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CREED-MAKING IN JAPAN

According to a recent issue of the Missionary Review, the native Presbyterian Christians in Japan have taken the matter of creed revision into their own hands. The synod of the Church of Christ in Japan, composed of the various Presbyterian bodies, has refused to adopt the Westminster Confession of Faith, or any other similar doctrine. They have fallen back upon the Apostles’ Creed:

“In the Confession of Faith will be observed a significant silence upon the subject of retribution and of the future state. It reads thus: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ, whom we worship as God, the only begotten Son of God, for us men and for our salvation was made man and suffered. He offered up a perfect sacrifice for sin; and all who are one with him by faith are pardoned and accounted righteous, and faith in him working by love purifies the heart.

“‘The Holy Ghost, who, with the Father and the Son, is worshiped and glorified, reveals Jesus Christ to the soul, and without his grace, man, being dead in sins, cannot enter the kingdom of God. By him the prophets and the apostles and holy men of old were inspired, and he, speaking in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the supreme and infallible judge in all things pertaining unto faith and living.

“‘From these Holy Scriptures the ancient Church of Christ drew its Confession; and we, holding the faith once delivered to the saints, join in that Confession with praise and thanksgiving.'”

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— December 15, 1892 —