To be honest, one of the most serious problems of Protestantism has been its tendency to split into factions. Douglas Woodruff, for example, tells of ‘an industrious German, the father of a large family, who, with the help of willing child labour compiled a dictionary of Protestant sects. His name is Grundler, and he has often kept his children in on a Sunday to help him arrange the cards, listing 2,639 different Christian denominations, the glorious fruit of the Protestant Reformation.’…
A variety of creedal or confessional statements can be found in the Bible, Deut 6:4-5; 26:5-9; Mar 8:29; 1 Cor 8:6; 12:3; 15:3-7; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Tim 3:16.
Christian creeds are catholic, in the sense that they seek to express the faith of the whole church, rather than just a sectarian minority. They are communal, in the sense that they belong to the whole community, not just an individual theologian.
The best-known creeds are:-
1. …
What does the word ‘church’ conjure up in your mind. A building? A denomination? A vocation? A slot in the diary?
The Christian church is the society of believers, united to one another and to Christ by love and faith in him. It is a congregation that belongs to God by divine election. ‘What the apostles meant by a church was not an edifice with pulpit, chancel and pews, but a congregation or society of regenerated people built together like living stones and content to meet in some upper room in private dwellings like that of Mary, mother of John Mark.’ …
The term ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ is used by Pentecostalists and some charismatics to refer to a ‘second blessing’ of the Christian subsequent to the experience of conversion. It is seen as a full reception of, or release by, the Holy Spirit, issuing in the exercise of any of a number of ‘spiritual gifts’ including, for many, the gift of tongues.
This understanding is attended by a number of problems.
1. The expression ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ (or something similar) occurs some seven times in the New Testament. …
1 Cor 11:23-26 – ‘For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” …
1. I can think of some churches that would be even emptier if the gospel were preached in them. (W.R. Inge)
2. There are some churches so completely out of the hands of God that if the Holy Spirit withdrew from them they wouldn’t find it out for many months. (A.W. Tozer)
3. Christ is the King of the church, and the church is the greatest queen in the world. (William Gurnall)
4 If we ever forget our basic charter – “My house is a house of prayer” – we may as well shut the church doors. …
In addition to our plentiful resources of contemporary hymns and worship songs, we have a rich and varied heritage of traditional hymnody to draw on for our public worship.
The principle of modernising the language of older hymns is a sound one. Such modernisation has the potential not only to improve comprehensibility but also to reflect important changes in language usage (including inclusive language, where this is compatible with our understanding of scriptural theology). Modern language can also help to convey the important sense that God belongs to today as well as to yesterday.…
The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches see their clergy as priests, especially in relation to their role at the eucharist. The Council of Trent affirmed that the mass was a sacrifice offered to God, and the human priest who offered it represented Christ and his sacrifice of himself. The Second Vatican Council endorsed this view, stating that priests are given power to offer sacrifice.
The word hiereus’ (sacrificing priest) occurs many times in the NT, with reference to pagan priests, Acts 14:13, to the Jewish priesthood, and to Christ, our great High Priest, Heb 10:12. …
For some people, the charismatic way is the best way, the biblical way, God’s way for us today. They want all Christians to be charismatic Christians; they want all churches to be charismatic churches. This is the stance of John Leach, for example, in his delightful book entitled, The Spirit Comes (as part of the package), (Marshall Pickering, 2001). Some might think that such people have gone too far. Actually, I don’t think they go far enough, and here’s why.…
