My Credo
I have recently been writing again after a long, unnecessary hiatus. I decided to look back at some of my original works and came upon this. This was written on April 26, 2010. As of February 8th, 2013, not much, theologically speaking, has changed.
My Credo
As with any profession of faith, it is imperative that I acknowledge first that I am a Christian. However, what this title ‘Christian” specifically refers to, is the intention of this paper.
I believe in One God who is tri-personal— a Trinity. This Triune God reveals Himself in three personages: the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Neither is the other. The Father is distinct from the Son and vice-versa, and so, the Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. However, each person is ontologically equal, each sharing deity, and a distinctive personality. Although ontologically each person is on par with one another, the activities, or economics, of the Father, Son, and Spirit, are quite different. In terms of soteriology (the study of salvation; more on this later), it was the Father who elects (not the Son nor Spirit), the Son who atones (not the Father nor Spirit), and Spirit who regenerates and sanctifies (not the Father nor Son).
I believe that Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the incarnate Word made flesh, is the Savior of God’s elect and judge of all mankind. I believe He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered the burden and penalty of the sins of His people, died on a cross, buried, and resurrected on the third day. He now sits upon the right-hand of God, in place of authority and Lordship over all creation. I believe He will come again at the appointed time—when all His enemies are made a footstool under His feet.
I believe the Holy Spirit continues to work within the Church just as He has done since He was sent to do His regenerating and sanctifying work for the Church. I believe He inspired the writers of the canonical Scriptures and performed miracles through Christ’s apostles. However, the miracles and signs performed by the apostles were done as a vindication of their authority and fulfilled prophecy. I do not believe that the Spirit continues to bless the Church with His gifts that were exclusively for the apostles. This includes prophecy, tongues, and healings. With that said, however, I believe that the Spirit can still work and bestow the gift of tongues on Whomsoever He chooses. But I believe this to be rare if not entirely discontinued within most churches today.
I believe that the Holy Scriptures (the 66 books of the Protestant Bible) is self-authoritative and self-attesting to their majestic and divine origin. I believe the autographa (the original copies of the canonical Scriptures) were inspired by God and were without any error whatsoever. For a reason unknown to Man, but known by God, He chose to deliver this revelation without the direct access of the original copies. God has been faithful in preserving the message of these documents, although planning textual variations; but in these textual variations, God has not planned any erroneous doctrinal beliefs. The Scriptures are inerrant and infallible in their overall teachings about God, Man, salvation, etc. I believe the rule of interpreting the Scriptures is by the Scriptures themselves (Sola Scriptura); that is, when the interpretation of a position is Scripture is questioned, it is the point of the Church to examine other places where the Scriptures speak more clearly.
I believe that whatsoever comes to pass has been determined in advance by God. Every detail of history, personal or global, mundane or profound, has been foreordained by the total sovereignty of God. This includes the choices of men, their wicked choices, evil, our prayers, and men’s eternal abode, heaven and hell. In respect to the lapsarian views, I find both views wanting and an “impossible presumption”; however, I find agreement with the infralapsarians if I must hold to one. God has the prerogative to do whatsoever He pleases with His creation, even choosing the eternal destiny of men before their historical creation. God has chosen the Elect solely by His grace and condemned the Reprobate by His own justice. I do not believe that God is author of sin; instead He has determined the choices of men and determined that they would choose to do them freely—without coercion. I believe the doctrine of predestination is the very root of the gospel, in that, “we love God because He first loved us”.
I believe that the view postmillennialism/partial preterism is the best expression of Biblical eschatological views. I believe that Christ’s Second Coming will happen after a “gospel-prospering” age. Most of the prophecies spoken about in Revelations were fulfilled during God’s judgment against the Jews for the rejection of their King and Messiah, Jesus Christ, i.e. when the Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. However, the prophecies of Satan’s final rebellion, his final judgment, and the general Resurrection and Judgment of the Dead, are yet to be fulfilled.
I believe that Cornelius Van Til’s presupposition apologetics is the best and faithful methodology for defending the veracity of the Christian faith. The Classical and Evidential methodology erroneously assumes that the unregenerate Man can interpret the evidence in an unbiased and neutral fashion. This is not the case. The unregenerate heart is vindictive of God’s truth, suppressive, and hostile towards God Himself. The believer must rest solely upon Christ and His Word, and to reject this presupposition would be to operate on “sand”. The believer’s job, then, is to promulgate the truth of the Christianity as a system of thought over against the unbeliever’s, while performing an internal critique of his worldview to show the utter foolishness, incoherence, and defect it tries to hide.
