“It’s striking that Paul regards ‘divisiveness’ as those who depart from sound doctrine.” While we might define “divisiveness” as taking a strict stance on doctrines, Paul’s definition was the opposite. Divisiveness, for Paul, was anything that went loosey-goosey with the given gospel.

This weekend I had the fantastic opportunity to listen to and lunch with Thabiti Anyabwile and Carl Trueman at New England Reformed Fellowship’s annual Bolton Conference. The men are a wealth of biblical wisdom, so these quotes are just a foretaste. I’ll post Trueman’s best today, and Thabiti’s Thursday. The topic for Trueman (who blogs regularly at Reformation 21) was the role of creeds and confessions in the church. Here’s what he had to say:

1. “It’s striking that Paul regards ‘divisiveness’ as those who depart from sound doctrine.” While we might define “divisiveness” as taking a strict stance on doctrines, Paul’s definition was the opposite. Divisiveness, for Paul, was anything that went loosey-goosey with the given gospel.

2. “Scripture is the norming norm, creeds are the normed norm.” Scripture is always our ultimate authority – but we can still say that creeds are a church’s normative doctrines and practices, because they were created from Scripture. In that sense, creeds have authority.

3. “Awareness of our beliefs creates security in our stance.” Trueman and Thabiti took a few fun jabs at one another from a Presbyterian and Baptist perspective, but Trueman acknowledged that the reason they could be both serious and light-hearted was that they both knew exactly where they stood on the issue, and why. When people aren’t sure of the what and why of their beliefs, they often substitute a temper tantrum – creeds aid this problem.

4. “If you don’t write your creeds, no one can critique them. Creeds strip us of magisterial authority.” Despite common misconceptions, creeds actually dis-empower pastors from a form of papal authority. Creeds lay out the church’s stances on scripture and a.) Let everyone search the scriptures and evaluate the pastor’s stance and b.) Keep the pastor from imposing personal preferences (Don’t smoke, or chew, or run with those who do, etc.) Saying “No creed but the Bible” makes the pastor king of interpretation.

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