While our basis of faith as
Christians and as a church must always be the Scriptures, there is much benefit in the help, insight,
and encouragement to be found in historic expressions
of our faith: statements, confessions, and the like which seek to clearly
and concisely communicate Christian belief in what amounts to a basic preview of
the Bible’s teaching on certain key points. Often, these documents are drawn up
in relation or reaction to particular challenges faced by the churches.
I came across one such
statement this week that I had somehow missed previously. In the latter part of
the nineteenth century, liberal theology was beginning to do significant damage
to the worship and witness of churches in Great Britain. Professing Christians,
headed by compromising church leaders, were rejecting core beliefs. They no
longer believed that the Bible was God’s word. They believed that much if not
most of the Old Testament was mythological fiction. They denied important
aspects of God’s sovereignty in salvation, Christ’s work on the cross, and the
Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. They rejected the reality of eternal
punishment for unrepentant sinners in hell. They spiritualised the events of
the end times to the point that even the clear parts of this more mysterious and
complex part of the Bible’s teaching were muddied. Against the tide of
falsehood, known to some as 'the Downgrade', a group of 30 Christian ministers, some Baptists and some not,
issued the following simple but effective avowal of belief:
We,
the undersigned, banded together in Fraternal Union, observing with growing
pain and sorrow the loosening hold of many upon the Truths of Revelation, are
constrained to avow our firmest belief in the Verbal Inspiration of all Holy
Scripture as originally given. To us, the Bible does not merely contain the
Word of God, but is the Word of God. From beginning to end, we accept it,
believe it, and continue to preach it. To us, the Old Testament is no less
inspired than the New. The Book is an organic whole. Reverence for the NEW Testament accompanied by scepticism as
to the OLD appears to us absurd. The two must stand or fall together. We accept
Christ's own verdict concerning "Moses and all the prophets" in
preference to any of the supposed discoveries of so-called higher criticism.
We
hold and maintain the truths generally known as "the doctrines of
grace." The Electing Love of God the Father, the Propitiatory and
Substitutionary Sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, Regeneration by the Holy
Ghost, the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness, the Justification of the
sinner (once for all) by faith, his walk in newness of life and growth in grace
by the active indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and the Priestly Intercession of
our Lord Jesus, as also the hopeless perdition of all who reject the Saviour,
according to the words of the Lord in Matthew 25:46, "These shall go away
into eternal punishment,"—are, in our judgment, revealed and fundamental
truths.
Our
hope is the Personal Pre-millennial Return of the Lord Jesus in glory.
C. H. SPURGEON J.A. BROWN, M.D. F.B. MONTI
A. G. BROWN J.G. COX J.S. MORRIS
J. DOUGLAS, M.A. E.J. FARLEY H. SINCLAIR PATERSON, M.D.
W. FULLER GOOCH A. FERGUSSON FRANK M. SMITH
G. D. HOOPER FINLAY GIBSON CHARLES SPURGEON
J. STEPHENS, M.A. CHARLES GRAHAM J.L. STANLEY
FRANK H. WHITE J.W. HARRALD H. E. STONE
J. H. BARNARD W. JACKSON W. THOMAS
J. WESLEY BOUD W. R. LANE GEORGE TURNER
W. H. BROAD H.O. MACKEY W. WILLIAMS
The names of some of the men who signed – C. H. Spurgeon for example –
are still remembered today. Those of others are mostly forgotten. What should
never be forgotten though is their message, in word and example, to a church culture that was turning
its back on biblical faith and practice.
This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 16 November 2014.
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