The Failure of Creeds
By Benjamin Franklin
"Some preachers say that justification is by faith
only, and others say it is not by faith only. I know not how to decide,"
says one. What if you never do decide? You know that it is commanded to
"believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Then, it is clearly right to
believe. So far, there is no difficulty. You know that God has commanded all
men everywhere to repent. Then, it is right to repent. So far, the way is
clear. Baptism is commanded: "Then Peter commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord." Then, it is right to be baptized. So far, the way
is clear. It is always safe to do what you know to be right. You know it is
right to believe with all your heart. You know it is right to repent. You know
it is right to be baptized. Do what you know to be right, and you are safe so
far as these matters are concerned. Then, if it should turn out that
justification is "by faith only," you are safe, for you have the
faith. There will be no disappointment, only that you were justified a little
sooner than you thought you were. You will certainly not regret that you obeyed
the commands to repent and be baptized. But if you should stop at faith, and
find that justification is not "by faith only," you would find yourself
still not justified. It is, then, infallibly safe to believe, repent, and be
immersed. So far, there is no difficulty where the desire is simply to do
right--to be safe.
"But there are so many creeds,
all claiming to be right, that I should not know which to take. They were all
made by learned men, and if they can not agree on the kind of a creed, how am I
to decide which is right?" says one. It is a matter of great moment and of
much relief that, aside from all these conflicting, clashing, and erring creeds,
there is one book that all parties concede is right. They all agree that the
Bible is right that it came from God. They all further agree that it contains
the law of God that the law of the Lord is perfect. The only wonder is, that
man ever attempted to make any other creed or law for the Church. Such an
undertaking could not have commenced without two wicked assumptions:
1. That the law of God, as set forth
in the Bible, is not sufficient is a failure.
2. That the insufficiency or failure
can be remedied by weak, erring, and uninspired men.
No man of intelligence will affirm,
in plain terms, that the Bible is not sufficient for the government of the
saints; or that man uninspired man can make a creed that will serve a
better purpose than the Bible. Still such affirmations are implied in every
attempt made by uninspired men to make a creed. If you admit, as all are bound
to do, that the law of God is in the Bible; that nothing may be added to it,
nothing taken from it, and that no part of it may be changed, there is not an
excuse in the world for making another law. The law of God in the Bible is the
law, the divine law, the supreme law, in the kingdom of God; and it is a
treasonable movement to attempt to get up another constitution, law, name, body,
or officers, apart from the constitution, law, name, body, and officers as
found in the Bible.
But the matter now in hand is to
find a safe course to pursue. Can this be done? All admit the Bible is right.
All admit that the law of God in the Bible is right. All admit that those who
follow the Bible honestly and faithfully, in faith and practice, will be saved.
All admit that wherever any creed differs from the Bible is wrong. Then it is
infallibly safe to take the Bible and follow it. When men undertake to prove
that a human creed is a good one, they argue that it is like the Bible. If a
creed like the Bible is a good one, why will not the Bible itself do? If the
Bible will not serve the purpose is insufficient and a failure a creed like
it would be equally insufficient. When men make a creed to do what the Bible
would not do, they should certainly make it different from the Bible, or would
serve no better purpose than the Bible itself.
--Excerpt from sermon, The Course
to Pursue to be Infallibly Safe, The Gospel Preacher, Vol. 1 (1869)