Faith, Rule of
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FAITH, RULE OF. In the early church, the summary of doctrines taught to catechumens and to which they were obliged to subscribe before baptism. It was afterward applied to the Apostles’ Creed. In modern theology it denotes the true source of our knowledge of Christian truth.
Protestant Doctrine. One of the chief doctrinal elements of the Reformation was the sufficiency of the Scriptures for faith and salvation. Thus the Methodist church teaches: “The Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation” (Meth. Dis. 5.5).
Roman Catholic Teaching. It emphasizes the role of the church: “The Church is the ordinary and the infallible means by which we know what the truths are which God has revealed. The testimony of the Church is the rule by which we can distinguish between true and false doctrine…. A person must believe that the Church cannot err, and that whatever it teaches is infallibly true” (Cath. Dict., s.v.).
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
