“That the man of God may be complete. . .” 2 Timothy 3:17
PREFACE
This article is based upon one given by Charles Beecher under the same title, at the dedication of the Second Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne, IN in 1846. Beecher’s sermon is significant because it is quoted twice in Ellen White’s book, The Great Controversy. My original sermon was around 3500 words. This is an abbreviated version more suitable for publication.
INTRODUCTION
I will begin today by asserting the truthfulness of the following proposition, namely that “The Bible is a creed, sufficient, under God’s blessing, to regulate the belief, experience, and practice of the whole Christian world.” I think we would all agree with this statement in theory. I will follow that first proposition with a corollary, which is this: “The substitution of any other creed for any of these purposes is the first step in apostasy.”
When man-made statements are elevated to the level of the Word of God, such that church leaders go further and require the acceptance of that man-made statement as a test of orthodoxy - this constitutes the initial step in apostasy.
WHY CREED MAKING IS APOSTATE - FOUR REASONS
I will demonstrate this in the following four points:
1. Creed making is apostate because is a direct contradiction to the unequivocal teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
But creed power ignores these words and declares the man of God who sincerely adopts the Bible and the Bible only to be imperfect, not thoroughly equipped for every good work unless he adopts some written (or sometimes unwritten) creed. If he will not adhere to the creed, he is marginalized, disciplined, fired, banned from the exercise of his gifts, or some combination of these.
Creed makers set up their own statute, which is this - the man of God who sincerely receives and adopts the Bible, AND their creed, is “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” It is this policy of addition to what God has already given that must strike every unprejudiced mind as real apostasy. Here’s why I say that. Compare this practice with a well known feature of the papal apostasy: The Bible declares that there is “one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. The Bible declares that His blood cleanses from all sin. 1 John 1:7. Rome does not openly deny that Christ is our Mediator, but they add other mediators along with Christ - Mary, and the saints, and then they declare that these are essential. How is the Bible plus the creed any different than Christ plus Mary and the saints? Aren’t both precisely the same in principle? Of course they are. But let’s go now to a second point, which is this:
2. Creed making is apostate because it has arisen, and is advancing, in the same mysterious and stealthy manner that saint-worship arose. The veneration of the saints was not introduced into the church by overtly evil men. On the contrary, it came from the midst of ostensibly good men, and from apparently good motives. But it was apostasy nonetheless. Paul prophesied of this as a revival, under a Christian guise, of the ancient pagan worship of demons. 1 Timothy 4:1. But it did not immediately appear to be what it was - a restart of paganism clad in the fleecy garments of the Lamb. No, the mystery of satanic skill was manifested in this - he contrived to have martyrs substituted for discarded demons by means of the pious, unsuspecting cooperation of “good men.”
But creed making is advancing in the same way. Some great issue arises in the church or in the world and suddenly there is a chorus of voices declaring that the church must make some statement about it or take some position on it. Our members must have something upon which to rest their faith, after all. To speak out against such a practice is considered obstinacy. We forget that we have the all-sufficient Word of God and that nothing more is needed. And we forget that those who opposed the rising veneration of the saints centuries ago were also considered stubborn opponents of the institutional church.
But we must now consider a third point.
3. Creed making is apostate because the creed always becomes more important than the Bible. The most radical feature of Rome, from the first, is that she claims to be the sole, infallible interpreter the Bible. To protect this usurped right, Rome went so far as to deprive the people of the Bible altogether. But how did this state of things come to be? History does not lie. It came by means of creeds. The first step was the making of an authoritative creed, to which all clergy were compelled to subscribe; the absolute prohibition of the Bible was the final step. This last step was merely the reasonable outcome of the first. Think about it - what difference does it make if the church dictates what you shall find in Scripture, or if it dictates that YOU shall find nothing, and that they will tell you what the Bible means? The principle is all the same. If church leaders declare that a man is not complete and equipped for ministry with the Bible alone, but that he IS complete and equipped with the Bible AND THEIR CREED, then where does that man’s sufficiency come from, in their minds? It clearly comes from the creed, not from the Bible. This is precisely what the church of Rome teaches. So it is no wonder that they are ever ready to downplay or take away the Bible and substitute their creed in its place.
4. Creed making is apostate because it is sustained by the same arguments and practical methods as those used by Rome. The main argument goes like this: Truth is one, and therefore true believers cannot differ. But differences do sometimes arise. So the great question is this - how should they be addressed? Rome chose to address them by making a creed and defining anything other than the creed as heresy. Thus they proposed to protect the purity of the church. But how successful was this approach? Has the church of Rome been kept pure? It was made ANYTHING BUT PURE!
The Roman hierarchy then took two other steps that were only reasonable to take. It asserted that the church could not err. This was a logical necessity because there must be some authority to resolve disputes. And once this assertion was made, then came the Inquisition, to carry out the will of the church by force if necessary. We shrink back from the horrors perpetrated by this group of people, but we should remember that these things were done in order to enforce compliance with Rome’s creeds by harnessing the power of fear. But I will suggest that this principle of compulsion by fear is far from extinct.
Consider for a moment how Adventist ministers are typically trained. Almost invariably their training consists of burying themselves in books. They are taught no practical skills by which they could, if necessary be self-sustaining. The fact that Paul, the greatest of the apostles was also a tradesman, often earning his own living by tent making, is entirely forgotten. Those who are called into ministry later in life are blessed by having had to face its stern demands and realities. But in either case, when they are hired by a conference, ministers are told that they must stay clear of any other labor and devote themselves wholly to the ministry. When the church is faithful and prosperous this makes sense in theory. But what sounds reasonable in theory is being practiced in a way that puts God-fearing men in a circumstance where they must surrender all economic independence, and where they must meet the minds of the leading brethren or face possible financial ruin. The fact is that many of us would rather be tortured than to see our wives and children endure the stress and worry of impending economic doom. So the pressure to come into line with the current litmus test of orthodoxy is no less real or intense than it was for those under Rome’s jurisdiction in the dark ages. And to have it whispered around that a man is unsafe, radical, behind the times, means that other conferences will likely not consider him in the event that he is let go. Now tell me - was there ever a form of torture invented by the inquisitors that is more calculated to coerce its agonized victim into conformity than this? Does it even need to be said that such a man will now study God’s Word under a tremendous pressure of motive? He now feels compelled to see things in the Bible that he previously could not see, and to unsee things that had once been obvious to him. His very devotional life is now compromised because he has yielded his mind to the control of others.
APPLICATION AND APPEAL
So are Seventh-day Adventists in danger of creed making? Yes we are. There are signs of danger that must be considered before we go a direction we will regret.
Look at how the issue of liberty of conscience has played out among us over the past five years. The official narrative is that the support for the Covid vaccine mandates, the complicity with the censorship of dissenting voices, and the refusal to stand by members who chose not to comply for reasons of conscience constituted no violation of religious liberty. Support for this narrative is becoming a litmus test of orthodoxy and of loyalty to the institutional bureaucracy. It has now become economically dangerous for pastors to challenge this official narrative.
The basis for this narrative is the 2015 Immunization Statement pertaining to vaccination. It is important to understand how it has been used. It appears online at the official General Conference website under the heading Beliefs. It also appears under the heading Publications. The preamble on the web page says:
“From time to time, Seventh-day Adventists find it important to articulate their understanding of certain important topics in light of their understanding of biblical values and teachings. Below is a collection of these statements on issues ranging from religious freedom to assault weapons.”
To make such a broad assertion that all of these views represent those of the world membership (which is clearly implied) is a drastic overstatement. But in the treatment of those of us who have expressed our dissent from the Immunization Statement it is clear that these official statements are now viewed as binding. If they were not understood in this way, there would have been no compelling reason to make the 2021 Reaffirmation Statement that asserted that claims of religious liberty were misused in the objection to the government mandates.
Is this not creed power all over again? Who, prior to 2020, thought that the 2015 Immunization Statement would be used like this? But we should all be wide awake by now as to what the future could present to us. Pastors and members could be coerced to hold specific political views on issues like firearms, wars, social programs, the UN Agenda 2030 goals, and so on. We could also be pressured to comply with all mitigation strategies to combat future pandemics or the so-called climate change (see The Dangers of Climate Change, released December 19, 1995). The manner in which the vaccine statement has been used is proof positive that this is what will happen unless we turn back now.
There is an even darker side to this, however. We are creating a class of ministers who will be compliant in the face of raw power. Pastors who choose to either advocate or comply with things that they do not truly believe in are in grave danger of submitting to the mark of the beast. They will not make this decision alone, either. Under extreme pressure, it will not be difficult to justify following pastors when they declare that this is nothing to be concerned about, just as many did with the vaccine mandate. We are setting ourselves up for this by allowing creed power to get its evil foot into our door.
I am publishing this sermon as a direct appeal to the General Conference delegates for this upcoming session: Take ALL of these statements down. Have the God-given courage to roll back this unscriptural creed power. This is the only biblical step to take. These statements are unnecessary. The making of them sets a precedent that should be reversed. We have the Bible, and it is a sufficient guide for the church today, as it was in the days of the apostles. May God pour out His Holy Spirit for this purpose, is my sincere prayer.
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Skip Dodson embraced the Advent message as a 25 year old aerospace engineering graduate student. Over the past three decades he has served as a Bible worker, a district pastor, an administrator, and as a college dean and religion chair. He is currently serving as a self-supporting missionary based in Colorado. Skip has been united in ministry for 25+ years with his wife Renee. The couple have two young adult children, both of whom are partners with them in mission.