What does it mean to be “confessional” and is it really joyful?
I am often asked, “What do you mean when you say you are confessional?” That is a fair question seeing that most Evangelicals today do not even know what it means to be an Evangelical (at least in historic Protestant understanding).
I also get this question a lot, “Why do you need a confession or creed, we have the Bible?” This is a crucial question that reflects a regrettable and deficient understanding among Evangelicals today and thus demonstrates the need for careful and thorough explanation of why it is important to be confessional.
We live in a culture where it is fashionable to confess belief in just about everything provided one’s confession doesn’t draw any dogmatic lines in the sand and say this is truth. Several years ago (granted things can change over several years), an ABC News Poll reported that nine in ten Americans (95 percent) confessed to believe in God.
Mitt Romney, in his Faith in America Speech, told the American public last week, “There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.” Sounds like a good confession, right?
The pluralism, relativism (as one author has rightly put it, “feet firmly planted in mid air”) and religiosity of our culture and the eclectic, buffet style of Evangelical theological thought today demonstrates the need to recover the meaning of what it truly means to be confessional.
Dr. R. Scott Clark has given a series of lectures on this precise issue: Recovering the Reformed Confessions. Though realizing many of us may share differing confessional traditions, these series of lectures are helpful and worth a listen.
There really is no more joyful reality than to understand and confess the truths of the Christian faith. Consider for instance Lord’s Day 23, Question 60 in the Heidelberg Catechsim:
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Q. 60. How are you righteous before God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ: [1] that is, although my conscience accuses me, that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, [2] and am still prone always to all evil; [3] yet God, without any merit of mine, [4] of mere grace, [5] grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, [6] righteousness, and holiness of Christ, [7] as if I had never committed nor had any sins, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me; [8] if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart. [9]
[1] Rom 3:21-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Php 3:8-11; [2] Rom 3:9-10; [3] Rom 7:23; [4] Dt 9:6; Ezek 36:22; Tit 3:4-5; [5] Rom 3:24; Eph 2:8; [6] 1 Jn 2:2; [7] Rom 4:3-5; 2 Cor 5:17-19; 1 Jn 2:1; [8] Rom 4:24-25; 2 Cor 5:21; [9] Jn 3:18; Acts 16:30-31; Rom 3:22, 28, 10:10
Think and meditate on this for a day and see if your heart is not overwhelmed with burning, red-hot affection for God and driven to obey His law out of sheer gratitude (i.e., to love God and your neighbor; to have heartfelt joy in God and delight to do His will!, HC, Q. 90).
If it doesn’t then you need to repent and ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your heart to see the inestimable and unspeakable blessings that are yours in Christ through the Gospel (cf., Eph. 1:15-23).
December 13, 2007 at 11:11 am
This is a great thought, John. I would love to see you expand on it sometime. I know you had to fight the temptation to turn this into a 20,000 word paper. So often do I get raised eyebrows when I tell people I subscribe to the Westminster Confession as my statement of faith. Even when I try to explain that it is simply a statement of belief concerning what I feel is taught in the only inspired book - the Bible - I can see their wheels turning and the thoughts of cult practice running through their heads a la the “Book of Mormon” or “The Watchtower.” Thanks for posting on this today!
December 14, 2007 at 11:22 am
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