Centrality of the Word (Part 1)

Mark Jensen resides in Winnipeg, where he recently completed his Master of Theology. This is the first of a three part treatise on the first Covenant Affirmation, The Centrality of the Word. To begin, Mark explains his own interest in Covenant theology as well as the basis for the Covenant affirmations beginning with Scripture. 

Introduction

The Covenant Affirmations were first published in 1976 and later revised in 2005 in order to name the “spirit of our common life.”¹ Resisting the connotations of a formal doctrinal statement, the Evangelical Covenant Church (hereafter ECC) nevertheless speaks through the six affirmations it sees to be integral to its identity.² I am taking up the task of examining the first affirmation, the Centrality of the Word. I want to give some clarifications of what it means to affirm scripture as central, based off of a close reading of the affirmations, but also off of sources external to the Covenant Church, texts from the pietists (in particular, Philip Jacob Spener).

I began taking an interest in the theology of the Covenant Church through the time I spent in researching for my masters thesis, eventually taking a systematic theology course where I was encouraged to engage with the sources and texts of my tradition as I worked through the class topics. Perhaps what I have to say may not be of immediate interest to some, but I do think the stance of the ECC presents an original position in the pool of options in evangelical theology with much to offer to a theology student who wants to maintain a commitment to being evangelical and scriptural. I see the ECC’s position carving out a fresh and illuminating path for the young student of theology. This is what I want to explore in my concluding reflections. 

Scripture in the Covenant Affirmations

The Introduction to the Covenant Affirmations open with the following statement: 

The Evangelical Covenant Church adheres to the affirmations of the Protestant Reformation regarding the Bible. It confesses that the Holy Scripture, the Old and the New Testament, is the Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. it affirms the historic confessions of the Christian Church, particularly the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, while emphasizing the sovereignty of the Word of God over all creedal interpretations.³

Later the Affirmations (“Common Christian Affirmations”) positions the ECC within the rubrics of being an apostolic, catholic, Reformation, and Evangelical church. It is within the category of being an apostolic church that scripture finds clout. Scripture contains the record of Christ and the faith of the apostles. Scripture becomes the basis for “faith, doctrine, and conduct.”⁴ Following St. Paul in 2 Timothy, scripture serves the needs of the church community is “teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”⁵   Scripture is authoritative to the community of faith, deserving of our trust, allowing fellow Christians to ask each other, “Where is it written?” This does not mean scripture answers all the questions we may have or that it is our exclusive source for making decisions about the world. There are many things scripture does not address, but this does not diminish its importance or authority. Scripture has its own questions and its own answers–sometimes it does so unabashedly. Properly understood, scripture functions as a guide, rule, a “norming norm,” a standard of measurement.⁶ Scripture is authoritative because it communicates the narrative of God’s workings, through which we encounter Christ and in whom faith is enkindled by the work of the Holy Spirit. 

While scripture is authoritative, the ECC does not subscribe to any particular theory of inspiration or authority, nor does it provide explicit justification or extended for argument to construct a basis for this authority.⁷ The young theology student entering into evangelical theology will never cease to find tireless (perhaps intractable) debates seeking to specify and ground the nature of scripture’s authority in order to protect it from the perceived onslaughts of historical criticism, scientific understanding, moral relativism, and religious pluralism. Such debates are enough to leave them lost in the mucky mire of arguments with only a faded glint of a coin at the bottom of an opaque slough. The affirmation of the ECC does not prompt an apologetic, as if there were some anxiety to justify the assertion upon stating it. One Covenant writer states it this way: “Theories of inspiration often are at bottom a question for security, and we believe our security lies in God.”⁸ What matters most is not one’s knowledge of the information of scripture but the performance of it.⁹ Perhaps, then, it would be fair to say, following James K. A. Smith, that the Covenant affirmation pertaining to scripture’s authority does not fall under the category of  a “metanarrative” in that it does not seek to legitimate or ground itself by modern canons of rationality but on the basis of faith through the testimony of the Holy Spirit.¹⁰ 

Scripture is also explained under the headings reformation and evangelical, with these largely relating to the message of justification by faith alone, apart from the works of the law, as well as to Pietism’s emphasis one’s life of discipleship to Christ, sanctification in the Holy Spirit, and service to the world, in order to balance the lives of the head and the heart.¹¹ This includes the practice of the reading of scripture among the laity, and less emphasis on a kind of theological disputation that easily can devolve into philosophical spiralling. With the evangelical renewal movements, the Covenant Church has followed in its emphasis on biblical authority.¹² Perhaps the most influential renewal movement on the ECC has been Pietism, a renewal movement that first sprouted in 17th century Germany, most notably through Philipp Jakob Spener. 

In his next post, Mark will examine how the ECC draws upon Spener's idea of scripture as a living text and how that forms our practice as a church. 

Notes

<sup>1. James K. Bruckner, Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, Paul E. Koptak (eds.), “Preface,” in Living Faith: Reflections on Covenant Affirmations by the Faculty of North Park Theological Seminary, (Chicago, IL: Covenant Publications, 2010), xi↩
2. Ibid, xii. ↩
3. Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 1. ↩
4. Ibid., 3. ↩
5. Ibid., 3. Cf. 2 Tim. 3:16. ↩
6. Brucker, Clifton-Soderstrom, and Koptake, Living Faith, 36. ↩
7. Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 3. ↩
8. Brucker, Clifton-Soderstrom, and Koptake, Living Faith, 32. ↩
9. Ibid., 32. ↩
10. James K. A. Smith, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 64-70. ↩
11. Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 5. ↩
12. Ibid., 6. ↩</sup>