REC Home*** Theological Forum Theological Forum Vol. XIX, No. 1, March 1991 THE BELHAR CONFESSION 1986
Ad Kruyswijk 1
Why did the DRMC submit its Belhar Confession (BC) to the Reformed Ecumenical Council? It was not obliged to do so! Did the church do it in order to bring its internal differences within the family of the DRC Churches in South Africa on to the international niveau and thereby attain a strategic victory? That would have been a factor in an unspiritual power struggle. This has often been suggested in moments of distrust. Yet such a conclusion would show a serious over- simplification.
It is regrettable that the Accompanying Letter of the BC is not included in the RES Acts 1988. I would quote one passage, "We are aware that such an act of confession is not done lightly but only if it is judged that the heart of the gospel itself is at stake and is threatened. In our judgment the church and ecclesiastical situation within our country, and especially within the DRC church family at this time requires such a decision." The credibility of the BC depends to a large degree on its background. Without a doubt it marks a stage in the people's struggle which holds all South Africa in its grip. But however incisive its connection may be with all who have come into opposition to apartheid, the DRMC has in principle succeeded in avoiding a black ideology. It is not in the political or social change of climate but in the heart of the Scripture that the basis is found for its new self-understanding: in relation to God, in all respects equal to the whites, and the mandate to stand tall as image bearers of God in society, in complete fellowship with other believers, without separation according to race and color. It is precisely this far reaching experience with the heart of the gospel that the has promised the DRMC's confession. It was not made in order to speak out, "against specific people or groups of people, or a church" (Letter, para 3). Nor is the BC intended to be a factor in an unspiritual power struggle: "Our prayer is that this act of confession will not place a stumbling block in the way and thereby cause and promote false separations, but will reconcile and unite" (para. 4).
Naturally, in the first instance the BC must be the object of intense discussion within the family of DRC churches. But the DRMC would not have taken its REC membership seriously if it had not submitted this confession which articulates such a specific aspect of its faith, for inclusion in the REC's Constitution.
The question now is how the REC itself must seriously consider its own existence. The Committee for the Revision of the RES Constitution had already taken account of the submission of new confessions from the younger churches. It took the confessions presently included in the Constitution out of the text of the Basis and placed them in a footnote so that expansion would be made more simple (Acts 1988, pp. 236, 248). This suggestion was however rejected and the final text of Article II gives the impression that the offer of new confessions from the member churches should be challenged rather than welcomed. And yet the expression in the REC Basis, "The Reformed faith as a body of truth" cannot suggest that the Reformed treasury of faith is a closed off entity. It must not be asked of the new confession that it simply repeats what has earlier been said. That would of course fail to do justice to the promise that the Holy Spirit will guide the church into all truth. The REC will therefore take its own existence seriously if with its entire heart it stands open for new submissions from the member churches. A confession which in all honesty is grounded in the Scriptures according to the authority that is attributed to God's Word in Article II of the Constitution deserves respect. Then indeed the fundamental agreement with the older confessions is guaranteed! The BC can be included in the REC Basis if its conclusions are recognized by the REC as justified by Scripture. For the REC it can only be of great significance if such confessions can be received with joy and mutual trust.
There can be no problem regarding the acceptance of the last three theses of the BC, they are directed against every ideology which legitimizes forms of injustice, entirely in the line of what RES 1984 declared concerning human rights (Acts 1984, p. 124f).
The second thesis concerns the apartheid ideology in South Africa. In 1984 the REC expressed itself significantly on this subject. It unequivocally rejected the ideology on which apartheid rests, which implies the condemnation of the forced racial separation mentioned in the BC (Acts 1988, p. 103).
Something more should be said concerning the first thesis. It is striking that the church is mentioned first. The ecclesiastical apartheid was not a result of the general social situation, but the opposite was the case: the church contributed significantly to racial separation in society. Judgment begins at the house of God (I Pet 4:17)! So also the renewal must begin in the church, as an example of justice and a spirit of reconciliation for the world.
This first thesis, although proceeding from the tenet of faith concerning the world-wide church of Jesus Christ, is directed entirely to the situation within the DRC church family. The separation, given all their unity of faith, that exists, for example, between the member churches of the South African Council of Churches does not come into view here. And yet it appears clearly that institutional unity cannot be achieved everywhere. The unity of believers is in many instances sought and experienced outside the church walls without the mandate of Christ thereby being violated.
Here a certain tension appears. The positive part of this paragraph relates to the church universal. Of it, it is said "That true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership in this church." But can the negative antithetical statement be immediately deduced from that which preceeded?
A clear limitation within the universal church is here introduced, namely of "believers of the same confession." Following that, the church is mentioned. Then the question is whether thereby the denomination is intended. But how can that which is said about the unity of the church universal be ascribed to the DRC church formation?
Taken by itself, it would not be unthinkable that, within the DRC family, non-whites and whites would have an important and valid reason for separate church formations. That would not by definition have been wrong. What is wrong is the unholy force, the power of white ideology which directed the colored, the blacks, and the Indians to stay in their own place. Their opinion was not asked for.
Within the frame of the gospel, division between the DRC churches can therefore be seen as nothing other than unholy and illegal. That is the great justification of the Belhar Confession. And it is entirely right that some in the REC in 1988 urged the formation of one reformed church in all of southern Africa (Acts 1988, p. 104).
The conclusion is that there can be no objection for the REC against accepting the Belhar Confession in the Basis, as the DRMC has asked. On the contrary there is every reason to welcome it with joy. Its view of the unity of the church in the South African and eventually other contexts would thereby officially be recognized as belonging to "the reformed faith as a body of truth," and as obligatory for all member churches (Acts 1988, p. 250). It would even be good that the BC would be taken up literally or in another formulation by all churches in southern Africa among its confessions.
Other churches in the world, such as the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, miss completely the force experienced by those living in apartheid. Of the last section of the BC and the general statements of the other sections, they should be fully aware of a positive struggle. For the rest they, in a hearty union with the black and white sister churches in southern Africa, should gladly declare that they agree to include the BC in the REC Constitution.
1 Dr. Ad Kruyswijk is the former Secretary for External Ecumenical Affairs of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.