Creeds and Confessions, A Defense, Part 1

I have recently read two books by the late Samuel Miller, one on Infant Baptism and the other on the importance of Creeds and Confessions. Inspired by the latter, we are going to begin a series of posts addressing the importance of creeds and confessions of faith. This series of posts will begin by delineating the importance of creeds and confessions. We will then attempt to respond to several of the key objections urged against the use of creeds and confessions. Finally, we will conclude by looking at some of the practical ramifications of the arguments we have made and the objections we have refuted. Right at the outset, I wish to acknowledge how indebted I am to Miller’s lecture which was published in 1821.

Perhaps to start with what we should do is define what we mean by a creed, or confession of faith. Simply put, a creed or a confession is a presentation in human language of the great doctrines which are believed by its framers to be taught in the Scriptures. These are drawn out in regular order for the purpose of determining how far those who wish to unite in church fellowship are really agreed in the fundamental principles of Christianity. It should be obvious from that statement that we do not claim creeds or confessions to be the law of the house of God, but rather summaries extracted from the Scriptures of the great and principal doctrines of the Gospel.

To this end, I would like to submit a number of arguments for the importance of the use of both creeds and confessions of faith.

1. Without a creed explicitly adopted it is impossible to show how the ministers and members of any particular church, and more especially, of a large denomination of Christians, can maintain unity among themselves.

It appears to me to be impossible to overstate the importance of this point. As Samuel Miller points out, if every Christian were a mere insulated individual who acted for himself alone, no creed would be necessary for his advancement in knowledge or holiness. He could simply sit down with his Bible, open it, and read it, and have everything needed for his own edification. But the case is far different in fact. The church is a society. The church is a body. No matter how extended it is, it is one body in Christ and all who are members of it are members of one another. Scripture commands members of that church to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. They are also commanded to stand fast in one spirit with one mind. We are further commanded to all speak the same thing and be of one accord and of one mind. If the unity of the Spirit is as important as Scripture says he is, one must then ask, “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?” Is it really possible to have unity amongst a body of believers composed of Calvinists, Arminians, Pelagians, Arians and Modalists? How could such a body pray? How could such a body preach and attend the sacraments together with such disparate views of every essential doctrine of the Christian faith?

Directly linked to this is the 2^nd issue, namely: How is a church to avoid the guilt of harboring and countenancing heresy? We all know it is not sufficient to make everyone say, or accept it when everyone says, “I believe in the Bible.” The real question is not whether you believe in the Bible, but rather -  what do you believe the Bible to be teaching when you say you believe it. There is no question but that there are countless people who call themselves Christians and profess to take the Bible as their guide, who hold opinions on key doctrines as far as the east is from the west from other people who equally call themselves Christians and equally profess to take the Bible as their guide. This is precisely what a creed or Confession of faith enables the church and the denomination to do.

Concluding Remarks on Nahum

Concluding Remarks on the Book of Nahum

The prophecies concerning Nineveh furnish a striking historical evidence of the divine origin of Holy Scriptures. It was certainly one of the greatest and strongest cities in the world – it was the capital of a well organized government space – space the commercial emporium of the world. The Euphrates and Tigris gave access to the ocean; and the city lay in the most direct track for caravans of the East. Yet, as the prophet foretold, it is “empty, and void, and waste.” Lucian, who lived in the 2^nd century after Christ, affirms that “Nineveh was utterly perished; that there was no trace of it remaining; nor could anyone tell where it once was situated.” Opposite to Mosul, which is situated on the western bank of the Tigris, there are, no doubt, extensive ruins; but this is, most probably, the site of the Persian, and not the Assyrian Nineveh. What an invitation to the attentive study of prophecy in the light of history! What a conviction to infidels! What an example to commercial and ambitious nations! What a warning to implement and luxurious rulers! Above all, what a message to the churches of Europe, to be where of the “witchcrafts” of false doctrine, of worldliness and of “covetousness, which is idolatry;” lest the Lord remove their candlestick, and leave them as the 7 churches in Asia, “empty, void and waste.”

Reflections on Nahum 3

Reflections on Chapter 3

Enormous wickedness ordinarily attends great confluences of men. And curses, shame, contempt, and destruction, are the certain and final issue. Little reason than have been to be proud of what can be so quickly taken from them, or rendered their plague. But if our companions in guilt or grandeur have been ruined, it is time for us to take warning and repent. And if God be against us, who can be for us! Useless are all means of preservation in the day of His wrath. Unstable are the most exalted stations on earth. And they, who have rendered others miserable, will certainly be themselves reduced to misery at last.

Reflections on Nahum 2

Reflections on Chapter 2

Alas, what fearful punishment do injuries done to God’s people incur! And at what expense and labor demand destroy one another! But terrible are the weakest nations when God animates them; and pitiful and dastardly the most mighty and numerous when he fights against them. Unavailing are honor, wealth, number, or valor, in the day of his wrath. And it is terrible to have our consciences laden with guilt in an evil day, in which everything dear is taken from us. Awful is it for men to damn their souls by fraudulent attempts to aggrandize themselves and families: and dreadful is the case of oppressors, murderers, and blasphemers, when God rises up to punish them, and death and hell shut their mouths.

Reflections on Nahum 1

The devotional reflections in the next 3 posts, on Nahum, Chapters 1-3 respectively, as well as the concluding observations are from the Self-Interpreting Bible, by John Brown of Haddington (1722-1787). My copy was printed in 1855. 

Reflections on Chapter 1

It is terrible to have God as our enemy; but infinitely happy to have Him as our friend. Great and daring provocations of Him, and injuries done to His people, will certainly issue in men’s great and irresistible destruction; yea, nothing more plainly presages their ruin than carnal security and self-confidence: and their plots against Him but hasten it upon themselves and families. Men’s pride always lays them low; and shameful sins bring on shameful punishments: but God’s people shall be delivered from all their oppressors at last. And in this, but chiefly in the other world, they shall have blessed opportunities of celebrating the praises, and performing the solemn services, of Jehovah their gracious Deliverer. And great is the mercy to a land when Gospel ordinances have free course and are glorified.

Nahum 3:8-19 (Part 3)

8 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall? 9 Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. 10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs—if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. 14 Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! 15 There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper! 16 You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. 17 Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are. 18 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. 19 There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you.  For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?

Let’s ask a crucial question: How is the foregoing message a representation of the Gospel? Nahum 1:15 as quoted by Paul in Romans 10, call is euanggelion, i.e., the Gospel. This is why I have repeatedly read Christ’s statements in Luke 24. We have it on no less authority than Christ’s own that all of Scripture regards Him. Hence we are misreading this book if we read it in a way that is not Christocentric.

Next week we will do a devotional survey of each chapter individually. Then on the 30^th, I’d like to wrap this semester up by defending our method. In other words, I want to consider why we must read and exegete Scripture in a covenantal and Christocentric way – and why any other way is both deficient and erroneous. But before we get side-tracked let’s get back to the subject at hand and just consider two final thoughts.

Looking over this passage as a whole we see two important lessons:

I. Nineveh already had examples of nations who had behaved as she had and were no longer in existence.

II. Confidence placed in anything or anyone but God is ill-placed trust.

            A. Nineveh trusted their own strength

            B. Nineveh trusted their natural defenses

            C. Nineveh trusted their great population

            D. Nineveh trusted their great walls and gates

            E. Nineveh trusted their kings and princes

            F. Nineveh trusted their ability to recover

            G. Nineveh trusted their false gods.

Nahum 3:8-19 (Part 2)

8 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall? 9 Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. 10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs—if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. 14 Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! 15 There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper! 16 You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. 17 Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are. 18 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. 19 There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you.  For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?

The 2^nd detail I find interesting is the reference to being hidden or hiding. There are scholars who see here a prediction remarkably fulfilled in the state in which the ruins of Nineveh were found. Centuries past in which there was no visible record at such a place as Nineveh ever even existed. And I have reference this fact several times during our study that skeptical scholars doubted the existence of Nineveh, and therefore doubted the veracity of Scripture. And it was only in the mid-19^th century when Nineveh was in fact discovered. Nonetheless, it is very likely that the reference to being hidden or hiding predicts the fact that Nineveh will seek help from political allies in much the same way Thebes sought help from her political allies when she was attacked by Nineveh.

Verse 12. We have in verse 12 indication of how easy the fall of Nineveh will be. It is compared to a tree with ripe figs they can simply be shaken and fruit will fall off the tree. It seems to be the consensus among scholars that the reference to the first ripe figs expresses the rapidity and ease of the capture of Nineveh. We seem to have an indication of this from other passages, such as Isaiah 28:4 and Revelation 6:13.

Verse 13. Earlier I mentioned the underlying sarcasm in the passage, and in verse 13 this is very clearly seen. The passage reads, “Behold, your troops are women in your midst.” This is an archaic way of saying, “You throw like a girl!” By comparing their soldiers to women a prophet is insulting the city. It is a very snarky way of saying, “you have no one up to the challenge.” This language appears in other passages of Scripture as well (Isa. 19:16; Jer. 50:37; 51:30).

You will recall that several weeks ago I mentioned that the Assyrian king, rather than be captured by the enemy and subjected to who knows what humiliation, chose to burn himself and his family alive along with all his treasures. This effectively set the gates of the city on fire and this is a fact attested to by ancient historians.

The sarcasm is ramped up in verses 14, 15 and 16. Here we find Nineveh being told to get their act together and put up a fight. Yet they are told that nothing they will do will be of any avail. You’ll notice in this passage several references to locusts. If you have ever seen any documentaries or read anything about the devastation which locusts have wreaked upon him of the African nations you will understand how poignant this language is. In the ancient world nothing was feared more than a horde of locusts. In fact, the Hebrew language has 10 words for locust. You’ll remember that one of the devastating plagues in Egypt was a plague of devouring locusts. They travel in swarms numbering in the hundreds of millions. They have been measured in densities up to 500 tons of locusts per square mile. Swarms like this can travel hundreds of miles eating every leaf in their path. In 1954 a series of 50 swarms of locusts invaded Kenya. The largest of the Kenyan swarms covered 200 km² and had an estimated population of 10 billion individual locusts. In total hundred thousand tons of locusts descend upon the nation of Kenya covering an area of 1000 km². We’re talking a locust population in excess of 50 billion. What is interesting in this passage is that Nineveh is being warned that even if she were to multiply herself to such gigantic proportions this will avail her nothing. She will fall and she will fall hard. Not only will she fall, but it will be easy. A 2^nd reference to locusts deals with the way the swarm mysteriously vanishes after taking its fill. In the days before Doppler radar, a swarm of locusts could descend upon an area and move on, and no one knew where it had gone. Nahum tells us that this is what the nobility of Nineveh will look like. They will be there one day and gone the next and no one will know where they have gone.

Nahum 3:8-19 (Part 1)

8 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile, with water around her, her rampart a sea, and water her wall? 9 Cush was her strength; Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. 10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains. 11 You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. 12 All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs—if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. 13 Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. 14 Draw water for the siege; strengthen your forts; go into the clay; tread the mortar; take hold of the brick mold! 15 There will the fire devour you; the sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust; multiply like the grasshopper! 16 You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. 17 Your princes are like grasshoppers, your scribes like clouds of locusts settling on the fences in a day of cold— when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they are. 18 Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. 19 There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you.  For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?

Thebes is actually No-Amon in Hebrew. It is the Egyptian name for Thebes in Upper Egypt, named after the Egyptian sun-god Amun. The prefix “No” means “belonging to.” The Egyptian god, Amon, was represented as a human figure with the Rams head (Jer. 46:25; Eze. 30:14-16). The defeat of Thebes at the hands of Assyria, described in Nahum 3:10 was a picture to Assyria of what she would experience at the hands of Babylon. The Received Text has the word, “populous.” If this is correct, as I assume it to be, it is a further warning to Nineveh that Thebes’ large population did not save her from destruction anymore then Nineveh’s large population would save her from destruction.

Thebes was located near channels where the Nile divides thus the city lay on both sides of the Nile River. It is mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, with special attention given to its hundred gates [Iliad, 9.381]. The ruins of the city as now found in Egypt still fill a location with a circumference of about 27 miles. There are many temples in this location, Luxor and Carnac being the most famous. On one wall in the temple of Carnac there is an engraving which represents the expedition of the Pharaoh Shishak against Jerusalem during the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25; 2 Chron. and 12:2-9).

When the text mentions its rampart being the sea, this would probably be nothing more than a repetition of the previous clause. The Nile is what is spoken of here, and it is called a sea most likely because of its appearance during the annual floods (Isa. 19:5).

Verse 9. The passage says, “Cush” in the Hebrew, which is the Jewish name for Ethiopia. It is believed by scholars that Ethiopia was in league with Upper Egypt at the time under question. When the text says “Egypt,” is referring to the southern tribes residing in the area we now know is Egypt.

Put, or Phut (Gen. 10:6), was a descendent of Noah’s son Ham (Ezekiel 27:10). The name comes from a root word which means a bow and historical records tell us that these men were famous archers. The Libyans mentioned in the text were probably the wandering tribes which the Jews called the Ludim. In Scripture and in history the Ludim are always connected with the Egyptians and Ethiopians which means they are probably distinct from the people we know today as Libyans they were probably first wandering tribes who later settled in the area around Carthage under the name Libyans.

Verse 10. We are told in verse 10 that despite all of the strength, population, political allies, and natural defenses, Thebes was destroyed, its people went into captivity and its noble class were sold into slavery.

The mention of these details is particularly poignant because Nineveh is being told that the measure she measured out upon Thebes is going to be measured back upon herself. I mentioned a few weeks ago the underlying sarcasm of this passage. And I compared it to the 10 plagues of Egypt. Each one of those 10 plagues was a direct face on attack against a specific Egyptian deity. Nineveh had delighted in her violent, abusive treatment of other nations, cities and peoples, and most recently, her crushing blow against Thebes. In this passage, the very treatment she had subjected Thebes to, she was going to have dealt back to her. On more than one occasion in Scripture, not merely the Exodus, does God appear to delight in flouting the weaknesses of the false gods of the nations. One recalls the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. After the prophets of Baal had failed to elicit a response, Elijah began to mock them, going so far as to suggest that their God might be sitting on the toilet. That is what is meant by the Hebrew idiom “covering his feet.”

Verse 11. The details in verse 11 to details of verse let us stand out to me in particular. The first is the reference to being drunk. We all know from Scripture that this is always a reference to facing the wrath of God. Isaiah 51:17 says, “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” Verse 21 continues the motif saying, “… hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine…” In Jeremiah 25:15 reads “Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.” However, the notion of drinking a cup of the wrath of God is most prominent when Christ faces it on the cross. And we must remember that all references to judgment, God’s wrath and destruction in the Old Testament are merely types and shadows of what we see in the final outpouring of wrath in the New Testament. This is a two-fold outpouring, mind you: for the people of God the wrath of God was poor out upon Christ; he suffered in their stead. He bore the punishment that their sins deserved. For everyone else, there remains the anticipation of the great and final Day of Judgment in which God’s wrath will be poured out upon all who are outside of Christ and they must bear the full brunt of it eternally because it is infinite eternal wrath against sin -sin which will never be atoned for because it was never atoned for and once a person is in hell he’s there eternally forever separated from the saving efficacy of the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

Nahum 3:1-7 (Part 3)

1 Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder—no end to the prey! 2 The crack of the whip, and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! 3 Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over the bodies! 4 And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms. 5 Behold, I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. 6 I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. 7 And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her? Where shall I seek comforters for you?

5.-7 There can be no more frightening words than, “‘I am against you,’ declares the LORD of Hosts.” This is sort of the inverse of Romans 8:31 (If God be for us, who can be against us). We could indeed ask the question, “Who can be for you, and what good would that do anyway, if God be against you? It is noteworthy that God uses the term Lord of hosts in this passage. Hosts, in biblical terms means ‘armies.’ Whether we understand this to mean that God has His own armies of heaven (which would be an obvious formality since He accomplishes anything He wills simply by willing it) or whether it is intended to express God’s sovereignty over the affairs of men (by applying said sovereignty to armies – which represent the strength of the nations) is immaterial. God either has His own army or He uses men’s armies to accomplish His plans for the betterment of His covenant people, whether it be to chastise them for disobedience of to rescue them from enemies once the discipline has had the desired effect.

We mentioned before how some of the imagery of Chapter 2 (stripping the queen and her handmaidens) was particularly poignant for cultures were women were secluded. This irony is heightened here. Nakedness in Scripture is a constant metaphor for shame. The actual word ‘nakedness’ is mentioned 40 times in the Pentateuch alone, and in each occasion the ideas of shame, weakness and vulnerability are implied, if not directly asserted. Nakedness is mentioned 14 more times in the rest of the Old Testament and the same implications are present every time. (Isaiah 47:3 - Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen) The obvious implication is that the hidden inner corruption of Nineveh will be seen by her attackers, giving them a much-needed edge. Think about the sense of disappointment you feel when you find out that someone you have admired is guilty of some gross sin…

Verses 6-7 should remind us of the false beauty of the world. The only things it offers as enticements are things which are intentionally designed to appeal to the proclivities of our sinful nature. Strip back all the pomp and circumstance, all the gilding and decoration, and the world is a seething mass of vile, degenerate, iniquitous, God-hating wickedness and depravity. It is worse than a gold-plated pile of manure. The appeal of the world to us is an indication of how deep the personal depravity of each and every one of us runs. It should serve as a reminder, not of how evil the world is (which is no doubt true), but of how evil we are to be attracted by such filth and degradation.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are what defile a person. Matthew 15:19-20a NASB

One thinks of Deuteronomy 4:5-8 which says, "See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" 

If God's people only kept in view their blessedness as the people of the one true God, how great His mercy is, and how deep was the sin and misery out of which He saved them, the world would never have any appeal whatsoever.