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Those of us who love these old standards have the duty of earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. We should not surrender our confessions without a fight. As Spurgeon said, speaking of the importance of confessions, “Weapons which are offensive to our enemies should never be allowed to rust.” The great reformed confessions were hammered out on the anvil of conflict for the faith and they have flown as banners wherever the battle for truth has raged. Where men have abandoned these statements of biblical religion, where latitudinarian opinions have reigned, the cause of God and truth has suffered greatly.
An unwillingness to define with precision the faith that it professes to
believe is a symptom that something is desperately wrong with a church
and its leadership. It is impossible for such a church to function as
“the pillar and ground of the truth,” for it is unwilling to define or
defend the truth which it professes to hold. The reality of the current
situation is that it is not so much the confessions as the churches that
are on trial in our day.
Alongside of our appreciation for the great reformed confessions, we
must remember that each generation must ground its faith in the Bible.
People’s faith must not be. rooted only in an allegiance to the
confession. In our churches we must seek to make followers of Christ,
not just Baptists, or Presbyterians, or Reformed. The confession must
not become simply a tradition held without personal conviction rooted in
the Word of God. As Professor Murray observed, “When any generation is
content to rely upon its theological heritage and refuses to explore for
itself the riches of divine revelation, then declension is already
under way and heterodoxy will be the lot of the succeeding generation.”
The question of honesty comes into view when we
address the issue of confessions of faith. Both for churches and for
individuals, subscription to a confession ought to be an act marked by
moral integrity and truthfulness. Who would dispute the premise that a
church should be faithful to its published standards or that a man
should be what he says that he is? Yet sadly many churches have departed
from their confession while still claiming adherence to the old
standards. And many ministers claim allegiance to their church’s
Confession, when in truth they object to (or have serious mental
reservations about) particular articles of faith.
When a church departs from the old paths, if it will not return, let it publicly disavow its confession. While it may grieve us to see such defection from truth, and though the enemies of truth may seize the opportunity to slander and rail, surely it is better and more honest than for the church to continue in hypocrisy.
And what is true of corporate life is also true of personal honesty. Samuel Miller argued that subscribing to a creed is a solemn transaction “which ought to be entered upon with much deep deliberation and humble prayer; and in which, if a man be bound to be sincere in any thing, he is bound to be honest to his God, honest to himself, and honest to the church which he joins.” Miller goes on to say, “For myself, I know of no transaction, in which insincerity is more justly chargeable with the dreadful sin of ‘lying to the Holy Ghost,’ than in this.”
In closing I must appeal to pastors. Most of us affirmed adherence to a confession before hands were laid on us. Brethren, we are under solemn obligation before God to walk in the unity of faith in the congregations in which we labor. If we cannot do this honestly, if our views change substantially, we should withdraw and find a group to which we can join ourselves without duplicity. If we are unwilling to do this, we are no longer blameless and without reproach; and, therefore, we are disqualified for the ministry.