The Belhar: Social Gospel or Confession?

Is the Belhar a confession or a political polemic under the guise of religion? One way to decide is to contrast the origins of the Belhar with the issues that gave rise to the church’s historic confessions.

From this perspective it is clear that there is a vast difference between the factors that led to the creation of the Belhar and those that gave rise to the church’s historic confessions.

The Belhar [PDF] arose not out of concern for the gospel but as a response to apartheid, which was a civil policy designed for a specific social end. This is in complete contrast to the historical creeds and confessions of the church, whose authors did not choose to address social inequity.

Why didn’t they address social ills? Certainly not because there were no societal inequities at the time of their writing—in fact, societal inequities were pervasive in the cultures that gave birth to the confessions. Instead, these confessions and creeds focused on a few central biblical themes: the nature of God and humanity, the way of salvation, the church, and the biblical role of civil government.

In the New Testament we encounter a Jesus who has no desire to overthrow the Roman rulers.

The reason why none of these confessions was written with an eye to social inequities is that the authors followed the confessional examples set for us in God’s Word. In the New Testament we encounter a Jesus who has no desire to overthrow the Roman rulers; who, when confronted about the issue of Roman rule, replies, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” Paul tells Philemon, a runaway slave, that he must return to his master. And he instructs people who are married at the time of their conversion to remain married to their unconverted spouses rather than dissolve their holy union.

When it comes to making a confession, we follow the example of Jesus Christ in his testimony before Pilate (John 18:33-38). In contrast, the Belhar has as its ultimate goal the reforming of secular society. To do this it commingles a civil social gospel with our one and only confession—Romans 10:8-11.