Introduction
What is a Confession of Faith?
It is fine to say we believe the Bible. Many cults and teachers of false doctrine do the same. It is therefore important to define what we believe the Bible says. Confessions do just that. Confessions are always beneath and subject to the scriptures.
Confessions are more detailed than Creeds. The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, for instance, are little more than a paragraph stating the most elementary essentials of the faith.
Confessions are a sort of Systematic Theology, though much shorter and less detailed.
Doesn’t doctrine divide?
Some say, “We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus.” That sounds very noble, but consider how many completely false religions claim to “believe in Jesus.” Doctrine, as set forth in a confession, divides alright. It divides true believers from false professors.
Grace Bible Church is Confessional.
Our statement of faith includes the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. It defines what we believe about key doctrines and practices. It is important for our body to know what we believe.
Six Benefits Of Confessions:
1. Confessions Help Identify Deviant Theology
2 Timothy 1: 13 “Hold fast to sound words.”
Jude 3 “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
This is not to say that any and everything outside of the Confession is heretical, but it does warn us to double check to see whether whatever is not in the Confession is scriptural.
2. Confessions Define A Church’s Unity and Like Mindedness
Philippians 1:27 “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel”
Philippians 2:2 “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
The Confession is a public definition to those outside of a congregation of the central issues of faith saying, in effect, “Here is what we believe in common and why.” The fact that confessions are long testifies about how much we hold in common.
Doesn’t doctrine divide? Some say, “We don’t want doctrine, we just want Jesus.” That sounds very noble, but consider how many completely false religions claim to “believe in Jesus.” Doctrine, as set forth in a confession, divides alright. It divides true believers from false professors.
3. Confessions Define Standards for Membership.
You should not join a church if you do not know what they believe. All churches have some statement of faith, either written or unwritten, whether short or long, general or specific. (Some are so general they mean little or nothing and nearly anyone can agree.)
If a church does not have a written down creed, it is harder for potential members to know if they should join. They have to guess!
We do not close off fellowship with other churches or Christians who do not hold the same confession, we simply are more intimate with those with whom our beliefs are more common.
4. Confessions Establish Standards for Leaders.
1 Timothy 5:22 “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.”
Before ordaining a deacon, an elder, or a pastor in a church, that man’s subscription to a confession is a clear indicator of his theological views.
5. Confessions Define Doctrinal Standards For Church Discipline
Titus 3: 10 “Reject a divisive person after a first and second admonition.”
How do you know if a person must be disciplined unless you have a standard? Remember: those who must be disciplined often affirm the Bible, but they often have an entirely different idea about what the words in the Bible mean.
A published confession allows all members to know what the standards are.
In our sue-happy society, people have sued churches for disciplining them. Once the courts are involved, they want defined standards.
6. Confessions Help Ensure Historic Continuity
The idea that “new is better” is not necessarily correct. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Shouldn’t the same be true of His Church? Of course, there are some areas of change that make no particular difference (clothing, architecture, etc.). However, theologically, the Church should not be radically different from what it has been in the past.
Changes in the Church from the 2nd through the 16th centuries are why things were in such a mess, and why a Reformation was needed. The Church had lost its historic moorings. When they were regained during the Reformation, the Confessions of the 17th century helped insure that we do not lose our way again.
Historic Confessions.
As Protestantism gained traction, the various wings established a number of confessions to define their beliefs. The Lutheran Augsburg Confession was first, written in 1530. It is the basis of Lutheran theology, and the only universally accepted standard of the Lutheran churches.
The Reformed churches, differing from the Lutherans, each wrote their own. While the Reformed confessions have more things in common than differences, each differs from the others in some ways.
The first was the Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith of the Church of England, written in 1551. Next came the Heidelberg Confession written for the German and Dutch Reformed Churches in 1562. After that the Helvetic Confession was written in 1564 by the Swiss, Polish, Hungarian, and French Reformed Churches. In 1567 the Dutch Reformed Church wrote the Belgic Confession. The Confession and Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, (Westminster Confession) written between 1642 and 1649, outlines the beliefs of the Presbyterians and Congregationalists.
Historic Confessions: The Baptists
During the early 17th Century, being a Baptist (frequently called “Non-Conformist”) was against the law in Great Britain. The first Baptists were decidedly Reformed, being most closely aligned with the Westminster Confession. The Baptists wanted their own confession for two reasons. First, to clarify the small number of differences with the Westminster Confession. Second, to demonstrate how much like the Presbyterians they were on all major issues, to give evidence that they were not “outlaws.” The Baptists, therefore wrote their First Baptist Confession in 1644, based largely on Westminster Confession (still in progress at the time.) Since being a Baptist was still illegal in Great Britain, the Baptist leaders could not sign their Confession lest they be arrested.
In 1689, British Parliament passed the Act of Religious Toleration, making it legal to be a Baptist. The First Baptist Confession (of 1644) was then edited and signed two months later as the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. The page they all signed said: “The Baptist Confession of Faith adopted by the ministers and messengers of the General assembly which met in London in 1689.”
Nearly 200 years later, Charles Spurgeon, a renowned Baptist pastor in London wrote the following regarding the importance of the Baptist Confession:
“We need a banner because of the truth; it may be that this small volume may aid the cause of the glorious gospel by testifying plainly what are its leading doctrines.”
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