”

Even in our glorified heavenly bodies we are not to believe that we will have a knowledge equal to God's. For to know all of God, we would have to be infinite beings. Even our all powerful God cannot make the finite, infinite. As 1 Cor 13 teaches we will “know fully even as we are fully known” but only to the limits of finite knowledge. To know all of God we would have to be God.

Martin Luther wrote that God is both a hidden God (Deus absconditus) and a revealed God (Deus revelatus). He said: “...a distinction must be observed when the knowledge or, more precisely speaking, the subject of the Divine Being is under discussion. The dispute must be about either the hidden God or the revealed God. No faith in, no knowledge and no understanding of, God insofar as He is not revealed, are possible... What is above us in none of our business. For thoughts of this kind, which want to search out something more sublime, above, and outside that which has been revealed about God, are thoroughly diabolical. We accomplish nothing by them except to hurl ourselves into destruction, because they propose an object to us that defies investigation, to wit, the unrevealed God. Let God rather keep His decrees and mysteries in hiding.”

It is very important that we take the study of God, (theology) very seriously. If we truly love our God, we would wish to know all that we can that he has revealed to us. God reveals himself to us through his creation, (natural revelation) but more precisely through his scriptures, (special revelation). (See Psalm 19) Through both these methods God himself has spoken to us. To hear what he has said is not a boring hobby or for dusty theologians. It is for you and me, and every Christian. Everyone should be a theologian. We shouldn't be happy with skimming a chapter or two a day, or thumbing through “The Daily Bread.” Its time for Christians to seek the deep things of God and enjoy them. If you do not know God you can never know yourself. As Calvin says in his Institutes of the Christian Religion: Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes, and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone.” “On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself....So long as we do not look beyond earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness, will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom, will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy, will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, From corresponding to the divine purity.”

It is my prayer and so should be yours to be faithful to the scriptural teaching by holding to both aspects of the knowledge of God, his hiddeness and his self-revelation. (Deuteronomy 29:29) 

There are No Discrepancies!!

From time to time when one fervently studies the Word of God, one comes across a verse or passage of Scripture that seems to be completely out of place with the remainder of Scripture, and at face value contradicts it. This is often times where an unregenerate person and perhaps a young believer may throw his or her hands in the air and count it all has hypocritical rubbish. As mature believers we know that the word of God is both infallible and inerrant. That is it is always true and contains no errors. Since we believe that the Scripture is true and without error, then any contradiction has to be an error of our own understanding. A flaw in our own perception. In my study of the Scriptures, or what those who wear coats inside would call “Hermeneutics”, there are 6 primary rules I use to govern my understanding of God's Word. The greatest of these rules is the rule of Synergy. (We will cover all 6 rules in the next issue) This rule states that the whole of Scripture, is greater than the sum of its individual passages. You cannot understand the whole of Scripture without understanding its individual parts. Also, you cannot understand the individual parts of Scripture without understanding the Scripture as a whole. It is important for me to note here, that one does not need to understand all of Scripture to understand how to be regenerated. The Gospel message is simple enough for a child to understand, with the Spirit's leading. As it says in Romans 10, faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

In the principal of synergy we are never to interpret a Scripture that defies the teaching of the Bible as a whole. This is what the Reformers called the “analogy of faith”. It is without exception the primary and most important rule in the art of biblical interpretation. Simply put, if you read a verse and it is contrary to the rest of Scripture, study harder to gain the proper perspective.

This lesson comes to mind because I encountered it just recently while studying Ezekiel. The passage in question was in the 33^rd chapter of Ezekiel in verses 21-27. As we see this prophecy was dated as either the day before or the day of the 12^th year of exile, 10^th month, and 5^th day of the month. The part of the prophecy in question is found in verse 24 “ Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.” (ESV) Here in this passage the city of Jerusalem had just been destroyed by the Babylonians a few months earlier. This escapee from the destruction comes to tell Ezekiel that those that survived the destruction have still not turned to God. Even after the judgment of God on themselves and their fellow Israelites for idolatry, the people are rejoicing that the land is now theirs to do with as they please. Here it seems that the people wish to take back the land for themselves but not in repentance to God.

Now lets turn to the 41^st and 42^nd Chapters of Jeremiah. The passage we just looked at in Ezekiel is taken from the perspective of the Israelite captives that were taken to Babylon. These captives had been in Babylon for 12 years prior to Jerusalem's final demise. Here we have Jeremiah's perspective from inside the walls of Jerusalem as it fell. He of course survived the ordeal and records what takes place to follow. The chief captain of the Babylonian Army placed a man named Gedaliah as governor over the survivors or “remnant” that survived the destruction. The King of Babylon wished for them to cultivate the land and pay tribute to Babylon from their crops and income.

In a long string of treachery that you can read about in ch. 41 Gedaliah is murdered. Those that remained came to Jeremiah to ask God for counsel. The question was, should they stay in the land of Israel or go to Egypt. After 10 days the Word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and tells the remnant to stay in the Land and he will deliver them, and restore them. But the remnant refused God's counsel through Jeremiah. They said Jeremiah was being coerced by his scribe Baruch. The remnant people took Jeremiah and Baruch captive and ran to Egypt.

Here is where the discrepancy lies. In one passage we see the people wanting to stay in the land of Israel and use it for their own personal gain. In Jeremiah's account the remnant people wished to flee to Egypt and wanted nothing of Israel. Indeed this is the same group of people in view in both passages. So how do we explain this?

Let's dig a little deeper in the Word, and make sense of all this. We find in the book of Ezra, chapter 7, verse 9, that as he (Ezra), commuted from Babylon to Jerusalem, it took a time of about 4 months. Let's indeed add this time table into what we already know and see what we come up with. We know that the fugitive left the remnant of Jerusalem or its waste lands to see Ezekiel. He probably knew of Ezekiel mostly through copies of the prophecies Ezekiel had sent to Jerusalem. And we have no reason not to believe the fugitive, and his account that things were as he explained to Ezekiel.

In all probability, under the rule of Gedaliah, it is likely that the people did have the attitude described by the fugitive. After all they had been through, they were sure that God had certainly delivered them, and given the land of Israel into their hand. In fact God would have restored them to the land in return for obedience. It seems that while the said fugitive was in his 4 month commute, that this is the timing of Gedaliah's murder, and the events to follow of Jeremiah's account.

The people that once felt the land had been delivered to them, now ran in disobedience and fear. For they wished to escape the expected retaliation on them by the Babylonians, for the death of Gedaliah. In desperation and disobedience they forsake the land and run for Egypt. After we widen our scope and perspective, behold the Scriptures are now harmonized.

It is of upmost importance to have a concrete set of rules or guidelines for studying Scripture. But the most important of all is Synergy. I pray that when you have a run in with your next seemed Scriptural contradiction, that you will not stop digging until you have reconciled it, for it is always reconcilable.

Why Bother with Creeds and Confessions

Why Bother with Creeds and Confessions?

The greatest rule of the reformed faith, that never ever can be disputed or changed in the slightest degree is that of the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) became the battle cry of the Reformation as Luther stood in defiance of the Roman Catholic Church at the Diet of Worms. At this council where Luther stood defending his conviction of how a man can become justified in the eyes of God, the discrepancy of the authority of scripture came into play. As he well stated, “Unless I am convinced by Sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant. My conscience is held captive by the Word of God and to act against my conscience is neither right nor safe”. In Theology, we call Justification the material cause of the reformation, and the authority of Scripture the formal cause. The primary issue that separated the Reformers from the Roman Catholics as it pertains to the Scriptures, is that the Reformers considered the Scriptures the only infallible source to bind the conscience of believers. The RCC on the other hand believed that the Scriptures were also infallible, but they also held the traditions of the church as the same authority. It was of course from these traditions that instituted the opposite beliefs on the justification of man. The Reformers did recognize other forms of authority such as church offices, civil magistrates, and church creeds and confessions (which we will speak primarily). In recognizing these authorities, the Reformers or Protestants held firmly that these authorities are derived from, always subordinate to, and fallible in nature and content to the Word of God.

Now after a little background let's get to the primary point of the article at hand. As we saw earlier the Protestants recognized the authority of church creeds and confessions, but not in an infallible sense. Though the creeds and confessions were once very important to the church, they seem to have little or no place in most churches today, and surely not in the life of the everyday Christian. This is not entirely true, in the fact that all that a creed or confession really contains, is a statement or list of what you or I believe and why we believe it. And since I do not know any Christians that believe nothing, then in the technical sense we all have a creed inside of us, some short, some long.

The creeds I am speaking of however are the great creeds and confessions of our church forefathers. These documents consisted of days and days of deliberation of like minded church leaders of the day. The primary and only source considered for a legitimate creed or confession was the Word of God. In these councils the church fathers broke down every portion of their beliefs into either simple statements or in a question/answer format. They not only presented the belief, but also most often cited scripture references for such a belief.

It is not as though these creeds and confessions are something strange from that of the early church. The writings of the Apostle Paul contain many foundational confessions. Some examples for you to look up are Rom. 10:9, 1 Cor. 15:3-7, Phil. 2:6-11, and Col. 1:15-20. These statements of faith used then by Paul, had much of the same purpose of the creeds of the latter church fathers. These documents were to stand in the face of heresy and false teachers. When a church stood on the grounds of a particular creed or confession, they had studied its contents out well in the Scriptures, to be sure that what was stated, was the truth. When a strange or new doctrine arose in the church or community, the doctrine could be immediately compared to the creed or confession for the “straight faith test”. My own pun, certainly not inspired. If the creed and the new doctrine did not coincide then immediately the “bologna detector” went through the roof. A contraption not of my own but of Bible teacher Hank Hanegraaff. The doctrine was then presented directly in light of the Holy Scriptures and declared as truth or heresy.

I have found no way in my own words to describe the great importance of the historic creeds and confessions than the 10 penned in an article by Burk Parsons called, Creeds and Confessions in the Reformation Study Bible. I will share them with you now.

1. To glorify God according to his truth and to enjoy him forever by believing, confessing, and proclaiming our doctrine in accordance with what he has revealed and not according to the superstitions of men, the deceitful schemes of Satan, or the arrogant and presumptuous notions of our own hearts.
2. To affirm the one true God almighty who has revealed himself to us and whose glorious attributes, gracious laws, and grand story of redemption point us to himself as our only Lord to the end that we might love him rightly and as fully as possible with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength.

3. To guard the unchanging, sound doctrine of Scripture against false teachers and heretics outside the church, and to guard against the vain and false notions of Scripture from within the church as a shining witness of God's truth to the watching world out of which God calls his elect through the preaching of the gospel and inward call of the Holy Spirit.
4. To Discern truth from doctrinal error and to discern truth from half-truth as we contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints that we might grow up in every way into Christ, who is the living head of the church, who is the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the father.

5. To remain steadfast through the ages until Christ's return as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Christ who believe, confess, and proclaim the pure and unadulterated Word of God and who rightly administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, including our consistent exercise of church admonition, correction, and discipline.

6. To uphold the life- encompassing doctrine of the inspired and inerrant Word of God as our sole, infallible authority that is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness to the end that every man of God might be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

7. To maintain freedom for individual Christians as well as the entire church from extra-biblical laws, traditions, and superstitions of men that bind men's consciences, perplex men's souls, lead our children astray according to their sin, and bring about man-exalting pride instead of God-exalting humility.

8. To confirm men according to the church's doctrinal standard who have been elected to serve as officers of the church as well as to equip, examine, and prove those men who have been called as pastors and elders over the flock of God, and to ascertain their suitability to teach as they feed, care for, and pray with and for the sheep of Christ for whom he gave his life.

9. To preserve the purity and, thereby, the peace and unity of the church visible as the outward witness of Christ and his elect bride, the church invisible, to the end that we might stand together as one family with one Father, one Lord, one Faith, one baptism, unwaveringly according to and because of the truth, never in spite of, disregard for, or ignorance of it.
10. To fulfill the Great Commission in our united affirmation and proclamation of the one true gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only power of God unto salvation to all who believe, by making disciples in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all things that our Lord Jesus Christ commanded us.

Mr. Parsons has greatly summed up the great importance of holding fast to a historical creed or confession as a supplement to your faith and beliefs. But it is of huge importance to remember that these creeds and confessions are not infallible in and of themselves, but are mere reflections of the infallible truths spoken by the “vox dei”, (voice of God) in the Holy Scriptures. I myself and this publication stand on the Biblical truths portrayed in the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Some other great historical confessions you may consider are the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, The Chalcedonian Definition of the Faith, The Belgic Confession, The Canons of Dort, The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and last but not least the 1689 London Baptist Confession. There are very minute differences in any of these creeds and confessions, but contain different format variations. I encourage you explore them and find one to call your own. Look for excerpts from these confessions in every issue of The Pamphlet.

Greetings!!

Greetings!!

I am so glad that you have taken the time to read this debut issue of “The Pamphlet”. It was by use of the printed pamphlet that Martin Luther's correspondence was passed from common man to king to incite what we now know as the “Reformation”. I could think of no simpler and greater title with my simple and finite mind. Each quarter I will put together a few articles and such things that interest and have transformed me in my Christian walk, hoping that it will make at least a small difference in your walk as well. The Pamphlet is free of charge as long as the Lord supplies. I will begin by passing out a few copies to local churches and Christian brothers and sisters. If you come across a copy and wish to be on the mailing list to receive it each quarter or to write a bitter letter in objection of my views, both are welcome by mail or email at the addresses on the front cover. The content of The Pamphlet will change with each issue, but will most often include: theological articles, snapshots in church history, excerpts from historical creeds and confessions, study and memorization tips, and more to add as I go. In ending, it is my prayer that at least a small piece of this literary imperfection will be able to draw you closer to our perfect God.