Sof

[LiturgyInDMinor]

I figured we can be proactive and start discussing our little Statement of Faith for this forum.

 

[kenrapoza]

If this is a Presbyterian forum, then the most logical starting point is the Westminster standards. Do we want to boil that down into some more basic bullet points for the purposes of a forum SoF? It would probably be difficult for a newbie to actually understand what we believe if just reference a large confession and don't highlight any of the salient distinctives.

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

If this is a Presbyterian forum, then the most logical starting point is the Westminster standards. Do we want to boil that down into some more basic bullet points for the purposes of a forum SoF? It would probably be difficult for a newbie to actually understand what we believe if just reference a large confession and don't highlight any of the salient distinctives.

Agreed.

 

[AMR]

The PCA Statement of Faith here is a good starting point, no?
Probably needs to be augmented with some specifics regarding paedo-baptism and covenantalism.

AMR

 

[AMR]

Here is a SoF I wrote two years ago:

• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God committed to the Church as such.

• We believe that God created all the heavens and the earth.

• We believe that God's knowledge is omniscient, that is, infinite and perfect. God does not know things because they are, but rather, things are because God knows them. God knows infallibly and exhaustively all things that are merely possible and also all those things that are part of the created order whether they be past, present, or future.

• We believe God is omnipresent, that is, He is everywhere present at all times and in all places equally.

• We believe God is omnipotent, able to do whatever He wills in accordance with His nature.

• We believe that God is eternal and immutable, that is, unchangeable in His attributes and characteristics. The immutability of God does not mean that He exists in an eternal frozen pose, incapable of anything. God certainly can and does act in our ongoing history, yet all divine action, such as the act of creating the universe, or the Incarnation, are transitive, that is, they induce no change in God but only on that which is external to Him.

• We believe that there is one wholly sovereign God, eternally existent in three Personal subsistences: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• We believe in one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the essence of God. In this Trinity no Person is before or after another, no Person is greater, or less than another; all three Persons are co-eternal, co-equal, and co-partakers of the single divine essence of God.

• We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that agrees with the heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, Apollinaris, and such others as did either deny the eternity of Christ’s Godhead, or the truth of Christ’s humanity, or confounds them, or else confuses, mixes, or divides them, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of eternal damnation.

• We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

• We believe that God created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the covenant of works, wherein Adam transgressed God's commandment, resulting in sin and condemnation for himself and all his posterity before a just God, leaving all persons totally unable to merit acceptance with God (justification) as a result of this legal breach, whether by word or deed (thought or action), is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the historical Reformed interpretation that teaches God's covenant of grace (salvation by a sovereign God) was eternally founded, wherein the Father elected individuals in Christ (the elect), the Son agreed to redeem the elect as their Federal representative, being the only acceptable mediator between God and man; in the fullness of time, being born of a woman, He fulfilled all the necessary requirements for Divine justice and restitution in His atoning work upon the cross; wherein the Father and the Son sends the Holy Spirit to renew and impute Christ's righteousness to them, whereby all their sins, past, present and future, are forgiven, once and for all time; wherein they are declared righteous by God and are sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee of their promised eternal inheritance, that is, the salvation of their souls and their bodily resurrection, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has totally affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).

• We believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that He is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. We also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some people for salvation.

• We believe the eternal decree of predestination of God's elect was made both before man's fall by the self-determination of his own will and in view of the Fall. In other words, when considering the enactment of the decree in human history, those predestined to salvation actually needed to be saved through God's gracious active intervention in the lives of the elect to insure their salvation. Those not elected to salvation were passively left by God to their own wicked devices. This passing over of the reprobate is important because God does not create unbelief in the hearts of the reprobate, as this wickedness was already present in their hearts. Also, from time to time, as we see from Scripture (for example, Exodus 7:2-5), God removes His restraining influence of common grace from the wicked, thereby giving them further over to their sin for His own glory and purposes.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was predestined by God in eternity past without consideration of any merit of those elected, but was strictly by God's own counsel and for His own glory.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was accomplished solely by the sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, and literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ in place of His people for their sins.

• We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, monergistic regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

• We believe that God's saving grace is ultimately irresistible by His chosen elect and that God does soften even the hardest heart and save the worst of sinners according to His will.

• We believe that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the preaching of God's Word by the power of God's Spirit.

• We believe that since God Himself is immutable, omniscient, and omnipotent, his election of His people cannot be interrupted, changed, recalled, or canceled. Accordingly, we believe that true Christians regenerated of God's Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.

• We believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.

• We believe that the worship of God to His glory is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death, which is gain.

Again, this would need paedo-baptism, RPW, and sacraments additions, e.g.,

We believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God’s covenant of grace and show a visible difference between believers and unbelievers. There are only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and their ability to communicate God’s grace depends only on the work of the Spirit, not the person performing the sacrament or the methods used, as long as they are within Biblical guidelines.

We believe that Baptism is a sign of God’s covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come as adults to trust in Christ.

We believe that believers should strive to keep God’s moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.

(Src for the three items above: Presbyterian Deacon, a CF member)

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

The PCA Statement of Faith here is a good starting point, no?
Probably needs to be augmented with some specifics regarding paedo-baptism and covenantalism.

AMR

We also have to remember that this forum is for all the Presbyterian branches....regardless of our own opinions....I'm perusing the OPC SoF now as well...just to make sure I have things right in my own mind...BUT I do agree AMR.

 

[AMR]

If this is a Presbyterian forum, then the most logical starting point is the Westminster standards. Do we want to boil that down into some more basic bullet points for the purposes of a forum SoF? It would probably be difficult for a newbie to actually understand what we believe if just reference a large confession and don't highlight any of the salient distinctives.

Well we could simply include a statement to the effect that where the forum's SoF appears to be at odds with the Westminster Standards, the latter will take precedence.

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Here is a SoF I wrote two years ago:

• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God committed to the Church as such.

• We believe that God created all the heavens and the earth.

• We believe that God's knowledge is omniscient, that is, infinite and perfect. God does not know things because they are, but rather, things are because God knows them. God knows infallibly and exhaustively all things that are merely possible and also all those things that are part of the created order whether they be past, present, or future.

• We believe God is omnipresent, that is, He is everywhere present at all times and in all places equally.

• We believe God is omnipotent, able to do whatever He wills in accordance with His nature.

• We believe that God is eternal and immutable, that is, unchangeable in His attributes and characteristics. The immutability of God does not mean that He exists in an eternal frozen pose, incapable of anything. God certainly can and does act in our ongoing history, yet all divine action, such as the act of creating the universe, or the Incarnation, are transitive, that is, they induce no change in God but only on that which is external to Him.

• We believe that there is one wholly sovereign God, eternally existent in three Personal subsistences: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• We believe in one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the essence of God. In this Trinity no Person is before or after another, no Person is greater, or less than another; all three Persons are co-eternal, co-equal, and co-partakers of the single divine essence of God.

• We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that agrees with the heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, Apollinaris, and such others as did either deny the eternity of Christ’s Godhead, or the truth of Christ’s humanity, or confounds them, or else confuses, mixes, or divides them, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of eternal damnation.

• We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

• We believe that God created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the covenant of works, wherein Adam transgressed God's commandment, resulting in sin and condemnation for himself and all his posterity before a just God, leaving all persons totally unable to merit acceptance with God (justification) as a result of this legal breach, whether by word or deed (thought or action), is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the historical Reformed interpretation that teaches God's covenant of grace (salvation by a sovereign God) was eternally founded, wherein the Father elected individuals in Christ (the elect), the Son agreed to redeem the elect as their Federal representative, being the only acceptable mediator between God and man; in the fullness of time, being born of a woman, He fulfilled all the necessary requirements for Divine justice and restitution in His atoning work upon the cross; wherein the Father and the Son sends the Holy Spirit to renew and impute Christ's righteousness to them, whereby all their sins, past, present and future, are forgiven, once and for all time; wherein they are declared righteous by God and are sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee of their promised eternal inheritance, that is, the salvation of their souls and their bodily resurrection, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has totally affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).

• We believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that He is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. We also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some people for salvation.

• We believe the eternal decree of predestination of God's elect was made both before man's fall by the self-determination of his own will and in view of the Fall. In other words, when considering the enactment of the decree in human history, those predestined to salvation actually needed to be saved through God's gracious active intervention in the lives of the elect to insure their salvation. Those not elected to salvation were passively left by God to their own wicked devices. This passing over of the reprobate is important because God does not create unbelief in the hearts of the reprobate, as this wickedness was already present in their hearts. Also, from time to time, as we see from Scripture (for example, Exodus 7:2-5), God removes His restraining influence of common grace from the wicked, thereby giving them further over to their sin for His own glory and purposes.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was predestined by God in eternity past without consideration of any merit of those elected, but was strictly by God's own counsel and for His own glory.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was accomplished solely by the sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, and literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ in place of His people for their sins.

• We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, monergistic regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

• We believe that God's saving grace is ultimately irresistible by His chosen elect and that God does soften even the hardest heart and save the worst of sinners according to His will.

• We believe that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the preaching of God's Word by the power of God's Spirit.

• We believe that since God Himself is immutable, omniscient, and omnipotent, his election of His people cannot be interrupted, changed, recalled, or canceled. Accordingly, we believe that true Christians regenerated of God's Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.

• We believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.

• We believe that the worship of God to His glory is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death, which is gain.

Again, this would need paedo-baptism, and sacraments additions, e.g.,

We believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God’s covenant of grace and show a visible difference between believers and unbelievers. There are only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and their ability to communicate God’s grace depends only on the work of the Spirit, not the person performing the sacrament or the methods used, as long as they are within Biblical guidelines.

We believe that Baptism is a sign of God’s covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come as adults to trust in Christ.

We believe that believers should strive to keep God’s moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.

(Src: Presbyterian Deacon, a CF member)

AMR

THAT is Excellent AMR! wow.

 

[AMR]

Please note that the SoF I wrote is distinctively infralapsarian. There is a minority position within the Presbyterian community that is supralapsarian. To foster fellowship with both groups the SoF would have to be modified with respect to statements regarding passive reprobation (versus the equal ultimacy views of supralapsarians).

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Indeed....and we have to do it within I think 4-8 bullet points.

 

[kenrapoza]

Here is a SoF I wrote two years ago:

• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God committed to the Church as such.

• We believe that God created all the heavens and the earth.

• We believe that God's knowledge is omniscient, that is, infinite and perfect. God does not know things because they are, but rather, things are because God knows them. God knows infallibly and exhaustively all things that are merely possible and also all those things that are part of the created order whether they be past, present, or future.

• We believe God is omnipresent, that is, He is everywhere present at all times and in all places equally.

• We believe God is omnipotent, able to do whatever He wills in accordance with His nature.

• We believe that God is eternal and immutable, that is, unchangeable in His attributes and characteristics. The immutability of God does not mean that He exists in an eternal frozen pose, incapable of anything. God certainly can and does act in our ongoing history, yet all divine action, such as the act of creating the universe, or the Incarnation, are transitive, that is, they induce no change in God but only on that which is external to Him.

• We believe that there is one wholly sovereign God, eternally existent in three Personal subsistences: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• We believe in one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the essence of God. In this Trinity no Person is before or after another, no Person is greater, or less than another; all three Persons are co-eternal, co-equal, and co-partakers of the single divine essence of God.

• We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that agrees with the heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, Apollinaris, and such others as did either deny the eternity of Christ’s Godhead, or the truth of Christ’s humanity, or confounds them, or else confuses, mixes, or divides them, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of eternal damnation.

• We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

• We believe that God created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the covenant of works, wherein Adam transgressed God's commandment, resulting in sin and condemnation for himself and all his posterity before a just God, leaving all persons totally unable to merit acceptance with God (justification) as a result of this legal breach, whether by word or deed (thought or action), is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that any doctrinal teaching that denies or deviates from the historical Reformed interpretation that teaches God's covenant of grace (salvation by a sovereign God) was eternally founded, wherein the Father elected individuals in Christ (the elect), the Son agreed to redeem the elect as their Federal representative, being the only acceptable mediator between God and man; in the fullness of time, being born of a woman, He fulfilled all the necessary requirements for Divine justice and restitution in His atoning work upon the cross; wherein the Father and the Son sends the Holy Spirit to renew and impute Christ's righteousness to them, whereby all their sins, past, present and future, are forgiven, once and for all time; wherein they are declared righteous by God and are sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee of their promised eternal inheritance, that is, the salvation of their souls and their bodily resurrection, is contrary to the Scriptures.

• We believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has totally affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).

• We believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that He is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. We also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some people for salvation.

• We believe the eternal decree of predestination of God's elect was made both before man's fall by the self-determination of his own will and in view of the Fall. In other words, when considering the enactment of the decree in human history, those predestined to salvation actually needed to be saved through God's gracious active intervention in the lives of the elect to insure their salvation. Those not elected to salvation were passively left by God to their own wicked devices. This passing over of the reprobate is important because God does not create unbelief in the hearts of the reprobate, as this wickedness was already present in their hearts. Also, from time to time, as we see from Scripture (for example, Exodus 7:2-5), God removes His restraining influence of common grace from the wicked, thereby giving them further over to their sin for His own glory and purposes.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was predestined by God in eternity past without consideration of any merit of those elected, but was strictly by God's own counsel and for His own glory.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect was accomplished solely by the sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, and literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ in place of His people for their sins.

• We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, monergistic regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

• We believe that God's saving grace is ultimately irresistible by His chosen elect and that God does soften even the hardest heart and save the worst of sinners according to His will.

• We believe that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the preaching of God's Word by the power of God's Spirit.

• We believe that since God Himself is immutable, omniscient, and omnipotent, his election of His people cannot be interrupted, changed, recalled, or canceled. Accordingly, we believe that true Christians regenerated of God's Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.

• We believe that the salvation of the elect, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.

• We believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.

• We believe that the worship of God to His glory is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death, which is gain.

Again, this would need paedo-baptism, RPW, and sacraments additions, e.g.,

We believe that the sacraments are signs and seals of God’s covenant of grace and show a visible difference between believers and unbelievers. There are only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and their ability to communicate God’s grace depends only on the work of the Spirit, not the person performing the sacrament or the methods used, as long as they are within Biblical guidelines.

We believe that Baptism is a sign of God’s covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come as adults to trust in Christ.

We believe that believers should strive to keep God’s moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the Word of God in matters of faith or worship.

(Src for the three items above: Presbyterian Deacon, a CF member)

AMR

That's very good and very well thought out! It looks like you may have already done some of the heavy lifting for us. Although I don't know if there are guidelines for a forum's SoF regarding length.

 

[kenrapoza]

Please note that the SoF I wrote is distinctively infralapsarian. There is a minority position within the Presbyterian community that is supralapsarian. To foster fellowship with both groups the SoF would have to be modified with respect to statements regarding passive reprobation (versus the equal ultimacy views of supralapsarians).

AMR

Good point. I am also infralapsarian, but must supralapsarians also hold to equal ultimacy? I didn't think that the former necessitated the latter. The way I understand it, supralapsarians believe that prior to the creation, God decreed that He would create both elect and reprobate and that the Fall was part of the means by which that was accomplished.

The way I understand equal ultimacy is that just as God works in the hearts of the elect to ensure they come to faith (irresistable grace) He also works in the hearts of the reprobate to ensure they remain in sin and unbelief. I see equal ultimacy as being incompatible with orthodox reformed theology, and orthodox Christianity altogether. It is hyper-calvinist at best and in my mind comes to the brink of making God the author of sin and evil.

Do you agree with the way I've explained it? I agree that the forum's SoF should allow for supralapsarianism, but I don't think it should allow for equal ultimacy.

Thoughts?

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Equal Ultimacy is a heterodox in substance.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Indeed....and we have to do it within I think 4-8 bullet points.

Yep, preferably about 4. You can leave out things covered by the Nicene Creed as that is the site SoF.
You could have one bullet be the Doctrines of Grace, another about Baptism, ...and choose a few more that are particular about Presbyterians - like one about a presbytery.

 

[AMR]

Good point. I am also infralapsarian, but must supralapsarians also hold to equal ultimacy? I didn't think that the former necessitated the latter.

You are correct. Not all supras hold to equal ultimacy, and you explained it well.

AMR

 

[LiturgyInDMinor]

Can someone more qualified than I get the ball rolling on the SoF?