A DECLARATION OF FAITH (1977)
CHAPTER SIX --THE WORD OF GOD
1 (1) God makes himself known through his Word.
2 God has not waited
to be discovered.
3
The Lord has taken the initiative
4
and addressed his Word to humankind in many ways.
5 Through the Word of
God the world was created.
6 The Word became
flesh in Jesus Christ.
7 Through the Word of
God the New Creation is being formed.
8 We believe God's Word
is God's communication to us.
9 Although God is free
to speak to us in unexpected ways,
10 we
confidently listen for his Word.
11 in
Jesus Christ,
12 in Holy
Scripture,
13 in
preaching and the sacraments.
14 (2) Jesus Christ is the living Word of God.
15 The Word which was with God
from the beginning
16 was
embodied in Jesus Christ.
17 We
hold that what God says to us and does for us
18 centers
in Jesus Christ our living Lord
19 as he
is remembered, known, and expected.
20 In Christ God's Word of
acceptance takes flesh:
21 by
grace through faith
22 we are
set right with God,
23 adopted
as children of God,
24 not
because of anything we have done,
25 but
because of what Christ has done.
26 In Christ God's Word of demand
is lived out:
27 to love
God and neighbor as he did
28 is what
God requires of us.
29 The Spirit
adds no different Word from God,
30 but
leads us deeper
31 into the truth
of God uttered in Jesus Christ.
32 (3) The Bible is the written Word of God.
33 Led by the Spirit of God
34 the
people of Israel and of the early church
35
preserved and handed on the story
36 of what
God had said and done in their midst
37 and how
they had responded to him.
38
These traditions were often shaped and reshaped
39 by the
uses to which the community put them.
40 They were cherished, written
down, and collected
41 as the
holy literature of the people of God.
42 Through the inward witness of
the same Spirit
43 we
acknowledge the authority of the Bible.
44 We accept the Old and New
Testaments as the canon,
45 or
authoritative standard of faith and life,
46 to
which no further writings need be added.
47 The Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments
48 are
necessary, sufficient, and reliable
49 as
witnesses to Jesus Christ, the living Word.
50 We must test any word that
comes to us
51 from
church, world, or inner experience
52 by the
Word of God in Scripture.
53 We
subject to its judgment
54 all our
understanding of doctrine and practice,
55
including this Declaration of Faith.
56 We believe the Bible to be the
Word of God
57 as no
other word written by human beings.
58 Relying on the Holy Spirit,
59 who
opens our eyes and hearts,
60 we
affirm our freedom to interpret Scripture responsibly.
61 God has chosen to address his
inspired Word to us
62 through
diverse and varied human writings.
63 Therefore we use the best
available methods
64 to
understand them in their historical and cultural settings
65 and the
literary forms in which they are cast.
66 When we encounter apparent
tensions and conflicts
67 in what
Scripture teaches us to believe and do,
68 the
final appeal must be to the authority of Christ.
69 Acknowledging that authority,
70
comparing Scripture with Scripture,
71
listening with respect to fellow-believers past and present,
72 we
anticipate that the Holy Spirit
73 will
enable us to interpret faithfully
74 God's
Word for our time and place.
75 (4) Preaching communicates the Word of God
76 In different styles and ways,
77
believers have related Scripture
78 to the
situations in which they lived.
79
The Spirit has given them power and boldness
80 to
speak God's Word through their words.
81 We believe that the preaching
of the Word
82 is an
event in which God himself confronts us.
83 As the gathered community
speaks to God in worship
84 we
expect God to speak to us in preaching.
85 Preaching can take a variety of
forms.
86 When it is faithful and
obedient
87 the
Holy Spirit uses it
88 to
convert unbelievers,
89 to
strengthen believers,
90 to form
and reform the church.
91 We hold
that teaching goes hand in hand with preaching.
92 It prepares people to hear the
Word of God
93 and
enables them to reflect and act on it.
94 (5) The Sacraments confirm the Word of God.
95 In his history with
his people in the world,
96 God has often made
material things
97
channels through which his grace is understood
98
and powerfully experienced.
99 Out of the life and
ministry of Jesus,
100 the
church received Baptism and the Lord's Supper
101 as
special Sacraments of God's saving action.
102 We believe that in the washing
with water
103 and in
the eating of bread and drinking of wine
104 the
Holy Spirit demonstrates and confirms the promises
105 of the
embodied, written, and preached Word
106 with
vividness and power.
107 In these
concrete human actions
108
believers declare their acceptance of the promises.
109 As the Word is acted out in
the Sacraments
110 so the
Sacraments are to be accompanied by the Word.
111 We believe that in Baptism
112 the
Spirit demonstrates and confirms God's promise
113 to
include us and our children in his gracious covenant,
114
cleansing us from sin,
115 and
giving us newness of life,
116 as
participants in Christ's death and resurrection.
117 Baptism sets us in the visible
community of Christ's people
118 and
joins us to all other believers by a powerful bond.
119 In baptism we give ourselves
up in faith and repentance
120 to be
the Lord's.
121 For both children
and adults, baptism is a reminder
122 that
God loves us long before we can love him.
123 For both, God's grace and our
response to it
124 are
not tied to the moment of Baptism,
125 but
continue and deepen throughout life.
126 We believe that at the Lord's
Supper
127
the community of believers in renewed
128 by the
memory of Christ's life and death,
129 by his
real presence in the power of the Holy Spirit,
130 and by
the promise of his coming again.
131 Christ makes himself known to
us in the breaking of bread.
132
He offers us his body broken for our sake
133 and
his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
134 We accept his promises and
gifts
135
and depend on his life to sustain ours.
136 In turn we offer ourselves in
thanksgiving
137 to the
risen Lord who has conquered death.
138 we
celebrate his victory here and now
139 and
anticipate the joyous feast in his coming kingdom.
140 Reunited around one loaf and
cup,
141
we receive strength and courage
142 to
continue our pilgrimage with God in the world.