4. Confessional Statement
Revelation & The Triune God
I confess one God, as testified to in Holy Scripture, eternally existing as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. The three hypostaseis, or independent realities, share the same will, nature, and ousia, or one essence, yet each possess special properties and have unique activities. God is one in being, power, and essence, but performs different economical functions within the Godhead. There is diversity in the unity. The Trinity is primarily a unified community within and among Godself.
The members of the Trinity are dependent on each other. Each needs the other to perform their specific function. As Pannenberg says, “In the handing over of lordship from the Father to the Son, and its handing back from the Son to the Father, we see a mutuality in their relationship … By handing over lordship to the Son the Father makes his kingship dependent on whether the Son glorifies him and fulfils his lordship by fulfilling his mission.” And together with the Father the Spirit raises the Son. Again, I agree with Pannenberg, “By glorifying the Son, the Spirit also glorifies the Father and their indissoluble fellowship.”
God is known by what God revels of Godself. Therefore, as Tertullian says, “God never will be hidden, never will be wanting; always will be understood, always be heard, always be seen, in such manner as he wishes.” The triune God reveals Godself to the world as God so chooses. God cannot be known outside of God’s self-revelation.
I find the Triune God most clearly revealed in the New Testament in Luke 3:21-22. An intrinsically Trinitarian structure is found with the coming of Jesus to inaugurate the Kingdom of God in the power of the Spirit.
God freely created the world, of things seen and unseen, motivated only by God’s love (Eph. 1:5). All of God’s actions derive from God’s love, because love is God’s fundamental essence.
I confess God is fully above and yet working within the world. As John Calvin says, “God’s eye is not only over history, but God’s hand is on history.” God is completely “other” from the world, but has chosen to interact and sustain the world through history.
The Triune God is what sets Christianity apart from any other religion, and it identifies the specific God for whom Christian’s speak.
(Genesis 1:1, 26; Matthew 3:16-17; John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:6-7; Hebrews 9:14; 11:3; 1 John 2:22-23)
God – Father
I believe God the Father is the end of all things. All things have come into existence because of the Father and all things were created to glorify the Father (1 Cor. 8:6). The Father is the primary creator of the cosmos and everything in it. I confess the Father created the world by unknown means and method yet I trust the Father upholds the world through the consummation of history.
The Father is most clearly identified in the Gospel of John. The Father is the one who sent Jesus (Jn. 5:30), who “has given all things into his hand” (Jn. 3:35, 13:3), and who ultimately receives glory and honor (Jn. 4:23, 15:8). In other New Testament texts the Father is the one to be addressed in prayer and praise (Mt. 6:9), and the Father is the source of and recipient of all glory (Rev. 4:8-11).
The Son Jesus Christ
I confess Jesus Christ is Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is the incarnate Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us. He is the incarnate Logos of God (Jn. 1:1-14).
I confess he is fully God and fully human sharing the same mission with the Father and the Spirit. In him is the fullest revelation of God, and he is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). He is also the archetypical human (Rom. 5:12). Everything was created by him, for him, and exists through him (1 Cor. 8:6, Eph. 1:4-5; Col. 1:16). He shares a unity with the Father (Jn. 10:30; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1: 15-18).
Jesus lived a blameless life (sinless) due to his unyielding faithfulness to God the Father (Heb. 4:15, 9:14; 1 John 3:5).
Jesus’ teachings are central to the Gospel message. He provides an ethic for what characterizes one’s life in the Kingdom of God (Mt. 5-7), and he taught that sacrificial living, communal engagement, and obedience to God are central to the disciple’s life.
Jesus Christ heralded and inaugurated the Kingdom of God (Mt. 3:2, 4:14; Mk. 1:15), through his life, death, and resurrection, therefore, fulfilling the Father’s mission.
Jesus’ death and resurrection is the “power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). It is the act by which God ransomed humanity from the grips of death and the devil thereby reconciling humanity to Godself (Col. 1:19-20; 1 Tim. 2:6), Jesus atoned for the sins of creation by taking humanity’s place and bearing all iniquities (Rom. 3:25; Eph. 1:7; Eph. 5:2; Heb. 2:17), and Jesus gave an example of complete faithfulness to God (1 Pet. 2:21-23). His death was for us (Gal. 1:4) once and for all (1 Pet. 3:18).
I confess Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead, in a glorified body, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father where he now reigns as High Priest and advocates on behalf of the church (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1). Jesus is the Lord of the world and head of the church (Col. 1:18).
(Zech. 14:4-11; Matt. 1:1-3, 20-23; 3:16-17; 28:6-76; Luke 1:35; John 1:1; 14:3; Rom. 3:24-25; 8:34; Heb. 4:15; 7:25; 9:24; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:13)
The Holy Spirit
I believe in the Holy Spirit. It is the life giving Spirit of God found in the Old Testament idea of ruach, or “wind.” It is the life breath by which God created the world (Gen. 1-2), gave life to creatures (Gen. 2:7), and now sustains life (Ps. 139:7). Death occurs when the Spirit departs (Gen. 6:3). The Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son. The Spirit is sent by the Father to empower and comfort the people of God after the ascension (John 14:26).
In the New Testament the Spirit guides Jesus’ mission (e.g. Mt. 4:1), anoints individuals for specific missions (Lk. 1:35, 4:18-19), and empowers the church’s witness to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 2:1-4). The Spirit is also the agent who forms the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). As Stanley Grenz says, “The Spirit teaches, leads, and empowers the church on the Lord’s behalf.”
The Holy Spirit is the supernatural agent of regeneration in the conversion process (Jn. 3:5-8) by calling believers to account for their sin (Jn. 16:8) and equipping them specific ministries (Acts 6:5). The Spirit of God also sustains and edifies the believer to continue in their witness (Acts 4:31).
The Spirit of God also illumines the Holy Scriptures (1 Cor. 2:12-13). The Spirit inspired the writers of the text to record what God so desired either through divine dictation (Ex. 19:3-6) or through experience, witness, and tradition (Luke 1:1-4). The Spirit now illuminates those texts for the reader in order that he/she may hear from God.
The Spirit completes the divine task begun by the Father and fulfilled in the Son. The Spirit sees to it that the eschatological hope found in Christ is carried out through the consummation of history.
(John 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 12:12-14; Eph. 1:13-14; 4:7-13; Gal. 5:16; Rom. 5:5)
The Bible & Biblical Authority
I believe the Bible (its 66 canonical books) is the (common) book for the church. It is the basis for the church’s confession and witness. The Bible derives authority from the Gospel message itself. As Luther says it is, “the manger in which the Word of God is laid.” It testifies to the grand revelatory acts of God in history, and it is itself revelatory.
The Old Testament declares the beginning of the world and the story of God’s covenant relationship to Israel. The New Testament is the story of God’s redemptive work to all creation in the person of Jesus Christ. It also tells the early history and formation of the church.
The Bible is authoritative in matters regarding God’s revelation (i.e. it testifies accurately to what God has let be known of Godself), church life, confession, and practice.
Inspired people(s) wrote the texts under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. They may or may not have considered their writing “sacred Scripture” as it was penned. Regardless, the Spirit takes up the text and illumines it for us today. It speaks to us. It is the open book from which the living Jesus walks.
I accept as true what the Bible says of God and humanity. My faith comes from what I hear testified to in Scripture. (Romans 10:17)
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21)
Humanity & Sin
God created all things, including humanity. Regardless of how humanity came into existence (theistic evolution or spontaneous creation) it was created and is sustained by God.
Of all things created human beings are the pinnacle of creation (Gen. 1-2) and were created in the “image of God” (Gen. 1:27). The goal for humanity is to live in reconciled community among themselves and between God, because humans are created in God’s image which is community (Acts 17:28).
Although humans were created “good” they disobeyed and fell out of full communion with God and each other. Their disobedient act is called sin. Sin is action taken by an individual, community, or social structure that alienates and enslaves. Sin permeates the whole person, and the entire human race (Rom. 1:21).
I believe sin originated with the first humans – Adam and Eve. Their disobedient act placed them outside complete communion with God and brought shame upon them (Gen. 2:25, 3:14-15). Their freedom to choose was not evil in and of itself, but their disobedient act was. Their sin caused death to permeate the world and put subsequent generations under the sting of death. Adam and Eve’s sin was both a historical action that held symbolic significance for all humanity. Therefore, all trapped in the realm of sin.
Although Adam and Eve’s act initiated original sin but it did not cause original guilt, or the sentence of condemnation. If so, then procreation is an act of creating condemned offspring. Rather, guilt is caused by individuals’ actions not their biological disposition (Rom. 5:12-21).
Even though humans are marred by sin, they still bear the image of God. They are still creative, intelligent, and even wise. Yet the condition in which humans find themselves after the fall is not the condition God intended for them. Therefore, God created a means to save them.
(Gen. 1:27; Psalm 51:5; Rom. 1:21-23; 3:23; 5:12-21)
Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God (Philippians 2:11). In God’s grace God freely gave of Godself to reconcile the world back to Godself. It is God who first loved us (1 John 4).
Salvation (reconciliation with God) is possible only through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ actualized in an individual’s life by the prompting of the Holy Spirit at the moment or through the process of conversion. Conversion is a transforming encounter with the Triune God that redirects one from a life of sin – disobedience toward God – to obedience.
Conversion begins with an acknowledgment of one’s sin which leads to repenting before God (Acts 2:38). The individual then comes to faith in the Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:5-6; Rom. 10:9). Faith is a trusting obedience to follow God’s ways that are not always clear. Faith is more than intellectual assent, it is embodying the Gospel message.
I believe the Holy Spirit undergirds the salvation process by making a person aware of his/her sin (Jn. 16:8), prompting him/her to repent, and guiding the convert to Scripture for the renewal of his/her mind (Rom. 12:1).
Conversion is more than a one-time event, it is a life-long process in which one grows in holiness, Christlikeness, and maturity.
Conversion is authenticated when the individual incorporates into a confessional community (Rom. 10:14-15). The convert should actively participate in the church’s missional life as a manifestation of his/her conversion (Philippians 2:12).
(Rom. 3:24-26; 5:9; Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Peter 1:18-21)
