Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

What do you believe?  For what do you stand?  What are your standards or summaries of what you believe?

Creeds are helpful to show what churches, denominations, and people believe.

Too often, when people ignore their creeds a/k/a standards, people drift away from what they believe.  Creeds can help us stay in the truth, stand in the truth.

But, unfortunately, too often, people are embarrassed by their creeds a/k/a standards of what they believe.  Too often, people hide their creeds a/k/a standards.

We see too many churches change their signs from identifying which denomination they belong to signs by which they call themselves a community church or fellowship or Grace or Bible Church or other name that sounds good but tells the reader very little about what they believe.

We see churches which have web sites which show all kinds of beautiful scenery and beautiful, happy people on the Home Page, but the web sites do not show the creeds a/k/a standards of what they believe.  You really have to dig into the web site to find it.  But, even if they do have creeds a/k/a standards a/k/a confessions, you will hear very little quotes from it during the sermon.

“Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”  2 Timothy 1:13-14.

There is danger in basing our unity and faith in only one man. 

Singular Pastor or Singular Doctrine in a Creed?

I use the term “singular pastor” to refer to a pastor who stands alone without any creed or any denomination supporting him.

Every pastor claims his sermons are Bible-based and Christ-centered. A singular pastor does not get a pass from being judged by Scripture just because he claims his sermons are Bible-based and Christ-centered.

Many churches also hide the name of the denomination to which they belong or their doctrine by simply calling themselves a “fellowship” or “community church” They prefer to show young beautiful happy people on their website rather than show their doctrine.

But, doctrine is simply teachings. Therefore, doctrine cannot be avoided unless a preacher or teacher just quotes Scripture without making any summary or other comment which just does not happen.

So, doctrine can not be avoided. We can only have false doctrine or true doctrine.

True doctrine accurately summarizes Scripture. False doctrine does not accurately summarize Scripture. True creeds present true doctrine.

In fact, one should be even more careful about the sermon of a singular pastor who claims his sermons are Bible-based and Christ-centered. By making such a claim, he often portrays doctrine as unnecessary, divisive, or worse in order to avoid close comparison of his sermon to what Scripture and creeds do teach. There is no protection of his sermon fitting within the truth of well-accepted doctrine through creeds that have been taught by many pastors and by many churches and by many denominations throughout history.

The singular pastor stands alone by shunning doctrine and creeds and denominations. That Pastor could also more easily lead his sheep astray when there is no oversight by creeds or by a denomination.

And, even if the church does have a creed, how often does the singular Pastor refer to it?!

And, even if the Pastor is good, that Pastor could die or move to a new church.

Danger of Only Following a Singular Pastor

“Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” Matthew 24:11.

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” Matthew 7:15-16.

“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:6-7.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

Scripture emphasizes the importance of truth.

“‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’” Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7.

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24.

Not any kind of worship is sufficient, but worship in truth is needed.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:1-3.

Not any kind of zeal is sufficient, but zeal “in accordance with knowledge”, or in other words, in accordance with truth, is needed.

There are those who “did not receive the love of truth so as to be saved”. 2 Thessalonians 2:10.

Not any kind of love is sufficient, but “the love of truth” is needed to be saved.

A Plea for Creeds

Rev. Ronald Hanko, a minister of the Protestant Reformed Churches, in his article “A Plea for Creeds”, states the importance of doctrine and creeds.

Here is a brief quote from the article explaining what happens when a denomination or church dismisses or minimizes the importance of doctrine: ” … 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. Thus she sets herself an impossible task – a task that is either set aside as too great so that there is little knowledge of the truth in the church, or which leaves her no time for other things.”

‘This is well-stated by the Presbyterian author, G.I. Williamson:

“The Bible contains a great wealth of information. It isn’t easy to master it all – in fact, no one has ever mastered it completely. It would therefore be foolish for us to try to do it on our own, starting from scratch. We would be ignoring all the study of the Word of God that other people have done down through the centuries. That is exactly why we have creeds. They are the product of many centuries of Bible study by a great company of believers. They are a kind of spiritual “road map” of the teaching of the Bible, already worked out and proved by others before us.

He adds:

And right here we see one of the most important things about a creed that is true to the Bible – it remains true down through the ages. It does not need to be changed again and again, with each generation, because it deals with things that are unchanging. Thus, an accurate creed binds the generations together. It reminds us that the church of Jesus Christ is not confined to one age, just as it is not confined to any one place. In other words, there is a unity in what Christians have believed, right down through the ages. Just think of it: when we confess our faith together . . . we join with all those believers who have gone before us. Does not this demonstrate that there is indeed just one Lord and one true faith?”

Conclusion and Summary of Reformed Creeds by Bill Hornbeck

The Reformed creeds used by Reformed churches are Belgic Confession, Canons of Dordt, and Heidelberg Catechism which the Protestant Reformed Churches denomination labels collectively as the “Three Forms of Unity”, which is a good name consistent with the purpose of unity of creeds. In other words, the people of the Protestant Reformed Churches do not base their unity in a singular pastor, but rather, the people of the Protestant Reformed Churches base their unity on those three Reformed creeds.

The creed used by Presbyterian churches is the Westminster Larger Confession.

Creeds are not on the same infallible level as Scripture.  But, they are good and helpful summaries of Scripture.  The creeds needs to be judged by Scripture.  But, so does every sermon of every pastor need to be judged by Scripture. As stated above, a singular pastor does not get a pass from judgment by Scripture just because he claims his sermons are Bible-based and Christ-centered.

With both sermons and even creeds, the reader is advised to follow the example set forth in Acts 17:11: “Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”

These creeds are all organized and easily readable. You can find them in the right margin under “Links”.

In conclusion, our unity should include the Canons of Dordt, because it focuses on the specific and most important subject of salvation which is the distinctive heart of Reformed Doctrine. The Canons of Dordt is the creed which provides the best summary of the truth of salvation a/k/a the Gospel from Scripture.  The Canons of Dordt best unites believers in truth:  “just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith”.

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Corinthians 1:30.

“He who has the Son has the life;  he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  1 John 5:12.

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:24.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:4-6.