All Christians are called to bear witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are set free to bear this witness by the judging and renewing force of the gospel. As members of the Reformed family, we share a particular history of confessing faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout the centuries, Reformed Christians have articulated their faith, trusting the sovereign Subject of those confessions to use them where, when and how he wills.

Guided by the Holy Spirit and the word of God, we participate in the joy of those who have confessed the faith in earlier times. We also are in their guilt for not having believed, hoped, prayed, and loved enough. We recognize that the church is tempted to forget the foundation of its hope in the crucified and resurrected Lord, and to abuse Scripture and Confessions to justify its own ways.

Therefore, in company with all who have confessed the good news of Jesus Christ from within the Reformed family, and with all our fellow Christians who witness to the same gospel, we testify:

that in creation God has made heaven and earth for God's own glory, and fashioned humanity in God's own image, giving equal dignity and worth to every human being;
that in the incarnation God has come among us flesh of our flesh, bringing humanity to the wholeness and freedom for which we were created;
that in the cross God has endured human suffering, judged human justice and broken down the walls of hostility which divide human beings from each other and from God, and has made us one in the peace of Christ;
that in the resurrection God has set the world free from every power of darkness, death and unrighteousness by which it is enslaved.

Thus the promise and reality of God's coming kingdom, already inaugurated by Christ incarnate, crucified and risen, is the new creation in which all humanity is reconciled and the world made new.

Yet many aspects of the world's life today conceal or deny this truth of humanity's oneness and the world's liberation. The urgent cries of those who suffer in situations which deny the gospel's truth demand from us in the Reformed family fresh profession of our faith, in solidarity with brothers and sisters who are witnessing by their words and in their bodies to God's good news in the midst of their own oppression and despair.

We must make this witness in relation to the societies by which we order God's earth. Some nations and governments rob their citizens of dignity and self-determination because of their colour, race, sex or creed. Some deny their people the freedom of worship and public expression of belief.
We must make this witness in relation to global political and economic polarization. Ideology, propaganda, terrorism and the threat of war create misunderstanding, tension and deadly peril between the spheres of influence of the super-powers. Political systems both collectivist and individualistic can foster outlooks which quench the human spirit and prevent the discovery of life in all its fullness. Unjust economic systems and international structures can perpetuate the gulfs between the rich and the poor, the hungry and the overfed, the exploiter and the exploited.
We must make this witness in relation to the human race by which God's earth is peopled. Often women are denied the opportunity for self-fulfilment and for equal participation in families, churches, communities and society at large, thus frustrating God's purpose for women and men alike. Often children and young people are exploited and abused for the gratification of their elders, and made the victims of adult greed, folly and violence. Often the disabled and disfigured are further handicapped by the insensitivity and prejudice of those who deem themselves normal. Often minorities of every kind are rendered voiceless and defenceless by the domination of the powerful.
We must make this witness in relation to God's earth itself. Our natural habitat is polluted and exploited by human gluttony. Our fellow-creatures are tormented and destroyed by human ruthlessness. Our planet's survival is imperilled by the piling up of weapons capable of global holocaust.

Within the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, we are aware of the numerous crisis faced by Christians in our member churches today. In many cases, these struggles have become new occasions for confessing the gospel in particular contexts - for example, recent confessions in Taiwan and South Africa, concern in Germany for weapons of mass destruction, the confessions of new churches formed by unions of Reformed churches and churches of other traditions. As member churches of WARC, we are all challenged by these particular struggles and confessions to:

solidarity with other members of our Reformed family;
mutual intercession as we witness in diverse situations;
mutual correction when our practices and confessions appear contrary to the gospel;
reflection on the crises and occasions for witness in our own contexts.

As an Alliance, we have long recognized and responded to such challenges. Most recently this response has taken such forms as:

the declaration of status confessionis on apartheid at the Ottawa general council in 1982;
the study Called to witness to the gospel today, initiated by the general council and sent to all member churches for reflection and response;
our involvement in bilateral dialogues with other confessional groups, and our commitment to the larger ecumenical movement.

In addition to these efforts, the increasing number of new confessions appropriate to a diversity of contexts provide a new challenge for WARC: to identify that which binds us together as a family of confessing communities in the Reformed tradition, and to give testimony together to the common perspectives of our faith. In order to do so, we must examine anew our confessional heritage as a Reformed family, as well as articulate the particular challenges to faith and obedience which arise in our world today.

Scripture, confessions and confessing

The Reformed churches share with the other churches of the Reformation the conviction that Holy Scripture is the supreme rule of faith and life because it contains the normative witness to the word of God incarnate for our salvation in Jesus Christ. Creeds and confessions are valid and may claim authority only insofar as they authentically interpret and apply that witness.

Through the centuries, Reformed Christians have composed a rich variety of confessions. These confessions were not intended to supplant the ancient creeds, but to draw out their implications more fully in the new setting of their own time. For example, the Heidelberg Catechism includes a detailed exposition of the Apostles' Creed; and the Belgic Confession in Article 9 explicitly acknowledges the truth of the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. Nor did any of these confessions claim universal or timeless validity, as their very variety shows. With the exception of the Canons of Dort, they all had in the first instance local or national character. This is a main reason why the tradition of composing Reformed confessions did not end with them, but continues to the present day.

The status of these and other confessions in the Reformed churches today is diverse. Some Reformed churches no longer subscribe to any confession in a binding fashion. Other churches hold to one or more confessions as their standard of doctrine, although often with qualifications which allow some liberty of opinion with regard to the confession's teaching. Four main reasons can be given for this:

First, the style of presentation of the faith in a 16th or 17th century document does not always best express and convey that faith in the world of today.
Second, not all of the claims and teachings contained in the classical confessions appear to be as valid or appropriate today as they seemed to their authors. For example, the prominent place given to the doctrine of predestination in several of the classical Reformed confessions, and the form of its exposition, today appear exegetically, theologically and pastorally questionable. Again, the anti-Roman Catholic tone characteristic of some of them was a product of the time of their composition which today can no longer be sustained. Yet again, they on occasion adopted attitudes to specific issues of faith and order which today are increasingly controversial. For instance, the forbidding of women to baptize or to preach (Second Helvetic Confession, chap. 20; Scots Confession, chap. 22), is a tenet which many Reformed churches are now convinced can no longer be upheld. For reasons such as these, it is impossible simply to appropriate and perpetuate the classical Reformed confessions as binding doctrinal standards for Reformed churches in the 20th century.
Third, confessional standards have sometimes been misused to control and govern the life of the local Christian community instead of encouraging it to engage in solemn, spontaneous confession and articulation of the faith. For this reason, at least one major branch of the Reformed family, the English Congregationalist, found itself compelled as early as the 17th century to oppose the imposition of such standards.
Fourth, in the course of time new issues arise which were not experienced or addressed by the authors of the classical confessions.

Thus, it is appropriate for Reformed churches today to hold the classical Reformed confessions in honour as testimonies handed down from our foreparents in the faith, to see, hear and learn from them, to study them, to go to school with them. But we should do so with the critical eye and ear of those who know that their loyalty does not belong in the first place to the testimonies of their confessional tradition, but to the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ. The classical Reformed confessions contain immense riches of faith, theology and witness. We neglect them at our peril. But they are no last world. The riches they contain must be minted anew.

In the present time, this mining and reminting is often attempted in a different and more modest fashion than in the classical confessions which sought, for the most part, to offer a comprehensive outline of the entire gospel, the entire faith, spelled out in every aspect. That is and remains the task of the church in its teaching, preaching, liturgy, sacramental celebration and pastoral care. It is what Karl Barth called the task of "regular dogmatics" as a theological discipline. But he also pointed out the importance of "irregular dogmatics," of partial issue-oriented theological reflection which focuses on the decisive challenges to faith and obedience at a particular time. In our time, these critical challenges focus our theological reflection on the Christian understanding of human identity, human existence, human calling and destiny. What is it to be a human being? What is God's purpose for the human race? What can we allow ourselves, and what must we forbid ourselves, in the technological exploitation of our world - which we have received as a gift from our Creator? How can we advance towards a truer anticipatory reflection of the promised reign of God, in which there will be neither sorrow nor pain, in which God will wipe away the tears from every eye? How is the proclamation of grace abounding to be heard and transmitted in the midst of the world's conflicts? How is the high calling of each and every human being to reflect the image of God to be put into practice in a world divided by the antagonisms of the super-powers, by the exploitation of the poor and humble of the earth by the rich and powerful? And where, in all this, is the witness to the crucified and risen Jesus Christ to be heard?

In seeking to address these issues - issues of major consequence for the church and the world - the kind of comprehensive account of Christian faith and practice represented by the classical Reformed confessions is not necessarily required. Within WARC, these issues can and should be addressed in a variety of ways. In particular, we would suggest that the member churches of the Alliance reflect together on the creation of humanity in the image of God and the central biblical theme of God's covenant, and the implications of these theological concepts for our life and witness in today's world. These reflections can lead us on to a common affirmation of faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, by whom we are created and sustained, to whom we have been reconciled in Jesus Christ, in whom our future is one of hope and not of despair.

A focus for contemporary confessions: human being in the image of God

A central challenge to faith and obedience today arises from the many-sided threats to human life, human dignity and the ecological support-systems by which our life is sustained. A recovery of the awareness of our common humanity as made in the image of God can give a fresh focus to our confession and help us both to name and to respond to this challenge.

Being human before God

The biblical concept of the image of God has often been misinterpreted in an individualistic way, or misused to justify exploitation of the created world and other living beings. Especially in the western world, the emphasis of the Reformation on the justification of the individual person has combined with an individualistic view of human life to make the image of God seem a quality belonging to the individual in herself or himself. It must rather be seen as the gift of a relationship to God which brings with it a calling to community and mutual responsibility. It should be understood in a trinitarian horizon, and in the light of Jesus Christ as the true image of the invisible God. He is the God who is for humanity and the human being who is for God and for others. The image of God refers to personal and social community. It speaks of the responsibility involved in co-humanity as living with and for God and each other. It reminds us that human beings are called by God to be a mirror of the love of God to each other - to be gracious neighbours, recognizing in other persons the image of God, the image of Christ. It also reminds us of the proper calling of humanity to be stewards, not abusers of God's creation.

Understood in this way, the affirmation of the image of God radically confronts every kind of exploitation, oppression and degradation of human beings, identifying these as a denial and defacing of the divine image. For the image is denied and defaced by the self-destructiveness and other-destructiveness of sin. Of this we are all guilty. But in Jesus Christ the image has been restored and promised to us anew: that renewal is even now provisionally and promisingly real in the Christian community, the body of Christ. All the more reason, therefore, to be guided by the vision of the image of God as we seek in faith, hope and love to look on the often harsh and painful reality of our contemporary world and to discern the challenge of our time. We do not have to look beyond our Reformed family to find those who suffer from tyranny, exploitation and the denial of their dignity as created in the image. Our solidarity with them is a special reason for concentrating on this theme. At the same time, we have in view and wish to speak for all who suffer similarly.

The image of God is disfigured on our earth by military force, political oppression, racial and sexual discrimination. Christians in all parts of the world cry with Job: Where is God? Where can we experience God's power and presence? The suffering of the world is the strongest challenge to our faith in God the Father Almighty.

We confess in Jesus Christ God's self-identification with the suffering of humanity. God has taken the path of human pain with us and for us. God's Almightiness is the Almightiness of a love so powerful that it is capable of accepting powerlessness for the sake of the other, capable of suffering for the other. We tend to measure God against our conception of power. Just this conception has been refuted by God in the crucified person of Jesus Christ. God is apparently powerless and weak in the world; that is how God bears and accompanies the world and its history. Through the suffering of Jesus Christ the suffering human being is presented to our eyes as the image of God. Through his resurrection, God's apparent powerlessness and weakness are recognized as an expression of God's limitless power.

Yet God's identification in Jesus Christ with human suffering does not imply any justification of the suffering that human beings inflict on each other, but rather its sharpest criticism. We confess the suffering Christ in entering our protest against the powers of money, armaments and racist structures which cause so much of the suffering of our world. We recognize in them sources of destructive violence. Therefore we side in the name of Jesus Christ with the victims of this violence. Our solidarity with them takes a double form with respect to their oppressors: we have not only to pray for their repentance and forgiveness but also to support active resistance against injustice and unjust structures in economics, jurisprudence and politics. We acknowledge that only out of the situation itself can it be settled what forms this resistance can and should take, and that we are not entitled to prescribe the form for the victims suffering violence. Nevertheless, we are convinced that it is only on the basis of a commitment to non-violence, that, where circumstances demand it, the hard decision for violent resistance can properly be made.

Church and state

Human beings created in the image of God belong to and live within the structures of human society and have to fulfil their calling there. This brings before us the issues of the relationship between church and state and the catholicity of the church. The church finds its identity and continuity in space and time in the witness to the universal Lordship of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ whose authority extends to every area of life, and therefore relativizes the claims of the state. The matter is expressed in these words from "The Statement on the Relationship between Church and State in the Present-day Japan," adopted in 1983 by the 33rd general assembly of the Church of Christ in Japan:

"...the church believes that no authority or power can ultimately violate the lordship of Christ... The church is to be administrated by the officers elected according to the church law and order, which the church by itself enacted based upon the word in order to fulfil God's missions. The law of this world is not to interfere in the church law which is under the lordship of Christ, and to violate its autonomy. Further, the law of this world is not to limit, restrict or direct the matter of our conscience and the content of our faith. Therefore, the order of this world must obey the words of God: "Render to God the things that are God's." When the lordship of Christ is violated, the church is allowed and commanded to act in obedience to Christ who is the true Lord; we should "obey God rather than man. " (Chapter I).

Or again, from the recent Kairos Document drawn up by Christians in South Africa (1985):

A government which is hostile to the common good in principle is acting against the interest of the people as a whole and permanently. This is the clearest case where the very policy of a government is hostile towards the common good and where the government has a mandate to rule in the interests of some people rather than in the interests of all people. Such a government would in principle be irreformable... There has not been any doubt about our Christian duty to refuse to co-operate with tyranny and to do whatever we can to remove it (Kairos Document 4.3).

The question of the relationship between church and state presents itself in many different forms for the member churches of the Alliance. Our churches live in many different political settings, have to deal with various types of political order, and cover the whole spectrum from small minority free churches to large established churches. But the general principle is valid: whatever the situation the church's responsibility is not to be subservient to the state, but to remind the state of its calling by God to uphold justice and to protect and preserve human community. The church respects and supports the state in these undertakings, but must also be prepared to call it to order when the state neglects or violates its responsibility for all its citizens.

The catholicity of the church means that each church in its own situation is bound in fellowship, confession and commitment to all members of the body of Christ. This prohibits churches from recognizing the principles of "national security" or "national interest" as having absolute value, above all when they are invoked to justify cruel and oppressive internal policies or external aggression. The elevation of "national security" or "national interest" to absolute status has its bitter price in the denial of human rights and the burden imposed on the poor of the earth by the diversion of resources to armaments. Against such ideologies, churches are called to work and struggle for justice, for co-humanity among all whom God has created of one human blood.

Co-humanity of women and men

The doctrine of the image of God has further particular relevance to the co-humanity of women and men. The wholeness of personhood and human community depends on a relationship of mutual and equal dignity between the sexes. This is a question of a subtly different order from the others addressed here. It may appear less dramatic than the themes of racism, church and state, and (as follows below) our human responsibility for the created world. Yet it is also more radically pervasive - because it raises the issue of the ordering of human life at every level of family, work and social organization. Although the issue is by no means new, only in recent decades have significant numbers of our member churches come to consider it. For many, the issue is still controversial. Therefore, we pose it as a question - but as one meant most seriously:

We confess that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female (Gal. 3:28). Yet in our life together do we not contradict this confession by the multiple ways we perpetuate the dependence of women on men? Do we not deny our common baptism if we continue to exclude women from full participation in the life and work of the church, especially if we exclude them from ordination to eldership and/or ministry? Must not the church rather appeal to society at large to respect the dignity and employ the talents of men and women, and itself set the example? Many of the churches in WARC have taken this step. Others still hesitate. Should there not now be an end to hesitation? Are not our sisters, like our brothers, made and redeemed in the image of God, witnesses alike to God's grace and calling? Can they not also be called and empowered by the Spirit of Christ to proclaim the gospel, administer the sacraments, and care for the souls of the people of God? The image of God also has to do with the task and calling of Christian ministry. Our Reformed churches have since the Reformation rejected the idea that this calling could only be exercised by celibate males. Can we any longer justify its restriction to men?

Creation

Finally, the concept of the image of God recalls us to the place of human beings in the whole creation of God. The image is not reflected in the individual human being in herself or himself alone, but in human beings in relation to the creation. God has called the universe into being as an arena for the display of the divine glory. But we are well on the way to stuffing this arena full of weapons of mass destruction, to threatening it mortally with the risks accompanying nuclear technology, to altering radically its pattern and order with the help of modern genetic technology. What was meant to be the theatre of God's glory risks becoming the scene of apocalyptic horror. The image of God on earth is already obscured, not only by the use but also by the preparation and deployment of these weapons and technologies. As God's image, human beings are responsible for the life of the creation, for the richness and integrity of its manifold species and forms of life. This responsibility calls us today to recognize that our traditional, anthropocentric view of the world has led us to claim an authority which does not belong to us. For the world can remain God's creation only so long as it is appreciated and respected and held in reverence as the place in which the Wisdom of God "plays" (Prov 8.22ff.). Humanity has its part in this "playing" but has no right to take the game over. For the "game," the "play" has its own rules, set not by humankind but by God. Of all living beings, only humankind has the ability to come on the scene to spoil the game, to break the rules and insist on making the game its own. Our confession of God as Creator and of our own formation and calling in God's image brings with it the awareness of certain boundaries set for our research and technology. If human beings are to remain in the image of God, owing their identity not to themselves or their own achievements but to the God "who ever preserves the world by his counsel and eternal providence" (Heidelberg Catechism, Question 26), we have to respect these boundaries and dare not transgress them.

Note: This text is an extract from the report of the consultation "Confessing the Faith Today", which was sponsored by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and held at the John Knox International Reformed Centre, August 17-24, 1986. The full text of the report appeared in Reformed World, vol.39 no.5 (March 1987). For further details regarding that consultation, see "From Ottawa to Seoul".