REFORMED WITNESS
Volume VI, January 1998, Number 1
Introductory: The Heidelberg Catechism as a Symbol
from the book
The Triple Knowledge, An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism
by Herman Hoeksema
Our Heidelberg Catechism is part of our Reformed heritage. It belongs to the Reformed Symbols or Confessions. The other parts, that with the Heidelberger constitute the Three Forms Of Unity, are the Netherland or Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dordrecht. Our age is not characterized by a clear knowledge of and love of distinct doctrine. Creeds do not meet with much favor in the church of today. Some churches still have creeds but without being acquainted with their contents; others have so abbreviated their confessions that they contain no distinctive doctrine at all; many have adopted the deceiving slogan: "no creed but Christ." Our churches still value their Reformed heritage as contained in the Forms of Unity. An attempt is made to acquaint our people with their contents. Often our young people are instructed in the doctrine as expressed by the Netherland Confession and the Canons. And it is still the established custom in our churches to preach once a Sunday from the Heidelberg Catechism in such a way that no Lord's Day is omitted. Before we enter upon the exposition of our Heidelberg Catechism, as we shall try to do in the following chapters, it may not be superfluous to say a few words about creeds or symbols in general, and about our Heidelberg Catechism as a symbol in particular.
A symbol may be defined as a declaration by a church or group of churches of what such a church or group of churches believes to be the truth of the Word of God or the true doctrine concerning salvation. Symbols are also called confessions or creeds. By the name symbol is expressed that the church or group of churches that framed a particular statement of doctrine consider this their ensign. Just as a nation has its flag which serves as a symbol of its nationality in distinction from other nations, so a church has its authoritative declaration of doctrine as a symbol or ensign, representing the catholic faith of the church over against the world, or the particular faith of a certain church in distinction from other churches. The word creed is derived from the Latin word credere meaning "to believe." By this term, therefore, is expressed that a church or group of churches regards its statement of the truth as an object of faith. A symbol is not a mere compendium of doctrine or system of dogmatics, but it is the setting forth of those truths, which a whole church or denomination of churches embraces as the object of its belief. It is living truth. And by the term confession the idea is set forth that a group of believers or churches openly profess their faith in unison with one another and with their Lord Jesus Christ. There are many different kinds and forms of creeds. Some are very brief and comprehensive, setting forth the mere essentials of the catholic Christian faith, as the "Apostles' Creed" and the Nicene Creed. Others are more elaborate and specific, and offer a more or less detailed exposition of the truth as professed by a certain church, as the Westminster Confession. To the latter belong also the Netherland Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. Still other confessions limit themselves to the exposition and defense of certain particular points of doctrine. To these belong the Canons of Dordrecht, setting forth the faith of the Reformed Churches concerning the "Five Points of Calvinism."
True creeds or symbols are not the result of abstract theological contemplation. They are rather to be conceived as spiritual children of the faith of the church. The believers individually, and also the Church of Christ collectively, are set in the midst of the world to be witnesses of the truth of God. The Church may not be silent, especially not as it stands in antithetical relation to the world of darkness. Its calling is to bear testimony in opposition to the lie. It partly meets this obligation through its confessions or symbols. But it also lives by faith in Christ. And faith has in it the urge to speak. The believing Church loves the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and as it is contained in the Holy Scriptures. It loves to contemplate that truth, strives more and more fully to understand it and to appropriate it by faith, and has the desire to witness of that truth before all the world. Thus creeds are born from the faith of the Church in contact with the Holy Scriptures. Schaff says: "Faith, like all strong conviction, has a desire to utter itself before others - 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh'; 'I believe, therefore I confess' (Credo, ergo confiteor)." Although, therefore, theology certainly may and does aid the Church in formulating its creeds, they are never the product of abstract theological thinking but the spontaneous expression of the faith of the church. They are born, not made. A live church will certainly have its creed, just as a living believer must needs bear testimony of the truth.
And thus we already touched upon the question of the value of symbols or creeds. They are valuable because they serve as a means whereby the whole church may express her faith over against all the world, or by which a group of churches may declare what they believe to be the truth of the Word of God in distinction from other churches. As has been stated, it is the calling of the Church in the midst of the world to let her light shine and bear witness of the truth, to maintain that truth in opposition to every form of the lie. She does this through her confessions as her medium. In the second place, they serve as a bond of union and a basis upon which a certain group of churches may unite. Just as a flag is not merely an ensign representing the distinctive nationality of a certain people in the midst of other nations, but also serves as a symbol around which a particular nation rallies; so a particular group of churches rallies around a certain confession as the symbol of its unity. In the third place, confessions or creeds are means to preserve the truth as it is delivered to us from the past in the line of generations. It is true that the whole truth is contained in the Holy Scriptures. But the Scriptures are the revelation of God in Christ as it was given in the process of a history of many centuries and culminated in Christ. They offer no ready made system of doctrine. It is the need, and also the calling of the Church to elicit from these Scriptures the truth in doctrinal form. This is difficult labor, which often finds an incentive in the opposition of false teachers. However, this work need not and may not be started anew by the Church of every age. God establishes His covenant and Church in the line of continued generations, in order that one generation may enter into the fruit of the labor of another. Thus the truth is preserved from age to age under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And creeds serve as means to transmit the truth and preserve it from one generation to the next. In close connection with the immediately preceding, finally, must be mentioned that symbols or confessions are excellent means of instructing the youth of the Church. If a creed is to remain the expression of the faith of a church or group of churches, it stands to reason that the individual members of such a church or churches must be acquainted with its contents. The Church must instruct its members, particularly its children and youth, in its doctrine. For this purpose its creeds may be found to be excellent aids, if not textbooks. For many reasons, therefore, it is expedient that the Church preserve and maintain her symbols.
Confessions have no authority other than derivative, that is, their authority can never replace or be put on a par with that of the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God is and must remain the sole authority in the life of the individual believer and of the Church of Jesus Christ. This does not mean, of course, that they have no authority whatsoever. For, they are a reflection of the truth of the Word of God in the believing consciousness of the Church, and authoritatively expressed by the Church, unto which our Lord Jesus Christ has given the power of the keys and the promise of the guidance of the Holy Spirit into all the truth. And those that submit themselves to the government of the Church that is based upon a certain creed are certainly under the authority of that creed and bound by it. But it does mean that a creed can never be the final court of appeal. Confessions and traditions must always be based on the Scriptures. And with the Scriptures they must constantly be compared, and in their light their truth must be judged. The contents of the Scriptures can never be subject to the criticism of the believer or of the Church, but the doctrinal declarations of the confessions must really constantly be subject to such criticism. Scripture cannot be altered or developed, confessions may and should. The Bible is infallible, the creed of the Church is not. Hence, the confessions must constantly be gauged by the Scriptures. A church that fails to do this lapses into confessionalism and dead intellectualism.
This does not mean that the individual believer has the right or power to alter the confession of the church of which he is a member, nor does he have the right to propagate views that are in conflict with the creed of his church. One that takes his confession seriously will not even easily reach the conclusion that the doctrine as set forth in the symbols of his church is erroneous. He will remember that the symbols are the product of long and earnest labor and struggle on the part of the Church, and that she was guided, too, by the Holy Spirit. But if, after serious consideration and prayerful study, a believer cannot escape the conviction that with respect to a certain doctrine the creed of his church is in conflict with the Bible, he will reveal his objections to the church, and try to persuade her to rectify the error. He will do this in the proper way, which in the Reformed Churches is the way of consistory, classis and synod. If he fails to convince the church, and if the doctrinal point of difference is sufficiently serious and fundamental, the way is always open to him to join himself to a purer manifestation of the body of Christ on earth. However, this may be, the confession can never have other authority than such as it derives from the Scripture, and appeal from the creed to the Bible must always remain possible.
If this is borne in mind, one will find little difficulty in answering the various objections that have been and still are often raised against creeds as such. Some of the main objections are the following: 1. The church needs no creed; the Bible is sufficient for the faith and instruction of the believers. 2. Creeds impede the development of the truth and stand in the way of unprejudiced exegesis of Holy Writ. 3. Confessions force and bind the conscience of the believer, subjecting him to doctrines of men rather than to the Word of God only. 4. They are the cause of much false religious zeal, engender strifes and contentions, breathe the spirit of sectarianism and cause hopeless division in the Church of Christ. 5. The result is often doctrinal indifferentism and skepticism. This explains why the age of Confessionalism in the church of the seventeenth century was followed by that of Rationalism and apostasy in the eighteenth. Our general reply to these objections may be that improper emphasis on the importance of symbols may be the occasion of the abuses mentioned, but all these objections fall away as long as the Church remembers that the confessions can never take the place of, nor be placed on a par with Holy Writ, and that their contents must always be gauged by the teaching of the Bible. The truth of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture cannot be used as an argument to defend denial or ignoring of the labor of the Church in the past as it is expressed in the confessions. If symbols, moreover, are kept in their proper place, that is, in subjection to Scripture, they will surely not impede the development of the truth, or obstruct free exegesis, for then the principle will be maintained that in no case may the doctrine of the Church dominate the interpretation of the Bible. Again, as long as the Church maintains the truth that the authority of creeds is only derivative, individual believers will always find the way open to appeal to Scripture if they have objections against the confessions, and their conscience is not bound. Nor can it be said that the symbols of the Church are the cause of division and contention; on the contrary, it is heresy and false doctrine that must be blamed for these evils. And the movement to establish church-union by obliterating distinctive creeds can only impoverish the Church doctrinally, and induce doctrinal indifferentism, thus making the Church a prey to the false philosophy of the world.
The book The Triple Knowledge, An Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism, by Herman Hoeksema, is available from the Reformed Free Publishing Association.
| Back to top | Back to main Reformed Witness page |
The Reformed Witness newsletter is published monthly under the auspices of the Evangelism Committee of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Redlands. This newsletter is available to anyone who is interested in the Reformed Faith. If you would like your name added to our mailing list, please write to:The Reformed Witness
Hope Protestant Reformed Church
1307 E. Brockton Ave.
Redlands, CA 92374-3802
or email us: