Carl Trueman’s four “foundations of creedalism” (from “The Creedal Imperative”), summarized by my friend Farris Lyons.

1. God is a God of words, and therefore Christianity is a wordy religion. Words are essential and adequate for God’s self-revelation to man and for communicating about God to other people. (Gen 1:1-4; Ps 115:7; Amos 8:11-12; Jn 1:1)

2. Because human nature is a thing–and there is a uniquely linguistic element to what that thing is–words are essential and adequate to communicate truth from men in one time in history to men in another. (Gen 1:27; Gen 2:19)

3. We are taught in God’s Word to pass down the truths in Scripture by expressing them in faithful ways and teaching those faithful expressions to subsequent generations. (2 Thess 2:15; 1 Tim 1:15; 2 Tim 1:13; Tit 3:8)

4. The institutional Church–and her official ministers especially–has a duty to guard these faithful expressions of the faith–and guard against unfaithful expressions–for the current generation and for posterity. (Rom 16:17; Gal 1:6-7; 1 Tim 1:3-11; 1 Tim 1:19-20; Tit 1:9; Jude 3)