The Confession of the Church 2

Holy Scripture is vital to the Church’s confession. This is probably the smallest section of Arthur C. Cochrane’s chapter on the nature of a confession in The Church’s Confession Under Hitler. But it is extremely important for both the time of Barmen and today. We have looked in the first post at what or rather who it is that the Church confesses. In the second point how Jesus Christ is known by the Church is explored.

“2. According to Barmen, A Confession of faith confesses Jesus Christ as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture.” (Italics the author’s) (184)

This leads once again to a negative section, and Cochrane explains how the Church is not allowed, indeed, cannot know Jesus Christ in any other way than through Holy Scripture. Because of the negative part we are able to understand that there is an absolute picture of Jesus Christ as he is known by the whole Church in all places and times. The negative part followed by the positive is:

“It [the Church] does not confess a mystical Christ who may be apprehended in the general religious consciousness, in world history, or in reason and experience, but the Christ whom the Church hears in the witness of the Old and New Testaments.”

The Old Testament and its witness to Jesus Christ is as important as the New Testament. Cochrane refers to a statement by Wilhelm Vischer who stated that the Old Testament “tells what Jesus Christ is,” while the New Testament “tells who he is.” Cochrane’s extremely important point is that “A Confession of Faith acknowledges Jesus Christ to be the unity of the Bible.” (Bold mine)

Locating our knowledge of Jesus Christ in the Old and New Testaments means that the Church is not allowed to view Jesus Christ through New Age revelations such as “A Course in Miracles,” or through extra-biblical texts such as Gnostic accounts or other such cultural mythologies.

And while we acknowledge that all Christians may experience the presence of Christ, we are not to use experience as a criterion for who Jesus Christ is. Nor does any cultural account of Jesus Christ outside of the pages of the biblical texts have any validity, including the view that other religions are differing accounts of the Spirit’s way to the Father.

At the same time any Confession which excludes Jesus Christ from the Old Testament promises is unacceptable. Likewise any attempt to erase any part of the New Testament's witness’ to Jesus Christ, such as that work done by the Jesus Seminar, should be scathingly denounced by the Church’s Confession of Faith.

Cochrane goes on to write,”a Confession looks upon itself as subordinate to Scripture, as a fallible, provisional exegesis of Scripture. The question of whether its exegesis is good exegesis must always be asked.”

Cochrane insists that this emphasis on the witness of Scripture is why the members of the Synod of Barmen, who offered the Declaration of Barmen to the Churches of Germany, asked them to test this document against Scripture. The Holy Scriptures, and their witness to Jesus Christ in both Old and New Testament, must be the ultimate foundation for all Confessions of the Church.