“Many Christians in many evangelical churches these days are confessionally challenged in that they are either cynical, critical, or altogether skeptical of all things confessional — confessional documents, confessional churches, and confessional Christians. We might hear confessionally challenged Christians say things, such as “My only creed is Christ” or “I don’t need theology, just give [...]
Creeds & Confessions
"Creeds are simply expository distillations of Scripture. They summarily state the most basic themes of Scripture in order to facilitate education in them. If it be agreed that a brief expository summation of the teachings of the Bible can be given, then creeds are legitimatised in that they fulfill that precise function. In this respect, creeds differ from doctrinal sermons only in being more exact and being carefully compiled by several minds. Once a church encourages public teaching of the Word or publishes literature explaining it, it has in fact made a creedal statement." ~ Kenneth Gentry, The Usefulness of Creeds
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith
Chapter 1 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES 1.1 The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule1 for saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.2 Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence give such clear testimony to the goodness, wisdom and power of God that they leave people without excuse,3 yet they [...]
Creedal Amillennialism by Rev. Ron Cammenga
Bound by the Creeds The Reformed creeds define the Reformed faith. What it is to be Reformed, the creeds establish. The creeds are the standard against which every teaching that claims to be Reformed and clamors for acceptance by Reformed believers is to be judged. Every Reformed believer is bound by the Reformed creeds. No [...]
Baptists, the Bible and Confessions – The Need for Statements of Faith by Gregory A. Wills
From The Southern Seminary Magazine, November 2000 (Volume 68, Number 4), pages 13-15 Baptists have adopted creeds throughout their history. They probably have adopted creeds more than any other denomination. Baptist churches by the tens of thousands adopted a confession of faith when they constituted as a church. Some thousands of Baptist associations have similarly [...]
Are Creeds Appropriate for Bible Believing Baptists by Tom Nettles
The effort to derive positive benefit from confessions seems so strange to some today that it can hardly be distinguished from the scary “C” word, “creedalism.” Though there are valid historical and practical distinctions between the use of statements of faith as a creed and their use as a confession, those distinctions hardly apply to [...]
Why Do We Need Creeds? by Andrew J. Webb
Creeds and confessions are summaries of the doctrine that Christians believe to be taught in the the Bible. For instance, if we were to both read the New Testament and you were to ask me to write down what I believe that it teaches about Christ, I might draw up the following 7 point list: [...]
What Does it Mean to be Reformed? by Stephen Voorwinde
The setting was perfect. The atmosphere was just right. This was the ideal time and place. We were in the car on the way to Synod. With all the issues and challenges that lay immediately before us, what better opportunity to discuss what it means to be Reformed! There were three of us travelling together. [...]
The Westminster Standards by John Murray
The Westminster Assembly was wholly British in its composition. It should not, however, be thought that these British divines of the seventeenth century pursued their task and framed the standards of which they were the authors in aloof indifference to the Reformed churches on the continent of Europe. The very task assigned to the Assembly [...]
The Westminster Assembly of Divines: Part I by William Symington
Excerpts from William Symington, ‘Historical Sketch of the Westminster Assembly of Divines,’ in Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, by the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland, Glasgow, 1843. The Westminster Assembly, it is well known, was convened by an ordinance of Parliament. In the year 1641 the ministers [...]
The Westminster Assembly of Divines: Part II by William Symington
The Scottish Commissioners Although the Scottish commissioners cannot be said to have formed a party in the Westminster Assembly, this is perhaps the proper place to advert to their appointment, character, and peculiar position in that meeting. When the calling of an assembly of divines first suggested itself, the English Parliament had determined to ask [...]
The Westminster Assembly of Divines: Part III by William Symington
The Business of the Assembly Having thus glanced at the origin, constitution, and parties of the Westminster Assembly, we are prepared to look at its proceedings. The Assembly was convened for the first time on Saturday, July 1, 1643, and it continued to hold regular meetings until February 22, 1649, when, instead of being formally [...]
The Usefulness of Creeds by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr
We live in non-creedal age. By and large, conservative Christendom diminishes the importance of creedal symbols. As a matter of fact, many non-creedalists do not dismiss creeds simply as unimportant to the maintenance of biblical Christianity, they deem them to be positively antithetical to it. Such a position would better be termed ‘anti-creedal.’ Probably many [...]
The Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one [...]
The Men and the Parties by William S. Barker
‘No pygmies contended there. It was a battle of Titans…. They resorted to no quibbles, or sophistries, or intrigues, inside or outside of the Chamber, to gain their ends. They drew their weapons from the Word of God, and wielded them with a skill and mastery which the opposition…, could not overcome.’[1]… ‘There were never, [...]
The Work of the Westminster Assembly by John Murray
The Westminster Assembly first convened on July 1, 1643. For the first three months the Assembly was largely occupied with the revision of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. Perhaps the two most important events during the course of these three months were the adoption of the Solemn League and Covenant and the [...]
The Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly by John Murray
In the records of the Westminster Assembly we find a great deal of debate concerning catechism long before the date upon which the Assembly actually turned to the composition of the two Catechisms with which we are familiar. This prolonged study of catechism was not, however, lost labor; in very admirable fashion it fitted the [...]
The Calling of the Westminster Assembly by John Murray
It should be conceded, without fear of intelligent contradiction, that the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms are the finest creedal formulations of the Christian Faith that the church of Christ has yet produced. This is not to deny that in certain particulars some other creeds may surpass these Westminster standards, nor does [...]
Charles Finney vs. the Westminster Confession by Michael S. Horton
The most famous evangelist of the nineteenth century declared that The Westminster Divines had created ‘a paper pope’ and had ‘elevated their confession and catechism to the Papal throne and into the place of the Holy Ghost.’ ‘It is better,’ he declared, ‘to have a living than a dead Pope,’ dismissing the Standards as casually [...]
All About Heresy by Michael S. Horton
Witch trials in Salem. The Council of Toulouse in the 13th century, employing men whose sole purpose was to hunt out human kindling for the flames of the Inquisition. These are images evoked by that word, ‘heresy.’ A nasty word, it suggests more about the accuser, who is considered intolerant, bigoted, and ignorant, than about [...]
A Short History of Creeds and Confessions by A. A. Hodge
IT is asserted in the first chapter of this Confession [The Westminster Confession of Faith], and vindicated in this exposition that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, having been given by inspiration of God, are for man in his present state the only and the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. All that [...]
Is the Shorter Catechism Worth While? by Benjamin B. Warfield
The Shorter Catechism is, perhaps, not very easy to learn. And very certainly it will not teach itself. Its framers were less careful to make it easy than to make it good. As one of them, Lazarus Seaman, explained, they sought to set down in it not the knowledge the child has, but the knowledge [...]
