III. Background to the Westminster Confession and Catechisms.
    A. Make up of Reformed Confessions
         Most of the Confessions of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches were composed by single authors, or by a small group of theologians to whom the task of drawing up a standard of doctrine had been committed.  The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms were drawn up by a large and illustrious national assembly of clergy and  laity convened in Westminster, England, from July 1, 1643, to February 22, 1648.

    B. History and Cultural/Political climate
     The "Act of Supremacy," which made the sovereign the earthly head of the Church, and subjected all questions of doctrine, church order, and discipline, to his absolute control, enabled Queen Elizabeth to arrest the constitutional changes in the Church set up by the process of reform at that precise point which was determined by her worldly taste and her lust of power. An aristocratic hierarchy naturally sided with the Court, and became the facile instrument of the Crown in repressing both the  religious and civil liberties of the people.

     Gradually the struggle between the party called Puritan and the repressive Court party became more intense and more bitter during the whole period of the reigns of James I. and Charles I. A new element of conflict was introduced in the fact that the despotic Court party naturally abandoned the Calvinism of the founders of the Church, and adopted  Arminianism.

     The denial of all reform, and the unrelenting execution of the "Act of Uniformity," repressing all dissent while robbing the people of every trace of religious liberty, necessarily led to such an extension of the royal prerogative, and such constant resort to arbitrary measures and acts of violence, that the civil liberties of the subject were equally trampled under foot.

     On June 12, 1643, the Parliament passed an Act entitled "An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the Calling of an Assembly of Divines and others, to be consulted with by the Parliament for the settling of the Government and Liturgy of the Church of England, and clearing of the Doctrine of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations."

     The persons who were to constitute this Assembly were named in the ordinance, and comprised the flower of the Church of that age. The original list embraced the names of ten Lords and twenty Commoners as lay–members, and one hundred and twenty–one Clergy. Men of all shades of opinion as to church government were embraced in this illustrious company.

 They finished
 -The Confession, with full Scripture proofs on April 29, 1647.
  -The Shorter Catechism was finished on November 5, 1647
  -The Larger Catechism was finished on April 14, 1648.

     The Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly were adopted in North America, A.D. 1729, and it has been received as the standard of faith by all the branches of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, England, Ireland, and America; and its Catechisms used as means of public instruction, by all the Congregational bodies of Puritan stock in the world.

IV. Objections to Creeds and Confessions

Question: What have been some of the objections to the use of Creeds and Confessions?

   A. Usurping Scripture's authority
      This objection itself has its origin in an erroneous view of what a Confession of Faith really is, and of what it is in which the necessity of a Confession being framed consists. The necessity for the formation of Confessions of Faith does not lie in the nature of the sacred truth revealed to man; but in the nature of the human itself.

     A Confession of Faith is not a revelation of divine truth - it is 'not even a rule of faith and practice, but a help in both,' to use the words of the Westminster Confession; but it is a declaration of the manner in which a Church  understands the truth which has been revealed. Its object is, therefore, not to teach divine truth; but to exhibit a clear, systematic and intelligible declaration of our own beliefs.

QUESTION: Why do you think it is necessary to formulate a system of sound doctrine?

     The human mind is so prone to error, and of such widely diversified capacity in every respect, that when even a simple truth is presented for its reception, that truth may be reproduced in almost as many different aspects as there were different minds to which it was presented.

    B.  No Creed But Christ, No Law But Love and No Book but the Bible

QUESTION: What do you think this is about?

ILL:  Creeds and Confessions...Definitely bad.  They separate believers, stifle growth, and claim final word in defining Christianity. If they contain less than the New Testament, they don't have enough; if they have more than the New Testament, they have too much; and if they contain all the New Testament contains, they are not needed.

 Sound familiar? These and similar statements reflect the predominant rhetoric of  many of our conservative and liberal churches today. But these churches , however, underestimated the cohesive power of the creeds and confession even in this country.

 -New Hampshire Confession during the decades following its introduction in 1833.
 -The Philadelphia Confession of Faith adopted by nearly all of the original Baptist associations.

     In addition, the historic value of creeds, and in large part the Baptist dependence on them, was not carefully considered by these churches.
 -Had there been no Nicea to ward off the Arian error,
 -no Chalcedon to guard against the Nestorian and Eutychian misunderstandings,
 -no Augsburg Confession to stand by the doctrine of Justification by Faith even when threatened by death,

     We would all be in sad shape. Historically, creeds define biblical truth against the subtlety of error so that believers affirm the distinctives of Christian faith as opposed to misleading, non-biblical views.

READ: Matt. 22:42

     Any answer to this question is a creedal statement.

 "No Creed but Christ," may be that some people think that by taking this attitude they are defending the right of everybody to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They will not submit to a Creed--they have their own ideas, they can make up their own minds, and it isn't necessary for everybody to have the same beliefs anyway.

 All this amounts to saying that it doesn't matter what anybody believes about anything. If there is no standard of belief, there can be no moral foundation for justice, and justice becomes only the right of the stronger. If there is no standard of belief, then the Christian Faith is merely something that people make up as they go along; and justice also is merely something that people make up as they go along.

    C. Doctrine Divides
     Now it ought to be evident to everyone that a good part of the opposition to creeds is rooted in the fact that doctrine is very unpopular today.  There is neither teaching of nor interest in doctrine any more, and so the creeds, which are statements of doctrine are either despised or set aside.

     Creeds and Confessions  ought to do the same thing that  preaching does - compel believers to search the Scriptures to see if the things taught in them are true . Those churches that do not have or use creeds, where there is a lack of doctrinal teaching/preaching you find people sitting for years  never seeming to learn anything. Anti-creed language may mask an unwillingness to do the serious and sometimes difficult work of study and articulation of Christian belief based on responsible exegesis and positive application of Scripture. History has proved that, especially in this century. In refusing to have creeds or in moving away from her creeds the church has exposed herself to the chaos that the floods and winds of doctrinal change, spiritual ignorance, and worldliness.

    D. Standard for certifying true Christianity
     Historically, problems arise when a specific creed, for whatever reason, is made the standard for certifying who is a true Christian. This happened during the Crusades of the Middle Ages as well as in many churches in many countries during the early parts of the Reformation. This is also happening today in may so called 'conservative' churches.

     However, this was never the intent of the Confessions and Creeds.  It is easier for some to adhere to  a creed or confession than it is for them to take the time to study the Scriptures for themselves. It is safer for some to know what is expected in a list of do's and don'ts rather than walk in the guidance of the Spirit of God.The abuses, whether past of present do not justify the exclusion of  creeds and confessions.

    E. Division in the church
     The creeds do not cause the divisions that do exist in the church, but only recognize those that are already there. In fact, insofar as the creeds do teach the truth of Scripture, the creeds instead of causing division promote unity. It is, of course, the truth that brings unity.

READ: Amos 3:3

 The existing divisions, therefore, are not caused by creeds but by a failure to know and submit to the truth. It is the lie that divides, not the truth.

V. The usefulness of Creeds and Confessions
QUESTION: How can Creeds and Confession be useful in the church?
READ: 1 Tim. 3:16 again

    A. A common confession
     In order to see that the use of creeds is Biblical, we must remember that "creed" is from a Latin word which means, "I believe." That tells us what creeds are. They are an expression of the faith that lives in the hearts of God's people. In the creeds, believers, usually as a body, tell the world what they believe the Word of God teaches.

 Creeds, then, do not exist apart from Scripture or over against it, but are simply a confession of what believers find in the Word of God. And what they find in the Word of God, they confess.

 In having creeds, therefore, believers are only doing what the Word of God itself commands them to do - confessing their faith. For this reason the creeds are often called "confessions." So it is here first of all, in the fact that creeds are confessions, that we find a Biblical basis for having them. There are any number of passages that command believers to confess their faith.

READ: Matt. 10:32;  Rom. 10:9-10; Rom. 15:6
Scripture speaks of a unity, a common confession

    B. A connection with the church of the past
     Churches w/o creeds and confessions cut themselves off from the church of the past, denying the fundamental unity of the church in all ages. This is one of the great weaknesses of the church today, that she has no ties to the church of the past - does not know the history and lessons of the past, nor the battles the church has fought, nor God's faithfulness to His church through all the ages. The church today tries to stand completely on her own against the forces of evil, instead of seeing herself as part of that great army of God. Not only that, but by cutting herself off from the church of past, the church today says in effect that every generation must start all over in its searching of the Scriptures and pursuit of the truth.

    C. It unifies
     The creeds of a church are her "banner displayed because of the truth", and serve as a rallying point for all those who make the same confession of the truth.

    D. To fight against heresies
QUESTION: What is Apologetics?

     Apologetics is the defense of the truth of the gospel (the "answer" in 1 Peter 3:15 is the Greek word "apology"). This apologetic use of the creeds follows from the fact that most creeds were written in defense of the truth of God's Word. They are the "answer" that the church has given to those who have denied her hope. They were not written in some ivory tower but on the battlefield of faith. And, the errors they address are still around today. There is nothing new under the sun. So too the Scripture passages they reference help us find a Biblical answer when we must stand in defense of the faith.

    E. To mediate disputes
     They are useful in settling disputes because they show what Scripture teaches, bringing together the teaching of all Scripture on a certain matter. They are useful in avoiding disputes because they set forth the things that are important, thus steering clear of "foolish and unlearned questions" that gender strife .

    F. Teaching
     They are used to teach the truth to children, new converts and all other Christians. They are useful in this respect because they teach the doctrines of Scripture.
      -Anyone who has done any teaching knows that it is almost impossible to learn anything unless the teaching is systematic and carefully arranged in its logical relations. This the creeds do, especially the catechisms which were designed for teaching both young and old.

    G. Pastoral
     Creeds and Confessions are not cold, abstract statements, but warm, practical expositions of the truth and can be used to direct the attention of those who are in need of pastoral counsel to the Word of God.

   H. Worship
     In other churches the creeds, usually the shorter creeds like the Apostle's or Nicene Creeds are recited as part of the worship of the church. In this way believers make mutual confession of their faith .

Summary:
 What all this is saying is that the creeds and confessions are of value ONLY if they are used. If they are just matters of the church records or something to be placed in the visitors welcome packet , they are of no real  profit.  The Lord himself says: "Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." The church today says, "We will not so walk." Thus, the church has no rest, for it has no old ways

Bibliography

A.A Hodge. , Commentary on the Westminster Confession, (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group) 1999
C.W. 'Bud' Powell  'NO CREED BUT CHRIST?' REFORMED HERALD August 1993
Danald K McKim Encyclopedia of the reformed Faith Westminster/John Knox Press (Louisville) 1992
G.I. Williamson The Westminster Confession of Faith Presbyterian & Reformed Pub. (Phila.) 1964
G.I. Williamson: "The Heidelberg Catechism" Presbyterian and Reformed (Phila.) 1993
John Hooper: "Biblical Church Unity" The Protestant Reformed theological Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1; Nov 1997
John Knox: "The History of the Reformation in Scotland" pp. 341-362 Fleming H. Revell, 1905
W. Carl Ketcherside   'No Creed But Christ'
Robert Shaw An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith Christian Focus Pub. (Great Britain) 1998
Thomas Vincent,  A Family Instructional Guide, (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group) 1999