Vol. XXII, No. 17 | august 18, 2012
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hat is the purpose of professing our faith in the context of corporate worship? Why can some churches say “we have no creed but Christ,” yet PCPC regularly recites long paragraphs from the Westminster Confession of Faith and the catechisms? Is this more a matter of Presbyterian pride than it is actual worship? Is this simply a nod to traditionalism rather than having ongoing significance?
which continues to unfold throughout the whole of life. The sign of baptism claims for us the washing away of sins and calls us to newness of life. The sign of baptism calls us to repentance this principle out of thin air, but He is summarizing and to the profession of Christian faith. Whenever we what the Hebrew Scriptures teach: “Hear, O Israel: confess our sins in prayers of confession or profess The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the our faith by saying the Apostles’ Creed, we are living LORD your God with all your heart and with all your out our baptism. Baptism is not something that is soul and with all your might. And these words that I done once and then is finished and over…Baptism command you today shall be on your heart. You shall is a means of grace. It is the work of the Holy Spirit teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk in our lives that brings about and fulfills what the of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk sign of baptism had promised. That inward working by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. of the Holy Spirit takes place through the whole of You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they life until at last we die in Christ and are raised in shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write Christ.” (Worship Reformed according to Scripture. them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” Westminster: John Knox Press, 2002, 20.) (Deut 6:4–9). This quotation from the lips of Moses is actually part of a series of sermons that he gives This leads us to speak of some of the benefits of to the people of Israel explaining, summarizing, and professing our faith. The Worship Sourcebook suggests applying the principles of the law to them. professing our faith in corporate worship is:
Creed comes from the Latin word Credo which means, “I believe.” Creeds are tools we use to make public profession of faith, not the faith itself. Faith produces creeds, not the other way around. That is because Christianity is not belief in a philosophical system, but living in covenant bond with the God of the universe. To be a Christian is to be known and loved by God, and thereby come to know and love Him in return. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). A Christian’s knowledge of God is born of relationship, not scientific pursuit. A Our creeds reflect this Biblical pattern of summarizing newborn baby “knows and is known” by her mother the teaching of scripture and outlining for us because of the unique bond that exists between them. the fundamentals of living out the Christian life. The Bible teaches the Holy Spirit convinces us of our Baptism is the sacrament by which individuals are relationship with God: outwardly brought into Our creeds reflect “But when the fullness of the community of faith, signifying the inward time had come, God sent this Biblical pattern of work the Spirit does forth His Son…to redeem summarizing the teaching in making a Christian. those who were under of scripture and outlining The Apostles’ Creed the law, so that we might came into being as a receive adoption as sons. for us the fundamentals of And because you are sons, profession of faith made living out the Christian life. God has sent the Spirit of by the individual at the His Son into our hearts, time of baptism. Our crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ ” (Gal 4:4–6). We profess God Lord Himself connected baptism with teaching and as Father, because He has loved us as Father. profession of faith: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father It should not surprise us then that the greatest and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them commandment according to Jesus is to “love the to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt Lord your God with all your heart and with all your 28:19–20). The connection between baptism and soul and with all your mind. This is the great and the profession of faith is even true of those baptized first commandment. And a second is like it: You as infants. Hughes Oliphant Old explains: shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” “In the Reformed understanding of baptism, baptism is (Matt 22:37–40). Note that Jesus is not simply pulling a prophetic sign at the beginning of the Christian life,
1. A fitting response to the Word of God as proclaimed 2. A witness to our individual participation in something greater than ourselves 3. A summary of the whole Gospel to amplify the portion of the Gospel preached in a particular service 4. A recollection of our baptism and of the faith into which we have been baptized 5. An expression of the common faith of the church, whose unity we affirm at the Lord’s Supper (CRC Publications, 2004, 151.) In closing, perhaps the Psalmist gives the best direction as to why professing our faith is worship. Psalm 116 begins, “I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.” If we love God at all, we love Him for a reason. Perhaps rather than asking “Christian, what do you believe?” before we confess our faith we might better ask, “Christian, why do you love God?” We might answer then, “I love God because He is God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth…” —Colin Howland
Park Cities Presbyterian Church exists to extend the transforming presence of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in Dallas and to the world.