The formation of creeds tends to create division and to perpetuate
division. Cæsar's maxim illustrates their history: "Soldiers will
raise money, and money will make soldiers." So creeds will make sects,
and sects will make creeds. "A creed or confession of faith is an
ecclesiastical document--the mind and will of some synod or council
possessing authority--as a term of communion by which persons and
opinions are to be tested, approbated or reprobated." The sect
churches are built on their creeds, although, of course, they affirm
that their creeds are built on the Bible. In this case, however, it is
usually apparent to the careful observer that the Bible is that part
of the foundation which is buried out of sight below the ground. The
creed is the real test applied to persons, the measure by which their
opinions are judged. It is the creed upon which the sect is built that
gives the denominational character and distinctiveness.

It is a fact of history that the primary purpose of the historical
creeds was not to unite men but to separate them. The Nicene Creed was
made to exclude the Arians. The Decrees of the Council of Trent were
framed to exclude Protestants; the Westminster Confession, to exclude
Arminians; and the Episcopal Articles, to exclude Catholics and
Independents. To rally around a creed framed by human authority and
make it the basis of union is but to teach a system--a sect system;
but to rally around the person of Jesus Christ and make him the
supreme object of our faith, hope, and love is to contend for what
the Bible terms the faith, the truth, the gospel. This is infinitely
better than any document proceeding from Nicea, Trent, Dort, Augsburg,
or Westminster.

[Sidenote: Power of the keys]