Called to Serve

We share this section with you, with the permission of Curriculum Publishing, because it has been suggested so many times that we Presbyterians cannot be sure what the essential tenets of the Reformed faith are, and because we believe the document presents a carefully and thoughtfully written antithesis to that idea.

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Essential Tenets of the Reformed Faith

One of the questions officers are asked as part of ordination is, "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God?" (G-14.0207c.).

The "essential tenets" are found in the different confessions in The Book of Confessions. And since the officers-elect need to know what they are in order to be able to answer this particular question with some understanding and knowledge, they are listed here. We have indicated in which creed each may be found:

NICENE CREED

1.The personhead of Jesus Christ. What is Jesus' relationship to God and to us as human beings? Jesus is both human and divine.

2. The deity of the Holy Spirit and the unity of the Spirit with the Father and the Son. The emphasis of the Eastern Orthodox Church on the reality and presence of the Holy Spirit in worship and life can add a wholesome balance to Protestantism, insofar as Protestantism has emphasized Christ alone.

APOSTLES CREED

3. One God in three persons. The focus is on God's person and God's personal activity in human history.

a. One God. The first fact is that God is one.

b. Father. The second fact is that God is a personal and loving parent, in contrast to God as an impersonal substance. Parenthood was what the text of the creed asserted. God is not only the father of Jesus Christ, but our father (parent) as well.

c. Almighty, in the sense of "all-ruling." God is the ruler over all people.

4. Creator, Maker of heaven and earth. God is the creator of all things. God is one. God created everything. This also affirms the goodness of God's creation.

SCOTS CONFESSION

5. Election. Election is the Reformed way of saying that we are saved by God's grace alone, not by anything we might do. Election is a doctrine of assurance for us. It tells us that what God has done in mercy we cannot undo, even by our worst sins.

6. The Church. The church is both visible and invisible. "Church" means the universal church, including all those whom God has graciously touched in all times and all places.

John Calvin said that there are two marks of the true church. If the Word of God is truly preached and the Sacraments of the Lord's Supper and Baptism are rightly administered, there is the true church. Read W-2.2010 in the Directory for Worship of the Book of Order. Note that preaching is not done just by the preacher; hearing on the part of the congregation is an important part of preaching.

John Knox said that a third mark of the church was "ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered." As members of the visible church, called into membership by the grace of God, we are subject to one another. One of the ways we express that oneness and that relationship to one another is through ecclesiastical discipline.

Because of stories of excesses of church discipline in the past, many Presbyterians are reluctant to do anything with church discipline. And yet, if we are to be responsible church members, we must use it. In the Presbyterian system we do not turn our judgment over to some individual. Elected representatives of congregations, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly have the awesome responsibility of exercising disciplinary judgment, both in matters of doctrine and of morals. Without that, we would have no system of Presbyterian government, only a group of people involved in arbitrary activity.

Our system of discipline is designed to protect the rights of each individual and to ensure the orderly working of the community. It is meant to enable minority voices to be heard and still to allow the will of the majority to function.

HEIDELBERG CATECHISM

7. Stewardship. Stewardship, in the Reformed tradition, means more than giving money; it means an attitude toward all of life. We are given a special mandate as stewards, or servants, to care for all that God has made.

The Heidelberg Catechism is structured to deal with the three principal themes of the Christian life: sin, redemption, and thankfulness. Reformed Christians have emphasized the Ten Commandments as a guide and encouragement to Christians in righteous living. We do not have to earn our salvation. It is a free gift. The Law then serves as a pattern by which to show our gratitude for grace.

8. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. "Sacrament" stood for an oath, a life-and-death commitment.

The Protestant Reformers argued that, biblically, there were only two sacraments:

Baptism and the Lord's Supper. A sacrament had to be instituted by Christ. Note that these two sacraments are distinguished by three factors:

a. Each has an external sign: Baptism — water; the Lord's Supper — bread and wine.

b. Each points to a particular reality: Baptism — the new birth; the Lord's Supper — the presence of Christ.

c. Each is proclaimed in Scripture.

SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION

9. Covenant. Although not specifically mentioned in the Confession, the concept was in Heinrich Bullinger's theology. (Bullinger wrote the Second Helvetic Confession after forty years as a pastor.)

For Reformed Christians, there is just one covenant in the Bible. Although the covenant takes on many forms (that with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, and the "new covenant" fulfilled in Jesus Christ), the essence or substance of the covenant remains the same. The promise is always the same: "I will be your God and you shall be my people" (Ex. 6:7; Jer. 31:33; 2 Cor. 6:16; Heb. 8:10; Rev. 21:3).

This covenant is a covenant of grace. The important thing to keep in mind is that God initiates the relationship, invites us into an enduring fellowship with God, and commits Godself in love and grace to an unworthy people, who are then to respond in gratitude and love.

God's covenant people are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people" (1 Peter 2:9a). This does not make us members of a private club or an elite group, or superior in any way. It is the Lord of history who determines the scope and bounds of the covenant.

10. The three C's of Presbyterianism: confession, constitution, and connection.

a. Confession. Presbyterians are a covenant people who make confession of their faith. We believe in doctrine.

b. Constitution. Presbyterians believe in an orderly representative process. (We'll say more about this when we look at the Book of Order.)

c. Connection. Presbyterians act out their faith connectionally. We believe in mission. Our being connected with other congregations through our governing bodies enables us to serve in more ways than we could manage by ourselves.

There is another important aspect of connectionalism that we often overlook. When a congregation elects elders, for
example, and the session ordains and installs them, such action is done on behalf of the whole church. That elder, having been ordained and installed by your session, can move to another Presbyterian congregation anywhere in the world and be elected an elder there and serve without having to be ordained again. (It is also true that when your congregation baptizes an infant or adult, it does so on behalf of the whole church.)

11. The Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism is a sign of entrance into the Christian community, either as an infant or an adult. The emphasis throughout the Reformed understanding of Baptism is on what God does, not on what we do. It further stresses the fact that we belong to a community rather than that we are isolated individuals in our relationship to God.

WESTMINSTER CONFESSION AND CATECHISMS

12. The authority and interpretation of Scripture. Such authority is dependent on God, the inspirer of Scripture. Note that the Westminster Confession speaks about Scripture before it speaks about God. Why do you think it does so? Because it is through Scripture that we learn about God. The confession placed primary emphasis on two motifs or themes: the Holy Spirit's relationship to Scripture (first five sections) and the interpretation of Scripture in light of its purpose of bringing us to salvation in Christ (last five sections).

For the members of the Westminster Assembly, the Bible was a book that told one unified story: the saving grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ.

13. The Sovereignty of God. God is in charge. The sovereignty of God in the Westminster Confession of Faith is a doctrine of comforting confidence, not one of dictatorial determinism.

BARMEN DECLARATION

14. The sin of idolatry. In Reformed theology, atheism is not the problem. Idolatry is. An idol is any humanly created thing to which people give their ultimate allegiance. Idolatry is giving our total commitment to something in the creation rather than to the Creator alone. The church honors government. The attitude expressed here is the same as that in the Scots Confession: obey legitimate government, but resist illegitimate tyranny (The Book of Confessions, 3.24).

15. The Lordship of Christ. Jesus Christ was proclaimed to be the one Word, or revelation of God, to the church and to the world.

The declaration speaks of living from Jesus' comfort. Comfort, in the Reformed theological sense, as was true in the
Heidelberg Catechism, means "strength." The comfort that Christ gives is not ease and an absence of problems. God in Christ gives us strength to meet whatever problems we have to encounter in the world. Reformed theology declares that there is no comfort in conforming to the world.

Only in reliance on the Lordship of Jesus Christ is there strength.

THE CONFESSION OF 1967

16. Reconciliation. Reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian message, and it was what Americans most needed to hear in the mid-sixties. The biblical passages from which the theme of reconciliation was drawn are 2 Cor. 5:19 and Matt. 5:24. These passages demonstrate the two movements of reconciliation: God comes to humanity in forgiveness, and people are to be peacemakers with their fellow human beings.

17. The equality of persons. The confession explicitly addresses four contemporary social problems:

a. Racial discrimination. Discrimination has taken new and more subtle forms.

b. Peace among nations. As shalom, God's peace heals, comforts, strengthens, and frees. Only in God's covenant can the church and the world experience wholeness, security, and justice.

c. Enslaving poverty in a world of abundance. Economic justice. "Enslaving poverty in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of God's good creation."

d. Relationships between women and men. The working out of the full equality of women and men. More is said about this under A Brief Statement of Faith.

A BRIEF STATEMENT OF FAITH

18. Commitment to God in Three Persons. This serves as the framework for A Brief Statement. The clear intent of A Brief Statement of Faith is to affirm Presbyterian commonality with all Christians?Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox?who trust in one triune God,

Presbyterians share also with all Christians the conviction that we are not alone. God has come to be one of us for our salvation.

19. A Protestant Statement. It affirms both justification by grace through faith and the authority of Scripture.

20. A Reformed Statement. Chapter II of the Form of Government in the Book of Order embodies six phrases that are characteristic of our Reformed theological heritage. A Brief Statement of Faith affirms each one:

a. God's sovereignty.

b. The election of the people of God for service as well as for salvation.

c. God made a covenant with the chosen people.

d. A faithful stewardship of God's creation.

e. A recognition of the human tendency toward idolatry and tyranny, which is
sin.

f. People of God are to work for the transformation of society.

A Brief Statement of Faith tells us something significant about ourselves: that at the most fundamental level of our being, male and female are equal. There is no superior gender or race. For the first time, a confession applies the equality of persons specifically to women.

Every confession is helpful to the extent that it clearly addresses issues current in its own time and culture. Insofar as it is relevant to one time period, it also runs the risk of being dated and not as directly relevant at a later time. That should not be cause for dismay. Historical confessions keep us from "faddish" theology. These confessions give us perspective on our current situations. The confessions help us as we return to the Scriptures in every generation to find direction and guidance for the problems that are current.

You do not need to accept every word in every confession and catechism, but you are expected to "receive and adopt" these essential tenets of the faith.