I don’t expect that I’ll write many proper “reviews” as they typically weigh the pros and cons of a particular book, offering rebuttals and alternative takes. While I may wish to do that on occasion, that is not usually how I approach a book I am reading. If it is a book that I am not enthused about, I still look for the proverbial needle of truth in the haystack of error that I can benefit from and share with others. My typical approach will be to provide a summary while highlighting points that I believe would be beneficial for the members of CRBC to consider. Reviews on books that I believe are in error will be treated differently and I will attempt to offer a fair critique with appropriate warnings.
This week I read J.V. Fesko’s latest book “The Need for Creeds Today: Confessional Faith in a Faithless Age.” I did not find it to be as accessible as Carl Trueman’s book “The Creedal Imperative” (I’ll write something up on that one some day), but it was interesting, especially from a historical vantagepoint, and did make some helpful points.
J.V. Fesko is a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and is professor of systematic and historical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi.
Besides the “Introduction” and “Conclusions” sections, the book is only five chapters long consisting of the following:
1. Biblical Arguments for Confessions
2.Reformed Confessions (1500-1700)
3. Causes of Deconfessionalization
4.Benefits of Confessions
5.Confessions and Piety
If you are the average reader, you typically skip the Introduction and jump straight into chapter one. I used to do the same until I spent sometime with theologians who, out of necessity, were faced with the task reading volume after volume to keep up with the latest trends in academia. I asked several how they did it. Stanley Grenz told me that his approach was to read the Introduction to a book and, then, the final chapter. After doing this he knew what the book was about and, being familiar with most theological approaches, was able to basically skim through books rather than having to read them word for word. He insisted this is what most academics do as there is simply too much to be read to be able to read each book thoroughly. Not having the intellect of a professional theologian, I have to read more thoroughly and slowly, but I found his approach to be very helpful and I commend it to you.
In Fesko’s Introduction, before outlining the book and his intentions in writing it, he traces the course of American history to explain why most churches today are non-confessional. He considers Ralph Waldo Emerson who embodied the distrust of tradition that we find common today. In his work “Nature,” Emerson asked why we should only look at religion through the eyes of those who have come before us: “Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?...There are new lands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and worship” (pg. xiii). This individualism gripped these new United States and, mixed with an appreciation for the mystical, set the stage for today’s church’s tendency to “carve out their own private religious beliefs”(pg. xv).
Chapter One
In chapter one, Fesko helpfully lays out his “Biblical Arguments for Confessions.” He points the reader to 8 biblical texts that he believes are examples of God’s people taking authoritative revelation, reflecting upon it, and restating it for future generations.
14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
When the Israelites would gather their families to celebrate Passover, the parents were to tell the story and explain the significance to their children. This was to be done from generation to generation.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
Verses 4 and 5 compose what is commonly known as the “Shema.” It is Israel’s fundamental statement of faith. God clearly wanted Israel to confess their faith in a way that protected orthodox belief and served as the grounds for catechizing their children (see verses 6-9).
a) 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
b) 1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
c) 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
d) 11 The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
e) 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
In each of these passages, Paul restates what Jesus said regarding himself as well as other biblical teachings. “This is a trustworthy saying,” presents the restatement in a confessional way. “The fundamental principle that underlies them all is that the church appropriated scriptural revelation, restated it in its own terms, and promulgated it within the church” (pg. 10).
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Jude wrote his epistle to combat false teachers and, to do so, he contends that the church has been entrusted with a deposit of truth that it must pass on from generation to generation.
Fesko argues that these passages demonstrate that the Bible itself provides confessions of faith which are intended to be passed from generation to generation. It is important, however, that
one must distinguish between the inspired and inerrant teaching of Scripture and its subsequent, uninspired explanations and interpretations. God explains the significance of the Passover and tells parents what to say to their children about it (Exod. 13:14-16). But surely the children’s questions will beyond the divinely given catechetical answer, which means that parents will have to interpret the event and its divinely revealed explanation to provide relevant answers. This patter unfolds in Paul’s “trustworthy sayings.” These sayings have no direct precedent. They are not quotations from earlier revelation but summary restatements of biblical truths. These sayings show that the church, from the very beginning, has reflected on biblical revelation, interpreted it, and restated it in its own words (pg. 14).
Fesko argues that this is not unlike the practice of prayer or preaching within the church.
Chapter Two
In chapter two, Fesko gives a history of Reformed Confessions from 1500-1700. For those who love church history, this section is quite fascinating as he provides the context and the principal drafters of each confession. He pushes back on those who argue that the confessions are too scholastic and create too many strict boundaries between believers by pointing out that the confessions arose, in large part, to educate their members and train new ministers in the face of challenges from Roman Catholics, Remonstrant (i.e. Arminians), Lutheran and Anabaptist teachings. Fesko writes: “Their doctrinal precision was driven not by rigid dogmatism but by pastoral concern” (pg. 38). He also notes that the confessions are actually more broad than they appear at first glance. Reformation-era confessions were often written by a single person, but post-Reformation confessions (such as the Westminster Confession and the 1689) were composed by large gatherings of theologians, some of whom disagreed sharply on several matters. There are instances that he points to where more strict statements were relaxed to allow for a broader coalition of signers.
Chapter Three
Chapter three turns to the causes of “deconfessionalization.”This is not primarily an examination of today’s cultural climate, but a historical survey starting in the 1600’s which reveals at least four causes for the abandonment of confessions (he lists them as three, lumping one and two together, but I find it more helpful to separate them). First, there were several European wars whose beginnings are traced to theological divisions. For those war-weary souls who lived through them, confessionalism was equated with intolerance and bloodshed. Second, many post-Reformation theologians proved to be lax in their practice of church discipline. This led to those who were disenchanted with the hypocrisy in confessional churches to turn to more mystic non-confessional teachers and churches. Third, the Enlightenment introduced the notions of individualism(see the earlier quote by Emerson) that attacked the church from without. Lastly, modernism has taken a toll with its focus on skepticism, the separation of the church and the academy, higher criticism, etc. has eroded the church’s trust in those who came before us and the confessions they composed.
Chapter Four
In chapter four, Fesko turns to presenting several benefits confessions offer to the church. The bottom line is that confessions help the church to distinguish truth from falsehood. Not every teaching is right and confessions help to provide guardrails to keep the church orthodox. As an example, Fesko points to the Westminster Confession’s treatment of justification and contrasts it to the Roman Catholic view and that of Arminians. Secondly, Fesko points again to the fact that there was some ambiguity worked into the post-Reformation confessions that allowed for a broader embrace and, thus, a means by which separate groups might unite. Lastly, “one of the most important benefits of a confession of faith is that it ideally captures and preserves the church’s historic witness to Christ…we must stand on the shoulders of giants in order to catch a glimpse of the glory of the triune God” (pg. 89). In making this point, Fesko points to the fact that the Reformers often, themselves, turned to the patristics. Calvin quoted Chrysostom, Basil of Caesarea, Cyprian, Ambrose and Augustine and the Westminster Confession borrowed language from the Nicene Creed to explain the relationship between the persons of the Godhead. Fesko quotes the 1689 approvingly: “We have no itch to clogg Religion with new words, but do readily acquiesce in that form of sound words, which hath been in consent with the holy Scriptures, used by others before us” (pg. 93).
Chapter Five
Finally, in chapter five Fesko warns against worldliness among confessors. The confessions should not be used as justification for fighting with brothers. We should approach others in humility, recognizing our unity in Christ and turning to our confessions “to shed the light of truth rather than to bring the heat of discord (pg. 115).”
All in all, “The Need for Creeds Today” provides a cogent argument for why CRBC has been wise to adopt the 1689 as our confession of faith and for why we should pray that other churches would do the same.
