Christian Orthodoxy as a Community Recognizing True Teaching about God

 
Orthodoxy is never defined by private interpretation. A person could come to belief that the Son is NOT substantially one with the Father. The person coming to this belief could THINK that a denial of substantial unity within the Trinity is in line with what the Bible teaches. However, just because a person BELIEVES that he is in line with Scripture does not make that person orthodox. Churches together have searched the Scripture and have come to agreement that the Bible teaches that the Son is "one substance with the Father," as the Nicene Creed from A.D. 325 stated. This teaching has been reaffirmed in a wide variety of historic confessions of faith; for example, the Second London Baptist Confession from 1689 states: "the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, [are] of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided." If someone denies the substantial unity of the Father and the Son, no matter how convinced that person might be that his beliefs are in line with Scripture, that person is outside the bounds of orthodoxy.

This one example is true of other doctrines concerning theology proper as well. There are some doctrines where the different denominational confessions disagree, and so we can speak of "Baptist orthodoxy" or "Presbyterian orthodoxy." Sometimes, inter-denominational groups have agreed to statements of faith concerning essential beliefs, and so we can speak of "Protestant orthodoxy" or "Evangelical orthodoxy." But when it comes to theology proper, there are some truths that have been confessed through the centuries by anyone making a credible claim to Christianity, and these form the basis for Christian orthodoxy. The Reformed/Evangelical world believes that the necessary, authoritative, sufficient, and clear foundation for Christian orthodoxy is ultimately the Bible. However, so that each person does not come up with contradictory beliefs about what the Bible teaches, the use of secondary standards (creeds and confessions) is necessary in allowing us to summarize what we believe the Bible teaches. A departure from the time-tested secondary standards in regard to any first-order issue is certainly a departure from orthodoxy.