What is conservative theology?

There is then a faith in the midst of this world of conflicting creeds which is the true one. The elect of God, by their very position, bow with adoration to His sovereign will, and receive His revelation without reasoning. Of course I do not mean that there are no Christians who reason (we are all, alas! naturally apt to ask "Why?") but the faith of God's elect is the simple and full belief in the whole Christian revelation. It is orthodoxy in the true sense, it is Christianity.

It is the faith of God's elect, and not a partial faith or persuasion, such as Calvinism, Armenian views, or any other "faith" where man has succeeded in narrowing the truth and forming a system. The Athanasian creed itself is not an adequate expression of the "faith of God's elect," for we need the whole revelation given to us in scripture of Christ's glory. Sovereignty on God's side, dependence on that of the chosen believer, and divine grace and glory known in Christ.

It should be remembered that dispensationalists are conservative, evangelical Christians. Many of the differences of opinion discussed in this book are between evangelicals with whom there is agreement in other important areas of doctrine. It is sincerely intended that what is said about these differences be factual, fair, clear, and in a spirit of helpfulness. I hope that every reader, before putting this book down, will read the last chapter, no matter how mildly or violently he or she may disagree with other parts of the book.

The theological liberal quite naturally opposes dispensationalism, for he finds completely unpalatable its plain interpretation, which is based on a verbal, plenary view of the inspiration of Scripture. Neither would he agree with other beliefs and teachings that dispensationalists hold in common with other conservatives. Whatever else dispensationalists are, they are conservative in their view of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, an approach unsavory to the liberal.

As designating all the truths which we connect with Christianity, and which are intended in their collective bearing to set the believer in relation to it and to form him in accordance with it. That quality which enables the soul to accept the Divine revelation, especially in accepting Christ as a personal Saviour and entering into definite relation with Him.

This chapter is built around 1 Corinthians 15:3,4, which centers on the person and work of Christ, the nature of man and the inspiration of Scripture. Obviously, there are many other doctrines to the Christian faith, but we will make these three crucial areas our plumb line as we study other faiths in the rest of this book.

Admittedly, this plumb line is based on a Protestant, evangelical, conservative point of view. Not all Christian bodies would agree with it at every point, particularly Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox, who believe that Tradition is equally as important as Scripture. More on that later, but for now we proceed with the assumption that biblical Christians from all points of the theological compass can agree with Paul's words in I Corinthians 15:3,4:

What is painful, however, even to those who set little value by formal human confessions of faith, is that they cannot but recognise that, in general, the real ground on which creeds are being relinquished, the objectionable feature found in them is just exactly what truth they do contain. Without a doubt in all creeds there are things which fuller spiritual knowledge shows to be defective, if not erroneous. Blind veneration for antiquity puts false value upon these (for their time) wonderful manifestos of Christian belief, when it erects them into unchanging standards of faith; but the spirit which can with so little compunction, so little respect, throw them overboard as antiquated and worthless is far from praiseworthy. It is no question with us then of liberal or conservative theology, but of truth as a vital thing, of truth, as we might describe it, as the basis of faith and the sustenance of spiritual life, not to mention its general relation to men at large as the most important ingredient of the moral atmosphere. And theological systems, airtight compartments as they are, do not provide ideal conditions for either the conservation or the dissemination of the truth. Creeds are altogether suspicious things. Not that in a creed there is anything wrong in itself, if by it we mean merely the sum of that which we have learned from Scripture. Have we not all, in fact, some such creed, not necessarily explicit? And if able to state clearly the main distinctive lines of the truth we possess, not as setting limits thereby, it may be of no small help to ourselves in aiding us to organise our knowledge and rightly divide the word of truth.

Nor need it be doubted that in periods of church history, as remote in character as in time from our own, in the providence of God, a creed may have provided just such a medium of confessing the truth as seems necessary, if not indispensable, to the occasion. All this may he allowed without in any degree endorsing the popular idea of its true function. The truth is neither dependent upon a creed for its definite grasp and statement, nor obliged to be so embodied ere it is fit for the purpose of being a clear test. The former especially may be, in measure, a commendable practice today, the having and holding a clear idea or record of our convictions. But the inevitable evil of forms is apt to follow here also. The very process of giving the truth a form in the faulty expression of which alone we are capable, deducts from its truth and value. As one has said also, "Supposing everything was right that was there, it is like a made tree, instead of a growing tree." Any "declaration of the things most surely believed among us," also, however accredited by tradition, must in the last resort give way before the inspired record itself. "The faith once delivered unto the saints" should mark our boundaries, and constitute what alone we shall make ourselves answerable for. It is that also for which we are exhorted to contend.

These verses are the touchstone for the Christian who wants to be biblical. Biblical Christians believe that Christ is God and that He died for our sins. Biblical Christians believe that by nature they are sinners, spiritually dead, and that their only hope of salvation from sin is faith in Christ's death and resurrection. Biblical Christians believe they have a Bible that is inspired by the living God, and it is the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

In order to make intelligent comparisons with other faiths, Christians must know what their own faith teaches - what their own Bible says. These teachings are not to be revised, watered down or "demythologized." Biblical Christianity stands in faith and assurance upon the evidence "that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 3). Only God can provide saving faith to a person, and that happens only when that person is open to what God has to say. In Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 12:3, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." [...]

No wonder the Lord says to Protestantism, "Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God." And He calls upon them to remember how they had received and heard, and to hold fast and repent. Now, surely, it must be plain to anyone who carefully examines the Scripture, that this message would in no sense have been as applicable to the Thyatira as to the Sardis period. Such word would not have the same force when addressed to Rome as when addressed to the churches of the Reformation. What did these latter receive and hear? Clearly the great truths proclaimed so fearlessly in the days of the Reformation, and embodied for the instruction of future generations in the creeds of the 16th and 17th centuries. And, may I say, I am not one of those who waste time denouncing creeds. Credo means "I believe." Any man who believes anything has a creed. All the great creeds of Protestantism were but the carefully drawn-up declaration of the faith of those who had escaped from Romish superstition, who desired to make clear to their children what they recognized as the truth which they had received from God. We need not be surprised if we find in these creeds some statements which fuller light and knowledge would lead us to refuse or revise, but I think we may say that there is not one of these symbols which does not hold within it every fundamental truth of the Word of God. Take the Augsburg Confession of the Lutherans; the Westminster Confession of the Presbyterians; the 39 Articles of the Church of England; and others too numerous to mention. Every one of them insists on the true deity of Christ and the efficacy of His atoning work on Calvary's cross. All alike declare that salvation is only through faith, apart form works.

And so we may thank God for the truths contained in these creeds; while, on the other hand, we recognize that, where the Word of God is bowed to, no humanly-drawn-up creed is needed. Nevertheless, it is in view of these very confessions, I am persuaded, that the Lord says, "Remember how thou hast received and heard." He calls upon Protestants to remember the great truths committed to them at the Reformation, and hold them fast, and repent for the slack way in which they have treated them in the past.

Thus it is ours to develop from Scripture its doctrines in such a way as to get more than what is on the surface, and what as being the result of our own industry, our own work in Scripture, will necessarily provoke the question, Is it, then, after all, really what Scripture says? It is to develop a "creed," as we say; and a human creed is never in itself authoritative, just because human. It can only point to the scriptures from which it is derived, and say, there is my authority. But that at once leaves room for and necessitates all kinds of various exercise, which the careless and slothful and timid would alike eschew, but in which lies the maintenance of true spiritual health. My creed represents for me, not my own thoughts, but the effect of Scripture upon me, as I have learned it in more or less daily intercourse with it and with the minds of others, and in the application of it to practical needs. In my own creed, gained after the manner named, it is Scripture and nothing else to which I bow, which I own as authoritative: it is the effect on me of its authority; and not to have it would be to mean the lack of living acquaintance with the living Word.