What Are Creeds/Confessions?

By Christian Anarchist

So I went to a bookstore and as I was

looking around, I found a pamphlet entitled
The Baptist Faith & Message, which
interested me as a Baptist. As I looked at it
more, I started to remember of the times I heard
of things that were similar to what I was
reading. The 1689 London Baptist Confession
of Faith, The Westminster Confession of Faith,
The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, The
Canons of Dort, The Augsburg Confession and
even the Westminster Shorter (and Longer)
Catechism. These are just a few examples of
creeds that have existed throughout history. I
started thinking about this and thought that it

would be good to write an article on the creeds

and why they should be important to us as
Christians. Just note one thing before I continue:
I am not trying to assert the creeds or
confessions as the final authority or that they
trump over scripture.
What is a creed or confession of faith?
Creed comes from the Latin word, credo, which
means I Believe. A creed is simply a
statement or confession of faith to affirm the
beliefs you hold to. This was also to introduce
the basic beliefs to new believers as well as to
separate themselves from the heretics (like
Gnostics and Judaizers). Today, our modern
examples of creeds are catechisms, confessions
and statements of faith. So if you go to a church,
in order for it to have structure, it is most likely
going to be committing itself under some sort of
creed or confession of faith. If youre in the
Reformed camp, your church will most likely

affirm The 1689 London Baptist Confession of

Faith or the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Why should a church hold to or affirm to a
creed or confession of some sort? Hopefully,
your creed or confession is in confirmation with
the scriptures. If you notice in some of your
modern confessions or creeds, they will have
scriptural verses mentioned in a reference
section. This is to affirm that the final and
ultimate authority in determining what was to be
put into the creed or confession was scripture. It
was not just a random church tradition, but the
scriptures as the final authority. So this would
also help in affirming the basis of the principal
of Sola Scriptura if you can prove your positions
are supported by the scriptures. Take a modern
confession of faith like the Southern Baptist one
and examine the scriptures cited to support their
doctrines and affirmations for their beliefs.
Historically, the church has affirmed the
uses of creeds and confessions in order to help

establish and teach the official doctrines of the

church. The important part is to see if rather or
not these confessions are in line with the
scriptures and not just what some random man
or ruler has to say about the matter. It is also
important that when you are reading and
deciding on which church creed or confession to
affirm, that the creed/confession does not
contradict itself or the rest of the teachings of
the scriptures. If the creed or confession is
focusing on a scripture, but interprets it to fit an
agenda or bias, then it is not focusing on the
intent or biblical history of the scriptures itself.
Hopefully this article has helped in teaching
and affirming that we can rely on the historical
and modern day creeds and confessions of faith
that we have available in our churches. These
not only play a role in the history of our church,
but that it affirms and defends historically the
biblical doctrines of the truth we aim to preach.

May this edify you and allow you to grow and

mature in your walk of faith. Shalom Aleichem.