A Case for Robust Confessions of Faith in the Churches

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Article: A Case for Robust Confessions of Faith in the Churches by Tom Hicks, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Clinton, LA. (original source here)

A question often arises as to whether the church should have a minimal confession of faith or a robust and encyclopedic confession of faith. Some argue that a church’s formal confession should be short so that Christians with a variety of views on secondary doctrines may all join the church, while the pastor is free to teach anything he believes the Bible means. But I submit that it is the biblical responsibility of the church as a whole, not just the pastor, to confess its understanding of the meaning of the whole Bible, and that the pastor is to submit to the confession of the church. The Bible says that “the church” is “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim 3:12). Some worry that subscribing to a robust confession of faith is unworkable in a local church, but I disagree.

Historically in America, most early Baptist churches had comprehensive confessions of faith, two of the most influential of which were the Philadelphia Confession among Baptists in the North and the Charleston Confession among Baptists in the South. Both of those confessions are based on the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. Practically speaking, in our day, the churches need a robust confession in order to promote greater health and to remain faithful to Christ amidst the rising tide of secularism and individual autonomy. But most importantly, the Bible indicates that the church should confess its understanding of the Bible as a whole and therefore, the church’s confession ought to be robust.

1. The Basic Biblical Requirement of Confession

The Scriptures teach that Christians are to confess their faith. In the Old Testament, a basic confession of faith is found in the Shema. Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

In the New Testament, we see the content of a basic confession in Romans 10:9-10, which says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

So, at a very basic level, a confession of faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is required for salvation. But this basic confession will expand as Christians grow in their understanding of Scripture and as they disclaim doctrinal errors.

2. The Expanding Nature of Confessions in the Bible

When we study the confessions found in the Bible, one of the things we find is that as the church encounters new errors, it confesses more and more doctrine in order to confront those errors.

A Confession Against Judaism. 1 Corinthians 8:6 combines the confession that there is one God with the confession that there is one Lord Jesus Christ. It says, “There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” In this confession, the basic Jewish affirmation of monotheism is affirmed. But in order to distinguish themselves clearly from the Jews who denied the deity of Christ, the church also affirmed Christ as Lord and Creator of all things.

A Confession Against Division. Some professing Christians in the early church would have divided the church between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. But the Apostle Paul confessed in Ephesians 4:4-5, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to 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.” This confession affirms the oneness of all who are united to Christ.

A Confession Against Gnosticism, Asceticism and Paganism. We see a further expansion of the church’s confession in 1 Timothy 3:15, in which Paul writes so that “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by the angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” This confession was written as the church faced a number of additional heresies, including Gnosticism, Asceticism and Paganism. It confronted these newer heresies even as it also confronted the older errors of Judaism. We learn from this that the older errors don’t go away, which is why the church must keep adding to its confession. The church needed to confess that Christ is Lord, contrary to Judaism. It needed to declare the full humanity of Christ over and against Gnosticism. It needed to affirm the sufficiency of Christ’s work to save, contrary to Asceticism. And it needed to confess that God is one, over and against the polytheism of Paganism. Continue reading →

Women of Color Only

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Summer Jaeger writes (and I agree):

I pointed out a few weeks ago the hypocrisy of The Gospel Coalition. On the one hand, they were encouraging churches to expend time and energy finding out just how “diverse” their churches are (not true diversity, mind you, just diversity of skin color) while also hosting an event where only “women of color” could attend.

There was a lot of pushback, and some of that pushback included the claim that of course white women could attend the event specifically for women of color! Well, the group putting this event on have clarified. If you’re white, you can’t sit with us.

The most egregious thing in this article, however, is not the blatant ethnic gnosticism (although I encourage you to be very suspicious of such whenever you see it). It is the blatant twisting of Jesus’s ministry to fit their narrative. The claim that Jesus occasionally discipled some of the Disciples and not others is true. Of course the 12 were not together every moment of Christ’s earthly ministry. But this is decidedly not the same thing as this entity deciding to choose who to disciple based on skin color, who is welcome at their table based on a melanin count–and this is a thing that we must repudiate at every turn.

It shames the name of Christ to divide the body based upon skin color, and spits on the brotherhood he bought us with his very blood when we take Jesus’s own actions and then twist them to fit our agenda. You can only claim to be about building up the body while shutting out part of it because of skin color if you care not one bit for being honest.

We are not called to the look and act like the world does. This event might look and sound very empathetic and caring, but be sure: this kind of “empathy” is a facade. Only a worldly compassion could happily cause such division, all while quoting Scripture and smiling at you.

We are called to be Bereans, to search and know the Scriptures and be able to measure everything up against them. I want no part in any event that requires me to separate from my blood-bought family because we don’t share a skin color.

It’s time to ask yourself something very important: Are our evangelical leaders modeling their ministries and conferences off of Scripture? Are they carefully handling the Scriptures to make their case? Or do you enjoy the feeling of wool on your eyelids?