Confession: Christ, the eternal God, is the endpoint of all meaning and faith

A Confession of Faith

There had been a request to post the Confession of Faith that I drafted for my ordination. Steve Camp and AudienceOne were kind enough to offer space on their site for the paper.

For those curious about sources for my "plagiarism", the foundation for the CoF is the Clearcreek Chapel "Truths We Teach". The second layer is the Westminster Confession of Faith, adjusted for some of my personal exceptions. The third layer is the London Baptist Confession of 1646 (not 1644). A fourth document that I drew from, although not extensively, is the Bethlehem Baptist Elder Affirmation of Faith (now known as the Desiring God Affirmation of Faith). Once the general form had taken shape, various statements and clarifications were added from other sources. Among those I found very helpful: Turretin's "Elenctic Theology", Grudem's "Systematic Theology", Scobie's "Ways of our God", VanGemeren's "Progress of Redemption" (which at times, reads like a statement of faith), Vanhoozer's "Drama of Doctrine", Horton's "Covenant and Eschatology", and of course, Vos's "Pauline Eschatology".

Other "trivia":

The two sections that took up an inordinate amount of time were "The Covenants" and "The Law". I saved those two sections for last precisely for that reason. :-)

The section on "decrees" was intentionally developed as an apologetic against open theism. And the paragraphs on "justification" were developed as a primitive apologetic against The New Perspective on Paul and its de-emphasis on forensic justification.

Because systematic theology has a tendency to proof-text one's belief system, I consciously attempted to meld the thoughts together in a way that is more reflective of the redemptive historical hermeneutic and canonical-biblical theology. I'm not necessarily satisfied with that result, but it had to suffice. :-)

The heart of the confession is this:

"The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote (Gen. 3:15, 22:18, 49:10; Dan. 7:13, 9:24, etc.; Prov. 8:23), and the Apostles preached, He is the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. Jesus Christ, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, is the brightness of His glory, etc. by whom He made the world (John 1:1,2,3), and who upholds and governs all things that He has made (Hebrews 1:3,8)... Jesus Christ is the mighty God (Isa. 9:6), The Word that was God (John 1:1), God over all (Rom 9:5), God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16), the true God and eternal life 1 John 5:20, the first (Rev. 1:8), gives being to all things, and without Him was nothing made (John 1:2). He forgives sins (Matt. 9:6), is before Abraham (John 8:58), was and is, and ever will be the same (Heb. 13:8), is always with His people to the end of the world (Matt. 28:20), which could not be said of Jesus Christ, if He were not God (John 1:18). And of the Son He says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever (Heb. 1:8).

"...Jesus Christ is made the mediator of the new and everlasting covenant between God and man, ever to be perfectly and fully the prophet, priest, and king of the Church of God for evermore (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 9:15; John 14:6; Isa. 9:6.7)...

"...The entire deposit of revelation in the Scriptures is Christological, so that all meaning and faith find their end in Christ, the source and subject of announcement, accomplishment and interpretation. Because the Scriptures are Christocentric, Christ is the primary organizing hermeneutical principle of the canon (John 5:39,40, Luke 24:25-27, 44-48). Christ and His gospel expounded in the New Testament is the definitive interpretation of the entire Old Testament."

Pastor Chad Richard Bresson