Beginning with the copy in your hand and continuing for some months, MINISTRY will be carrying a series of articles titled" This We Believe," dealing with the verities of our Christian faith as we, the editors, see them. (See page 16.)
We think it is well for us to review from time to time these great truths that underlie our faith. Especially do we feel it is important to do so in a time when the prevalent attitude of the world is that few things are absolute. The church—even our own, unfortunately—has not entirely escaped this thinking. While there will always be (and should be) latitude for individuality of understanding, we also believe that there must be (and that there is) a broad foundation of widespread agreement on those great, essential themes that make us what we are as Christians.
Although we have respect for the grand, formal creeds of Christendom, we are most reluctant to depend on them for our under standing of Scripture. All of us "see through a glass, darkly." We "know in part"; therefore, we prefer to accept the Bible as our only creed and to hold certain fundamental beliefs as the teaching of Holy Scripture. Nor do we expect even these personal formulations of belief to be the final word on our own faith for all time. Anything that humans have had a hand in doing is less than perfect. Never can man decide that his understanding of Scripture is beyond improvement. Like any living organism, the church cannot afford to be static. Until the Lord Jesus comes and the perfection of heaven swallows up the imperfection of earth, the church should be continuing to progress in its knowledge of the truth of God. We should never revere, or cling to, a doctrine merely because we have long held it, but because it is truth.
However, a deeper understanding of truth should cause us to have a greater appreciation for those things we have previously held to be the teaching of the Bible. And while progress in knowledge may occasionally require an adjustment here or there, certainly it should not cause us to alter these teachings into unrecognizable shapes or to abandon them altogether. The warning of the apostle Paul to Timothy that there would be a time when individuals would have an aversion to sound doctrine and would turn from the truth to fables is not totally inapplicable to our own time and church.
It is well, therefore, that we review and reaffirm the great themes that have made us what we are.
Also, we are frequently asked, as we conduct professional-growth seminars across North America, what we, as editors of MINISTRY, believe in various doctrinal areas. In this series of articles we are happy to share our understandings. The reader should remember, however, that these are not official doctrinal statements. Although we feel that in general they will accurately and adequately reflect the scriptural beliefs of our own Seventh-day Adventist denomination, in a strict sense they represent only the under standings of the individual writers and of the editors. No doubt each reader (both within and without our own denominational affiliation) will find in this series of articles things with which he disagrees, things that are unfamiliar, or things that may seem unimportant. We could not reasonably expect it to be otherwise. Yet we suspect that for most of our readers these differences will lie dotted about here and there like islands in an ocean of common faith.
In this first article of the series, Warren H. Johns, an associate editor, deals with an issue of basic, fundamental significance for our faith—the issue of Scripture as the authoritative Word of God and the nature of the revelation and inspiration that gives it that authority for Christians. May an examination of these great themes from the Bible help all of us to reaffirm our commitment to those truths that make us brothers and sisters in Christ and joint heirs with Him. —B.R.H.
