VI. The Diversity of Confession
CHAPTER VI
The Diversity of Confession We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. - Acts 2:11.
In the first days, the short, brief confession, that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God, was sufficient for the church.
But this time of simple, child-like faith did not and could not continue long. The opposition from without as well as the awakening of thought within her own circle compelled the church to give more and more a clearer and plainer account of the contents of her faith.
And from that moment all manner of difference and dispute revealed itself. The unity of confession was soon and forever lost. Although the church and state in all times, by all manner of compulsion tried to retain the unity of confession, even if it were but in appearance, the process of dividing and separating has proceeded even unto the present day. There is everywhere discord and controversy amongst
Christians. Churches and individuals in the name of Christ and calling upon His Word stand in opposition and enmity to one another. The multiformity of the Christian faith yet increases continually. A restoration of unity need no longer be expected in this world.
In this division and separation of Christians lies a great disappointment. We have, have we not, only one God, the Father, out
of whom are all things and we unto Him, and only one Lord Jesus Christ, by and through whom are all things and we through Him?
The Church is one body and one spirit, even as she is called in one hope of her calling, and possesses only one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Jesus, Himself, prayed for the unity of His disciples, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. Thus we might also expect that the confession which flows from the lips of the Church should be one.
But even more than this, the existing division and separation is not only a grievous disappointment, it is also a great sin before God. As Christians we cannot humble ourselves enough on account of it. It is a great and weighty accusation against us, because it especially finds its cause in the darkness of our understandings and the uncharitableness of our hearts.
Neither may this division and separation be alleviated by saying, that the confessions, which have gradually come to stand side by side in the Christian Church, are to be considered as different expressions of one and the same truth. For these confessions do not differ only in words and expressions, in language and style, but they often stand in contradiction with each other respecting the matter itself, so that one confirms what the other denies. Election of grace or because of a foreseen faith; justification by faith alone or because of the works of love; the spiritual or corporeal presence of Christ in His supper are not different names for the same fact, but they are interpretations which contradict each other. The diversity of confession must not and may not be confused with the errors, which because of the darkness of our understandings can creep in. We cannot and we may not therefore be indifferent or neutral with respect to the confessions which have come up and now continue to exist side by side in the Christian Church. We may admire the good intentions of those
Christians, who in former or in latter times, have attempted to preserve or even restore this very much desired unity in the Church of Christ, be it either by compulsory or by artificial means.
But nevertheless we must remember and take into consideration that all of these attempts, in spite of the most excellent intentions, have had no other result, than that the truth became falsified, the liberty became suppressed and very often the diversity was increased. For he, who out of impartiality separates himself from all parties, stands in great danger of becoming the head of a new party himself.
Furthermore we must never forget that God also has His hand in history and that He therein executes His wise counsel and judgment.
His providence governs all things, so that nothing takes place by chance, and especially not in the Christian Church of which Christ has in a specific sense been anointed Head and King by the Father.
The ever increasing divisions and separations in Christendom is a fact which cannot take place without God's government—it is accepted and determined in His counsel and with it He no doubt has
His own high and wise purposes.
Now, although because of this we may in no way justify sin which appears and works in this division, nevertheless on the other hand it is not right to overlook the great good which has been brought about by and through this diversity. What man has thought evil, God has often meant for good. Out of darkness He can bring forth light; out of death, life; out of the shame of man honor and glory for His name. So far is God from evil and the Almighty from unrighteousness that He can even suppress and use sin to labor to the glory of His perfections and the establishment of His Kingdom.
As soon as the truth, proclaimed by Christ and His apostles, reflected itself in the human mind it was, most likely immediately, robbed of its purity and became adulterated with all manner of errors; heresy and schism began in the days of the apostles. But thus the truth also became clearer and more and better understood in her fullness and multifariousness and the church was continually led deeper into the mysteries of salvation which God had laid down for her and revealed in His Word.
To be sure, in natural life the children of men are already entirely different the one from the other. Sex and age, talents and character, training and environment, land and people, time and place, rank and station, diversity of gifts, of reason, and heart, bring on the greatest differences in the consideration and interpretation of things. In not one respect are two persons perfectly alike.
And this diversity which exists by nature is not effaced by grace. For grace does not suppress and abolish nature but restores and renews her and yet increases the natural diversity with the diversity of spiritual gifts, which, to be sure, are all worked by the one and the self-same spirit, but nevertheless, distributed by that spirit severally as He will.
In unity God loves diversity. The whole creation testifies thereof, nature with her mountains and valleys, seas and islands; the earth with her kingdoms of minerals and plants, of animals and men; the firmament with her planets and stars; the heaven of heavens with her thousands and ten thousands of Holy Angels. The great glory of the infinite, rich essence of God is reflected in the works of His hands. In the creatures are revealed God's perfections and attributes.
And still clearer and fuller is this diversity revealed unto us in the recreation. There is first of all, Christ the most beautiful of all the children of men, upon whose lips is poured out grace and truth. And then around Him, in great, close, compact masses, the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles and Evangelists, the Martyrs and Reformers, the whole host of the redeemed, who are bought with His blood and renewed by His Spirit. Different are they in Heaven, different were they upon earth. And all that diversity, even through the sin, guilt and error of man, tends to the good of the knowledge of truth, and to the honor of grace. Christ takes it into service and ornaments His Church with it. The Holy Spirit uses it, to have everyone in his own language declare the great works of God. One day, at the end of time, God will receive all honor and glory of the church out of every tongue and people, kindred and nation.
For this reason it is not a matter of surprise, that in all diversity of confession the different relation is reflected, in which grace is placed to nature. The essence of the Christian religion consists therein, that the creation of the Father, destroyed by sin, is again restored in the death of the Son of God and recreated by the grace of the Holy Spirit to a Kingdom of God. The great question therefore, which always and everywhere returns, is this: In what relation does grace place itself to nature. Practically every child of man must regulate that relation for himself in his thoughts and life, in his will and actions. And in a larger field it also continually makes its appearance, in church and state, in family and society, in science and education. What is the relation between the creation and recreation, of the kingdoms of the earth and the Kingdom of Heaven, of humanity and Christianity, of that which is from below and that which is from above?
All in accordance with his own personal peculiarity or characteristics every man will designate this relation differently and will also apply it differently in his life. It makes a great difference whether we think of grace as a doctrine or as life; whether we consider it as a supernatural addition to nature or as a remedy against the sickness of sin; whether it is designated for the heart and closet only, or for the whole rich and full life of man; whether it only serves to save the soul or has the tendency to prepare honor for God out of all His works. On account of this difference there arises amongst believers— even amongst members of one and the same church, all manner of smaller and greater differences in the confession. The truth, to be sure, is one but it reflects itself in the consciousness of man in very different ways. It is true, only one sun shines in the firmament but everyone sees it with his own eye.
But nevertheless, although the differences, which exist between the confessions of the Christian Churches, are ever so great, we must not overlook the unity which is revealed in them clearly and plainly; we are so prone to become one-sided. It cannot be denied, that there is difference and controversy upon each and every article of faith. But staring at that which separates believers one from the other, we too
easily forget that which unites and holds them together. Often, the harmony is too deeply veiled from our view by the discord which exists.
And yet, this harmony is also present. The believers are all one, not absolutely in the spiritual sense, because they are all together ingrafted in Christ and are therefore members of His body; but also in that external sense, that a visible band encircles all Christian
Churches and confessions and separates them from all nonChristians.
To be sure the diversity of confession in the Christian Church does not absolutely consist in these and kindred differences, whereby one or another truth is grasped and placed upon the foreground.
It is true, there is no Christendom above discord of faith. The differences between the innumerable Christian Churches and confessions are not mechanically joined to the points of unity or harmony. We cannot separate the first from the last so that there remains a perfect equal sum. Each and every confession is an organism, or, in other words, an organical whole. The Roman is
Romish, also in the confession of the twelve articles of faith, which are accepted by all churches. Reformed and Lutherans, Baptists and Arminians are separated from each other not only in the doctrine of election, of the church, of the sacrament, but also in those of God, of Christ, of creation and providence, of redemption and justification.
But there is, nevertheless, a Christendom in the discord of faith, a unity, which, looking at it aright, is much greater and of infinitely more significance than all that which divides and separate the believers from each other. Although it is not possible to separate that unity from the diversity, nevertheless it is truly and really present in it and also reveals itself clearly and plainly. And although a written confession very often limits itself especially to the exposition of the differences; in the unwritten articles, in the prayers, in the fruits of faith, in the works of mercy a striking harmony is to be seen. The