THE CANDLESTAND STATEMENT

PART ONE. REVELATION AND BIBLE

 

1.1 ABOUT REVELATION

1.1 * 1 Revelation

We believe in the Sovereign and Almighty God, creator of heaven, earth, and all that is created. He made man according to his image and likeness, giving him special qualities, making him responsible and capable to listen, to answer and to understand. The eternal God took the initiative to make Himself known to man. He was in fellowship with man, revealing His will, love and holiness to him. But man gave ear to the words of Satan. As a result of this man subjected himself to sin, and consequently to death, curse and corruption.

Irrespective of that, God did not cease to reveal Himself to man, but He came to search for him and to call him. He punished man because of his rebellion, but also promised the coming of a Saviour. A divine plan of reconciliation of all things was set up, to be fulfilled along the destined designed lines of history. We confess the accomplishment of this plan in Jesus Christ, in order that, as recorded for us in the Scriptures, “we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

 

1.1 * 2 The Bible

In Jesus Christ, God’s revelation received its climax and centre (Heb. 1:1-2). By his Holy Spirit God carefully handed down all that we need to know Him, and his redemptive works. We receive this knowledge through the Holy Scriptures, the Bible, covering the whole history of redemption, the teachings of the pophets and apostles. The works of creation and providence give us a sense of the existence of a divine being. The Bible is the only source containing sufficient information to really know the person of the creator of all things. By the Bible we also know the whole will of God needed for our salvation and comfort, as well as for the edification and guidance of our personal and congregational lives.

 

1.1 * 3 Completeness of the Bible

We believe that God has completed this work of authoritative revelation, recorded for us in the Scriptures. By reading and explaining the Scriptures the Holy Spirit will lead us to understand God’s plan and will, and to believe his promises for today and for the days to come. This work of subjecting ourselves to the truth of the Bible provides the only source for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, and adequately equips us for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17).

 

 

1.2 UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE

 

1.2 * 4 The Bible and the church

We receive the 66 books of the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, as the only and sufficient source for the church to know God and His redemptive works. Although the Bible is composed of many different books, we acknowledge that it conveys the one, coherent story of God’s redemptive revelation.

It is through this coherent story of God's revelation that we are enabled to know the Triune God, His great deeds, and His deep love for His creation and mankind. The church of all ages is established through the witness of the Prophets and Apostles (Eph. 2:20).

The church, being grateful for this special love, fully trusting that God will accomplish His plan, is equipped and illuminated by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel of total restoration to the world in Christ Jesus.

 

1.2 * 5 The need of Bible interpretation

We believe that the Bible can be read and understood by everyone who submits himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Yet, we believe that a thorough and competent method of interpreting the Bible is desirable and therefore should be encouraged, so that the church will be able to carry out its mandate and responsibilities in the right way. The need of such a method of interpretation is caused by the long historical distance between the ancient context of the Bible and the present situation of the church. This need is felt even more due to the rise of modern thoughts denying the divine authority of Scriptures.

Such a method of interpretation is needed for the faithful proclamation of the gospel, for the edification and expansion of the church. It provides the sound basis for theological understanding, and an important tool to support fruitful Bible-study.

We believe that the church should pray for opportunities to provide appropriate training to ensure that there are dedicated and spiritually motivated members of the church. Church leaders should be capable to rightly interpret the Bible and further the proclamation of the gospel, good preaching and sound theological development.

 

1.2 * 6 Hermeneutics and exegesis

We believe that biblical texts in the Bible as a whole communicate in a more or less clear (but often also complicated) way what the Divine Author intended to communicate.

We believe that the Biblical texts contains historical, literary and doctrinal aspects. We believe the trustworthiness of biblical events, the writer and the text. We believe that as a basis for this comprehensive mandate and responsibility of the church, the goal of interpretation of the Bible is to discover the intention of the Divine Author, and therefore we have to understand the original intended authorial meaning in the communication of the author to the addressed to his text. We believe that in our efforts to understand the original meaning of the text, it is important for us to acknowledge that these texts are based on specific phases of the coherent story of God's revelation.

For example, it is important to take into account that the books of the New Testament are related to the specific transitional phase of the realisation of God’s plan. The life and work of Jesus Christ broke down the temporary wall between Israel and the nations. The proclamation of the Gospel initiated the gathering of the whole worldwide church.

 

1.2 * 7 Application of Biblewords

We apply the Scriptures to our present times by the transferring of the authorial meaning to our context. It is to be expected that applications may vary in time and place. For example, we do not recognize our governments to be theocratic as it was during the Old Covenant. Compared with biblical times, our society and time is influenced by quite different religions, philosophies, ideologies and world-views. The situation of the modern world is incomparable with the situation in which the first congregations lived.

Therefore, applying the Bible to our modern times we have to take into account the many factors that are different. We should avoid superficial similarities, and we are obligated to supply understanding on the basis of good studies.

This does not discourage the members of the church from reading their Bible every day, on the contrary. Regular reading provides more understanding. There should be a willingness to read, openness to accept guidance and correction by means of Bible-study, and regular listening to preaching and teaching of the Word.

 

 

1.3 THE POWER OF HOLY SCRIPTURES

 

1.3 * 8 The Scriptures as precious gift

We confess the Holy Spirit breathed the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as his very precious gift or charisma. By giving these written documents the Spirit convinces us that God’s revelation is reliable, unchangeable, and undeceitful. In reading and hearing the Scriptures we express our gratefulness to the Spirit. For believers this reading and hearing is an act of obedience, by which the Spirit opens their hearts and lives to be governed and renewed in Christ.

 

1.3 * 9 The power of the Scriptures

We confess that the Holy Spirit cares for the Scriptures, and continues to empower the biblical text. We do realise that the better we study the Bible, the more we come nearer to God in our relationship with Him. We hear the loving voice of our Saviour speaking to us in our daily lives, and in this way we experience the intimate fellowship with the Spirit. God Himself promised His Spirit to be present, whenever a believer opens the Bible and reads from it. "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and the one who hears it and takes to the heart what is written in it" (Rev.1:3). This close fellowship with the Word of God strengthens faith, comforts and makes the believer trust in the Lord. The power of the Spirit will fill him more and more, and enable him to rely fully on the Lord Jesus Christ during good and evil times. (Ecc. 7:14)

 

1.3 * 10 The messenger of the Scriptures

We confess that the Bible communicates to us divine revelation, which is, in its divine mysteries, far beyond the human capabilities of understanding (Ro. 11:32). We believe that God chooses people to bring the message of redemption: “Blessed are the feet of those who bring good tidings” (Is. 52:7). Therefore the messenger should be trustworthy, a solid, convinced believer, who honours the Scriptures as the gift of the Holy Spirit. On faithful prayer the Holy Spirit will graciously bless the message that is prepared by proper study and meditation of the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit then exercises His power and enables the reader and listener to really hear and accept the bearing of the message. We pray for a humble attitude of preachers and teachers to leave the power and the effect of preaching in the hand of the living Lord and the Holy Spirit.

 

1.3 * 11 Illumination and personal experience

We believe that the preaching of the Word of God bears fruits in the lives of His children - by this holy work the Spirit is leading, guiding, illuminating and governing our lives. That means, He is giving the true understanding of the Scriptures (1 Cor.2:16). This work of the Spirit influences our whole being; mind, soul, emotions, and conscience. This is the reason that sometimes we explain special experiences or unexpected circumstances as God’s guiding hand in our personal lives, for instance to encourage us to follow godliness.

Dreams are part of a natural process, associated with daily life. In general a dream today, as reflection on human perceptions, can not be a normative standard to know the truth. The guidance of dreams and other special experiences always has to be subjected to the authoritative message of the Bible. It is our responsibility to give ourselves to be led, guided, and transformed by the Spirit, by using our human insights in the way of planning, acting, receiving advice from others and correcting our human errors. However, overstressing the creational possibilities leads to neglecting God’s Fatherly guidance.

The link between the proclamation of the Word of God and its faithful reading will always be there, and should remain in place, to prevent us from drifting away on the ways and waves of human inventions and feelings.

 

 1.3 * 12 Expectation of perfect revelation

We believe that on earth and in our historical times we live our Christian lives in the expectation of the coming of Christ. This is a longing for more perfect times. “... what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is” (1 Joh 3:2). This expectation of the coming of full revelation fills us with prayer and comfort. As was revealed to John: Then “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev.21:3,4). Actually, we do not exactly know what we ought to pray for, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom.8:26). The Lord taught us to persevere by praying, hoping and patiently waiting for the fulfilment of all His promises. In doing this we are encouraged by the intercession of the Holy Spirit. He helps us in our weakness, and He is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession (Eph. 1:13-14).

 

 

REFUTATIONS

1. We refute all teaching which denies that God has completed the work of authoritative revelation in the Scriptures. It is not to be expected that God still inspires special men to add specific or private authoritative revelation to bypass his already completed revelation.

 

2. We do not believe that the Bible is equal to God, nor do we expect any magical power of its written or spoken words. God is not to be reduced to the biblical text, easy to be manipulated and applied according to ones needs or desires.

 

3. We refute the misuse of the Bible, or Bible passages, or specific verses or even words, in order to derive extra power to heal or to prosper. There is no biblical basis for the teaching that God will perform miracles by repeating His words, or by forceful reading, or whispering.

 

4. The Bible is not to be seen as 'logos' (= biblical Greek word meaning word) to become powerful 'rhema' (= another biblical Greek word meaning word) by speaking it. We refute the distinction made up between these words for the sake of defending a certain use of the Bible to work spiritual powers.

 

5. We refute the desire and prayer to receive instant messages for our daily life directly from God, bypassing the Scriptures.

 

6. We refute the preference given to direct personal experiences, for instance direct guidance by the Holy Spirit, by inner voices and visions. This preference goes beyond the promises of the Covenant we live in, neglects the creational way of taking our responsibilities, and forsakes the sound use of Scriptures.

 

7. We refute every teaching claiming that dreams are directive in things concerning church and Christian life affairs, without subjecting it to the authority of the Scriptures. This is without biblical support and must not be taught to be pursued. So, there is no room for anybody to make his or her dreams a norm to us, conflicting with the Scriptures.