Lesson 8: The Confessional Horizon
Vehicles for Biblical Content
Creeds and confessions present us with many terms not found in the Bible, such as “Trinity” and “providence.” Should we use those terms, then? Yes! Because these terms faithfully communicate biblical realities.
Consider the sun. In English, we call that “greater light” (Gen 1:16) “the sun.” But even if you use a pair of binoculars to reflect and magnify the sun onto a wall in a dark room, you won’t see the word “sun” written on it. (Or “sol,” “soleil,” “sonne,” “солнце,” “شمس,” or “太陽.”) You also won’t see the various words and neatly divided sections that scientists use to describe the sun, words like “chromosphere” or “convective zone.”
But those are the names scientists have given to the realities they represent.
So it is with theological terms that describe biblical realities, like “Trinity.” When God revealed himself in Scripture as one God in three Persons, he didn’t use the word “persons,” or “substance,” or “coeternal,” or “Trinity.” You won’t find those words stamped on the Scriptural description of God. But those are the names theologians have given to the realities they represent.
Only the realities are divine; the terms are man-made. But since they are “vehicles for biblical content,” as John Frame explained, why would we reject them?¹
Calvin passionately declares,
The word “consubstantial,” I admit, does not exist in Scripture. But when it is so often asserted in Scripture that there is one God, and further, when Christ is called so often the true and eternal God, one with the Father—what else are the Nicene fathers doing when they declare them of one essence but simply expounding the real meaning of Scripture?
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.8.16, emphasis mine.
So let us embrace these terms. Our forefathers wielded them courageously as they battled against heresies, and then
handed them down to us as trustworthy tools—worn smooth by much handling and covered in scratches and dents, but still valuable and strong.