Creeds
Creeds
"Our creeds serve the purpose of preserving and transmitting the truth from generation to generation. That truth, as under the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit as it has been elicited from the Scriptures, formulated, systematised, and that, too, over against every form of the lie, which also appeals to Scripture, though falsely, that truth need not be and may not be discovered anew by each generation. It need not be because God establishes and calls his church in the line of continued generations so that each generation grows up and becomes heir to the heritage of the preceding one. But it is also true that the attempt to discover and to formulate the truth may not be begun anew by each generation: for to do so would not only be a waste of effort, but also a flagrant denial of the operation of the Holy Spirit in the church of the past. And for the transmission of this heritage of the truth from one generation to the next our confessions serve as a means”
(Synod of Dordt 1618-1619)