Do We Need Confessions?

INTRODUCTION You have likely heard the statements, ‘No Creed but Christ’ or ‘No Creed but the Bible.’ Firstly, let us consider the good in these statements. I as a younger Christian would have been heard to say such things, and there would have been a good intention in saying them. For many being Protestant and not being Roman Catholic, this means that Sola Scriptura, the Bible alone is our authority. The Roman Catholic Church admits tradition as binding in a way that only scripture should bind us. So many in a Protestant sense, denying the authoritative role of tradition have intended something good by saying, ‘No Creed but Christ.’ Secondly, every century has seen a number of attacks on the Bible, these have often come from the prevalent philosophies and trends in thought at the time. For example some have suggested that we need the help of evolutionary science to help us understand the Bible, or we need the help of the new schools of psychology to help us have a more informed anthropology. The Bible plus science, psychology, economic theory, political theory, critical race theory, etc. are perennial battles that we face. And I can imagine someone recognizing these attacks defending the sufficiency of scripture by saying ‘No Creed but the Bible.’ However, there is also a naïve endorsement of these sorts of sentiments because there have been many enemies of the truth who by using these very sentiments have sought to undermine the truth of the Bible we seek to defend. For example, the early twentieth century saw the rise of the Ecumenical Movement, this was an attempt to unite all Christian Churches in one Christian organization as a show of unity before a watching world. It was believed that a single united church would be so much...

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