One of the standout features of the Protestant Reformation, and one that is not discussed often, was the making of confessions. The sixteenth century Reformation had two main branches, the Lutheran and the Reformed. Not one Protestant confession existed at the beginning of the 1500s. Over 90 Reformed confessions and catechisms—not including Lutheran ones—had been printed by the end of the 1500s. In their attempt to recover the best of the Christian tradition, and reform the church according to the Bible, Protestants were eager to explain, to all who would listen, a wide range of doctrines that they held in common. In some places, the Reformation was a slow process. In my own tradition (I am ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church), the Westminster Confession of Faith was written at the end of the long Reformation and given its final lick and polish in 1647, 130 years after Martin Luther first wrote his 95 theses on penance, indulgences, and more.
These confessional texts were understood to be valuable summaries of Scripture and guides to good doctrine. The idea of offering a short summary of key doctrines can already be found in the Bible, often focusing on God and on the way of salvation. It is what Old Testament readers encounter in the capstone of the books of Moses: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:3). It is what New Testament readers overhear Paul telling the Corinthians as he summarized his own teaching: “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, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor. 15:3–4). While the content of Creeds and Confessions must be examined in the light of Scripture, the impulse behind them is biblical.
Confessional Minimalism?
Protestant confessions were never short. The Reformers did not offer Five “Solas” for the church’s thriving. Even the document that offered “five points of Calvinism,” the Canons of Dort, was anything but comprehensive in discussing the way of salvation. This is in striking contrast to contemporary assumptions about doctrine. I could be wrong, but it appears to me that modern (and postmodern) Protestants have been deliberately minimalistic with their doctrine in order to unite us in what we think is most urgent: recovering civility and some semblance of public morality. These are important, even urgent concerns. But along the way we have sometimes treated Christian doctrine like extra baggage that we cannot afford to take with us into the modern world.[1]
1. Editor’s Note: One example of this type of minimalism is found in the call for an abstract of the Baptist Faith and Message. For example, in 2010, Nathan Finn offered this proposal, citing Jim Richards in his chapter, “Cooperation among Southern Baptist Churches as Set Forth in Article 14 of the Baptist Faith and Message,” in The Mission of Today’s Church: Baptist Leaders Look at Modern Faith Issues, ed. R. Stanton Norman (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2007), 151.
The church has been experimenting with doctrinal minimalism for more than a century. Not all the data is in. Possibly the results might look better in a few decades. But the developments that I am seeing inside the church (let alone outside the church) make me think it’s time to change a variable. Perhaps it’s time for the church to tinker with theological maximalism.[2] I think we need a confessional Christianity with some real substance, a summary of a wide range of biblical teaching. The main reason for this is that we have people in our churches who are starved of good teaching and bored with God. In increasing numbers, they are beginning journeys towards unbiblical traditionalism or make-it-up-as-I-go-along evangelicalism. How much better for us to offer high quantities of theology that offer rich material for doxology? It is one thing to know that Christ is Savior. But how much higher our wonder will be if we see that as mediator, Christ is prophet, priest and king of his church. It is one thing to know that I “got saved.” How much deeper will my gratitude be when I see that this means that I am definitively justified, truly adopted, and continuously sanctified.
2. On the need to bolster confessional statements today, see the Christ Over All podcast with Michael Haykin, where he discusses the work of some Canadian Baptists who are currently enlarging their confessional documents.
The Valuable Function of Confessions
Confessions are also intended to remind us of the breadth and depth of the teaching of God’s word. They are also designed to be honest and helpful. Many confessions were written to explain why an existing church needed to be reformed, or was being reformed, according to the Scriptures. While it seems more pious and practical to announce that one simply believes the Bible, it is more courteous and helpful to outline what we believe the Bible to teach, for such discussions help us work towards meaningful unity.
Properly understood, summaries of Christian teaching help us to identify, through a common set of priorities, what we have in common with other Christians. The Westminster Confession of Faith does this directly by offering a chapter on “The Communion of Saints.” The existence of this chapter, in the midst of chapters on soteriology and ecclesiology, makes an important point. It stands as testimony to the fact that however careful we must be in explaining the way of salvation and the Bible’s doctrine of the church, the family of God is bigger than any presbyterian church.
But the whole of the confession, and not just one chapter, aids in clarifying potential, functional bounds of cooperation. Here a confession is more useful for the practicalities of boots-on-the-ground church ministry than either a classic creed or a brief summary of doctrine on a website. Historic creeds and website creeds may give us enough material to see that we can hold a shared conference between churches. But an experienced Christian knows, and church history shows, that one needs more than a thin statement of faith to effectively cooperate in the planting and pastoring of churches. A thicker confession underscores the reality that one cannot be indifferent to a fellow Christian’s view of Scripture, God, and the condition of humanity; what a missionary believes about these doctrines will deeply shape translation and evangelism, and a confession, summarizing what your church believes about such topics, allows for happier match-making between missionaries, ministers, and churches. Similarly, a confession, with chapters on the law, Christian liberty, the state, or marriage, helps us to recall that the church must have clear commitments if it is to navigate changing cultural norms, or avoid forms of pastoral care that are really ministries of manipulation. When a church is deciding to call a pastor, or to work with a missions agency, or to unite with another congregation, more substantial agreement on matters of principal will create more work up front. And yet it will also create a more productive ministry relationship downstream of those honest and hard conversations about a wider range of beliefs and practices. Confessions provide an outline for those conversations that have proved invaluable, and help us to make decisions that are not just about personalities, but principles.
All this is to say that the Reformers, and those in the Reformation tradition, were interested in more than the recovery of the gospel; they wanted to recover true worship, doctrine and discipline, for each precept and practice supports the other, whereas leakage in one dilutes the rest. We’re all tempted sometimes to trim the truth in order to make the gospel more compelling. The blessing of a confession is that it reminds us that our Lord is most honored when we preach “the whole counsel of God,” even if it make us or our message look foolish, or requires more work in thinking through our important ministry relationships.
Conclusion
It bears mentioning, in conclusion, that the Protestant Reformers, and those in their tradition, also wrote confessions to keep the whole of the church from being held hostage by a part. For Christians who are not confessional, whatever their background, their operating doctrinal standards tend to be functionally embodied in a person (perhaps a local pastor or celebrity preacher) or an organization (such as a trusted publisher, college, or seminary). Our forefathers sought to be confessional because they knew that the changing opinions of even the best men are inadequate guides to the peace and purity of the church of Christ. They chose the weakness of confessions (and for that matter, deliberative assemblies) over the power of popular personalities.
Now that may be a harder choice for those in the SBC than it is for me in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, because the SBC might actually have popular personalities! But arguably it is also a good choice. And it is my hope that as those in the SBC seek to honor our Triune God, that they will consider more robust confessional commitments and connections, courageously committing themselves to all God’s truth and the fullness of Christ’s gospel, no matter what happens in our culture.
