Subject: does this mean a person is unforgiven |
Bible Note: Dear King T, I have dealt with the question of the Law by citing the explicit teaching of Christ. You wrote, "These are just man made doctrines." These documents are man made, but the doctrines are not. We are a forum based on sola Scriptura. The documents I cited all derive their authority entirely from Scripture; for that is our sole source for doctrine. Perhaps the word needs some definition: Systematic theology concerns itself with all of the topics addressed by the Bible. Doctrine is all that the Bible teaches on a particular topic. Confessions and creeds are simply a means by which essential doctrines can be listed in order to communicate to outsiders what we believe, and to provide the basis upon which a congregation is united in faith. Each of the confessions I cited assert the following in more or less the same way: "The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Gal. 1:8-9; 2 Thess. 2:2). Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word (John 6:45; 1 Cor. 2:12, 14-15; Eph. 1:18; 2 Cor. 4:6): and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed (1 Cor. 11:13-14; 14:26, 40). "The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture (Matt. 22:29,31; Acts 28:25; 1 John 4:1-6)." --Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 1, paragraphs 6 and 10 See how the old divines included themselves in being under the authority of Scripture alone. Consequently, when I cite these creeds and confessions, I demonstrating that these doctrines are commonly held by the church. The carefully chosen words of pastors, teachers, and scholars of the past have been proven by the church over time. They are continually and studiously judged against Scripture itself by every generation. In Him, Doc |