Why Study a Confession

Why

Spurgeon Said:

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Foreword

This little volume is not issued as an authoritative rule, or code of faith, whereby you are to be fettered, but as an assistance to you in controversy, a confirmation in faith, and a means of edification in righteousness.… Cleave fast to the Word of God which is here mapped out for you.3

A confession confirms the authority of Scripture, it teaches what the scriptures actually teach

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Introduction

A confession is a tried and true teaching tool. It lays out the faith in a clear, systematic way and shows the connections among doctrines. It also serves as a standard by which teaching in the church can be measured. An overseer “must be able to give instruction in sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9), and a deacon “must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9). Hearing an officer merely quote the Bible does not tell us whether he understands the overall teaching of Scripture on a subject. A confession gives us a tool for evaluating his understanding and teaching in summary form.

Addressing Possible questions

Are there confessions in the Bible?

Yes!

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

We don’t need any confession we have the Bible

This statement is a creed. A Creed is:

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church Creed

creed. A creed is a concise, formal, and authorized statement of important points of Christian doctrine, the classical instances being the *Apostles’ Creed and the *Nicene Creed.

So when you sing Jesus loves me this I know, you are summarizing the teachings of the Bible into an extra-biblical source to demonstrate what you believe.

The English word for Creed comes from the Latin Credo - I believe.

The SBC has never had creeds

To be a Southern Baptist church we have to hold to the SBC B&M 2000 to be in God standing.

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Introduction

Confession. The 1689 Confession was the confessional statement of the church or association of every one of the 293 delegates who gathered in Augusta, Georgia, to organize the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845.

Why this confession?

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Introduction

First, the age of a confession should commend it rather than condemn it. Truth does not change. If the confession was accurate when it was composed, then it is accurate now.

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Introduction

We now have the advantage of over 300 years to have examined the doctrines of the 1689 Confession and to see its outworkings in the lives of churches and individuals. This confession more than any other in Baptist life has stood the test of time.

Confessing the Faith: The 1689 Baptist Confession for the 21st Century Introduction

It is based broadly on the Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). The WCF was hammered out by 121 divines who labored daily for two years (1644–1646) to express the doctrines of Scripture as understood in the light of the Reformation. The Independents followed in 1658 with the Savoy Declaration, a revision of the WCF that reflected their independent form of church government along with a few other changes and additions.

Background

Some History, The English Civil War had broken out in October 1642 and it was a was between Royalist forces of Charles the 1st and the Largely Puritan controlled Parliament

Puritans were not boring or legalistic, but men and women who thought all of life was for God and that any vestige of catholic belief needed to be purified out of the church and state.

So in the first full year of the war Parliament set out to codify the beliefs of the nation, and after 2 years the Westminter divines crafted one of the most important Protestant documents the Westminister Confession of faith. This includes the

The Age of Religious Conflict (2000 Years of Christ’s Power, vol. 4) 6. The Westminster Assembly and Its Work

These were its confession of faith (the Westminster Confession), its two catechisms (the Larger Catechism and Shorter Catechism), its handbook of worship (the Directory for the Public Worship of God)

What is the Cheif end of man (The shorter was modified by Batpists in Keaches confession) (Tell story on the debate over What is God in the shorter Confession)

The Age of Religious Conflict (2000 Years of Christ’s Power, vol. 4) 6. The Westminster Assembly and Its Work

The Westminster Confession was also adopted by the English Calvinistic Baptists, modified to teach their distinctive view of baptism and church government (and with some additions from their previous 1644 Confession). The Baptist Confession was first set forth in 1677, but is generally known as the 1689 Baptist Confession since in that year, at a meeting of 107 Calvinistic Baptist churches, their delegates affixed their names to the Confession. Both the Independents and Calvinistic Baptists stated that they embraced the Westminster Confession (albeit in slightly adapted form) to demonstrate their essential unity with their Reformed brethren on all the major issues of theology. Westminster therefore became an exercise in Reformed ecumenism.

The

Purpose

A Conefssion helps make public that which we believe to those outside our fellowship and rpovides a defense for what we believe

2 Timothy 1:13 ESV

13 Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

It is an insturment to help us teach one anohter what the Bible actually teaches, and guides us in public ministry with each other and in our community

2. A C. serves as a standard to our leadership and people as to what must be heald for fellowship, correction, and discpline.

This would mean that while someone might hold to female pastors, our belief statement makes it clear that we as a Body don’t. It helps us stay united and would keep out those who would refuse our standard on their behalf

Test case article 25 speaks on Marriage, those that affirm outside of that wouldn't be able to teach in our church.

When someone comes along trying to teach a false doctrine this confession points them out Romans 16:17

Romans 16:17 ESV

17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

3. a Confession Allows us to measure the Staff we hire any any leadrship we may appoint. IF a man couldn’t sign off on the statement then we would be free to not appoint him to a leadership position.

1 John 4:1 ESV

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Titus 1:9 ESV

9 He 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.

4. This connects our church to the church universal and shows that we have a historical connection with the church throughout time. It honors the past and it shows we aren’t making this up as we go

How to Read

These aren’t 32 un-related points, but inter connected points as all doctrine, much like the human body is interconnected.