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confessions

If the Creeds Aren't Infallible, Why Use Them?

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  • Michael Horton

What role should creeds, confessions, and catechisms play in the church? It is this question that this article deals with.

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Why Creeds and Confessions?

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  • Cornelis Pronk

Is the Bible not enough? Often this is the question asked by people who object to having confessions in the church. Looking at the origin of creeds and confessions, the author gives reasons why the church needs them. The focus is given to the Ecumenical Creeds and the Reformation Creeds.

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Maintaining Church Unity in a Confessional Way

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  • Pieter K. A. De Boer

How should the church maintain unity and deal with new heresies using old confessions? Is there a need for new confessions or revised confessions? This article looks at two scenarios to show that what is more important is the need for the confessions to remain living among the members of the church.

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Confessional – Not Confessionalistic

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  • A. N. Hendriks

Should confessions have authority? Looking at the relationship of the Bible to the confession this article explains that the authority of confessions is a derived authority. And since the confession are a profession of the church they also bind to the office bearers.

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The New Testament Belief in an Old Testament Church

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  • W. Stanford Reid

What is the relationship between the New Testament church and the Old Testament people of God? Can we speak in any way of an Old Testament church? The thesis of this article is that throughout the history of the church there was a strong emphasis on the unity of the church with the Old Testament people of God. These convictions are expressed in most of the confessions produced in the time of the Reformation.

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Why You Should Read Augustine's Confessions

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  • Leland Ryken

The author makes a strong case for reading Augustine's Confessions. He indicates that this work is not just a memoir; it is a mixed-genre book, including narrative elements and prayers.

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Creeds & Confessions

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  • Unknown

Creeds and confessions are essential for the church in articulating her understanding of the teaching of Scripture. However, they can also be a disadvantage. The article explains why.

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Protestant Creeds and Confessions

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  • Ryan M. Reeves

Quite a few confessions were born out of the Reformation of the 16th century. The author looks at the Lutheran confessions, the Reformed confessions, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Standards.

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Towards a Confession for Tomorrow's Church

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  • J. I. Packer

In order for true unity and ecumenicity to exist within the churches, there needs to be a convincing confession of faith. This article looks at the role confessions and creeds play in shaping such unity of churches. Attention is given to the need for confessions, the problems and challenges of adopting confessions, and the method for formulating them.

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Confessional Subscription Debate

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  • Graham Harbman

This article looks at the debate between William Barker and Morton Smith on the meaning of confessional subscription. What should be the role and position of the confessions in church?

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Preaching and our Confessions at Adoration

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  • Unknown

What should preaching that is based on the confessions look like? This article provides three approaches for preaching from the confessions that are used within reformed churches.

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Confessions and Catechism Preaching in the Reformation of 1857

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  • Rodney Kleyn

The confessions and the catechism have an important place in the church. Neglecting and changing some of the confessions resulted in the formation of the Christian Reformed Church as members separated from the Reformed Church of America.

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To Be or Not to Be Reformed (4): Upholding the Formula of Subscription

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  • Russell J. Dykstra

It is a common practice in many Reformed Churches that elders and deacons sign the Formula of Subscription. Why practice this tradition? Two reasons: the adoption of and adherence to Reformed confessions, and to maintain and promote Reformed church government. If this is so, then the confessions must be binding, and discipline must be exercised on those who depart from them.

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To Be or Not to Be Reformed (3): Upholding the Formula of Subscription

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  • Russell J. Dykstra

It is a common practice in many Reformed Churches that elders and deacons sign the Formula of Subscription. Why practice this tradition? Two reasons: the adoption of and adherence to Reformed confessions, and to maintain and promote Reformed church government. This article focuses on what the Form of Subscription requires from individuals.

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To Be or Not to Be Reformed (2): Upholding the Formula of Subscription

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  • Russell J. Dykstra

It is a common practice in many Reformed Churches that elders and deacons sign the Formula of Subscription. Why practice this tradition? Two reasons: the adoption of and adherence to Reformed confessions, and to maintain and promote Reformed church government. This article focuses on the history behind the Form of Subscription.

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To Be or Not to Be Reformed (1): Upholding the Formula of Subscription

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  • Russell J. Dykstra

It is a common practice in many Reformed Churches that elders and deacons sign the Formula of Subscription. Why practice this tradition? Two reasons: the adoption of and adherence to Reformed confessions, and to maintain and promote Reformed church government. This article focuses on the importance of adhering to the Reformed confessions.

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The Westminster Confession of Faith Today

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  • Chad van Dixhoorn

Confessions display the core of Christian doctrines and reveal the unity of the church. This article looks at the Westminster Confession - its history and its exposition of the doctrine of God and redemptive history - showing how it can guide the church in upholding the teaching of scripture.

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A Good Creed Seldom Goes Unpunished

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  • Carl R. Trueman

Bridging the gap between those who resist any use of creeds and those who uphold creeds above scripture, this article proposes a healthy way of viewing creeds. The author maintains that creeds should be viewed historically (unifying the church of all times and places) and doctrinally (identifying the cores of the Christian faith). Having this perspective on the creeds, however, does not mean that confessions cannot ever be improved or changed.

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A Plea for Creeds

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  • Ronald H. Hanko

This article links the need for creeds to the biblical call to confess Christ individually and corporately, the work of the Spirit in guiding the church in the truth, and the call to the church to uphold biblical doctrine. Confessions are important for the unity of the church, defense of the faith, resolving disputes, catechetical use, and pastoral care. The author calls the church to intentionally use the creeds.

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Assumptions and Methods in Catechism Preaching

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  • Nelson D. Kloosterman

This article is about the assumptions and methods in Catechism Preaching. What is the place of Scripture in the preaching of the confessions?

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A Few Thoughts about Confessions

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  • George P. van Popta

How do we evaluate the differences between the various historical confessions of the church?

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Fit to be Bound?

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  • Wes L. Bredenhof

This article is about the way ministers and office-bearers should be bound in churches. Is it enough to only bind officers to the confessions?

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Church, College, and Confession

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  • Hugh M. Cartwright

This article is about the task of the church to train men for the ministry. The author shows the advantages of having a theological seminary, and also discusses the importance of the confessions for theological training.

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Truly Catholic

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  • Carl R. Trueman

This article is about what it means to be truly catholic: keeping the confessions and the faith believed through the ages.

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Creeds, Confessions and Criticisms

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  • Robert Sheehan

This article looks at objections against creeds and confessions.

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Robert Lewis Dabney and the Westminster Standards: A Commemoration

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  • Stephen Berry

This article is about Dabney's views on confessions, and specifically the Westminster Confession of Faith.

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Judging a Church by its Public Confession Here we have an Important Principle: Judge a Church by its Confessions, not by the Statements of Some Individual

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  • Eric Kampen

This article looks at the conclusion of the Canons of Dort, and how the Reformed churches always asked that they be judged by their Confessions.

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Why We Have Creeds and Confessions

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  • Daniel R. Hyde

This article looks at what creeds and confessions are, where we find creeds in the Bible, if they are necessary, and how creeds and confessions are practically used.

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Confessing the Reformed faith: Our Identity in Unity and Diversity

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  • Richard A. Muller

This article is about confessions and church unity. Multi-confessional standards, the purpose of confessions, creeds and liturgy, and the use of confessions in defending the faith are all discussed in this article. Non-confessional churches are also mentioned by the author.

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Thoughts on the Sufficiency of Scripture: What it Does and Doesn't Mean

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  • John Piper

Throughout the history of the church, heretics often protested against orthodox confessions on the ground of the so-called "non-scriptural language" of the orthodox creed. They pointed out that phrases such as “of one essence with the Father,” and “one substance with the Father” were not to be found in Scripture. Heretics often used the argument “no creed but the Bible” precisely so that they could use biblical language to evade biblical truth.

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