Faith and Freedom - October, 2008

Over the last several months, we have been publishing in Sightings some sections from Glad Hearts: the Joys of Believing and Challenges of Belonging (Covenant Publications, 2003), an anthology of Voices from the Literature of the Covenant Church with over 700 readings from the mid-19th century to the present. We are doing so for the sake of increasing numbers among us who are largely unaware of their inheritance as Covenanters in both life and thought. The complete Glad Hearts volume is available for purchase under the Resources Link on the Home Page of the rootedwings.com website. Comments or questions regarding any of the readings here are always welcome.

Biblical Moorings

On the central issues of our faith, doctrine, and conduct the biblical message is sufficiently clear-- the creation of all things by God, man made in the divine image but fallen in sin, his consequent moral inability to achieve his redemption, the incarnate and sinless life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, his atoning death and resurrection, redemption through faith in him, the regenerative and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of Christ's coming again to consummate his kingdom and judge the world. These affirmations constitute the essential core of the biblical message and are sufficiently clear for our salvation.

However, the meaning of the Bible or the nature of its relevance is not so clear as to remove all diversities of interpretation. Christians do hold divergent views on the theological definition of such doctrines as biblical inspiration, the sacraments, the incarnation, the atonement, the application of the Christian ethic, and the consummation of the age. Thus, while there is unity on the level of faith in Christ and the Gospel there is diversity on the level of theological expression.

The diversity is not in itself contrary to the will of God. The Bible affirms that God created us as finite human beings. Our diversity is a reflection of our finiteness as well as our immaturity. Hence, his will is that we should recognize this finiteness and be dependent upon and responsive to the revelation he has already given to us. While attempting to state the content of the revelation in terms that are meaningful to us, we must keep in mind that our apprehension of the revelation is subject to the limitations of our humanity and that we are subject to error and often in need of correction.

For the Christian to accept God's will involves acknowledging his finiteness and his dependence on God. On the one hand this implies the importance of constructing a theology which will clarify his faith. On the other hand it gives the Christian freedom from bondage to any man-made theological system by whatever name it may be called. It gives him freedom to be open to the correction of his fellows and to the rich possibilities of spiritual growth which accompany this acceptance of his finitude. It gives him freedom to discover his utter dependence on God's revealing work of grace as the only avenue to personal fulfillment. Thus, it gives him freedom to be what God meant for him to be--the dependent, obedient, and victorious child of God.

Covenant Committee on Freedom and Theology, Biblical Authority and Christian Freedom, (1963), p. 10.

Must freedom and tradition live forever in...tension? Is it inevitable that those who welcome change will always be in conflict with those who delight in “the old ways”?

Well, we are not the first people to discover the tension. The Bible is aware of it, and in Jesus himself the tension is brought to sharp focus. The tradition in which he grew up--the teachings and practices of his childhood home, the Scriptures, the Sabbath, the rituals of Temple and Synagogue--profoundly shaped him. Feeling at home in that tradition, he nonetheless had problems with it. For many, keeping the tradition had become more important than the commandments of God (Matthew 15:2) or serving human need (Luke 6:1-11). Jesus knew that he had come to set people free. But when he announced the heady gospel of freedom, strong opposition came from those who blindly adhered to tradition. And in the end, the binding power of old, unyielding traditions helped nail him to the cross.

The Bible highlights the tension, but it also points to a resolution in which both are seen as indispensable and complementary aspects of the life we live in Christ. The biblical answer lies in taking the focus off ourselves and placing it on the life of God's Spirit within the believing fellowship. It is the gracious and ever active Spirit of God who brings the two into proper balance. Apart from the Spirit they become self-perpetuating and self-serving. When life is lived “in the Spirit,” they become instruments through which God's purposes for his people are realized.

Consider the biblical witness. Apart from the Spirit, our freedom is not Christian freedom. It tends, rather, toward license. “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free,“ insists Paul (Romans 8:2). “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). The Spirit of life in Christ, like the wind that blows where it wills, cannot be programmed. Sovereign and free, the Spirit everywhere quickens new life in Christ and draws us into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

Likewise, it is God's Spirit who shapes and breathes life into tradition. Jesus promised his disciples that the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would “teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). And note: his continuing work does not bring absolutely novel truth to the attention of the Church. Rather, the Spirit takes what has already been revealed in Jesus' life and teachings and unfolds its meaning in every new situation where the Church is called to live and work. The insights and truths thus gained become part of the living and growing tradition of the Church through the ages–a resource for future generations when they face their own situations and circumstances.

Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), “Tradition? Freedom? Spirit?” (Covenant Tract, 1988).

Historical Influences

P [Philipp Jakob] Spener [1635-1705] distinguished between “historical, dead faith” and “true, living, divine, saving faith.” The former obtains when people read the Scriptures without divine light and, in effect, treat it as a human book. They hear the Word in a natural way because they have been taught it from youth up, but their lives have not been changed nor have they brought forth the fruits of righteousness. Such faith cannot bring salvation. It is a deceit of the devil and of the imagination of their own hearts--in which people lose their souls. Spener, surveying the Church of his time, assumed that thousands of persons possessed, at best, this impotent kind of faith. Dead faith leads to an easy security, which the devil in masterful fashion creates, convincing us through the misuse of Scripture that this is all there is to the Christian life. Here was an obvious warning against an antinomianism based on a false confidence in the doctrine of justification.

A “living faith,” on the other hand, purifies the heart through the forgiveness of sin, ignites a heartfelt love toward God, gives one a desire to be obedient to God by living unto his glory and keeping both tables of the Ten Commandments, and overcomes the world with its lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. This true faith is the most important because it is the only means of our justification...and salvation....

K. James Stein (1929- ), Philipp Jakob Spener: Pietist Patriarch (1986), p. 171.

The word “believing” (troende) was a remarkably living word for the early Mission Friends. It defined their experience of conversion and their continuing state as followers of Christ. It had the living quality of breathing for them. Though believing was a conscious action of their minds, there was also a reflective aspect in the nature of believing because they had come to this experience not primarily by an act of their wills but through the hearing of the preached Word and their own reading of that Word....

In the view of the [forebears], faith was more than an act with a past tense. It was for them a beginning and remained hopefully in progress as a dynamic relationship to the Christ of the Word. Never, in time, could believing become anything but embattled.. This was their creative focus. Churchmanship came later and somewhat reluctantly. Their records indicate a deepening awareness of sin and frailty as they matured as Christians, the living signs of a continuing dialog with God....

In this position they were protected from seeing their experience as the believing ones as personal achievement having merit and virtue in them. Seldom has a generation stood so naked in its self-estimate and so enthusiastic in its trust of God’s mercy in Christ. Nor was this a motivated and psychological exercise in self-depreciation to gain favor with God. It was a recognition of actual helplessness in the face of real life in its total dimensions and death.

Eric G. Hawkinson (1896-1984), Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp. 46,47,48.

Christ Is the Key

The key to freedom...as Covenanters have understood it is to be “in Christ.” By his grace, he is able to make a person, as Luther says, into “a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.” At the same time, he is able to make the same person “a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

It is in the creative tension between that lordly and that servant-like spirit–with Christ as the focus– that true freedom is to be found. God wants his children to be themselves, and he gives them that right. Yet what he gives is always for a purpose–that they might serve not themselves, but the mission he has in the world and the Body into which he has brought them by his grace.

Historically, Covenanters have honored that tension–if not always and everywhere, at least in crucial moments when faith and fellowship were at stake. They have understood–if not always accepted the fact–that God’s Word is sovereign over every human interpretation of it, including their own. And understanding this, they have been free to allow for differences of opinion where the biblical record itself can be differently read. Though such freedom has often led to controversy–over how to interpret the Lord’s second coming, for example, or practice baptism and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or understand the precise nature of biblical inspiration–it has never led to a denial of the basic truths of Scripture in any of those areas. It has kept Covenanters together in times of strain when it would have been far easier to break fellowship and further divide the Body.

The same creative tension manifests itself in areas of practical churchmanship and everyday Christian living wherever Covenanters gather. Their concern for the unity of the whole Church wrestles with their faith in the congregational principle, and vice-versa; their deeply-felt desire for consistency in life and witness struggles with their innate fear of creeds and codes where the Scriptures have not spoken clearly; and their desire to cooperate–to “covenant” with each other–competes with a hesitance to adopt concepts and programs which limit their individual freedom.

To some, such freedom is no freedom at all. They would rather have all the marching orders clearly defined from the beginning, preferably by someone on whom they could lay the whole burden of responsibility. It is not easy to be free. To seek freedom for its own sake is to lose it. What matters are the relationships–to God, to oneself, to one another, to one’s work, and to life in the world–which beget freedom, or prevent it.

Covenanters cherish this freedom in Christ and recognize, as one of our forbears put it, that freedom is a gift, the last of all gifts to mature. Full maturity awaits the day when the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ, when he shall reign forever and ever.

Covenant Doctrine Committee, Covenant Affirmations (Booklet, 1976), pp. 22,23,24.

Faith unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her husband. Then all that is Christ's becomes the possession of the believer; and all that the believer possesses becomes Christ's possession. What a blessed trade! The soul laden with sins belongs to Christ, and the blessed holiness of Christ belongs to the soul of the believer. The rich and holy bridegroom takes to himself the guilt-laden bride (the soul), sets her free from guilt, makes her free from guilt, and gives her the costliest gifts and treasures of grace.

C. O. Rosenius (1816-1868), Romans: A Devotional Commentary, J. Elmer Dahlgren and Royal F. Peterson, translators (1978), p. 81.

Christ] wants you to let him be the Guide and Controller.

But for his yoke to be easy, and for his burden to be light, both you and Christ must go in the same direction and at the same rate of speed. And, to use a colloquialism, it is right here in the Christian life that the shoe pinches, and pinches painfully. Many Christians are going too fast to read his word or to pray. Others are going too slowly to witness, to serve, to shine for him. Still others are going their own ways, off on a tangent, choosing friendships and life's activities without reference to his will. All such find the Christian yoke not easy but galling, and the Christian burden not light but soul-breaking. A practical submission to Christ is the only certain way to a happy Christian life. To yield one's freedom to him is the only sure method of gaining peace.

Do not misunderstand this matter of submission. For any of us to seek freedom from Christ's yoke is to be like a kite, flying high in the sky, objecting to the cord which binds it to its owner. To sever the string would mean destruction for the kite. For a Christian to be outside the yoke of Christ means tragic failure, unfulfillment of God's purpose. To quote Samuel Rutherford in another connection: This yoke “is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbor.” Take his yoke upon you!

Virgil D. Wickman (1908-1984), “Christianity’s Two-Fold Appeal”
From The Covenant Pulpit, G. F. Hedstrand, ed. (1954), p. 141.

The early church was, without doubt, completely unique both in the freedom it gave to its people and in the way it captured them. To the extent that they were captured by Christ and the church they were free people, and to the extent that they resisted the full captivity of Christ they were enslaved. This is the great paradox of Christian faith, that the more we are bound to Christ the more we are free, and the more we are free, the more we are bound to Christ.

Wesley W. Nelson (1910- ), “...To Preach Christ,” from Bound To Be Free: essays on being a Christian and a Covenanter, James R. Hawkinson, ed. (1975), p. 14.

The human experience of complete freedom and relaxation of spirit is hard to find. Much depends upon in what frame of reference freedom of spirit is looked for. If this is sought and found in temporal relationships, freedom can only be temporal. Complete freedom must be found in what is ultimate and, therefore, not subject to change. This can be found only in God’s provisions for us. Once that is found it is full of peace and joy.

Equally true is the fact that freedom of the spirit, when found, is hard to keep. It is bound up with our understanding of what God is like and what he demands of his creation and creatures. If we can believe that God always accepts us as we are through faith in Jesus Christ, for better or for worse, our spirit can remain free and glad. If, on the other hand, we subtly begin to blend this ultimate and continuing state of grace with the ensuing disciplines of reflective thought and institutional requirements, we are on our way to bondage again.

This vision and this tension remain as a continuing dialog at the very heart of the Christian life. Shall the grace of God become and remain the definitive relationship to him, or shall personal merit, or merit of some other sort, be allowed to subtract from grace and [thus] enlarge human honor and dignity before God?

Eric G. Hawkinson (1896-1984), Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp. 61,62.

Oh, you who are like frightened birds, who although the cage is open do not dare to fly out into liberty, hear once again the word, “He shall break the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, and the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” You can make a wonderful exchange now, my friend. The Prince of the house of David has also a yoke to lay on his followers, a burden for you to carry. But what a difference! You who have walked stooped and bent because of your heavy burden, permit the Lord to exchange burdens with you. The one he would give you is “easy,” and the burden is “light.” Do you wish to stand erect and to be light-footed? Then put on the burden of the Lord.

Adam Lidman (1849-1934), “A Christmas Sermon”
From, The Word Is Near You, Herbert E. Palmquist, tr. (1974), p. 17.

The Gift and the Challenge

Not as a mark of preference, but as the common birthright the church is free. There is
certainly no Free Church, if by that we mean any church boasting to be par preference the Church of the Free, except in the sense in which Paul asserts that it is “for freedom” that Christ has set us free, and in the sense implied in the promise of Christ, to those who know the truth, that “truth shall make them free.” Freedom is not a privilege to boast of but an accomplishment, of all accomplishments, the last to mature. And yet the church is in fact and intention free, because without one single exception all her privileges and all her obligations are in the fullest sense voluntary.

David Nyvall (1863-1946), "Covenant Ideals"
From David Nyvall and Karl A. Olsson, The Evangelical Covenant Church (1954), p. 102.

If God is in control of everything that happens, how can we be free? How can God hold us responsible for our acts if he guides everything? Perhaps the answer is found in that phrase, “guides everything.” His control of the movement of the stars and planets and of the laws of nature and, to a great extent, of the action of animals may be direct and without room for freedom. But when he deals with human beings he respects the freedom he has given them and ordinarily guides rather than compels. Now this is not a complete answer to a very perplexing question, but it may help show us the direction in which our thinking should go.

Clifford W. Bjorklund (1921-1986), Harry J. Ekstam (1918- ), Karl A. Olsson (1913-1996), and Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), According to Thy Word (1954, 1955), p. 357.

There is a freedom which knows no boundaries, total openness where anything is acceptable. It is an inclusion based on indifference....

There is another freedom that comes from knowing who you are and what you believe. It comes from being secure in one's relationship to God. It is a security that allows the risk of accepting people who are different from oneself. Covenant freedom is the latter. It comes from people who know they did not earn and do not deserve God's acceptance, people who know that their salvation is by grace through faith. It creates in them a humility that refuses to believe that they have the last word on truth. It enables them to hold their convictions with grace toward those who hold a different position.

Glenn R. Palmberg (1945- ), from “Yesterday’s Seed Is Tomorrow’s Harvest,” The Covenant Companion, March, 1977, p. 26.

One ought to manage ...so that at the crucial moment when it is time to deny the institution itself for the sake of the kingdom, one is free to do so. In any choice between the church and the kingdom, the kingdom has to win, even if you are the servants of the kingdom by being duly anointed as servants of the church. If the orders come to uproot, you must obey the orders and march. Even if it is not in the schedule. Even if it is not on the computer. Even if you do not want to. You are going to have to march whether you want to or not. Our history tells us that if you do not march one way, God will find another way to get you moving. Instead of building as though we were going to be in a particular place a thousand years, we must feel free to live in tents, and to meet each other by the campfire, if that is what is called for. I do not predict that that is what is we will be called to do. It is not an assertion. I am saying, however, that our sense of management must wait upon the prior will of God, and must take those forms in a sensible and human way that seem available to us, as honest men and women, to do God's work.

Zenos E. Hawkinson (1925-1997), “Managing” (1978)
From Anatomy of the Pilgrim Experience: Reflections on Being a Covenanter, Edited by Philip J. Anderson and David E. Hawkinson (2000), p. 58.

True and Living Faith

I wouldn’t want to write a composite of the ideal personality of the Covenant. If I could, I would be creating a porcelain image which would have to be smashed because it was inimical to the Covenant. But those of us who have had the experience of growing in the fellowship have been kindled by its flashes of humanness, ruggedness, honesty, and passion. Since the day of “the organizational man" has intimidated ours as well as other institutions, we are less that way.

There are indications that the corporate consciousness trend is reversing. Already the joyful bird of the spirit is being freed to sing again.

Arthur W. Anderson (1920- ), “To Be Ourselves”
From Bound to Be Free: essays on being a Christian and a Covenanter, James R. Hawkinson, ed. (1975), pp. 83,84.

My first experience with the freedom which is so much part of the Covenant came one day while I was sitting through the closing session of its Annual Meeting in 1967. The sessions were held that year in Pasadena, California, where I was attending seminary. I was in a state of rebellion against the organizational and theological tightness of the Church as I had experienced it to that point. I was echoing the sentiments of Bishop Lesslie Newbigin who has said: “It is the sign of our spiritual weakness that we lust for tight organizations wherein everything is governed by a set of inflexible rules. The multiplication of rules is the sure sign of spiritual decay.” I was beginning to feel that I was not going to be able to work within this constricting tightness at all.

As I sat in that closing session of the Annual Meeting, however, I heard Dr. Clarence Nelson, the outgoing president, say, “We have had some hot theological discussions here this week and we have by no means agreed on all the matters at issue. The thing that thrills me, however, is that we have been free to be ourselves and yet are one in Jesus Christ.” It took great discipline on my part to keep from jumping up and shouting “Praise God!” At last I had found a group which was free enough to allow individual diversity within the overall unity in Christ.

That day marked my spiritual marriage to the Covenant. Since that time I have joined arms officially with its people in doing the work of Christ around the world. I have found that this fellowship is not only freed up to discuss theological and ecclesiastical issues sanely, but also to risk bringing the Gospel to the world in a new, creative, and flexible way. I have also found it free to risk losing itself in cooperative ministries around the world--seeking to make the Church of Jesus Christ, not the fame of the denomination, the focus of its mission. Finally, I have found the Covenant freed up to risk experimenting in mission around the world, bringing glory to God by enabling the Church to grow.

James W. Gustafson (1944- ), “To Serve the World”
From Bound to Be Free: essays on being a Christian and a Covenanter, James R. Hawkinson, editor, p. 113.

The world has dictated our agenda too long. If we would be true to our heritage we must understand what it means to be free in Christ. He has set us free from sin and death so that we might really be free to grow in the Spirit. Such freedom expresses itself in new life, new light, and new love....

Christ's love has been given to us to set us free, but then we are bound to him in a way. We incarnate that love as the Holy Spirit mediates his presence and power through our lives. Only then are we truly free. For we have then discovered with Luther the paradox of Christian freedom. While “a Christian man is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none,” yet he is “a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” With George Matheson we can sing: “Make me a captive Lord, and then I shall be free.” Therein is perfect freedom.

Glenn P. Anderson (1923-1985), “To Grow in the Spirit”
From Bound To Be Free: essays on being a Christian and a Covenanter (1975), p. 27,37.

At the core of our Covenant there is a spirit which is deliciously untameable. Nothing sanguine. Of course, we do have many who do not want to rock the boat on any issue, and then we are blessed with wise heads who keep our impulsiveness in check with good sense. But the passion for Christ has always been so infinite, rugged, boundless, and creative, that we still are essentially untamed. Such largeness burst forth out of our own pietism. One who epitomizes this spirit for me was David Nyvall [founder and first president of North Park College]. He was a very free spirit who could simply confess, “I feel at home with the revival people.” He could hold the whole cosmos in abeyance while singing glory to God. I count myself bountifully blessed to have been a lowly freshman in the last “Life of Jesus” class which he taught. He would sit on the desk, dangle his legs over the front, stroke his beard (beard! Isn't that amazing!) over and over and come up with ideas that would have stumped Socrates. Once he startled our minds into the heavens with the request that we write a paper on the single word “Beyond,” and do a test on the question, “Which is more important, time or space?” It was a delightfully dizzy exam but I gained a sense of the open universe, the cosmic spiraling out of mundane matters, and the feeling that God must be infinitely vast. I suddenly found the sky. Ever since then I have been very restless unless I could see things in their cosmic dimensions.

Such openness as expressed by Nyvall belongs to the selfhood of the Covenant. God moves in with overwhelming authority but inspires us to freely roam the universe in an infinitely rich, awesome, puzzling, jovful quest for truth. This openness is tough, lively, intractable, non-manipulative. It is at home in a variety of camps, but is captured by none. Yet such a spirit is not mercurial, flabby. or easygoing.

Arthur W. Anderson (1920- ), “To Be Ourselves”
From Bound to Be Free: essays on being a Christian and a Covenanter, James R. Hawkinson, ed. (1975), pp. 78,79.

I will tell you the story I have told many times about my own liberation. It was during the time of my first sabbatical, in 1965. I came home from Christmas vacation, and sat down in the living room on the first day of my sabbatical. I had two terms off to do nothing but read. But I was soon afflicted by the thought that I was not needed after all.

I waited for the telephone to ring, because I was sure that about two hours into the first day of term they would call up and say, “Zenos, I know we gave you a sabbatical, I know that we guaranteed you six months off, but we can't do it. You must come back.” And I would say, “You people are impossible. It's all right. Don't worry. I'll come back.” And I would love every minute of it. But the phone did not ring, then or in the days that followed. I spent the most absurd week with myself. I would walk slowly back and forth in front of the administration building, with a book in my hand so they would know I was reading, you know. Yet I hoped they would run out and say, “You have to come back!” They did not even look at me! And I got grumpy and jumpy. I got short with my wife, until finally she took me by the arm and said, “Look. Either you snap out of it or you move out for the whole rest of this time, because I'm not going to put up with this!” She said, “What is the matter with you?” And I said, “Well, I, you know . . . “ I had to admit, there was something the matter with me. It was that they did not need me. The school was continuing. I was not indispensable. And then, of course, there dawned on me a sense of liberation so overwhelming, a sense of freedom. I could contribute, but I was not indispensable.

Zenos E. Hawkinson (1925-1997), “Managing”” (1978)
From Anatomy of the Pilgrim Experience: Reflections on Being a Covenanter, Edited by Philip J. Anderson and David E. Hawkinson (2000), p. 59.

Donald Frisk, former dean of North Park Theological Seminary, offers this insight to the task that faces the church today: “Passing on the faith is an exacting and difficult task. It involves faithfulness to what has been but also openness to the new. Changed situations, new people, and new problems may necessitate new forms and styles of communication. But the change in style and form is always instrumental; it is for the service of the Gospel. Its value is not in itself but in its effectiveness in making the Gospel understood in a changing world” (Covenant Affirmations, p. 174).

C. V. Bowman expressed the "Principles of the Mission Friends" in terms of three emphases: "to work for spiritual life in the activity of the church," to support efforts of evangelism and world mission, and to maintain a membership open to all regenerate believers. He felt that the last principle would be the most difficult to maintain (pp. 4,7).

A more recent churchman has categorized the distinctives of the Covenant in this way: 1) evangelical but not exclusive; 2) biblical but not doctrinaire; 3) congregational but not independent; and 4) traditional but not rigid (Everett L. Wilson, “Covenant Distinctives”).

Paul Larsen, [former] president of The Evangelical Covenant Church, sees Covenant polity as the balance of a strong commitment to both local autonomy and collective action in community (The (Mission of a Covenant, p. 73).

In all of these definitions the life-giving impulses of the Holy Spirit are kept in a delicate balance, a creative tension.

Paul A. Day (1952- ), Unity and Freedom: One Hundred Years of the East Coast Conference, (Published by the East Coast Conference, 1990), p. 130.

Theology Not Unimportant

The Covenant believes in the freedom of the individual conscience. It was born in a struggle for the right of the individual to read the Word and to expound it as he understood it. The Word of God is not bound. But this matter of freedom has sometimes taken a queer twist among us. It has been interpreted to mean that the Covenant does not care what you believe, that we consider doctrines and their interpretations as being of no consequence, that one theory of the sacraments is just as good as another, and that you can teach what you will, as you will, and be a good Covenanter. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The early Covenant people did not disregard theology; they revelled in it. They knew much more about theology than people do generally today. And in many instances they believed what they believed with great intensity.... What the Covenant has seemed to the present writer to say is this: You have the right of' private interpretation, but you do not have the right because of your interpretation to break the fellowship, for that is based on the blood of Christ. In the Christian church there is room for many opinions, but there is no room for division. You are free to believe what you think the Bible teaches, and you are free to seek to convince others, but you are not free to say that he is a lesser Christian because he has another understanding of the Scriptures than you do. You have the right to learn with us as we pursue this study together, but you do not have the right to sow mistrust of those who have come to another conclusion.

Herbert E. Palmquist (1896-1981), Wait for Me! (1959), pp. 53,54.

Because the Covenant Church provides a considerable measure of theological freedom, it has been troubled throughout its history with a number of fruitless controversies. No community which allows itself this much freedom can avoid differences of opinion and vigorous debate (both of which give depth and power to the common life), but a shared level of theological awareness can probably prevent much of the kind of clash that leads nowhere.

If this is so, the gradual normalization of educational requirements for pastors in the Covenant will probably serve, not to eliminate debate, which would be a serious loss, but to assure the kind of interaction which informs, illuminates, and blesses the church.

Karl A. Olsson (1913-1996), Into One Body...by the Cross, Volume Two (1986), p. 402.

The Covenant is a Bible-believing fellowship, as indicated above, but it has never officially subscribed, even under the pressures of the 1920s, to the tenets of Fundamentalism or evangelicalism if by this we mean an adherence to Scriptural inerrancy or verbal inspiration. There are many Covenanters who are Fundamentalists and there are probably many local Covenant churches that would formulate their faith in these biblicistic terms. They belong to the family of faith together with everyone else who believes that the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, are the Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. As indicated, they share the rights and privileges pertaining to membership. But there is one right they do not have and that is to demand that all other Covenanters must believe as they do.

Karl A. Olsson (1913-1996), Into One Body...by the Cross, Volume Two (1986), p. 424.

As Christians we must be free to maintain our convictions as to what is right and wrong. We must also be ready to welcome other Christians who may interpret the teachings of the Bible somewhat differently as to how Christians should act. We must not offend our brothers and sisters by our actions, but we also must not permit the church to be enslaved by advocating restrictions on legitimate Christian freedom. To try to reach an agreement on matters like these would result in endless discussion, but we do know that the Bible teaches that we must accept one another as Christians in spite of our differences.

Is the membership prepared to accept new people in Christ who come from different cultural backgrounds? Does your church have an “in” group that conforms very much to similar cultural patterns? Do those who are not in this group receive just as much attention and love? These are questions to guide us in prayer rather than for discussion.

Wesley W. Nelson (1910- ), Learning to Love People (1973), p. 24.

The Place of Creeds

P In Covenant churches we have no official creed to which we ask all members to give assent. This is because we believe that all such creeds are man-made and are imperfect. We believe that the requirement for church membership is to have a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We recognize that there will be some differences of interpretation when that faith is described in greater detail. All the confessions of faith which have been produced over the centuries only approach the richness of the faith itself. They have value because they show us the direction in which the truth lies. But they are all to be judged by the Scriptures themselves.

It is important also to see that the creeds have arisen under the stress of conflict. They were weapons used against heretics and were hammered out in the heat of battle. It should be apparent that new heresies (and many not new at all) arise in every age, calling for new formulations of what the Christian faith is. Hence the Church can never tie itself absolutely to any historic creed. It finds inspiration and guidance rather than absolute authority in these ancient battle songs of the Church. But as such they should be treasured and honored by all Christians.

A doctrine is like a telescope. There are many worthwhile things you can do with a telescope. You can study, for example, its history or the way in which it is made or the relationship which exists between the lenses. All of these activities are interesting and profitable, but if you want to see the stars you must look through the telescope. In the same way a doctrine is not to be studied for itself alone, but is to be used to help us understand the salvation which God brings us through Jesus Christ.


Clifford W. Bjorklund (1921-1986), Harry J. Ekstam (1918- ), Karl A. Olsson (1913-1996), and Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), According to Thy Word (1954, 1955), pp. 429,430.

The Covenant Church highly values the reality of freedom in Christ. We believe in the reality of the living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of each believer. Jesus Christ liberates us from sin, takes up active residency in our hearts, and calls us to a new life and obedience to him. Because we believe so strongly in Jesus Christ's living lordship in our lives, we do not subscribe to creeds that some other churches employ. We believe that creeds are limited because they are human constructions. But Jesus is not limited. He is alive right now. We trust in the living Jesus Christ to guide us by the Holy Spirit through the complexities of life. Creeds are helpful and instructive. We use them as teaching aids and we confess them in worship. But we insist that believers are free from all human rules as they live in response to Jesus Christ. This freedom makes possible a spirit of openness and acceptance in the church over things that believers do not agree upon. We allow for differences of interpretation, historic practices in the church, and matters of opinion and culture. This freedom does not mean individualism and selfishness; rather, it is guided by the Bible and it serves the body of Christ. It is a servant freedom, not a consumer freedom. For the believer, freedom is something one gives, not receives. The word of God always guides and shapes our opinions and decisions.

A Family Matter: An Exploration in Believing and Belonging (Inquirer’s Class Manual of the Evangelical Covenant Church, 1994), pp. 32,33.

Warm, Human, and Open

Abundant life in Christ makes us conscious of our freedom as his servants. He has told us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30). This freedom of life in Christ expresses itself in a natural, joyful, hopeful interest in others rather than in a burden for them. The very nature of joy is such that it turns outward to others. The moment we try to analyze it and give attention to our own feelings of joy it eludes us. Likewise, the joy of life in Christ cannot be analyzed. When we give ourselves to it, we forget ourselves and our sense of responsibility for others and become conscious of others as people.

This interest in others will express itself in actions on their behalf. When some member of the group seems to be unduly troubled with the cares and problems of life, someone else will visit him and seek to help him. Members of the church who may not be in the close fellowship of a group like this will nevertheless receive the benefits of their help when it is needed. This same concern will flow out into the community to neighbors, friends, and business associates.

Wesley W. Nelson (1910- ), Salvation and Secularity (1968), p. 110.

The harmony in the midst of this diversity is largely [owed] to the lively and intimate intercourse of churches and preachers. Hospitality is especially insisted on, and the mission conferences held by each church once or twice a year are attended by all the preachers in the district. Thus the churches know all the preachers and the preachers are at home in all the churches.

David Nyvall (1863-1946), Article for World Parliament of Religions, 1893
Quoted in Scott E. Erickson, David Nyvall and the Shape of an Immigrant Church (Acta Universitatis Upsallensis, Uppsala, 1996), p. 163.

Because the Covenant embraces freedom for individual believers, we can often help in unifying kingdom efforts. Covenant pastors and churches often lead in uniting groups in Christ. This is evidenced on the local level, where Covenanters feel free to fellowship with believers from many Christian perspectives. Often Covenanters stand at the forefront of leadership of such groups. This is true on the denominational level as well. We are companions of all who call on the name of Christ as Lord.

A Family Matter: An Exploration in Believing and Belonging (Inquirer’s Class Manual of the Evangelical Covenant Church, 1994), p. 52.

The theological focus and assumptions of the Mission Friends helped them to maintain their human qualities. One sees them framed in contemporary judgments as fanatics, on the one hand, and as completely secular on the other. They were uncomfortable in the presence of social pretense and easy talk about spirituality. They were believing human beings and not yet a stereotype. There were patriarchal figures and arresting personalities among them who overawed and entertained the people. Humor was plentiful. It is true that among them could be found the super-spiritual, or the legalists, who could not see themselves simply as in a continuous, redeeming relationship to Christ. They sometimes had their way. By and large, the main stream of the believing ones moved on to refreshing insights. Theirs was a rough-hewn piety but warm as the glowing fire on the hearth. There was the warmth of elemental human resources in touch with the incarnational life of God in Bethlehem, Egypt, Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Nazareth, Decapolis, Capernaum, and Jerusalem. They were personalists who knew that people need priority and had this priority in Jesus, the Son of God.

Eric G. Hawkinson (1896-1984), Images in Covenant Beginnings (1968), pp. 85,86.

A holy person puts on no airs; he doesn't need to pretend he is spiritual or give the impression that he is committed. One who is jealous of the impression he leaves as a Christian has yet to have a meaningful encounter with the Holy Spirit. He is the happy one who has given his life to God without reservation and from then on only considers himself a steward of his possessions, friends, business and community responsibilities, family relations, and even his name. He can afford to be relaxed in his soul, having ceased to be concerned that he is his own master. The holiest person is least aware of it personally, lest he become the victim of pride or some other fleshly vice which will dethrone the Spirit. Saints do not wear halos. They are distinguishable only by the fruits of the Spirit, which often ripen long after the saint has left the scene.

Ours is a generation urgently in need of relaxed and totally committed Christians who are so naturally the servants of God that they will serve him without a direct consciousness of it in every human transaction and personal contact. They will also be the happiest Christians, and the church will again grow as rapidly as it did in the first century, when ordinary citizens became contagious with redeeming grace.

C. Milton Strom (1911-1972), Holy Curiosity (Board of Publications of the California Conference,1966), p. 65.

Freedom in Marriage

Biblically, marriage is the re-enactment of divine relationship between God and all his people. Marriage is like Christ loving the believer and the church--giving himself ultimately for them. Christ never trades us off for other liaisons as people do in adultery. In fact, God's very nature is relational. He is trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The creating and preserving of relationship is God's highest priority. When we destroy relationships we mock the very nature and purpose of God. When people become adulterous they violate themselves, others, and God.

True freedom will never be found in extramarital liaisons. One cannot really have a lighthearted, carefree brush with such adventure. Infidelity is immoral. It leads eventually to spiritual devastation, depression, self-image crushing, and overwhelming guilt.

The good news is that a Christian marriage and home, faithfully remembered and honored, rescues us from all this. God gives us a perfect relational model to follow in Christ. In sanctifying marriage, he also calls us to one of the highest experiences of human redemption.

Lloyd H. Ahlem (1929- ), “Why Not an Affair?” (Covenant Tract, 1987).