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themselves some message which they might bring to the churches, while they should seek to
recover the original message and humbly take their place at the feet of Jesus.
c. In the framing of symbols and confessions.
Every Church must strive for self-consciousness
in the confession of the truth. In order to accomplish this, it will not only have to reflect deeply
on the truth, but also to formulate its expression of what it believes. By doing this it will
engender in its members a clear conception of their faith, and convey to outsiders a definite
understanding of its doctrines. The necessity of doing this was greatly enhanced by the
historical perversions of the truth. The rise of heresies invariably called for the construction of
symbols and confessions, for clearly formulated statements of the faith of the Church. Even the
apostles sometimes found it necessary to restate with greater precision certain truths because
of errors that had crept in. John restates the central truth of Christ’s manifestation in the world
in view of an incipient Gnosticism (cf. his Gospel and his First Epistle); Paul restates the doctrine
of the resurrection, which was denied by some (I Cor. 15; I Tim. 1:20; II Tim. 2:17,18), and also
that of the second coming of Christ, which was misunderstood (II Thess. 2); and the council of
Jerusalem found it necessary to re-assert the doctrine of Christian liberty (Acts 15). Naturally,
the Bible contains no example of a creed. Creeds are not given by revelation, but are the fruit of
the Church’s reflection on revealed truth. In our day many are averse to symbols and
confessions, and sing the glories of a creedless Church. But the objections raised against them
are not at all insuperable. Creeds are not, as some insinuate, regarded as equal in authority to
the Bible, and much less as superior to it. They do not, either by express statements or by
implication add to the truth of Scripture. They do not militate against the freedom of the
conscience, nor do they retard the progress of scientific theological study. Neither can they be
regarded as the cause of the divisions in the Church, though they may be expressive of these.
The divisions were there first and gave rise to the various creeds. As a matter of fact, they serve
to a great extent to promote a measure of unity in the visible Church. Moreover, if a Church
does not want to be silent, it is bound to develop a creed, be it written or unwritten. All this
does not mean, however, that creeds cannot be abused.
d. In the cultivation of the study of theology.
The Church may not rest on its oars and be
satisfied with the knowledge of the divine truth to which it has attained and which it has
formulated in its confessions. It must seek to dig ever deeper into the mine of Scripture, in
order to bring to light its hidden treasures. Through scientific study it must seek an ever deeper
knowledge, an ever better understanding, of the words of life. It owes this to the truth itself as
a revelation of God, but also to the training of its future ministers. The Church is in duty bound
to provide for, or at least to supervise, the training of the successive generations of its teachers
and pastors. This would seem to be implied in the words of Paul to Timothy: “And the things