“Deeds not creeds,” has been the battle cry of many a progressive Christian movement over the past hundred years. The proponents of such a statement believe that our actions and behaviors as Christians are far more important than statements of belief. Opponents of the motto point out that without statements of belief it is difficult, if not impossible, to know what actions are acceptable in the Christian realm. Is there relevance to studying dusty old documents of dogma, or should we simply let “our actions speak louder than our words”?
“For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Romans 10:10) No mention of actions here. We are to simply state, sometimes in confessions or doctrinal statements, what the object of our faith is. God’s gift of faith enables us to believe in Christ’s redemptive work and trust it implicitly for our own personal salvation. This needs to be stated clearly to the world along with “teaching them to observe all that I [Jesus] have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20) Yet, all man-made organizations need to regularly self-check to ensure that their statements—and their behavior!—still adhere to faithful Bible teaching and, if not, adjust the statement or the behavior.
“But someone will say ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. . . . But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:18, 20 NKJV) The early church fathers knew the importance of putting forth creeds and statements of belief; however, without the actions demonstrating the faith proclaimed in those documents, what would be the point?
It is with the heartfelt belief that both deeds and creeds are the opposite sides of the same coin that we take a look at one of our important documents of the past.
On the website for the Church of the Lutheran Confession, we state that the CLC member churches believe that the Bible, “is the inspired and unerring Word of God.” We also, “confess the creeds of the Lutheran Church without qualification,” especially as put forth in the Book of Concord of 1580. (clclutheran.org) The CLC has also officially adopted another doctrinal statement that is perhaps not as well known. Since our synod has declared the doctrines contained in this document are true and scriptural, it would be good for us to familiarize ourselves with its contents.
A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod is the lengthy title of what is commonly called the Brief Statement of 1932. (https://clclutheran.org/) Just click the “Library” tab, then “Doctrinal Platform” in the drop-down menu. The content and layout of the Brief Statement will be familiar to anyone who has read Franz Pieper’s or J. T. Mueller’s Christian Dogmatics.
Statements of doctrine are put forth along with passages which validate the teaching. Some of the doctrinal positions are also followed by statements of belief that we reject because of their anti-scriptural stance.
The Brief Statement arose out of a need to give a clear clarion call to the world (1 Corinthians 14:8), as well as to refute the false teachings that were gaining ground in the early 20th century and are prominent again in our day. We too should be ready in season and out to speak the Word of life (2 Timothy 4:2). We should also welcome critiques of and challenges to what we teach. We are told after all to “test the spirits.” (1 John 4:1) We should welcome others to test us in our faith and doctrine as well.
Let us pray the Holy Spirit to always give us the courage we need to present a clear and concise defense of our faith and doctrines.
is a retired teacher. He lives in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.