Calvin Synod Herald, 1992 (92. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1992-05-01 / 3. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 6 —

REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

istential being. We do believe with the conviction of the Apostle expressed in the Epistle to the Ephesians “...eager to maintain the unity of the spirit...no longer tossed to and fro...with every kind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, rather than speaking the truth in love, in him who is the head, who is Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 4:3, 14, 15.

“We do believe with the conviction of our forefathers ‘in the unity of true faith.’ (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 54). The foundation stone of our whole Calvinistic faith is the Sovereignty of God. The sole rule of the will of God. “In Him who is the head, who is Christ Jesus.” We cannot unite without immeasurable danger — with those for whom the head is the human will instead of the divine will.”

Contrary to the opinion of the UCC Executive Committee at is October meeting this year, while one could say Calvin Synod also has a “concern for the unity of the United Church of Christ,” it cannot be concluded that it has a firm “commitment to a church in which diverse understandings of God’s word for us are received and honored.” It knows too well that a major point of the Reformation was that unity cannot be maintained at the cost of truth or of disobedience to the word of God. As Dr. Szabó said years ago, the Synod today regrets the form of the UCC Constitution which “unfortunately does not guarantee any longer the specific Reformed character of the Geneva Reformation...”

The charges of the Executive Council that persons are “divisive and destructive not only to the persons who are charged, but also to the unity of the church,” or involved in “an irresponsible fracturing of our oneness in Christ,” reminds us of the charges by Cardinal Sadolet against John Calvin and his colleagues. In claiming that the criticism and rejection of false ideas and abominations was undesirable because it caused division in the Church, Sadolet faced the fire in Calvin’s pen:

“Do those who contend against such evils declare war against the Church?

Do they not rather assist her in extreme distress? yet you would take credit for your obedience and humility in refraining, through veneration for the Church, from applying your hand to the removal of these abominations. What has a Christian man to do with the prevaricating obedience that boldly despises the Word of God, and yields homage to human vanity?...in a word, let our Church be one whose supreme concern it is to humbly and religiously to venerate the Word of God, and submit in obedience to it.”

VIII

Calvin Synod’s members were content in a denomination that definitively affirmed in the Constitution of the Evangelical and Reformed Church: Doctrine

3 The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are recognize as the Word of God and the ultimate rule of Christian faith and practice.

4 a. The doctrinal standards of the Evangelical and Reformed Church are the Heidelberg Catechism, Luther’s Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. They are accepted as an authoritative interpretation of the essential truth taught in the Holy Scriptures.

b. Wherever these doctrinal standards differ, ministers, members and congregations, in accordance with the liberty of conscience inherent in the gospel, are allowed to adhere to the interpretation of one of these confessions. However, in each case the final norm is the Word of God.

Fundamental to the division in the UCC, and most other denominations today, is the disagreement over the meaning of “Word of God”. President Sherry represents one perspective when he writes: “In and through Scripture the Word of God is made real for us. Jesus Christ, declares the First Chapter

of St. John, is the Word of God. The Bible witnesses to the Word. Therefore, Scripture demands interpretation in the context of a Christian community and, inevitably, differing interpretations of Scripture and its requirements will emergy...All of us are God’s beloved seeking to find God’s way for us in holy scripture, in the faith of the historic church, and in God’s call to us through the Holy Spirit in our time.”

On the other hand are those who, like John Calvin, assert that the Bible is the Word of God, through which He is Himself the chief teacher of His Church. “What then is the Word of God which gives us life; what but the law, the prophets, and the gospel?... We have to do with the Word which came forth from God’s mouth and was given to us. So once again, we are to acknowledge that God’s will is to speak to us by the mouths of the apostles and prophets, and that their mouths are to us as the mouth of the only true God.”

In commentary on II Timothy 3:16-17 (“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,...”) he writes: “All Scripture, or the whole of it; both phrases mean the same. He now continues with his praise of Scripture which had been much too brief. He commends first its authority by teaching that it is inspired by God, and then the usefulness which proceeds from it. He asserts its authority by teaching that it is inspired by God. If this is the case, men should recieve it reverently and without further argument. Our religion is distinguished from all others in that the prophets have spoken not of themselves, but as instruments of the Holy Spirit; and what they have brought to us, they received by holy commission. Any man then who would profit by the Scriptures, must hod first of all and firmly that the teaching of the law and the prophets came to us not by the will of man, but as dictated by the Holy Spririt.” (Continued in our next issue)