Why Confessions Matter
Submitting to Scripture by submitting to a shared confession.
Most Christians insist that the Bible is their only authority. Yet if you were to ask them what the Bible teaches on baptism, assurance, church government, or the Lord’s Day, you will quickly find ten different “authoritative” answers.
The irony is that even those who claim, “No creed but the Bible,” inevitably develop a creed of their own. So in reality, the question is never whether someone has a confession, but whether that confession is clear, tested, and accountable.
When we say that Scripture alone is our final and infallible authority, we are not saying that Scripture is the only authority in the Christian life; rather, we are saying it is the ultimate one. Under Scripture’s final authority, God has given the church secondary authorities that serve the Word, not compete with it, and a confession belongs in that category. It is not a rival to Scripture, nor is it an addition to Scripture; rather, it is a servant of Scripture that helps the church understand, articulate, and obey Scripture together.
In short, a confession is the church saying, “Here is what we believe the Bible teaches, and here is the doctrinal shape we will follow in faith and practice.” Far from challenging biblical authority, a confession expresses a commitment to it. The church does not submit to the confession because it thinks a human document is infallible. It submits because it desires to faithfully submit to Scripture as a unified body rather than as isolated individuals.
In this sense, the authority of a confession is similar to the authority of pastors and elders. Hebrews 13:17 calls the church to submit to its shepherds, not because elders possess inherent power, but because they serve under Christ’s authority for the good of the flock. A confession functions the same way. It has no inherent authority of its own; rather, it is granted authority by the church, which willingly receives it as a trustworthy guide to the teaching of Scripture. The confession leads only insofar as it follows the Word of God, and it gains its authority only as the church collectively submits to it.
True confessionalism is therefore more than having a statement of faith filed away with the church constitution or something that is written out on the website; rather, it is a posture of active submission. Having a robust confession guards the pulpit, shapes the sacraments, provides clarity for teaching, anchors the congregation in historic Christianity, and protects the unity of the body. It rescues the church from theological drift, from personality-driven doctrine, and from the chaos of everyone simply interpreting the Scripture on their own.
Confessionalism reminds us that we are not the first generation to read the Bible by teaching us that the faith “once delivered to the saints” is not reinvented in every age but received, preserved, and passed down. Confessions protect the church from the tyranny of individual interpretation and the tyranny of cultural pressures.
To be clear, when the church submits to a confession, it is not bowing before human tradition; it is bowing before the Word of God together. Further, a confession does not bind the conscience beyond Scripture; it binds the conscience to Scripture in the company of the saints. It is an act of humility, an act of unity, and an act of obedience.
In the end, sola Scriptura is not threatened by confessions; quite the opposite, it depends on them. Without confessions, every Christian becomes a doctrinal island. Each believer is left to determine, in isolation, what Scripture means and how the faith should be ordered, and when this happens, every interpretation becomes equally authoritative. As time goes on, the church loses its shape, its shared language, and its unified understanding. In the absence of a confession, the loudest voice, the most persuasive personality, or the latest trend becomes the functional authority. And when novelty becomes a virtue, strange and innovative readings of Scripture begin to surface, cracking the foundations of historic orthodoxy and unsettling the faith of ordinary believers. What the church once treated as settled truth suddenly becomes debatable, and the people of God are left vulnerable to interpretations that are untested, unstable, and spiritually harmful.
Within confessionalism, however, the people of God can stand shoulder to shoulder. Instead of floating in isolation, believers root themselves in a common understanding of Scripture that has been tested, refined, and passed down through generations. They unite around truths bigger than personal preferences; with a shared vocabulary, a shared framework, and a shared theological horizon.
They form us, not as spiritual free agents, but as a gathered people anchored in the same biblical truth, confessing the same faith, and joyfully submitting to the same risen Lord.