Westminster Confession of Faith title page

The reformed confessions of faith are the confessional documents of various

Reformed churches Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian ...

. These express the doctrinal views of the churches adopting the confession. Confessions play a crucial part in the theological identity of reformed churches, either as

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

to which ministers must subscribe, or more generally as accurate descriptions of their faith. Most confessions date to the 16th and 17th century. Catechisms, canons, theses and other such documents may not be confessions ''per se,'' yet these still serve as ''symbols'' of the reformed faith.

Confessions

Confessions state that church's beliefs in a full, while not exhaustive, way.

Continental Reformed

*Confession of the East Friesland Preachers (1528) * Tetrapolitan Confession (1530) *Synodical Declaration of Bern (1532) *First Confession of Basel (1534) * First Helvetic Confession/Second Confession of Basel (1536) *Geneva Confession (1536) * Altered Augsburg Confession (1540) *Confession of the English Congregation at Geneva (1556) * Guanabara Confession of Faith (1558) **Authored by

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

in South America * French Confession of Faith (1559) *Confession of the Christian Faith (1559) *

Belgic Confession The ''Confession of Faith'', popularly known as the Belgic Confession, is a confession to which many Reformed churches subscribe as a doctrinal standard. The Confession forms part of the Three Forms of Unity, which are the official subordinate st ...

(1561) *

Second Helvetic Confession The Helvetic Confessions are two documents expressing the common belief of Reformed Christianity, Reformed churches, especially in Switzerland, whose primary author was the Swiss Reformed theologian Heinrich Bullinger. The First Helvetic Confessi ...

(1562) *Erlauthal Confession (1562) *Hungarian Confession (1562) *Confession of Nassau (1578) *Bremen Consensus (1595) *Sigismund Confession (1614) * Theological Declaration of Barmen (1934) * Belhar Confession (1986) **First adopted in South Africa and since adopted by many mainline Reformed churches.

Presbyterian

Scots Confession The Scots Confession (also called the Scots Confession of 1560) is a Confession of Faith written in 1560 by six leaders of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. The text of the Confession was the first subordinate standard for the Protestan ...

(1560) *

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

(1646) * Confession of Faith Ratification Act (1690) *

Confession of 1967 The Confession of 1967 is a confession of faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), abbreviated PC (USA). It was written as a modern statement of the faith for the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA), the "north ...

*Brief Statement of Faith (1991)

Congregationalist

The presbyterians' ''Westminster'' was formed by an assembly of ministers called by

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for use in the established churches of England and Scotland. For congregationalists, this was not the case. The difference in application of the congregationalists' primary confession'', Savoy'', is that it was written as a declaration of consensus, and as such it was not treated as morally binding upon church officers like ''Westminster'' for presbyterians (called ''subscriptionism''). Local congregational churches are historically formed around covenants (e.g. the Dedham Covenant), often unique to that church, another kind of confession. *

(1646) ** Though not produced by congregationalists, the Synod of Cambridge (1648) adopted the WCF without revision, only referring to their own

Cambridge Platform The Cambridge Platform is a statement of congregational church government for the churches of colonial New England. It was written in 1648 in response to Presbyterian criticism and served as the religious constitution of Massachusetts until 1780 ...

regarding church government (ch. XXV., XXX., and XXXI) *

Savoy Declaration The Savoy Declaration is a Congregationalist confession of faith. Its full title is ''A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England.'' It was drawn up in October 1658 by English Independents a ...

(1658) ** Adopted in America as the ''Saybrook'' (1708) * The Declaration of 1833 * Declaration of Faith (1865)

Baptist

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

confessions, like the congregationalists, are statements of agreement rather than enforceable rules. They "have never been held as tests of orthodoxy, as of any authoritative or binding force; they merely reflect the existing harmony of views and the scriptural interpretations of the churches assenting to them." Part of the baptist movement finds its origin in the nonconformist movement in England, observing Calvinistic theology with the presbyterians and congregationalists. Calvinistic baptists are called ''reformed'' or ''particular'' baptists. There are further subdivisions of reformed baptists, such as '' regular'' and ''primitive''. Baptist churches, like the congregationalists with whom they share views of polity, compose church covenants for the local congregation. * First London Baptist Confession (1644) *The Confession of Somerset (1656) * Second London Baptist Confession (1689) **Adopted in America as the ''Philadelphia Confession'' (1742) * New Hampshire Confession (1833 or 1844) * Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966

Anglican

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

churches are not confessional in the same strict sense as in Lutheran churches. Anglican doctrine is most defined by '' Lex orandi, lex credendi'' ("the law of praying sthe law of believing"). * Forty-two Articles (1553) * Thirty-Nine Articles (1562/63)

Methodist

* Calvinistic Methodist Confession of Faith (1823)

Catechisms

Catechisms are teaching tools in the church, usually in a question and answer format.

Continental

* Genevan Catechism (1541) * Emden Catechism (1554) *

Heidelberg Catechism The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Reformed catechism taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, Germany. Its ...

(1563) * Wittenberg Catechism (1571)

Presbyterian

Westminster Shorter Catechism The Westminster Shorter Catechism is a catechism written in 1646 and 1647 by the Westminster Assembly, a synod of English and Scottish theologians and laymen intended to bring the Church of England into greater conformity with the Church of Scot ...

(1649) *

Westminster Larger Catechism The Westminster Larger Catechism, along with the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is a central catechism of Calvinists in the English tradition throughout the world. History In 1643 when the Long Parliament of England called the Westminster ...

(1649)

Congregationalist

* Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes (1656)

Baptist

* Keach's Catechism (1677)

Anglican

* Anglican Catechism (1549) ** Found within the

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

Constitutions, ordinals, and platforms of church order

These documents relate to the

ecclesiastical polity Ecclesiastical polity is the government of a church. There are local (Church (congregation), congregational) forms of organization as well as Christian denomination, denominational. A church's polity may describe its Minister (Christianity), ...

of the church.

Continental

* Church Order of Dort (1618) * Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1641)

Presbyterian

Form of Presbyterial Church Government ''The Form of Presbyterial Church Government'' is a document drawn up by the Westminster Assembly dealing with Presbyterian polity. It forms part of the Westminster Standards, and was adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1645. Contents Church of ...

(1645)

Congregationalist

(1648) Walker 1894, pp. 114, 221. * Platform of Discipline of the

(1658) ** Full title: ''Of the Institution of Churches, and the Order appointed in them by Jesus Christ'' * Fifteen Articles of the

Saybrook Platform The Saybrook Platform was a constitution for the Congregational church in Connecticut in the 18th century. Historical context Religious and civic leaders in Connecticut around 1700 were distressed by the colony-wide decline in personal religiou ...

(1708) * Boston Platform (1865)

Occasional documents

These documents are less general in scope than a usual confession. They may confess that church's response to a theological controversy (e.g. the

Canons of Dort The Canons of Dort, or Canons of Dordrecht, formally titled ''The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands'', is an exposition of orthodox Reformed soteriology against Arminianism, by the Nat ...

) or seek to find common ground between discrete churches (e.g. the

Consensus Tigurinus The ''Consensus Tigurinus'' or Consensus of Zurich was a Protestant document written in 1549 by John Calvin and Heinrich Bullinger. The document was intended to bring unity to the Protestant churches on their doctrines of the sacraments, parti ...

). * Zwingli's Sixty-Seven Articles (1523) * Ten Theses of Berne (1528) * Lausanne Articles (1536) * Zurich Consensus (1549) * Sendomir Consensus (1570) * Harmony of the Confessions of Faith (1581), a response to the Lutheran

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (; ; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its two parts (''Epitome'' and ''Solid Declaration''), makes up ...

. *

(1619) * Helvetic Consensus (1675) * Conclusions of Utrecht (1905)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reformed Christian Confessions Of Faith Calvinist texts Huguenots