What is dogma?

By "dogma" in the ecclesiastical sense is meant a truth to which submission is due (Kaftan, Gore, etc.); or, as expressed by Orr, "doctrine ecclesiastically sanctified." Harnack, its great living historian, calls it Doctrine which is held by the CHURCH as such. Those who conform to what is current in their own generation are by their contemporaries deemed "Orthodox." Höffding has observed that "within the Protestant Churches it is the laity, far more than any Church authorities, who control the orthodoxy of the preachers" (p. 320). They go by what they were taught in their youth and resist "innovation." There is, unhappily, an indisposition to view Truth like "a growing tree" (J. N. Darby).

The last words afford us a pre-eminent instance of what is meant by "dogma." "A truth which every one who would be a Christian is bound to believe" (Gore, "The Creed of the Christian" p. 16). But Creeds are, after all, "only human expositions" (Kinnear, p. 163). As to Dogma, see Green, iii. 165-185, Lotze, § 94 ff.

First as to the terms. By "Truth" I mean revealed truth — that record which God has, in infinite mercy and wisdom, given to us in the divine Scriptures. "Pyrrhonism" I adopt as a term expressive of doubtfulness of mind — "what is truth?" without the heart to prosecute the enquiry. By "Dogmatism" I mark the profession of truth without the practice. "They say [and say rightly perhaps] and do not." By "Christianity" I understand the living expression of gospel-grace — the apostle's "faith, hope, charity."

The intolerant attitude of the Vatican towards it is not surprising either. The Roman Catholic faith stands for a conception of things with which the new spirit can have nothing in common. The one recognises authority, the other the rejection of it. The nature of the authority in question can be taken into account later, but the present point is that Rome is based upon the recognition of an authoritative standard of truth, upon dogma, to use a common phrase. A famous statement of Harnack "Dogmatic Christianity, in the strict sense of the word, is Catholic" — would be just as true were the first and last terms transposed. Newman, the convert to Rome, became such, no doubt, because dominated by the thought that external authority was absolutely essential, and assuming that an infallible church provided it. "Dogma was the fundamental principle of my religion. I could enter into no other sort of religion." There is this in common then between Latin Christianity and true Christianity, that in each, truth is conceived to be absolute and unchangeable, capable of being presented in complete and perfect objective form. Wherein they differ is that true believers find this objective testimony presented to their faith in the divinely inspired Scriptures, which are perfect and sufficient in themselves, through the Holy Spirit's power, to reveal God's mind and will; whereas Rome teaches that in addition to the Bible the magisterium, or teaching authority of the church is needed, not only to interpret the Scriptures, assuming them to be obscure, but also to authenticate them to us, denying their authority, apart from the sanction of "the pillar and ground of the truth."

The Vatican II Council influenced many people to believe that the Roman Catholic Church had made basic changes in its dogmas (what must be believed) and its doctrines (what should be believed). This in reality is not true. Vatican II changed no dogma and only a few doctrines. Neither does the new Roman Catholic Catechism make basic changes in traditional Roman Catholic beliefs.

Protestants note that the superveneration has grown through the centuries, beginning with tradition taught as early as the fourth century that Mary's virginity continued after the birth of Jesus and that she never had any more children. Other doctrines that grew out of tradition include the Immaculate Conception (she was conceived without sin and lived a sinless life), proclaimed dogma in 1854 by Pope Pius IX, and the doctrine of the Assumption (that she was taken up body and soul directly to heaven), proclaimed dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XIL

Building on its claim to be the only infallible authority as to what Scripture really means, the Catholic Church has understandably been rather subjective in interpreting various passages of Scripture to make the Bible fit or support its traditions. It is incorrect to say Roman Catholics have no scriptural base for their teachings. They find scriptural base either by directly interpreting certain passages to mean what they believe the passages mean or by finding their doctrines to be implicitly taught in Scripture. In other words, dogmas such as the immaculate conception, the bodily assumption of Mary, and papal infallibility are implied in Scripture and, when viewed according to the teachings of the papacy, they make perfectly good sense to Roman Catholics.

Other truths are connected with these, such as the miraculous birth of the Saviour, who was absolutely without sin - and yet others; but, you will readily understand, sir, that my object is not to give a course of lectures or a theological summary, but to make it quite clear that it is in nowise on the giving up of the great foundations of the christian faith that our position is based. Any one who would deny one or other of these fundamental truths would not be received amongst us, and any one who, being amongst us, adopted some doctrine which would undermine one or other of these same truths would be excluded, but only after all proper means to bring him back to the truth had been exhausted. For although these are dogmas, we hold them as essential to living faith and to salvation, to the spiritual and christian life of which we live as born of God.

Certain truths are at the foundation of Christianity itself as a whole. Others have to do with its efficacy or the making of it good towards men. There are, thirdly, some which relate to the means of its reception, and even of its communication. Thus, for instance, we find at the very root of Christianity the existence of one God, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, His humanity, and such like doctrines. Just as the existence of one God was the fundamental truth of Judaism, and the truth alters not, so likewise the revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and, in connection with that, the revelation of the Person of Jesus, distinguish essentially Christianity. Roman Catholic theology admits this.

In seeking to give the typical significance of the various articles in the construction of the Tabernacle, the ordering of the Sacrifices, etc., it is well to remember that we cannot dogmatize, but that we offer our explanations to the spiritual judgment of the reader. Many things in Scripture we can, and must be, dogmatic about - doctrines for instance, which are vital and fundamental, such as the Deity, Manhood, atoning work and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the presence and work of God's Holy Spirit, the Church of God, her origin, blessings and destiny, the calling and ultimate blessing of Israel, God's earthly people. These truths are directly affirmed in Scripture.