Why do Reformed Churches have Public Profession of Faith?

TROWEL & SWORD

Rev M P Geluk

Sometimes young people in the church ask why do we in the Reformed Churches have public professions of faith.

It is fair question to ask because it’s pointless to do things in the church without good reason. Before we try and answer the question, we should note that it’s not only Reformed Churches that have this practice. As far as I know Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic churches also have a specific occasion where one becomes a full communicant member of the church. With the denominations just mentioned it is usually done at a much younger age, even before you’re a teenager. And because you are expected to become a full communicant member at a certain age it is almost done automatically. In Baptist churches one can only become a full communicant member when you receive believer’s baptism. But I am led to believe that today quite a few churches of different denominations simply regard someone a member when they have been attending for a while and when they don’t show up anymore then they are no longer considered as members. These churches do not practise a public profession of faith as such.

So why do some question if public profession of faith is necessary? What is the thinking behind that question? It could be any of the following:

The Bible does not say specifically that you have to stand up in church before all the people and publicly say that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour.
If you are already a Christian and believe that you are a child of God then it doesn’t change anything if you make or don’t make a public profession of faith.
Faith in God is really a personal matter between God and me and I can’t see why everybody else in the church has to be involved.
As a Christian I don’t want to be identified too closely to one particular church and therefore I don’t want to be tied down to anyone church. There are many Christian churches and I want to be free as to where I feel I belong.

Let’s look at each of the above in turn.

The Bible does not say specifically that you have to stand up in church before all the people and publicly say that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour.

This is quite correct; the Bible does not specifically say that. In the days of the New Testament when, through the preaching and teaching of the gospel, people became convicted of their sin, repented, and believed in Christ, then they were regarded as followers of Christ. They joined other believers in their worship of God. And there were no different denominations. There was just the one Christian church.

But it wasn’t long before false teaching came into the church through people who, either unintentionally or deliberately, misunderstood what Jesus and the apostles had taught. We see this already in the New Testament letters to the different churches. They often correct wrong views and rebuke those who were responsible. False teaching does not surprise us. There are many truths in God’s Word that are difficult to understand because of our sinful minds. When people are converted to Christ then it can still take a while before their thinking and behaviour conforms to God’s standards. During that process they think, say and do things that are not yet biblical. The leaders in the early church, therefore, found it necessary to satisfy themselves that those wanting to join the church were Christians indeed and that their basic knowledge of Christ and God’s Word was biblical. And when in the fourth century Christianity was legally permitted to exist, some wanted to join the church for the wrong reasons. This became another reason for an examination.

How did the elders of the church find out if people were really converted and had the right motives? By asking questions. And how could the church know that those wanting to join were genuine Christian believers? By the elders telling the church that they were satisfied with the answers they had received from these new believers. These new believers also publicly professed their faith in Christ in the presence of other believers. This was probably done in a very simple and informal way and was of course a very joyful occasion. If at a later time it became clear that the new member was not a Christian after all then it wasn’t just the elders of the church who had been misled. The church could also point to the person and accuse them of making a false profession.

So whilst the New Testament does not specifically say that the first Christians wanting to join the church had to make a public profession of their faith, it soon became the practice in the early church. And that practice has remained with the Christian church for a long time and we should continue with it because unbiblical thinking and false motives are still around. Our Church Order requires that “The Sessions shall examine baptised members who wish to become communicant members concerning their motives, doctrine and life. Subject to satisfactory assessment, baptised members shall become communicant members on professing their faith in a public worship service in accordance with the form for the public profession of faith prescribed by Synod.” [Art. 62.a]

If you are already a Christian and believe that you are a child of God then it doesn’t change anything if you make or don’t make a public profession of faith.

It is true to say that you do not become a Christian when you make a public profession of your faith. A public profession of faith is really an outward commitment of an inner conviction. And that inner conviction may have been there for some time. Especially when you have been blessed with Christian parents who had you baptised as a child. God has a covenant with believers and their children [Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39]. God promises them to be their God, which means that He will be to them the God of salvation. Baptism is a sign and seal of God’s promise. Baptism is not a sign of one’s faith. Some churches see it that way and therefore they will only baptise those who show they have faith. But in the Reformed understanding of Scripture we have always believed baptism to be a sign of what God promises.

Through the faithful Christian upbringing of Christian parents, through the preaching and teaching of the Christian church, and where possible, through Christian education in a Christian school, a child of the covenant grows in the love and knowledge of Christ. But it doesn’t always happen. A covenant child can be disobedient to God’s Word and rebel. If there is no repentance and true faith then such a child is a covenant breaker and will receive God’s judgment. But if by the grace of God the covenant child begins to increasingly understand what it means to be a child of God and wants to be a Christian believer, then that will begin to show. These are the years when the child becomes a teenager and then a young adult. It is a wonderful blessing for the Christian family, the Christian church, and the Christian school, to see a covenant child develop into a young Christian believer. And of course, for that young Christian believer it is also a great blessing. It is not always easy to live Christianly in a pagan world but through daily repentance and faith, with regular Bible reading, study and prayer, you know that God is your Father and you are His child.

In other words, as a child of the covenant, having received baptism as a sign and seal of God’s covenant promise, you have responded to God’s call to follow Christ. The covenant has two sides. One side is God saying He will be your God. The other side is you responding to God in faith and obedience.

How will the church where you are a baptised member know that you now have a personal faith in the Lord? How will the elders of the church know this? If you are genuine and sincere in your walk with God then it will show in your Christian lifestyle. You will want to make it your practice to read God’s Word every day, be diligent in prayer, faithfully attend the church services, and become active in the work of the church. The church and its elders will see this and also know it from home visits to you and your family.

The time has come, therefore, for you to also be strengthened in your faith through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The preaching and teaching of the Word is already helping your faith to grow. God has also given the Lord’s Supper for this purpose. In the Lord’s Supper you identify with Christ and His church. Only believers can partake in it.

Now how can the church best admit you to participation in the Lord’s Supper? It can’t be left entirely up to you because God has charged the elders of the church to exercise supervision over all what the church does [Acts 20:28; 1 Tim.5:17a]. Well, ask the elders to have a talk with you about the genuineness of your faith, your motives and your knowledge of the fundamental teachings of the Bible. The elders will be most keen to hear this from you. It’s an answer to their prayers and a blessing from God on the preaching and teaching of His Word through the home, church and school. And how will the other members of the church know all this? Through you making a public profession of your faith in the Lord Jesus. The whole church will be delighted and your fellow believers have an opportunity to unitedly pray for you and support you as a fellow Christian.

So whilst a public profession of faith does not make you a Christian, because you are that already, it does bring a change in another way. The whole church has now seen and heard that you too are a fellow believer and you can take your rightful place at the Lord’s table.

(Continued in the March issue)

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