Why the Church Needs Confessions

A faithful confession does not compete with Scripture but serves it, summarizing its truth, preserving its clarity, and uniting God’s people around the faith once delivered to the saints.

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Confessions in the Old and New Testaments

The Bible itself provides precedent for the use of confessions and summary statements of belief. In the Old Testament, for example, God’s people were taught to recite and hold to core truths about God. The classic Shema of Israel—“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Dt 6:4)—functioned as a basic confession of faith, affirming the monotheistic creed of Israel. This declaration was memorized and repeated daily by the faithful, indicating that even under the old covenant, believers were united by a shared, confessed understanding of who God is.

In the New Testament, confessional statements are also found. When Jesus asked His disciples who they say He is, Peter responded with a concise confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). The Apostle Paul preserves what appears to be an early creedal formula in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1Co 15:3–4). This summary of the gospel—Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection—is presented as a received and fixed tradition, showing that the early church formulated the core of the faith in a concise, memorizable form.

Paul also reminds the Ephesians of the one faith they confessed at baptism: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4–6). Many scholars believe Paul is quoting an early baptismal creed, a liturgical confession recited when new believers professed faith. Another example appears in 1 Timothy 3:16: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1Ti 3:16). This verse reads like a fragment of a Christological hymn or creed that the apostolic church confessed together.

A Pattern of Sound Words

These passages demonstrate that from the church’s earliest days, there was a defined body of doctrine or “standard of teaching” (Ro 6:17) that believers were expected to know and hold fast. Jude 3 refers to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), implying a recognizable core of truth to be preserved and defended.

Not only do we find examples of creedal statements in Scripture, but the Bible also gives theological warrant for formulating sound doctrine in fixed forms. Paul exhorted Timothy, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2Ti 1:13). He speaks of a “pattern” (or form) of sound words, suggesting that there is value in holding to a set formulation of doctrinal truth. He also writes that an elder “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Tit 1:9).

The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes “sound doctrine,” “the faith,” and “the truth” as a definite deposit that must be guarded (2Ti 1:14) and passed on (2Ti 2:2). This implies that the content of Christian teaching can be summarized and patterned reliably. In short, the principle of confessionalism—summarizing biblical doctrine in an established form—is itself biblical. Paul did not expect every new believer to rediscover basic Christian doctrine from scratch. Instead, he delivered to them a form of teaching and expected them to hold fast to it.

Scripture also provides instances of the church publicly defining doctrine to settle disputes, which is similar to the creation of many confessions. In Acts 15, for example, the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to resolve a doctrinal controversy about Gentile believers. The result was an official letter drafted by the council, summarizing what “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Ac 15:28) regarding necessary beliefs and practices (Ac 15:23–29). This Jerusalem Council letter functioned as a doctrinal statement for the churches, a precursor to later creeds and confessions that would address theological controversies. We see here a model in which church leaders corporately articulate correct doctrine to guide the broader body of believers.

All of these biblical threads show that having clear, shared confessions of faith is a biblical idea. God’s people are not only permitted to summarize Bible truth in concise statements, but we are encouraged to do so for the sake of preserving “the pattern of sound words” and proclaiming the gospel clearly. The Bible provides the content of our faith and remains the final authority, but it also demonstrates the usefulness of creedal summaries.

The slogan “No creed but Christ,” often intended to uphold biblical authority, can actually hinder the church because a creedless church cannot long exist. Without a confession of what the Bible means, a church will not remain united in truth for long.

The biblical mandate is not to avoid confessions, but to ensure that our confessed doctrine is faithful to Scripture alone. Protestant churches have always maintained that their creeds and confessions are subordinate standards, informed by the supreme authority of the Bible. As we’ll see, the historical church took this mandate seriously, formulating creeds and confessions to declare and defend the truth of God’s Word.

Creeds in the Early Church

Following the age of the apostles, the early church continued the practice of formulating and confessing essential doctrines, especially as challenges to orthodoxy arose. In the second century, church leaders like Irenaeus and Tertullian spoke of a “Rule of Faith,” essentially a summary of apostolic teaching, used to instruct converts and refute heresies. This Rule of Faith functioned as a proto-creed, encapsulating the main points of Christian belief, including the Trinity, Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and return. As heresies multiplied, the need for clear, authoritative statements of faith became even more urgent.

By the fourth century, the church faced a major doctrinal crisis in the form of Arianism, which denied the full deity of Christ. In response, the church gathered at the Council of Nicea in AD 325 and formulated the Nicene Creed. This creed boldly affirmed that Christ is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being [homoousios, or one substance] with the Father.” The term homoousios (of one substance) does not appear verbatim in Scripture, yet the Council deemed it necessary to include this extra-biblical language to safeguard a scriptural truth. The Son is fully and truly God, co-equal with the Father.

The Arians often quoted biblical phrases while injecting their own interpretations. As a result, the church had to articulate its convictions in precise doctrinal language that false teachers could not affirm. This pattern of confronting error with an orthodox confession would be repeated throughout church history. The Nicene Creed, later expanded at Constantinople in AD 381, became a bedrock of Christian orthodoxy, uniting the church around the truth of the Trinity and Christ’s incarnation.

Other early councils and creeds also defined essential doctrines. The Apostles’ Creed, though not written by the apostles themselves, emerged in the early centuries as a succinct summary of apostolic teaching, used especially for instructing and baptizing new believers. Clauses such as “I believe in God the Father almighty… and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…” systematically encapsulate the storyline of the gospel and the nature of God. The creed affirms Christ’s real birth, suffering, death, and resurrection, in part to counter early Gnostic ideas that denied the goodness of natural creation and the true humanity of Jesus.

Similarly, the Chalcedonian Definition (AD 451) clarified that Christ is one Person with two natures—“truly God and truly man”—guarding the church from heresies that either merged or divided His divinity and humanity. Each of these historic creeds was crafted in direct response to doctrinal challenges, as the church sought to clearly express its biblical convictions using faithful language that heretics could not accept.

In producing these creeds, the early church was not adding to Scripture but preserving its truth in distilled form. The creeds became tools to teach the faithful and to measure orthodoxy. They served as public standards by which teachings could be tested. If a teacher contradicted the Nicene Creed’s declaration of Christ’s deity, for example, it revealed a departure from biblical truth.

Through the creeds, the essential doctrines “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) were codified in memorable, theologically rich summaries. These ancient creeds—the Apostles’, Nicene, and Chalcedonian—are still confessed by millions of Christians today. Their continued use speaks to their faithfulness to Scripture and their power to unify. They have served the church for over 1,500 years, a longevity that reflects the consistency of their content with what the Bible teaches. In reciting these creeds, the church in each generation joins the believers of ages past in a common confession of faith.

The Protestant Reformation and the Rise of Robust Confessions

Moving into the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformers strongly upheld the principle of sola Scriptura, Scripture as the only final authority, yet they were far from being anti-confessional. In fact, the Reformation era became one of the richest periods of confessional writing in church history. The newly formed Protestant churches, eager to show their fidelity to biblical teaching (as opposed to medieval tradition or radical sects), composed comprehensive confessions of faith. These documents helped distinguish orthodox, biblical Christianity from errors on all sides. The Reformers, such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and their heirs, believed that robust confessions were essential for the health of the church.

The Lutheran tradition produced its defining statement in the Augsburg Confession (1530), written chiefly by Philip Melanchthon with Luther’s approval. This confession was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor as a clear explanation of Protestant belief, rooted in Scripture and rejecting certain abuses. Luther himself compiled catechisms in 1529 to systematically teach biblical doctrine to congregations that had long been neglected in basic Christian instruction. In the preface to his Small Catechism, Luther lamented the “miserable condition” of common people who “know nothing at all of Christian doctrine,” noting that many didn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments.

As a remedy, he urged pastors to instill a fixed form of sound teaching in the people, writing, “Devote yourselves whole-heartedly to your office… help us instill the Catechism in the people, especially in the young.” He also insisted that ministers avoid constantly changing their teaching summaries, but instead “choose just one form, keep to it, and use it year after year,” because “young and uneducated people must be taught by single, settled texts and forms.” For Luther, a stable, robust confession or catechism was a vital tool for discipling believers in a coherent understanding of the Bible. Later, the Lutheran tradition compiled its confessional documents, including the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s catechisms, into the Book of Concord (1580), which defined Lutheran orthodoxy for centuries.

Meanwhile, Reformed (Calvinist) churches across Europe were also producing confessions. Calvin, along with others, helped shape the Geneva Confession (1536) and influenced the French (Gallic) Confession (1559). In Scotland, John Knox and his colleagues authored the Scots Confession (1560). One of the most enduring is the Belgic Confession (1561), written by Guido de Brès for the churches in the Netherlands. Composed under intense persecution, the confession underscored how precious and non-negotiable sound doctrine was to these believers. De Brès sent a copy of the confession to King Philip II of Spain, along with a letter declaring that Reformed Christians would rather die than deny the truths they had articulated. He wrote that they were ready “to offer our backs to stripes, our tongues to knives, the mouth to the muzzle, and the whole body to the fire” to defend the truth. De Brès himself was martyred in 1567, but his confession lived on. It was officially adopted by Reformed churches and remains one of the “Three Forms of Unity” upheld by Reformed congregations today. These historical moments show how seriously the church took its confessions. They were seen as summaries of God’s Word worth suffering and dying for.

Expansion of Confessionalism in the Seventeenth Century

In England and beyond, further confessional statements emerged during the late 16th and 17th centuries, often referred to as the age of Protestant orthodoxy or confessionalism. The Church of England’s doctrine was codified in the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563). Reformed churches in Switzerland and Germany adopted the Second Helvetic Confession (1566) by Heinrich Bullinger. The high point of Reformed confessionalism is arguably the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), along with its Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Produced by the Westminster Assembly in London, this grand theological synthesis was soon adopted (with slight revisions) by the Church of Scotland and other Presbyterian churches.

Not long after, Congregationalists issued the Savoy Declaration (1658), adapting the Westminster Confession for their own church polity. In 1677, Particular Baptists in London published the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, closely following the Westminster Confession, often word for word, to demonstrate their agreement with the broader Reformed tradition. After religious toleration was granted, over 100 Baptist congregations formally adopted it in 1689, giving it its common name.

The framers of the Baptist Confession clearly expressed their desire to show unity with their Reformed counterparts. They stated that they used “the very same words” where possible to affirm the “form of sound words” that had already been used by others in alignment with Scripture. Their goal was to show their agreement with orthodox believers and their submission to biblical truth, not to seek originality. This attitude exemplifies the Reformation and post-Reformation approach to confessions.

The Protestant high esteem for confessions was rooted in a conviction that confessions are helpful servants to Scripture. The Westminster Confession itself begins by asserting the supremacy and sufficiency of Scripture: “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.” It also concludes that chapter by affirming that all religious controversies must be settled by Scripture alone: “the Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined… can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture” (WCF 1.10). These confessions did not claim to be a second authority or an addition to God’s Word. Instead, their authority was entirely dependent on how faithfully they summarized the Bible.

Reformed Christians saw no contradiction between sola Scriptura and using confessions. On the contrary, they believed that sola Scriptura required the church to corporately state, “This is what Scripture teaches.” The authority of a confession was never equal to that of the Bible. Its value was determined by its fidelity to Scripture. The best confessions were seen as “excellent, though not inspired, expressions of the teaching of those Holy Scriptures,” as C.H. Spurgeon wrote. He republished the 1689 Confession for his congregation in 1855, calling it “a most excellent epitome of the things most surely believed among us.” He urged believers not to treat it as an authoritative rule binding the conscience, but as a helpful guide for growth in biblical truth.

By the end of the 17th century, nearly every major Protestant group had codified its beliefs in one or more definitive confessions. These documents played a key role in teaching, defending the faith, and shaping the identity of the churches. Many denominational families today are still identified by their confessional standards: Presbyterians by the Westminster Confession, Continental Reformed churches by the Three Forms of Unity, and Reformed Baptists by the Second London Confession. This confessional heritage links the modern church with the theological clarity of the Reformation and the early church.

It’s not an overstatement to say that without confessions of faith, the Protestant movement might have splintered far more severely and drifted into doctrinal chaos. Instead, the confessions provided a unifying doctrinal framework that has endured for centuries.

Why Confessions Still Matter Today

In the Protestant and especially Calvinist tradition, strong confessions of faith have been valued for several key reasons.

A Confession Summarizes Scripture

A robust confession summarizes the Bible’s teaching on key doctrines in a clear and organized way. Scripture is a vast and richly layered collection of writings, and vital truths are often dispersed across multiple books and genres. A confession of faith gathers those truths topically and distills them into a coherent statement. This is especially helpful for teaching and instructing believers in the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27).

For example, a new Christian may not yet understand how the various pieces of biblical revelation fit together. A good confession offers clear articles on the doctrine of God, covering the Trinity, the attributes of God, and more, as well as on the person and work of Christ, the way of salvation, the moral law, the church, the ordinances, and other central topics, each supported by Bible references. In this way, confessions act like theological maps for navigating Scripture. They don’t add new information but trace the contours of biblical teaching in a concise form.

Because confessions summarize Scripture, they express biblical truth in a form that is easy to remember, teach, and publicly confess. They provide, as Paul called it, a “pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2Ti 1:13), so that we don’t need to quote dozens of verses every time we explain a doctrine. For instance, instead of reading all of Romans 3–5 to explain justification, a church might confess, “We are accounted righteous before God only by faith in Christ, and not by our own works.” This kind of summary faithfully captures the Bible’s teaching and allows the congregation to affirm it together.

In corporate worship, churches often recite creeds or confessions as a way to declare foundational truths with one voice. This shared confession both educates and strengthens the body of Christ. Historically, many churches have included the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed in their liturgy for precisely this reason.

Confessions also help maintain balance and completeness in our theology. Left to ourselves, we might focus on certain themes we find most compelling and overlook others. A thorough confession draws us into engagement with all major doctrines, encouraging us to teach “the whole counsel of God” (Ac 20:27). By systematically presenting biblical teaching, confessions guard against fragmented or lopsided theology. They reveal how Bible truths interconnect. For example, the Westminster Confession ties the doctrine of Scripture to God’s authority, sin to the need for grace, and election to the security of salvation.

The result is a well-rounded grasp of biblical truth. As J.I. Packer once remarked, “All Christians are implicitly systematic theologians.” That is, we all have an internal structure for understanding Scripture, whether clear or confused. A confession offers a sound, time-tested framework to shape that understanding, ensuring that the average believer’s theology is formed by the Bible itself, not by personal preference or passing trends.

A Confession Guards the Church from Error

Another critical function of robust confessions is to protect the church from error and heresy. Church history reveals that false teachers often use biblical language but with twisted interpretations. A written confession draws clear doctrinal boundaries that make it difficult for error to hide. As noted earlier, the Nicene Creed introduced the term homoousios to expose the Arians’ denial of Christ’s true deity. When heresies have appeared, whether the Gnostic denial of Christ’s humanity, the Arian denial of His deity, the Pelagian denial of original sin, or modern liberal denials of miracles, the church’s response has typically been to tighten its confession, explicitly affirming the truths that counter the lie.

Whenever false teachers distorted Scripture to suit their purposes, Christians responded by clearly articulating their convictions in language faithful to Scripture—language that heretics could not affirm. Confessions function as bulwarks of orthodoxy. They publicly declare, “This we believe, and we reject all contrary doctrines.” Teachers are held accountable to that standard, and members can compare what they hear to the church’s confession.

Robust confessions also guard against the slow drift of doctrinal minimalism. A pattern emerges throughout church history where groups that abandon detailed confessions for vague, minimal statements of faith often fall into theological liberalism or error over time. When churches in the 18th and 19th centuries moved from robust confessionalism to a minimalistic “Bible-only” approach, unbelief or heterodoxy inevitably followed. Without a clear doctrinal standard, core teachings, such as the Trinity, the atonement, or biblical inerrancy, can easily be diluted or denied under the pretense of being merely “biblical.”

A confession holds teachers and leaders accountable by stating, “This is what our church believes Scripture teaches.” If a church officer no longer agrees with the confession, integrity requires that he either seek reform, assuming he believes the confession is in error, or step down. Without a confession, it becomes much harder to draw lines between truth and error. Everything becomes subjective.

Confessions also support church discipline and doctrinal clarity among members. A confession of faith serves as a public standard that church members, or at least church leaders, agree upon. If false teaching or confusion arises, the church has an objective reference point outside of individual personalities to appeal to. This prevents discipline from becoming arbitrary. A pastor cannot simply remove someone for disagreeing with him. The real question is whether the individual is contradicting the church’s confession, which expresses its collective understanding of Scripture. This framework protects against both doctrinal error and pastoral abuse, encouraging a healthy theological environment.

In short, robust confessions serve as guardrails for the church’s faith and practice. They are not substitutes for Scripture’s authority, but practical tools for upholding that authority in the face of misinterpretation. A church with a clear confession is better equipped to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1Jn 4:1) and to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), because it knows what that faith entails. As a result, it is far less likely to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph 4:14). A solid confession helps anchor the church firmly to the truth of God’s Word.

A Confession Promotes Unity

A shared confession of faith is one of the greatest bonds of unity Christ’s church can experience. In the New Testament, believers are urged to be “of the same mind” and to “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” “with one voice” (1Co 1:10; Ro 15:5–6). Confessing the same foundational truths together is a practical way of obeying that call to unity. When a congregation stands and recites, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth… and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord…” or corporately affirms the articles of a common confession, they demonstrate spiritual unity. This unity is not based on feelings or vague agreement, but on shared truth, a “faith of equal standing” they all hold together (2Pe 1:1). It strengthens fellowship. As Amos 3:3 asks, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” Agreement on truth binds hearts together.

By contrast, if everyone insists on “no creed but the Bible” and refuses any agreed-upon doctrinal summary, confusion and division are inevitable. The phrase often masks real disunity. Two people might both claim to “just believe the Bible,” while one holds to the Trinity and the other denies it. Outwardly, they seem united, but they differ on essential truths, which is a situation bound for conflict. A confession brings these differences into the open and unites believers around a clear understanding of the truth. It allows the church to live out “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5) not just in theory, but in reality.

Confessions also promote unity across generations and regions, connecting the church today with its historical and global family. When we embrace a historic confession, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before. We join with all the saints in proclaiming the one faith. As Carl Trueman notes, adopting a historic confession “presses each Christian to identify with other brothers and sisters both across the globe today and down through the ages.” The Presbyterian who affirms the Westminster Confession is aligned with the faithful Presbyterians of the 1600s. The Reformed Baptist who holds to the 1689 Confession stands with those who centuries ago contended earnestly for the same truths.

This is a powerful expression of the communion of saints. It reminds us that the church is far more than our local congregation or our particular moment in time. Confessions help guard against the arrogance of thinking that theology began with us. Instead of crafting a new statement of faith every few years, a church that adopts a time-tested confession shows humility and honors the work of the Holy Spirit in past generations. As the Baptist Confession put it, they did not aim to invent new doctrines, but “readily acquiesced in that form of sound words” used by faithful Christians before them. This continuity fosters deep unity in both doctrine and spirit.

Even when new confessions are written to address fresh challenges, they almost always build on the foundation of earlier confessions. Protestant confessions form a kind of theological family tree. The Westminster Confession drew from the Irish Articles and the Thirty-Nine Articles; the Savoy Declaration echoed Westminster; the 1689 Baptist Confession followed both closely. To adopt one of these is to step into a long-standing stream of Christian orthodoxy. It connects a church to a broader heritage. Believers can rest in the confidence that what they confess is not a new teaching but the ancient doctrine rooted in Scripture and affirmed throughout the ages.

Finally, the unity fostered by confessions also strengthens our witness to the world. Jesus prayed that His followers would be brought to complete unity “so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21). A church that teaches and holds to a common confession offers the world a consistent testimony. When every church or believer has a radically different understanding of the gospel or core doctrines, the result is confusion and fragmentation. A confession acts like a flag raised together, declaring to the world what we believe the Bible teaches about God and salvation. It becomes much easier for inquirers to understand what Christians believe when they can read a coherent summary, rather than try to assemble the message from scattered and conflicting statements.

In short, confessions unite us in truth, and that unity both reflects the gospel and adorns the gospel we proclaim.

A Confession Strengthens Discipleship

Robust confessions are invaluable tools for discipleship—that is, for teaching and nurturing believers in their faith. In the Great Commission, Jesus instructs His followers not only to baptize but to teach disciples “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:20). A confession of faith offers a ready-made curriculum of sound doctrine for this task. This is why many Reformed confessions are paired with catechisms (concise, question-and-answer formats) designed to instruct children and new believers.

The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), for example, is cherished not only for its doctrinal clarity but for its warm, pastoral tone. It guides the learner through guilt, grace, and gratitude—the basic shape of the Christian life. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) famously begins, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever,” setting a God-centered tone for all of life. Short, clear answers to deep questions become anchors for the believer’s soul. Memorizing a good catechism or confession implants biblical truth in the heart and mind, creating a reservoir of wisdom that can sustain believers in times of testing, doubt, or decision.

Church confessions also support both personal devotion and corporate worship. They often elevate theological truths into praise. This pattern is visible even in Scripture. First Timothy 3:16, for instance, contains a creedal fragment that likely formed part of early Christian worship: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1Ti 3:16). Many churches recite creeds or parts of a confession in their services to focus hearts on the truth and stir worship. The content easily turns into prayer and praise. Some confessions even include doxological phrases. The Westminster Larger Catechism often ends its answers with “thus to God be all glory,” and historic creeds frequently conclude with “Amen.” Good doctrine leads to doxology. When we understand what we believe about God, we can worship Him more fully “in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24). Confessions, by distilling biblical truth, provide rich material for our worship and thanksgiving. They remind us of God’s manifold works—creation, providence, redemption, sanctification—that we might otherwise overlook.

Confessions also provide clarity and confidence to individual believers. In an age of skepticism or when faced with hard questions, a well-instructed Christian can return to the stable truths found in the church’s confession. Someone struggling with doubts about the Trinity or the problem of evil can consult those sections of the confession that carefully gather biblical teaching on God’s nature, sovereignty, and goodness. While the confession always points back to the Bible, it acts as a faithful guide to rightly understanding it. In this way, confessions serve as spiritual guardrails, keeping believers from veering into confusion or imbalance. They draw from the wisdom of many faithful teachers throughout church history—a treasure for those who may not be equipped to explore every doctrine from scratch.

Confessions are also crucial for raising future leaders and teachers. In many confessional churches, the training of pastors and elders includes careful study of the church’s confession. For centuries, the Westminster Confession and Catechisms have been central to theological education in Presbyterian seminaries. Today, those preparing for ministry in confessional traditions are expected to know their confession thoroughly and be examined on it. This ensures unity in teaching and guards the pulpit from doctrinal novelty. It helps fulfill Paul’s charge to Timothy: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Ti 2:2). A shared confession strengthens the church by ensuring that leaders are grounded in sound doctrine and equipped to pass it on.

In short, robust confessions bring lasting benefits to the life of the church. They clarify the faith, making it easier to teach, understand, and proclaim. They protect the faith, offering boundaries against error and drift. They unify believers, both within a local body and across generations. And they nurture believers, providing a framework for worship, discipleship, and spiritual growth. A confession of faith is truly a tool for edification. It builds up the body of Christ in love and knowledge.

Answering Objections to Confessions

Despite the strong biblical, historical, and practical case for confessions, some Christians object that we should stick to the Bible alone and avoid man-made creeds or confessions. Common slogans include “No creed but the Bible” or “No creed but Christ.” Those who use such phrases are usually trying to uphold the sufficiency of Scripture and avoid division caused by human traditions. While the intent to honor Scripture is commendable, the slogan itself is misguided and ultimately self-defeating. In fact, Protestant history and theology have long recognized that “no creed but the Bible” is not a healthy or sustainable principle for the church.

First, it’s important to affirm that Bible-believing churches agree on the unique authority of Scripture. The supremacy of Scripture is non-negotiable. Only the Bible is infallible, and all doctrines must be tested by it. Confessions consistently affirm this. The Belgic Confession (1561), for example, states that “Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein,” and therefore, “we reject with all our hearts whatsoever does not agree with this infallible rule.” Similarly, the Westminster and Baptist confessions assert that Scripture alone is the final judge in all controversies (cf. 2Ti 3:16–17).

In other words, the confessional tradition upholds sola Scriptura. No reputable confession ever claims equal authority with the Bible or suggests that Scripture is insufficient. When we advocate for confessions, we are not replacing the Bible. We are seeking to faithfully summarize and confess what the Bible teaches. The question is not whether we will have a creed, but whether our creed is biblical.

Everyone has a creed or confession, whether they acknowledge it or not. The idea that a church can have “no creed but the Bible” is an illusion. The moment someone tries to explain what they believe the Bible teaches about God, salvation, or the church, they are offering a doctrinal summary—that is, a creed. Even the simple statement, “I believe in Jesus,” begs for explanation. Who is Jesus? What did He do? Why does it matter? Any answer to those questions is a belief statement or a confession.

In fact, those who reject written confessions often end up imposing their own unwritten ones. A church that claims to have no confession still has beliefs it considers acceptable or essential. It just hasn’t written them down or clarified them publicly. This can breed more confusion because the boundaries of belief remain invisible until someone crosses them.

Second, Scripture calls us to confess our faith before others. Peter exhorts believers to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in them (1Pe 3:15). That answer, articulated in words, is a creedal act. Paul calls the church “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1Ti 3:15), which means the church is to hold up the truth visibly in the world. If we refuse to summarize or articulate what Scripture teaches—perhaps out of a fear of “adding to” it—we risk undermining our ability to proclaim it clearly. People may ask what we believe the Bible says about salvation or Christ, and if all we can offer are vague generalities, we’ve failed to bear faithful witness. A good confession, by contrast, says clearly, “This is what we believe the Bible teaches.”

Some fear that confessions compete with Scripture for authority. But when used rightly, they don’t. Confessions insist that they must be tested by Scripture and corrected if found in error. In the language of Reformed theology, Scripture is the norma normans (the norming norm), while a confession is the norma normata (a norm that is normed). In other words, Scripture is the final standard, and the confession is a subordinate one that gains authority only from its fidelity to Scripture. When Protestant churches revise confessions, they do so not to abandon biblical truth, but to express it more faithfully.

Rejecting confessions altogether is like refusing to use a map because it’s not the terrain. A good map doesn’t replace the landscape but helps you navigate it. In the same way, a good confession doesn’t replace Scripture but helps believers understand it more clearly and navigate it more faithfully.

The slogan “no creed but the Bible” also overlooks the value of learning from church history. It often reflects an individualistic mindset that assumes we need no help from the past. But the Reformers, while holding fast to sola Scriptura, deeply engaged with the early church. They studied the church fathers, honored the great ecumenical creeds, and built their confessions upon Christian tradition. The doctrine of the Trinity, for instance, is best expressed not by a single verse but by the creedal formulations that arose from centuries of biblical reflection: “One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity.” Those who reject creeds may find themselves struggling to explain essential doctrines and, in the worst cases, falling into serious error.

Far from stifling the Spirit, faithful confessions reflect the Spirit’s work in guiding the church into truth over time. They are part of the good “tradition” that Paul speaks of handing down: “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter” (2Th 2:15), not as independent authorities but as faithful expressions of the apostolic faith.

In the end, a confession is not an enemy of the Bible but its servant. It helps the church proclaim with clarity, consistency, and unity what the Word of God teaches.

Perhaps the best response to the objector is to point out that the Bible itself is not opposed to creeds and confessions. As we've already seen, Scripture contains creedal statements and calls for a “pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2Ti 1:13). Those who reject any creed but the Bible often create a situation where each individual becomes the final authority in interpretation. Ironically, this undermines biblical authority, as everyone claims “the Bible alone” while interpreting it in radically different ways.

In such a scenario, human opinion may quietly take control, even as it waves the banner of “Bible only.” By contrast, a confession represents the collective witness of many Bible-saturated Christians, declaring, “This is what we have agreed the Bible teaches.” A confession provides clarity and accountability. It says we are not free to invent new doctrines or reinterpret old ones to suit ourselves. Instead, we stand with the sound, time-tested understanding of Scripture affirmed across centuries of church history.

In practice, even churches that claim to have no creed inevitably develop statements of faith or doctrinal distinctives. It’s nearly impossible to function without them. Most non-denominational churches, for example, have “What We Believe” sections on their websites or in pamphlets, summarizing doctrines and citing Scripture. That’s a confession, even if it's informal or brief. The problem is that these statements, when crafted in isolation, can lack the depth, precision, and theological balance found in historic confessions. Why reinvent the wheel when the church already has excellent formulations?

“No creed but the Bible” is a well-meaning but flawed slogan. It ends up subverting Scripture by refusing to say plainly what Scripture means. The better way, modeled by ancient church leaders and their heirs, is to uphold Scripture alone as supreme, while also confessing together what Scripture teaches. A good confession does not undermine the Bible. It magnifies the Bible’s teaching by expressing it clearly and faithfully. It is because we honor the Bible that we labor to summarize its truths carefully and preserve them in confessions.

As the 19th-century Presbyterian theologian Samuel Miller wrote, creeds “present no addition to the truths of the Bible, but simply exhibit those truths in a form best adapted to secure harmony of belief.” A creed is not a rival to the Bible. It is a servant of the Bible, echoing its truth, guarding its integrity, and uniting the people of God in a shared understanding of the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

A confession keeps us from two extremes: on one side, a dead traditionalism that venerates the past without understanding, and on the other, a restless novelty that chases every new idea. Instead, it fixes our hearts on the “ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” (Jer 6:16), that we may walk in them together and find rest for our souls.

As the Book of Hebrews urges: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). A robust confession of faith helps us hold fast to gospel hope and sound doctrine in every generation. It is an anchor in stormy times and a light in dark places.

Rather than discarding confessions, the church today should embrace and cherish them, using them wisely to teach, correct, unify, and glorify God. In doing so, we join the great chorus of saints through the ages, confessing with one heart the truth of Him who called us “out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1Pe 2:9).