Where does a church's "Statement of Faith" get its authority?

Just last week I was taking with a pastor, who told me about how his congregation fell apart, dispersing to other local churches for various non-doctrinal reasons. Jokingly, I said: "If only you had some distinctive doctrinal imperative in your Statement of Faith, whereby you could say that every other church within a 20 mile radius is 'wrong', your church might have survived!" This good man would never do such a thing of course. But is there some truth to the notion that Statements of Faith divide the Body of Christ by design? Unfortunately, to be in agreement with the denomination across the street is to cease to be a separate denomination.

But the situation is more than just a "product differentiation" issue. Statements of Faith assume extra-Biblical authority, spelling out the limits of belief and even what conclusions that particular flock must draw as they examine the Scriptures. Where do they get the authority to do this?

For a "Bible Only" church, which claims that the Bible is clear and sufficient rule of faith all by itself (see the Westminster confession), the matter becomes ironic: Isn't the need for an additional document a contradiction in terms? The human authors of these Statements of Faith clearly sense the difficulty; most say "What We Believe" instead of "How to Interpret the Bible", even thought the latter title might better express what a Statement of Faith does.

No, the Bible cannot interpret itself. When the Apostle Philip asked the Ethiopian eunuch who was struggling with Scriptural interpretation: "Do you understand what you are reading?", the Ethiopian replied: "How can I unless I have someone to guide me?" (Acts 8:30-31). Indeed, the Bible never claims to be the "sole", "only" rule of faith, divorced from an authoritative interpreter. Having received authority directly from Christ Himself, Philip was clearly authorized to properly interpret Scripture; indeed, the authoritative teaching of the Apostles went well beyond the written Scriptures of the day (remember that what we know of as the New Testament did not yet exist).

Jesus Christ prayed that the faithful "all be one" (Jn 17:21), and Scriptures emphasize the need for doctrinal unity over and over again (Jn 10:16, Eph 4:3-6, 1 Cor 1:10, Rom 15:5, etc.), and surely a bickering, splintered Christianity is truly a scandal.

Whose "Statement of Faith" is correct? Perhaps a better question is: "Who has the authority to make a Statement of Faith" in the first place?

Birdstrike

belzor@psyber.com