No Creed But Christ?

It's popular to say, "No creed but Christ," as if to say we don't need creeds, we just need Jesus. Ironically, that's a creed, and one in need of some clarity.

Creeds and confessions are formal statements of beliefs summarizing essential or important biblical doctrines. What does your church believe about Jesus? God? Mankind? Sin? Salvation? The resurrection of the dead? Such beliefs are summed up by confessions.

So if you were to say "No creed but Christ," which Christ? The Mormon Jesus? Of course not, you say. Ah, then there's more to your confession than, "No creed but Christ." And what about Jesus? Was He just a great teacher? No, He is the eternal Son of God who is worthy of our worship. Now you're being confessional. You might say, "Well, we believe what the Bible says." But even heretics say that. What Bible are you talking about? Is 2 Macabees in your Bible?

Some people are overly pious and like to think they're above it all: "You simpeltons may need confessions, but not me. I just need Jesus." Well, that's a confession. And if there's not more to your confession than that, you just let the oneness pentecostals in the door.

Through its history, the church has been marked by creeds and confessions, even in the New Testament. When Paul wrote, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance," that's a reference to a creed. 1 Timothy 3:16 says, "Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness," and what follows is a confession.

The Bible is a big book, and the study of it is vast. Creeds and confessions summarize and affirm what you and your church believe the Bible says. This is a biblical thing, when we understand the text.

Prophecy Pirates?

A pastor told his congregation to speak prophecy to one another. But his definition of prophecy included visions of sharks and pirate ships...

Matt Chandler: "'Lord, what would you want me to encourage [this brother] with?' And I'm quiet and trying to listen, and then automatically there's a picture of a ship, a pirate ship. And there's canons on the pirate ship, and there's a shark chasing the pirate ship."

Prophecy is not praying for people and then sharing whatever random stuff pops in your head. The Bible says if someone speaks in the name of the Lord and it doesn't come true, they've spoken presumptuously and it isn't from God (Deuteronomy 18:22).

Chandler: "What if we're only talking to ourselves? What if we're like, 'Okay, Lord, will you show me somebody that I might encourage,' and someone would pop in our head, and that's just us. So what? Oh no, you're going to encourage somebody. Why would that be this terrible thing? And then what if I'm wrong? Those are the two big things that just haunt. What if I get it wrong and they stone me to death? I already said, that's not the kind of prophecy we're making. So we hear, and by faith we approach, and if it sounds crazy, we've lost nothing."

So it's okay to lie to people and take the Lord's name in vain, as long as it's positive and encouraging? On the contrary, the Bible says to speak truth with your neighbor, and don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

What the pastor is arguing, unintentionally, is that Scripture isn't sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16). All the promises of God given in His word, through His Son Jesus, are not enough, and we need personal revelations of sharks and pirate ships in order to encourage someone. That's not prophetic. That's just pathetic. The Bible is the prophetic word fully confirmed (2 Peter 1:19), when we understand the text.

"And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).

Was Jesus a Socialist?

Was Jesus a socialist? Well, the Bible says that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 19:16). So Jesus is sovereign, not socialist.

But in Acts chapter 4, we see at the beginning of the church that "those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common" (Acts 4:32). There was not a needy person among them. They gave their lands and their goods and the proceeds were distributed to those in need. See? Socialism!

Uh, no. Socialism isn't freely giving, it's forcefully taking. A socialist government believes the state has a duty to take what rightfully belongs to one person and give it to another. That's called stealing. God was very clear about where thieves will go (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Whether one person does it, or ten million people vote for the elected officials who do it, it's still theft.

That was not the early church, where no one was taking from their neighbor, they were giving to their neighbor. Brothers and sisters in Christ gave as much or as little as they wanted, not reluctantly or under compulsion (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). Nothing was being taken by any authority, and the money wasn't being misused -- like, by killing babies and calling it healthcare.

Socialism costs everyone. Just because socialists say they want to give to the poor doesn't make it good. Judas wanted to take Mary's expensive ointment and give the proceeds to the poor! --because he was a thief who cared only about himself. Mary gave freely to the Lord and she was commended (John 12:1-8).

Our Sovereign King has distributed freely, He has given of Himself to poor sinners. Give thanks, for His righteousness endures forever (2 Corinthians 9:9), when we understand the text.

Paintings of God and the Second Commandment?

Wait a moment. What's in this image? Is that a picture of *gasp* God? And are these paintings of Jesus? Even though the second commandment says, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above?" Yes, well there's an explanation behind our opening graphic.

When We Understand the Text began as an effort to share the gospel and teach the Bible in context, correcting many assumptions people have come to believe but the Bible doesn't actually say. For example, the Bible does not say Jesus stands knocking at the door of your heart, waiting for you to invite Him in.

These images on the opening slide represent famous depictions of Bible stories. The logo is in a font called protest paint. So this opener was meant to be a protest against many common but false assumptions about the Bible.

This does not break the second commandment. God told Israel not to make a graven image of anything in heaven or on earth, but then He told Moses to fashion two angels on top of the ark of the covenant, and there were statues of angels in the temple.

Jesus is God born in the likeness of men, and the Bible describes His appearance. The Holy Spirit has appeared as a dove and as fire. Are these images lawless? The context of the second commandment forbids worshiping any graven image, which would make you an idolater.

That's not permission to make a likeness of God who is spirit. Sufficient enough is the word of Christ, who didn't look like a shampoo model. To guard your conscience, and not wanting to cause anyone to stumble, from now on, the opening slide will look like this. And we hope you'll still be alright with sharing the older videos with the old opener. We are, when we understand the text.

I Like Your Christ but Not Your Christians?

Legend has it that Gandhi once told a group of missionaries, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." There are two problems with this quote. One is that Gandhi did not actually like the Christ of the Bible. And two, Gandhi did not say this.*

Gandhi was a civil rights leader in India who encouraged nonviolent civil disobedience to gain independence from the British. This inspired another civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., who employed Gandhian principles to achieve social change.

Since Gandhi was such an icon, his sayings became legendary, including many quotes Gandhi never said. This is one of them, and it's been repeated everywhere from the Washington Times to Relevant Magazine, and in books by Ravi Zacharias, Lee Strobel, and Jen Hatmaker.

While Gandhi didn't say this about Christianity, he did say, "No religious tradition could claim a monopoly over truth or salvation." However, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Jesus said He is the only truth, and He is the only way to heaven.

Gandhi believed in a version of Jesus that fit with his Hinduism, but he did not consider Jesus to be anyone other than a great teacher. He denied Jesus Christ was the Son of God, therefore he didn't think highly of Jesus' followers who preached the truth -- that fellowship with God and eternal life are given only by faith in Christ alone. (John 3:18, Acts 4:12)

Gandhi was not an authority on Christ or Christians or even humanity. Yet it's Gandhi one is appealing to with this quote, which he didn't even say. Our authority is Christ, and His word is the Bible, when we understand the text.

*The quote is similar to something said by a man named Bara Dada: "Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians -- you are not like him."