I believe in the Bible, that it is clear, complete, sufficient, true and without error. It says what it means. I do not demand that God speaks to me apart from it. I’m not waiting for still, small voices in my head or trying desperately to find God’s will through random circumstances. I read, He speaks, I obey. Or I try anyways.
I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe in a God who is one, yet three. I believe in a God who is loving, holy, just, kind and good. I believe in a God who knows all and has foreordained all that has come to pass or will come to pass.
I believe that God, from nothing, made the world and everything in it in six days. Not six ages or six phases or six million years, but six days. 144 hours. That’s what He said, so that’s what He did. And it was good.
I believe in sin. I believe that Eve actually did converse with a talking snake and that her act of rebellion and the sin of her husband was as simple as taking a bite of a really delightful piece of fruit. This is not metaphor or fable. This is just what happened. Because of that sin, I believe you and I are both worthy of God’s wrath. When Adam fell, we fell. And it was not good.
I believe that I am sinful. I delight in evil. I hate what is good. I am thoroughly, utterly depraved. Sin pervades every area of my life and turns me against my Creator. What is true of me is true of all men.
I believe in justice and in judgment. I believe that God, being just, demands just satisfaction for any all sinful deeds.
I believe in hell. A literal, tormentuous hell that is far worse than we can imagine. Nor should we want to imagine it. It is a place of justice. There are no devils with pitchforks and no sense of community where sinners sit around and discuss all the fun they had on earth. It is just the sinner and God, full of wrath, one-on-one forever. You don’t want to experience that and neither do I, though I believe that we both deserve to go there.
I believe in grace, the unmerited favor that God chooses to extend to all in some ways and to only some in other ways. God grants grace to all men that they may live and laugh and love and enjoy this world. I believe that God grants special grace to some so that they may love and enjoy and serve Him forever. God shows His grace in providing us with a way out of the horrifying mess we’ve made.
I believe in Jesus. Born of a virgin, the perfect, Holy Son of God. The God-man. He died, literally, was buried, literally, and rose, literally.
I believe in the atonement. Jesus died on the cross in place of His people. He suffered in place of His people. And through this act, my sin was imputed to Him and His righteousness was imputed to me. This was the greatest act of grace and kindness the world has ever known or ever will know. Nothing that can, will, or could happen is greater than this.
I believe there is no salvation outside of Jesus. God will not waive the requirements of righteousness at the final judgment. Not for anyone and not for everyone. Not for those who have never heard of Him. Not for children. Not even not for those who love Him.
I believe in the gospel, the message of the good news of Jesus’ perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection.
I believe in repentance, for without turning away it is impossible to turn towards.
I believe that man’s chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. To glorify God by enjoying Him forever. I don’t need to undergo testing, fill out inventories or take a forty day journey to discover my gifting or purpose. Our purpose is as simple and as joyful as living to bring honor and joy and glory to God. Our purpose is a privilege.
I believe in the church - the true church - which is God’s community of the elect, anxiously awaiting the sound of the trumpet, dedicating themselves to carrying out God’s purposes while they wait. The church is the total number of God’s people living when they are where they are. It is the church’s honor and responsibility to take the good news to all the world.
I believe in families that honor God. I believe in families centered around marriage, an institution created by God and for God. Men are to lead their wives. Women are to submit to their husbands. Together, through their complementary roles, they are to provide a portrait of the love of God for His people.
I believe in perseverance; that God, by His grace, will never let go of those who have been saved.
I believe in heaven. A literal, beautiful, physical heaven that is far better than we can imagine. Heaven is the community of the redeemed together with God, full of love, all together for ever. It is a place of no pain, no sorrow. I long for this place. I hope I see it soon.
I believe in glorification; that someday God will return and will bring with him a new heaven and a new earth. Those who have been saved will live together forever, new body and perfected spirit united, in the presence of God. My heart aches for this day, for on this day I will believe perfectly and fully. And so will you.
Comments (56) »
1. Thabiti
June 23, 2006
10:46 AM
Thank you brother for the great post. Plain. Straight-forward. Biblical. And joyous. I believe these things, too; all of them. And I am thankful that across space and time I am included among that blessed community of redeemed sinners who have been given this precious gift of belief.
Grace and peace, and thank you for blessing me this morning.
Thabiti
2. Charles Sebold
June 23, 2006
10:50 AM
Fantastic post. Great confession of faith.
3. Julian
June 23, 2006
10:54 AM
A breath of fresh air.
Amen, and thanks.
4. Jeri
June 23, 2006
11:16 AM
Hurray and amen! I joyfully concur! Thank you brother Tim.
5. Dallas Pymm
June 23, 2006
11:18 AM
What an encouragement. Thanks Tim.
6. Scott
June 23, 2006
11:22 AM
Wonderful, thanks for this beautifully worded confession. What brought this on, if I may ask?
7. Paul Martin
June 23, 2006
11:28 AM
Excellent, Tim.
I love it when the Lord uses your gift to write to bring glory to His Name!
Praise the Lord!!
8. Tim Challies
June 23, 2006
11:30 AM
“What brought this on, if I may ask?”
I was thinking, this morning, about all the books I’ve read in the past two or three years that denied various tenets of the Christian faith. I tried to address each one of them. I’m pretty sure that some notable Christian leader has recently denied each one of those points…
9. Lew
June 23, 2006
11:45 AM
Amen to that! God has been so good!
10. Melchizedek
June 23, 2006
1:10 PM
I find it interesting that so many creeds now start with the Bible instead of with God.
11. Jabbok
June 23, 2006
1:21 PM
The first question we addressed in my theology class at seminary was where to begin. The Bible or God. It was said that most modern systems begin with the Bible because we wouldn’t know anything about God without it.
Question: Will the new earth be new in the sense that it will be a completely different planet or will it be “Re”newed similar to the Christian…. i.e. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation).”
Just curious as to everyone’s thoughts.
12. Donna
June 23, 2006
1:32 PM
This post made love well up in my heart (and tears in my eyes) for God and all that He is, and all His word is to us. Thanks, Tim.
13. Dallas Pymm
June 23, 2006
1:34 PM
“I find it interesting that so many creeds now start with the Bible instead of with God.”
Just put the 2nd paragraph in front instead. That should clear things up if needed.
To me it seems that the order is not as important as what it actually says. Once again. Great job Tim.
14. Tom
June 23, 2006
1:38 PM
Kuddo to the Credo!
Great post! True, and powerful.
Tom
Doctrine Matters
15. donsands
June 23, 2006
1:41 PM
I enjoyed reading that very much. Very well done.
Eloquent and yet simple.
I believe the earth we have now will be refurbished.
16. Dea
June 23, 2006
2:19 PM
Thank you Tim for that very clear testimony !
17. Lindsey
June 23, 2006
2:42 PM
So simple and yet so deep. Come Lord Jesus, come.
18. Melchizedek
June 23, 2006
2:56 PM
Jabbok, that is not what Romans 1 says.
19. blestwithsons
June 23, 2006
2:57 PM
Great post as usual and I agree with all except one teeny tiny thing…
“I’m not waiting for still, small voices in my head or trying desperately to find God’s will through random circumstances.”
I remember a post you did awhile back. Something about the poor ignorant people who want to know God’s will and don’t realize that it’s right there in the Bible. (I’m still mildly annoyed because I believe it had something to do with Baptists -and I am one) You had the same disdainful tone then that you have here. You know, Christians praying to God for guidance are not always depending on stoplights and songs on the radio as signs. What is wrong with asking for guidance?
Now to a large extent - it’s true that many of the issues Christians wrestle with are already covered in the Bible if we’ll just look within its pages. BUT - when it came time to decide if my husband was indeed the man I should marry, I don’t remember a verse which said “Thou shalt marry Danny”. I kinda needed to pray about it. ( I mean, yes, if someone is praying “Lord - should I marry this unbeliever?” that’s just silly.)
There are next to no verses which tell me exactly how to parent my children on a day to day basis. Yes, teach them the word - teach them the way. But what do I do about this nagging problem - or that deep concern? How do I best teach my autistic child? What do I do? God didn’t put that in there. I have to pray.
I don’t think there is anything to disdain about Christians who pray for the Lord’s guidance in their lives.
20. Jabbok
June 23, 2006
3:12 PM
Mel,
2 Corinthians 5:7 is the verse. “Creature” comes from the root “Create”.
If this is what you’re refering to.
BlestWithSons,
You have to overlook Tim’s “tone”. ;)
21. Joe L.
June 23, 2006
3:29 PM
Amen brother!!
22. Tim Challies
June 23, 2006
4:51 PM
“I find it interesting that so many creeds now start with the Bible instead of with God.”
That was actually a last-minute change but one that you shouldn’t read too much into. We know about God through the Bible, but the Bible derives its authority from God, so there is always a difficulty in which to place first.
“Will the new earth be new in the sense that it will be a completely different planet or will it be “Re”newed similar to the Christian”
I believe it will be renewed, as in it will be the same earth, but in a perfect form. I’ve asked God for 170’ of waterfront on Indian Lake where, until last Fall, I had a cottage for the first 29 years of my life. Man I miss that place.
“I don’t think there is anything to disdain about Christians who pray for the Lord’s guidance in their lives.”
I don’t either. I have no problems with praying for God’s guidance. I believe, though, that Christians can often believe in a type of guidance that is too random. I do intend to write about guidance some day soon…but I’ve been saying that for years now.
23. Flawedcricket
June 23, 2006
5:19 PM
I believe there is a tremendous difference between “praying for guidance” and “waiting for still, small voices in my head or trying desperately to find God’s will through random circumstances.”
Pray for guidance. I do. Just don’t depend on still small voices and random circumstances for your answer or as the substance of the guidance. The next thing you know, you’ll be divorcing your spouse and blaming it on God because the voice kept saying, “You deserve to be happy.” and you ran into the same guy in the produce section that you ran into moments earlier in the dairy section at the local IGA and it was just to weird to be coincidence, especially after you had prayed in the cereal isle for God to allow you to run into him again if he was “the one”.
And lest you think I’m being ridiculous, just listen to your Christian friends describe (justify) their divorces and other poor decisions or good decisions for that matter.
I think this was Tim’s point. And, while there is a slight tone of sarcasm in my voice, I believe Tim’s intonation was free of whatever you thought you heard, especially disdain. He’s a much better man than I.
24. Flawedcricket
June 23, 2006
5:21 PM
Please forgive me. I guess I’m tired of people claiming to hear some so-called tone of voice when in actuallity it is nothing more than a reaction to being rubbed (convicted) due to their false beliefs being confronted with the truth. Most people can’t handle the truth and it’s a whole lot easier to cry “foul” than it is to evaluate ourselves, our beliefs and acknowledge where we might need to readjust our thinking.
25. Glenn Piper
June 23, 2006
5:36 PM
Sorry Tim, but no waterfront as according to Rev 21:1 when God brings in the new Earth ‘the sea is no more’.
Now I suppose you might be able to wangle a riverside property next to the River that flows from the Throne of God in the New Jerusalem.
26. Jabbok
June 23, 2006
6:12 PM
Maybe it won’t be the “sea” anymore because the salt will be removed. it will just be a large freshwater pond! i hope we can still go fishing.
27. Brian Thornton
June 23, 2006
6:18 PM
Sorry Tim, but no waterfront as according to Rev 21:1 when God brings in the new Earth ‘the sea is no more’.
Glenn,
Might you be misreading this statement from John. Could it be that he is not referring to what will be (or won’t be) in the new heavens and new earth, but that, in the course of seeing this vision, he could no longer see any of the sea which he stared at seven days a week? He was surrounded by water, being on Patmos…maybe that is what he was referring to.
I can’t imagine there being no oceans in the new heavens and new earth.
28. blestwithsons
June 23, 2006
7:56 PM
flawedcricket, I appreciate your second comment. ;-)
No, in this case it wasn’t my being oversensitive to conviction. I am one of the more hard-line fundies you’re likely to meet. And I’m certainly big on Sola Scriptura! I wouldn’t listen to a voice telling me I deserved to be happy or to divorce my spouse. Both of those thoughts would be in direct opposition to Scripture so I know from whence those voices would have come. Now the voices telling me to eat the last piece of chocolate cake, those I might listen to! (Ha!) But you know, those “silly” people who may not know their Bible as well as you or me, or who have never heard of TULIP or the Solas… They might just be putting some of us to shame in their actual service and love to the saved and unsaved alike. I think of my wonderful husband, who isn’t interested in the differences of Calvinism or Arminianism, who might not recognize the phrases of Sola Scriptura, but if you need something done - he’s your man! Me, I’m too busy reading…. But I digress.
And I am a loyal fan of Tim’s - or I would never have commented in the first place.
29. James Hakim
June 23, 2006
8:02 PM
Question: Will the new earth be new in the sense that it will be a completely different planet or will it be “Re”newed similar to the Christian…. i.e. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation).”
2Pet 3:9-13 sounds like a complete “do-over”
As for “no sea,” in Revelation, the sea is often related to death, judgment, etc. No room for a word study here. But it may be related to that.
There’s definitely at least one water way (I’m personally looking forward to the river and its twelve-fruited trees), but it may be that the living water replaces “old-earth” water sources the way the radiance of God replaces “old-earth” light sources.
Just a couple thoughts, not the produce of intense study or settled conviction.
30. James Hakim
June 23, 2006
8:05 PM
I forgot to say—on the whole an excellent confession of faith. Do you have any favorites among the reformational confessions? Have you ever read the Scots Confession? Just wondering.
31. Josh Buice
June 23, 2006
8:25 PM
Tim,
Great Post!
… … … … … . .
James,
I will allow Tim to discuss the detail of your question - but you should read the 21st chapter of Revelation.
“And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more sea….”
For the glory of God!
Rev. Josh Buice
Practical Theology Discussions
http://www.joshbuice.blogspot.com
32. grace
June 23, 2006
8:55 PM
Bravo! Credissimo.
Dad
33. Bryan McKenzie
June 23, 2006
8:58 PM
Tim,
Great post. Thanks for your commitment to our LORD, HIS Word and HIS people.
Blestwithsons,
I would greatly encourage you to get a hold of a book called “Decisions, Decisions” by Dave Swavely. It is only 176 pages, but very excellent and thorough on the subject of guideance and God’s Will from a Biblical Perspective. There are others I could recommend, but this would be the first.
34. Diane
June 23, 2006
10:03 PM
Amen! Thank you for posting this!
35. Jazzy Cat
June 23, 2006
11:41 PM
Sound doctrine and creeds give us a foundation of truth to rely on…..
Jazzycat
36. Steve Sensenig
June 23, 2006
11:54 PM
Wow! Even though I may disagree on some very minute points of this, reading it still gave me a great sense of joy and brought tears to my eyes.
Very beautiful, Tim. Very beautiful, indeed.
steve :)
37. Thomas Black
June 24, 2006
4:17 AM
I was really encouraged just to read it and even more so to be able to say “AMEN!”
38. Allan
June 24, 2006
4:26 AM
Yes, a soul-stirring declaration of faith and great to see.
But as with ‘Blestwithsons’, you continually disappoint by your repeated determination to put forward your scripturally unsustainable cessationism, and you put it in at the very beginning of your piece, with you setting up some ‘easy-meat’ wackos to then very rightly disparage. Unfortunately you also gathered up a lot of better men than you or I, to also splatter with your widely-sprayed ‘mud-throwing.’
This is the curious thing about many reformed people. They claim the high ground as regards standing on nothing but the Scruptures, and yet then make sweeping declarations for which they have no biblical basis!
The type of person you are thinking about with your comment; “I do not demand that God speaks to me apart from it. I’m not waiting for still, small voices in my head” I would also disagree with. But those many great and good, bible-loving saints such as John Bunyan, to whom HAS in history spoken directly, DID not, and DO not, and never WILL ‘demand’ that He speaks to them, nor did they or do they or will they wait for ‘still small voices’ in their head. They will do what they have always done, read His word and obey it.
When God DOES speak directly, one-to-one, (in whatever manner He chooses) the person KNOWS IT! Nevertheless, like Paul did with his gospel for the Gentiles, he submits it to the Apostles’ doctrine, to see if he HAS heard, as he believes, He who IS the WORD, speak to him.
The person you like to think of as typical would probably say ‘God’ speaks to him/her continually. And usually it isn’t long before their claim is easily debunked through patent error being evidenced in what they report God as saying. But don’t impugn the real along with the false. This is the oldest trick in the book! In 48 years as a Christian, I have only had God speak directly to me three times. And I have never, in those 48 years ever ‘waited’ for Him to so speak. Each time it happened I was not praying or expecting anything. It comes like ‘a bolt from the blue.’ It was always surprising. And when I tell the stories about those occasions, the very facts of the story give my claim extemely good credibility. But in telling them (& only very rarely), I ALWAYS tell the person I’m speaking to, that while I believe it was an ocasion of God speaking, it’s their priviledge and up to them, to form their own opinion. But what they may NOT assert with any integrity, is that it was NOT God, UNLESS they can show that the content of the message I received, is plainly contradicted by the Scriptures.
You may not, with integrity, assert as dogma that which you can’t show from the Scriptures, but only from an arbitrary application of just one of the many definitions of Sola Scriptura.
A.
39. Brian
June 24, 2006
9:48 AM
Hi Tim,
I’m curious about the line describing hell…
“It is just the sinner and God, full of wrath, one-on-one forever.”
I don’t think you meant this, but the wording might make it sound like the person in hell was in the presence of God. I assume you meant, they’d be isolated from anyone else and facing the wrath on God. I’ve always understood hell to be the total separation from God. “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire….” Matt.25:41
40. donsands
June 24, 2006
10:08 AM
Brian,
God is omniscient and omnipresent. God knows always was is always happehing, and God is always everywhere present. Just a thought. But that is a good thought you have.
41. donsands
June 24, 2006
10:10 AM
That should read: “God always knows what is always happening”. Sorry.
42. Tim Challies
June 24, 2006
10:27 AM
Brian,
If God is omnipresent, He cannot be fully separated from hell, can he? I understand hell to be the complete absence of God’s grace and the full, unbridled presence of His wrath.
43. Jim Crigler
June 24, 2006
11:05 AM
When someone commented about praying for guidance, Tim wrote (in comment 22): “I have no problems with praying for God’s guidance. I believe, though, that Christians can often believe in a type of guidance that is too random. I do intend to write about guidance some day soon…but I’ve been saying that for years now.”
So has Phil Johnson, but we’re still waiting …
44. Tim Challies
June 24, 2006
11:18 AM
“So has Phil Johnson, but we’re still waiting …”
Touche. I’ll wait so I don’t steal his thunder. ;-)
45. Chong
June 24, 2006
2:11 PM
Nicely worded. I appreciate your faith in the truth of what the Bible teaches.
46. Chong
June 24, 2006
2:32 PM
HI again. I was skimming through the comments and noticed the discussion on hell. I think it’s possible for God to choose to create a domain separate from Himself. God is Spirit—I think He can be present everywhere, but I don’t think He has to be everywhere, including hell.
Similarly, God is omniscient, but when God became flesh, He veiled His deity when He put on humanity. His divine consciousness with its omniscience was relegated to the subconscious (hence, Jesus did not know the time of His return).
When Jesus judges and says, “depart from me,” I think this implies that hell is a separate place apart from God. I’ve always understood hell as the absence of God. If God cannot countenance evil, I can’t imagine that God can be present in hell.
Interesting question…I’ll have to give it some more thought.
47. Alex Chediak
June 24, 2006
10:24 PM
Are you sure on the word choice “I am thoroughly, utterly depraved”? Why not say, “totally depraved”?
48. Mark Fox
June 25, 2006
1:39 AM
Tim,
One of the most succint and brilliantly thought out pieces on faith and beliefs that I think I have ever seen.
———
Mark
49. Alex Chediak
June 25, 2006
6:47 AM
I agree with Mark. The statement is very well written, and a blessing to read (particularly in light of modern trends, such as the conflating of justification with santification).
I was not trying to nit-pick. I just have never seen the word “utterly” used in this context before.
50. Brian
June 26, 2006
6:44 PM
Tim,
So what does God mean when He says to the damned, ‘depart from me’?
I’d agree that God’s influence, His wrath, is present in hell. Nothing would prevent Him from going there at will. He’s aware of what’s going on.
Where does the Bible say omnipresence includes hell, by the way? I’m familiar with many places which teach that nothing on earth can be hidden from God.
One that mentions Sheol is Ps. 139:8
“If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. “
(Sheol in the Hebrew has other possible meanings than just hell.)
But there’s also “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matt 7:23
“They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power” 2 Thess 1:9
So there’s 1 verse that supports God being present in hell and 3 verses saying you’ve departed, away, or shut out from God when in hell.
It must come down to different aspects of His presence.
51. Java_Jeff
June 27, 2006
12:48 PM
“God being present in hell”
Consider this…
Col. 1:17 - “And He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Q. What would happen to hell and the creatures bound if God ceased to “hold things together”?
Job 1:6ff “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”
Q. How can Satan, an evil rebellious creature, stand before God?
52. ellie
June 28, 2006
6:02 PM
it’s interesting that the first line of the credo says
I believe in the Bible, that it is clear, complete, sufficient, true and without error. It says what it means.
and that now the comments are showing precisely how that isn’t the case…
53. donsands
June 28, 2006
7:03 PM
“how that isn’t the case”?
Would you share what you mean. I don’t get what you mean.
54. Chong
June 28, 2006
10:21 PM
JavaJeff,
As to your reference to the book of Job, Satan was able to go before God because he has not yet been thrown into hell (meaning, the final abode for Satan, the fallen angels, and the unregenerate sinner). God prepared hell for Satan and the fallen angels (Matt. 25:41). But, though Satan stands condemned, he moves freely in this world and even the heavenly places (see 1 Pet. 5:8; Eph. 6:10) and awaits final judgment when he and his angels will be thrown into the lake of fire (2 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 12:9, 20:10).
The Bible uses various terms for the place that people go after death. The term “sheol” is most often used in the OT as a temporary place that both the righteous and unrighteous go after death. I believe that Jesus descended to sheol, but only temporarily (Ps. 16:10), and for the purpose of freeing the captives, namely, the righteous (OT believers) (Is. 42:7; Luk. 4:10). Sheol is equivalent to the NT term, “hades.” Both sheol and hades refer to a temporary or generic place where people go after death—similar to “the grave.” The terms “hell” or “gehenna” refer to the final place.
The fact that Satan presented himself to God shows God’s ultimate control over the heavenly realm and God’s grace as He accomplishes His purposes. The delay in judgment is not for Satan’s sake, but for ours—that we might repent and be saved.
55. Rocky
June 30, 2006
2:00 PM
As far as hell being the eternal place of punishment, I think that Rev 20:13-15 gives a little more insight.
From what I see, hell appears to be a tormentuous temporary holding place for those whose names are not written in the book of life. At the judgement, hell and death deliver up the dead which were in them and are then cast into the lake of fire. After that whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake fo fire.
KJV Rev 20:13-15 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Doctrinally speaking, I don’t see as it really makes much difference, as it is simply a horribly bad end whichever way it happens to be, and it is for those not in the book of life.
We however should be looking with joyful hope for the “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”.
56. donsands
July 1, 2006
5:33 PM
Rocky,
Is that your real name? Pretty cool name.
Hell is definitely a very serious truth. Jesus our Lord said, “If your eye, hand, or foot causes you to sin, cut them off!”
That’s a very serious charge. And so many today just ignore it, and say, “Come on, Jesus doesn’t really want us to do that.”
He may not literally mean it, but if literally it would work, then we’d be better off doing it literally, that’s for sure.