“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John. 4.24.)
To be holy has much to do with being separate—set apart from what is untrue and impure. As God is far removed from sin and error of every kind, he would have his worshippers abstain from the same, and to worship him in spirit and in truth. A pure God can be pleased only by what is pure. He who is Spirit must be approached in the right spirit. He who is truth is adored only through truth. To bring purity of spirit to the worship of a pure Spirit is the obvious necessity and aim in religious exercise; and this purity of spirit is either more or less, depending on our knowledge and acceptance of who God really is and what God really does. The affections are drawn to God through the mind. The more the mind has a right view of God, the more purely the affections may ascend to him, though for solemn reasons God may withdraw from persons who apprehend him most properly, as, for a season, he did from Job. We are stimulated to worship God by apprehending the character of his person and the workings of his providence. If we misunderstand truth, we think falsely of God, since truth is about God, and God is truth.
Our worship is graciously accepted through faith in Jesus Christ; we worship the Father through the Son, whose righteousness is ours through this faith. Salvation is worked into us by the Holy Ghost in regeneration; this begins our sanctification, or progress in our faith. Then we are called to ‘work salvation out with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2.12.) In other words, the Christian who is sanctified by God by being renewed in regeneration must then sanctify himself by progressive obedience. To make progress in obedience, we must learn what to obey and who this God is to whom we owe obedience. So, is our worship as sanctified as it could be when we think that God is such a person that he is not, or when we suppose that God did this or that when he didn’t? Our worship then is mixed with lies about God. We tell people that he is this way when he isn’t, and that he does this and that when he doesn’t. More than anything else, we need to be right about the character of God. We need wisdom and understanding in proportion to the zeal with which they should be sought: “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth” (Proverbs 4.5.) Communion between us and God is undermined by untruth. It is the same between all partners in relationship. Cold religion comes by thinking that God is who he is not, and that he does what he does not. He will draw closer when we impute to him no lies.
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4.23.) The hour for true worship has come, Jesus says. It ‘now is.’ If it could be said to be ‘now is’ in Jesus’ day, how much more in ours, twenty centuries later? Has the hour for true worship come for us personally? Are we enjoying this hour? The Father wants true worshippers. He wants us to worship him ‘in spirit and in truth.’
But why bring a Confession of Faith into this, and have that come between us and God, and between us and God’s truth, the Bible? Why not go straight to the Bible to know God, and never mind other avenues? This objection is more often emotional than thoughtful, and is a popular one among Dispensationalists and Fundamentalists; that is, among most pastors and Christian writers of the 20th century. There is nothing wrong with a passion for the infallible truth and nothing but. A person might do well who reads only his Bible. William Tiptaft (b. 1803) did that: “His studie was on litel but the Bible” (J. H. Philpot, The Seceders, p. 15.) William Tiptaft is piously remembered for having lived on this unmixed diet, notwithstanding that his partner in secession from the Church of England, J. C. Philpot, is probably more piously remembered, though he imbibed a little theology on the side. I have no doubt that a Christian with just his Bible, if he will be led by the Spirit in humble submission to his Lord, should do as much good as anyone, and be more holy than the average pastor or seminary professor. But a Christian typically attends church. And what church has no ‘Statement of Faith,’ which is nothing else than a term for ‘Confession of Faith’ or ‘Creed.’ And where is the Christian who reads only his Bible? And who can or should, neglect Christian history? If, in addition to reading the Bible, a Christian reads religious books, or if he listens to the sermons of his pastor, this extracurricular material, whether he has subscribed to it or not, is, to some degree, his Confession of Faith. We adopt the opinions and interpretations of others, almost without our notice or consent. The adoption of a Confession will offset and override what we unwittingly absorb. If what we read or hear does not come through men who are tethered to a good Confession, we are likely being led astray. Writers of Confessions were well-instructed scholars, even masters in the word of God. They were learned men; they were good men; they were praying men; they were holy men. Their works are what the Bible would call ‘bulwarks’: defensive structures built to resist assaults.
What follows from the use of a Confession for self-defense is circumspection. To be circumspect is ‘to be watchful on all sides’; this exercise is for the purpose of standing fast against winds of false doctrine. Circumspection leads to confidence concerning one’s beliefs; this, in turn, leads to ability and positive influence. Christians who are remembered for the impact that they have had, were usually catechized through the use of a Confession. They were effective Christians because they were circumspect and confident, which fitness had much to do with the Confession that they were catechized with. To worship in spirit and in truth, contrary winds need to be withstood. There is a biblical warrant for the use of a Confession. Here it is:
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4.11-15.)
Apostles and prophets are not with us anymore. Most of us will be agreed on that. But evangelists, pastors, and teachers are still being given to the Church. They are still given, “for the perfecting of the saints…till we all come in the unity of the faith…that we henceforth be no more children…carried about with every wind of doctrine.” This is the object of a Confession of Faith—to grow us up in the unity of our faith and to separate us from error. We might even say that the object of a Confession is to grow us up in the unity of our faith by separating us from error, or, ‘for the establishing of consent touching true religion,’ which amounts to the same thing (William Cunningham, The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, p. 166.) And this is why teachers and pastors have composed these Confessions. It is always the business of church leaders and fathers of families to lead the effort toward unity of faith; and they would do well to use faithful, well-formulated Confessions to do it. As a Christian becomes acquainted with Protestant history, he cannot but recognize that the pastors of our day do not compare well for excellence beside the men who drew up the old Creeds, Catechisms, Canons, and Confessions. Such articles cannot be surpassed nor equaled for concise, correct theology, especially as they deal with doctrinal matters of the utmost gravity. Reliable Confessions of Faith require the precision and caution that can be executed only by Assemblies of the soberest heads and warmest hearts. Where one man is weak, another is strong, and the whole together form a vanguard and a rereward to defend what is most holy. Together they are bands of critics and judges, making sure that nothing indispensable is missed; that nothing secondary supersedes; that nothing superfluous is allowed; that no pet dogmas are trumpeted; and that falsehoods are marked, disproved, and then routed by properly interpreted Scripture proofs. All that we do as Christians should be to the purpose of securing and maintaining close communion with God. Whichever doctrines are indispensable to this connection between God and man, the Reformed Confessions are excellent on. If a Christian knows these truths and meditates on them, he will experience better relations with God by such knowledge and exercise than by all the new Bible-study workbooks together: those popular fads (like the Alpha course) that are continuously being pressed upon churches by enthusiastic, though ignorant, pastors. To get the understanding that Solomon recommends in Proverbs, we need to know what to reach for. By gathering with others to apprehend something of the essentials of our faith, a bond of love may happen that is sweeter than average Christian unity, just as John was loved by Jesus in a special way. And this is best accomplished through the use of our Bible, with a reliable Confession to assist.
I come now to my intention in this article. Separation from—this is what I mean to emphasize as the way to holiness by the use of a Confession. There are three huge clogs to worship that a Confession may help to separate us from: Error, Uncertainty, and Inability. In the first head I aim to show how, by the use of a Confession, error is beaten down and cast aside.
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