[Hang on there are only six to go!]
Article X
We affirm that salvation comes to those who truly believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
We deny that there is salvation in any other name, or that saving faith can take any form other than conscious belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving acts.
Article XI
We affirm the continuity of God’s saving purpose and the Christological unity of the covenants. We further affirm a basic distinction between law and grace, and that the true Gospel exalts Christ’s atoning work as the consummate and perfect fulfillment of the law.
We deny that the Bible presents any other means of salvation than God’s gracious acceptance of sinners in Christ.
Article XII
We affirm that sinners are justified only through faith in Christ, and that justification by faith alone is both essential and central to the Gospel.
We deny that any teaching that minimizes, denies, or confuses justification by faith alone can be considered true to the Gospel. We further deny that any teaching that separates regeneration and faith is a true rendering of the Gospel.
2 comments:
I can't help but connect the last denial to a discussion that I'm having and preparing to discuss on the blog [practicing a regenerate church membership].
Notice article XII says..."We further deny that any teaching that separates regeneration and faith is a true rendering of the Gospel." So...if you are practicing church membership based off of a profession faith you are in essence saying that you believe that person is in fact regenerate. The question is where do you draw the line in that profession...
That's what I'm working on. I'm trying to see what kind of doctrine a New Testament believer that was identified as regenerate and a member of a church would have been expected to believe.
I'll save some of this for another day. I just thought it was interesting that they said "faith" and "regeneration" are connected.
In Christ
Noah
Commenting on your own weblog? Perhaps you could write your commentary in the text of the post! ;-)
Anyway, doesn't the Bible generally give us the criteria for judging who our brothers are? The basics for judging oneself (which we all must do) are Biblical belief and growth in holiness; 1 John and other passages give us some more nuanced details. I would say the Bible also implies that we can know others by their confession of faith and their works, though this is less obvious to me.
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