Table of Contents

FOREWORD --------------------------------------------- vii

PREFACE ----------------------------------------------  xi

1. THE SPIRIT OF THE EVANGELICAL AND REFORMED CHURCH -   1

2. THE MISSION AND MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH -------------   8

3. THE BIBLE -----------------------------------------  14

4. JESUS THE REVEALER OF GOD -------------------------  28

5. JESUS THE REDEEMER OF MEN -------------------------  46

6. GOD OUR FATHER ------------------------------------  63

7. THE HOLY SPIRIT -----------------------------------  84

8. THE CHURCH AND THE SACRAMENTS ---------------------  96

9. THE CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING OF MAN ---------------- 112

10. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ------------------------------- 126

Foreword

PUBLICATION OF a doctrinal volume for the Evangelical and Reformed Church was proposed by the President of the Church in September, 1954, in his semiannual report to the General Council. He called attention to the fact that, although the Constitution declares the Heidelberg Catechism, Luther’s Catechism, and the Augsburg Confession to be “the doctrinal standards of the Evangelical and Reformed Church,” no convenient compendium of the texts of these confessional documents was available to ministers and lay people of the denomination.

He pointed out, moreover, that it has been impossible to refer inquirers or research students to any published source providing a reasonably adequate and authentic description of Evangelical and Reformed thinking on Christian doctrine. He suggested the possibility of publishing a volume which would include the texts of the three doctrinal standards “accompanied by some explanatory notes,” but did so in language which contained an intimation that perhaps a more immediately desirable venture would be publication of “a doctrinal volume” of a somewhat different type.

“This doctrinal volume might well include,” he said, “a simply written but adequate statement of the more or less generally accepted doctrinal viewpoint of the Evangelical Reformed Church - a statement which ought to treat simply and briefly the various great areas of Christian doctrine such as the idea of God, Christ, man, sin, salvation, the church, the kingdom of God … not a rigidly authoritarian official statement of doctrine, but a presdentation of the consensus of Christian thought prevailing among us.”

General Council referred the proposal to its Committee on Publication which in February, 1955, recommended further reference to the denomination’s Theological Committee. Press of other matters delayed immediate implementation, but in October, 1956, the minutes record that “General Council authorizes the Committee on Publication to proceed with the publication … (and) directs that the Theological Committee prepare the copy for the proposed volume.” This assignment was duly transmitted, and then so faithfully carried out that in February, 1959, the first draft of the manuscript having been completed, it could be recorded that “General Council authorizes the Theological Committee … and the Christian Education Press to proceed as quickly as possible with the publication.”

The finished product occupies the pages of this book.

A number of considerations move one to believe that, within the modest scope of the life and witness of one Christian communion, this volume may be looked upon as having “come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”

It goes to the printer not long after the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Evangelical and Reformed Church which was signalized on June 26, 1934. That union brought together the former Evangelical Synod of North America and the former Reformed Church in the United States. The traditions of the latter represented Calvinism as modified by the lingering humanistic touch of Ulrich Zwingli whose work at Zurich preceded by a quarter-century the work of the Geneva Reformer, and modified also by the predominantly devotional spirit of the Heidelberg Catechism. The Evangelical Synod of North America cherished in its traditions not only the blending of Lutheran and Calvinistic streams of life and thought which occurred in the Prussian Union of 1817, but also the gentle exaltation of the spirit above the letter in matters of faith which was a fruit of German pietism at its best.

It is this conjunction of historic source-streams which helps to account for the present volume’s insistence, from its very first chapter on, that what matters most, and most profoundly distinguishes the Christian believer from non-believers, is the faith he proclaims rather than the precise doctrinal formulations to which he assents.

The volume may thus be looked upon as a testimony on the part of the Evangelical and Reformed Church to its understanding of itself and its own precious heritage. Twenty-five years of working and worshiping together have confirmed the faith which launched the union of 1934.

Publication of this testimony is particularly timely now, for it enables the Evangelical and Reformed constituency of the United Church of Christ, established June 25, 1957, to extend to the Congregational Christian constituency in the same new fellowship this witness to “things which are most surely believed among us” and to do so in the confidence that thus another spiritual bond will be created between the two constituencies.

Beyond this, the hope may be humbly cherished that in this day of “ecumenical conversation,” when communions historically divided are ill at ease because their dividedness continues and have deliberately adopted strategies of fellowship and communication calculated to narrow the gulfs once fixed between them, this volume may make its contribution to that end. In any event, in their insistence that God is “always greater than we can think” and that our experience of God in Christ always proves “too wonderful for words” when we try to describe that experience, and in their intimation that, through the Holy Spirit, “the Lord hath yet more truth and light to break forth out of his holy Word,” in all this, the chapters which follow assert a faith and a viewpoint by which it is believed “our disunity as churches” can be resolved by “our oneness in Christ.”

JAMES E. WAGNER

Preface

THIS VOLUME is both the work of a committee and the work of one person. It is the work of a committee in the sense that content and structure were determined by discussion and common agreement; also in the sense that the committee reviewed and revised both the first and the second draft leading to the finished product. It is the work of a single author in the sense that one person wrote all ten chapters and made the suggested revisions in the manner native to his way of speaking and writing.

Conceivably the members of the committee could have produced a collection of essays. Very likely such a collection would have lacked unity in style and content, thus defeating the volume’s purpose as a handbook. It was decided therefore that one of the committee be requested to undertake the task of writing all the chapters. This assignment was given to Professor Elmer J. F. Arndt, who not only gave unsparingly of his time and talent but also responded gratefully and graciously to virtually every comment and criticism made by members of the committee.

It is worth recording that in essentials the members of the committee were of one heart and mind to a remarkable degree. This does not necessarily mean complete unanimity of opinion in every detail; neither does it mean that every member of the committee would have stated the issues in precisely the same way. It can be said, however, that what is set forth in these pages represents in a very real sense “those things which are most surely believed among us.”

This is not to say that this volume contains an “official theology of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. It is contrary to the genius of our church to speak of an official theology, for in matters of doctrine our church recognizes three doctrinal standards - the Augsburg Confession, Luther’s Catechism, and the Heidelberg Catechism; and in the interpretation of these confessions its ministers and members may exercise “the liberty of conscience inherent in the gospel.”

Because the Evangelical and Reformed Church looks to the Word of God as the ultimate rule of faith, it is only natural that this volume has a pronounced biblical flavor. Biblical idioms and imagery predominate. Some may find this a handicap, others will consider it an asset. Something can be said for and against the use of biblical terminology. Both the committee and the author had one purpose in mind: to set forth in clear and cogent terms a reasonably full account of God’s mighty deeds in history as they are recorded in Scripture.

It does not follow, however, that every theological question or concern is dealt with as comprehensively as one might desire; some issues may have been passed by entirely. Within the scope of a relatively small handbook it is impossible to discuss every phase and facet of Christian doctrine. Nothing more is attempted than to provide an outline that will serve as a convenient reference and a reliable guide to further study and inquiry.

With this modest claim the committee commends the use of this book to lay people as well as to pastors in the hope that it will nurture growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE COMMITTEE

Frederick W. Schroeder, Chairman

Robert V. Moss, Jr., Secretary

Elmer J. F. Arndt

Bert Helm

Frederick L. Herzog

Ruben H. Huenemann

Arthur M. Krueger

John B. Noss

Bela Vassady