# Westminster Assembly and the Ancient Creeds of the Church



## N. Eshelman (Dec 19, 2011)

Friends, 

Yesterday I was talking with a brother from the continental reformed tradition and his understanding of Westminster was that they were hostile to the ancient creeds of the church because they are not included in any of the Standards. I referred him to the facsimile of the Standards and noted how the Apostle's Creed was always printed along with the Standards. I also noted that "Christ the Mediator" was FULL of language from the Nicene Creed. 

What articles and resources would you recommend to this brother? What connections do you see between the Westminster Assembly and the ancient creedal statements of the church?


----------



## Phil D. (Dec 19, 2011)

In his journal of the Assembly, the divine John Lightfoot wrote: 

(Note: although this entry is from the beginning of the assembly when a revision of the _39 Articles_ was still being attempted - an effort that was shortly abandoned in favor of creating a whole new confession - it provides firsthand confirmation of the assembly's highly favorable attitude toward the historical orthodox creeds)


Friday, Aug. 18 [1643].—When we were sat in Assembly, the three creeds were read, and many debates were held upon them, but especially about this word, in the eighth article, " they ought thoroughly to be received," as if it set them in too high a place, in an equality with Scripture. *At last it was resolved, that that article should be tendered to the Parliament, by way of humble advice, to be read thus,' The Creeds that go under the name of the Nice Creed, Athanasian Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, are thoroughly to be received and believed, for that the matter of them may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.' * Then was there a long agitation about translating the creeds anew, and about setting some gloss upon the preface and conclusion of Athanasius' Creed, which seems to be something harsh; but at last it was concluded, that the creeds should be printed, at the end of the thirty-nine articles ; so the determining of these matters referred thither. (_Works_, 13:10)​


----------



## SolaGratia (Dec 19, 2011)

Chad Van Dixhoorn has this to say:

The Apostles’ Creed

The main difference between Westminster’s catechisms and earlier catechisms has to do with the Apostles’ Creed. The standard practice of catechisms written earlier had been to expound the Apostles’ Creed, phrase by phrase, just as they did the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. But the Westminster Assembly decided to exclude the Apostles’ Creed because it, though scriptural, was not Scripture.

Scripture Alone

Avoiding the Apostles’ Creed gave both of the Westminster catechisms two strengths. First, the catechisms are based explicitly on Scripture, which is consistent with the position expressed in the first chapter of the Confession: all our doctrine comes from Scripture alone. Second, every catechism that uses the Apostles’ Creed reflects one of the weaknesses of the Creed: there is no mention of the importance of Christ’s life.

The Life of Christ

The Apostles’ Creed says that Jesus Christ “was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary.” And what does it say next? He “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.” Similarly, the Heidelberg Catechism moves right from Christ’s birth to his death. The same thing is true of Craig’s Catechism, a popular Scottish catechism written in 1581, and the New Catechism, written in 1644.

Calvin notes this jump in the Creed and asks in question 55 of his catechism: “Why do you go immediately from His birth to His death, passing over the whole history of His life?” While this observation is helpful, Calvin’s answer is disappointing: “Because nothing is said here about what belongs properly to the substance of our redemption.” A similar approach is taken in his Institutes, II.xvi.5�7.

This is rather shocking, particularly from Calvin. Christ’s life has everything to do with our salvation: he spent his life fulfilling all righteousness; he kept the law that Adam broke. It is because of Jesus’ active, lifelong obedience that God the Father sees us as righteous in Christ. The Larger Catechism, using a framework different from that of the Apostles’ Creed, recognizes the importance of Christ’s life. It speaks about his birth in question 47, his life in question 48, and his death in question 49, thus presenting a more balanced and biblical picture. The Shorter Catechism does something similar, summarizing these three statements in question 27. The Larger Catechism also recognizes the importance of Christ’s life, at least implicitly, in its statements on justification (questions 70 and 71).

Comparing the Larger and Shorter Catechism with previous catechisms is a useful exercise. It reveals that the Westminster catechisms (1) explicitly base their teaching on Scripture alone, and (2) emphasize Christ’s life (and active obedience) as well as his death and resurrection. For these reasons also, then, the Larger Catechism is very worthwhile.


Source: Is the Larger Catechism Worthwhile?


----------



## NaphtaliPress (Dec 20, 2011)

I don't have a link but while the Assembly had no problem with the contents the question was did it have any liturgical place. They only resolved I think to tack it onto the publication of the shorter catechism along with the ten commandments with a note on the usage of "hell". Gillespie has some notes that reciting the creed was one of the items which, while they determined not to condemn in the Directory for Worship, to let the practice pass into disuse for uniformity sake. I'm sure this is discussed in Mitchell's history or similar; C. G. M'Crie notes it in his work on pubic worship in Presbyterian Scotland but I don't recall commentary.


----------

