The Bible is the highest and final authority for everything we believe. So why does our church also affirm a confession of faith?
A confession doesn’t add to Scripture or stand alongside it as an equal authority. It is simply the church saying together, “This is what we believe the Bible teaches.”
Paul told Timothy to “follow the pattern of the sound words” he had received and to guard the truth entrusted to him (2 Timothy 1:13–14). He also instructed elders to hold firmly to the trustworthy Word so they could teach sound doctrine and correct error (Titus 1:9). Christians have always needed to state clearly what they believe.
Every church has a confession, even if it isn’t written down. Every pastor and every Christian has beliefs about God, salvation, the church, and the Christian life. A written confession brings those beliefs into the light, where they can be examined by Scripture.
At The Rock Church, we affirm the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. We don’t believe it because Baptists wrote it centuries ago, and we don’t pretend its words are inspired. We receive it because we believe it faithfully summarizes the teaching of Scripture.
The confession helps protect the church from being carried along by every new idea. It gives us shared language for precious truths such as the Trinity, God’s sovereignty, justification by faith alone, Christ’s finished work, the perseverance of the saints, believer’s baptism, and the nature of the local church.
Most importantly, it keeps pointing us to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who took on human flesh, obeyed in our place, died for our sins, rose from the grave, and now reigns as our Prophet, Priest, and King.
Being confessional should never make us proud, cold, or argumentative. Sound doctrine should produce humble worship, deeper assurance, greater love, and patient charity toward other Christians. We hold our convictions firmly because truth matters, and we hold them warmly because grace has been shown to us.
I encourage you to become familiar with our confession. Read it slowly with an open Bible. Ask questions. Test everything by God’s Word, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11).
Our confession is not our foundation. Scripture alone is our foundation. But a faithful confession helps us stand together upon that foundation and hold out Christ clearly to weary sinners.