Last week we looked at what exactly the confessions are. Today we will try to answer the question of why we use them. Let’s focus on five reasons.

First, the Bible includes within it confessions and affirmations of faith. In the pages of Scripture we find that the church was not taught a string of pearl-like Bible quotations, but rather the contents of the Scriptures. So we find concrete expression of the faith in, what many believe to be, creeds and confessions of the faith (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 1:15-20; 1 Tim. 1:15; 3:1; 16; 4:9; 2 Tim. 2:11; Tit. 1:9; 3:8).

Secondly, concrete expressions of our faith are the historic practice of our faith. This follows logically from the first point. Since the Bible contains confessions of what we believe, it follows that we too would craft documents which accessibly codify the truths we affirm. So, for example, the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed date to around the 4^th century. The Heidelberg Catechismand the Westminster Standards date back to the 16^th and 17^th centuries. These documents were forged in the furnace of persecution and during a time when Christians needed to know what they believed.

Thirdly, these confessions aid us in Christian education. The historic practice of catechizing children is often associated with Roman Catholicism. Not so. Actually, the RC practice came as a response to the reformed practice and the rich fruit it was bearing. One element of being a reformed Christian is to be a catechized Christian and to have catechized children. Too often Christian parents teach their children morals. What the church needs is not more lessons on morals but a joyful embrace of what Scripture teaches. What might God do if every child and every adult in this congregation had digested the simple and yet profound question, “What is justification?” If you can’t answer that, go get a catechism from the free literature table!

Fourth, by confessing our faith with these documents we express our unity in the gospel with millions of contemporary Christians and millions of our brothers and sisters who have gone before us. We confess the same faith and are thus in union with Christ and one another. We confess that we didn’t make this up last week. We are not a Johnny-come-lately outfit, but rather tied intimately with the past and the present. In all the talk about unification of Christians we need to ask the question, “United around what?” An experience? Or a body of teaching? Few things better express a fulfillment of Jesus prayer in John 17 than corporate confession.

Finally, by confessing these truths we affirm our trust in the gospel. We say to the world and to those around us, “This is what we believe.” If you don’t believe it, don’t confess it. But this is what we believe as followers of Christ. As such it is an expression of our hope and trust in the gospel of Christ. As such we affirm every Lord’s Day, “I believe the gospel…I need the gospel…I love the gospel.”