The Doctrinal Basis of the Christian Faith
The
a) God and Mankind
We
believe that the Lord our God is eternally One:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and fulfilling the sovereign purposes of His
providence in creation, revelation, redemption, judgement, and the coming of
His kingdom.
We
acknowledge that though God made man and woman in His own
likeness and image, conferring on us dignity and worth, and enabling us to
respond to Himself, we are now members of a fallen race, who have sinned and
come short of His glory.
We believe that the Father’s everlasting love is shown first of all in that He
gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for us
when, through our sinfulness and guilt, we were subject to His wrath and
condemnation; and that His grace is shown completely by His putting sinners
right with Himself when they place their personal faith and confidence in His
Son.
We
confess Jesus Christ as Lord and God, the everlasting
Son of the Father; as truly human, born of the virgin Mary; as the Servant of
the servants, sinless, full of grace and truth; as the only Mediator and
Saviour of the whole world, dying in our place on the cross, representing us to
God, redeeming us from the grip, guilt and punishment of sin; as the Second
Adam, the head of a new humanity, living a life of perfect obedience, overcoming
death and decay, rising from the dead with a glorious body, being taken up to
the Father in heaven, one day returning personally in majesty and judgment to
bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal death to the lost, to establish
a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness, where there will be no
more evil, suffering or death; and Victorious over Satan and all his forces,
rescuing us from the dominion of darkness, and bringing us into His own
kingdom; as the Word who makes God known.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son is worthy of our
worship, who convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and
judgment, who makes the death of Christ on the cross effective to sinners,
enabling them to turn to God in repentance and directing their trust towards
the Lord Jesus Christ; who through the new birth unites us with Christ, who is
present within all believers; and makes us partake in Christ’s risen life, focussing us to Jesus, freeing us from
slavery to sin, producing in us His fruit, granting to us His gifts, and
empowering us for service in the world.
b) The Holy Scriptures
We
believe that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are
God-inspired since their writers spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit; therefore, they are fully trustworthy in all their affirmations; and as
the written Word of God they are our only authority for faith and conduct.
We
acknowledge the absolute need for the Holy Scriptures to
be correctly interpreted under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and using the
gifts of understanding and scholarship that God has given to His people.
c) The Church and its
We
recognise the Church as the body of Christ, of which He
is the head, held together and growing up in Him through the Holy Spirit; both
as a total fellowship throughout the world, and as local congregations in which
believers gather to worship God, growing in grace through the Word, prayer and
sacrament.
We
acknowledge the command of Jesus Christ to proclaim the
Gospel to all people, making them disciples, baptising them, and teaching them
to obey Him.
We
acknowledge the command of Christ to love our neighbours,
resulting in unattached service to the Church and to society, in seeking until He
comes again reconciliation for all with God and their fellows, in proclaiming
liberty from every kind of domination; and in spreading Christ’s justice in an
unjust word.
V
THE THEOLOGY OF THE
REFORMERS
|
Doctrine |
Luther |
Calvin |
Zwingli
/ Anabaptists |
|
Scripture |
Only
infallible authority for faith and salvation. Scriptures point to Christ. |
Bible, not church is
final authority. First scientific interpreter. |
Z: Infallible authority
– must determine all practice. Scripture will be fulfilled. Common people can
understand. |
|
Predestination |
All events ordained
by God. Taught double predestination. |
Predestination
necessary because of man’s depravity. |
Predestination based
on providence of God. |
|
Christ |
In Lord’s Supper,
human nature takes on His divine characteristics such as omnipresence. |
Orthodox view; one
Person with two natures, with no intermingling. |
Orthodox view; one Person
with two natures, with no intermingling. |
|
Man and sin |
Man is depraved and
unable to free himself. Grace necessary because of sin. |
Man is depraved and
unable to free himself. Grace necessary because of sin. |
Man is depraved and unable
to free himself. Grace necessary because of sin. |
|
Atonement |
Christ died a
substitutionary death for all. |
Christ died a
substitutionary death for all. |
Christ died a
substitutionary death for all. |
|
Salvation |
Justification by faith
alone, not works. |
Justification by
faith as legal act of God, imputing righteousness to the believer.
Unconditional election is basis. |
Christ died a
substitutionary death; paid for original and actual sins. Dependent on
eternal election. |
|
Church |
Priesthood of all
believers composed of all believers on earth. |
Salvation is
possible outside of church. Church is visible and invisible. |
A: Church composed
only of believers; infants not involved. Church and state separate. Believers
are pacifists. |
|
Baptism |
Communicates grace.
Produces forgiveness of sin; necessary for salvation. Infants baptised. |
Only for believers,
but children baptised to show they are in covenant. |
Z: infants baptised. A: Believers only;
infant baptism rejected. |
|
Lord’s Supper |
Christ present in
real sense. Unbelievers may profit. |
Communicates grace.
Believer partakes of Christ through faith. |
Z: Memorial only.
Bread is symbol of Christ, not His literal body. |
REFORMER’S VIEWS ON THE
CHURCH AND ORDINANCES
|
View |
Church |
Baptism |
Lord’s Supper |
|
Lutheran |
All believers on
earth constitute the one invisible church. Visible church observed through
ministry of Word and sacraments. |
Necessary for salvation.
Effects salvation. Infant baptism necessary; God works faith in them. |
“Consubstantiation”
– Christ is bodily present “in, with, under” the elements. |
|
Reformed |
Universal church completed
at Christ’s return. Salvation possible outside the church. |
Sign of believer’s
faith. Infant baptism necessary and sign of covenant. |
Christ is
spiritually present and mediates grace to participant. |
|
Anabaptist |
Church composed only
of believers (infants not part of the church). Emphasised church purity
through discipline. |
Baptism only for
believers. Infant baptism rejected. |
Memoriam only. Bread
and cup symbolises Christ and His death. No grace is mediated. |
FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM
The following will
affirm the major tenets of Calvinism as it is generally taught today. John
Calvin did not author the so-called “five points of Calvinism.” They originated
at the Synod of
|
Doctrine |
Explanation |
|
Total
depravity |
As a result of
Adam’s fall, the entire human race is affected; all humanity is dead in
trespasses and sin. Man is unable to save himself. |
|
Unconditional Election |
Because man is dead in
sin, he is unable to initiate response to God; therefore, in eternity past
God elected certain people to salvation. Election and predestination are
unconditional; they are not based on man’s response. |
|
Limited Atonement |
Because God determined
that certain ones should be saved as a result of God’s unconditional
election, He determined that Christ should die for the elect. All whom God
has elected and Christ died for will be saved. |
|
Irresistible
Grace |
Those whom God
elected and Christ died for, God draws to Himself through irresistible grace.
God makes man willing to come to Him. When God calls, man responds. |
|
Perseverance of the
Saints |
The precise ones God
has elected and drawn to Himself through the Holy Spirit will persevere in
faith. None whom God has elected will be lost; they are eternally secure. |
The Sacraments or Ordinances of the Church
Two Sacraments
or Ordinances
The Reformers have
historically recognised two sacraments or ordinances, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper,
whereas Roman Catholics have held to seven sacraments: Baptism, the Eucharist
(Lord’s Supper), Confirmation, Penance, Extreme unction, Holy Orders and
Marriage. There is a difference of opinion regarding terminology. Catholics and
some Protestants as Calvinists prefer the term sacrament, which comes from the Latin sacramentum, meaning “a thing set apart as sacred.” The term sacramentum in the Latin Vulgate was
also used to translate the Greek word musterion
(Ephesians
Baptism
Meaning. New Testament baptism had its origin in the command of Jesus Christ to
make disciples and baptise them (Matthew 28: 19). In the origination of the
ordinance or sacrament there is a particular order established; the first act
was to make disciples, then those disciples were to be baptised. This is the
pattern that is carried out in the book of Acts. The apostle Peter commanded
that his hearers should first repent, and then be baptised (Acts
Baptism means
identification. In the New Testament, baptism involves identification with
Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. Being baptised in the name of Jesus
Christ (Acts
According to the view
of Reformed and Presbyterian churches,
baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant. The sacraments of baptism and the
Lord’s Supper are “signs and seals of an inward and invisible thing by means
whereof God works in us by the power of the Holy Spirit … Like circumcision in
the Old Testament, baptism makes us sure of God’s promises… The act of baptism
is both the means of initiation into the covenant and a sign of salvation.”
Other views of baptism
(1)
Means of saving grace (baptismal
regeneration). In this view baptism “is a means by which God imparts saving
grace; it results in the remission of sins. By either awakening or
strengthening faith, baptism affects the washing of regeneration.” The Roman
Catholic view is that faith is not necessary; the rite itself, properly
performed, is sufficient. The Lutheran view is that faith is a prerequisite.
Infants should be baptised and may possess unconscious faith or faith of the
parents.
(2)
Symbol of our salvation. The view of
Baptists and others is that baptism is only an outward sign of an inward
change. It serves as a public testimony of faith in Jesus Christ. “It does not
produce any spiritual change in the one baptised … Baptism conveys no direct
spiritual benefit or blessing.” Moreover, it is to be conducted only with believers.
Therefore, this second view is the only view that holds only believers should
be baptised. The other views state that, along with adult converts, children
(infants) should or may be baptised.
Mode
There are differences of
long standing concerning the mode of baptism. Part of the problem is that the
word baptism is actually an
untranslated word, having been incorporated into English or any other language
through transliteration of the Greek word baptisma (verb, baptizo). There
are three modes of baptism being practiced today: sprinkling, pouring or
effusion, and immersion.
Infant baptism
Infant baptism, which
is practiced in the Reformed Church and Presbyterians, Anglicans, Methodists,
Lutherans and by Roman Catholics, is defended on several grounds. It is related
to covenant theology. As infants in the nation
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord Jesus
instituted the Lord’s Supper on the eve of His crucifixion, commanding that His
followers continue to observe it until His return (Matthew 26: 26-29; Mark 14;
22-25; Luke 22: 14-23). This was a new covenant or testament in contrast with
the old Mosaic covenant. To enact the covenant, death was necessary because
death provided forgiveness of sins. The apostle Paul also rehearsed the
ordinance for the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians
The Reformed view is
also called the Calvinist view because its members are from the Reformed
churches (and others) who follow Calvin’s teaching on the subject. Adherents to
this view reject the notion of the literal presence of Christ in any sense and
in this are similar to adherents of the memorial view. This view, however, does
emphasise the “present spiritual work of Christ.” John Calvin[1]
taught that Christ is “present and enjoyed in His entire person, both body and
blood.” He emphasises the mystical communion of believers with the entire
person of the Redeemer … the body and blood of Christ, though absent and
locally present only in heaven, communicate a life-giving influence to the
believer. Because of the mystical presence of Jesus Christ in the elements,
grace is communicated to the participant in the elements; moreover, it is a grace
that is similar to that received through the Word of God and in fact, it adds
to the effectiveness of the Sacred Word.
GENERAL VIEWS ON THE LORD’S SUPPER
|
View |
Christ and
the Elements |
Significance |
|
Transubstantiation (Roman Catholic) |
Bread and wine
literally change to body and blood of Christ. |
Believer partakes of
Christ, who is being sacrificed in the Mass to atone for sins. |
|
Consubstantiation (Lutheran) |
Bread and wine
contain the body and blood of Christ but do not literally change. Christ is
actually present “in, with, and under” the elements. |
Believer receives forgiveness
of sins and confirmation of one’s faith through partaking on the elements,
but they must be received through faith. |
|
Reformed (Presbyterian, Reformed) |
Christ is not
literally present in the elements but there is a spiritual presence of Christ. |
Believer receives
grace through partaking of the elements. |
|
Memorial (Baptist, Mennonite) |
Christ is not
present physically or spiritually. |
Believer
commemorates the death of Christ. |
Recommended reading:
“Systematic Theology” by
Augustus H. Strong (Three Volumes in One) (Pickering & Inglis)
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[1] John Calvin (1509-1564), the
respected and influential theologian of the Reformation, was born in Noyon,