Why use a confession if we already have the Bible?

Does a confession add another authority to the Bible?

The strongest answer comes from the confession itself. Article 7 teaches that Scripture sufficiently reveals what must be believed for salvation. It refuses to put human writings, church decisions or longstanding customs on the same level as God’s Word. That rule includes the Belgic Confession. Its age, influence and association with courageous Christians do not make it inspired.

A confession therefore makes a claim that can be examined: this is what the church understands Scripture to teach. That is a serious claim, but a different kind of claim from saying that God has given another book of the Bible. In this setting, Scripture is the final standard; a confession is an accountable summary. The CRCNA’s statement of its beliefs makes the same distinction between Scripture as its infallible rule and the confessions as expressions of its faith.

Why is “we believe the Bible” not the whole answer?

Imagine asking two churches whether Jesus is fully God. Both say they believe the Bible, but one means that the Son is eternally divine while the other regards Him as the highest created being. Their shared sentence has left a crucial difference unexplained. A confession puts the actual teaching into words that another person can understand and question.

The Belgic Confession does this in Article 10, which identifies the Son as eternal and uncreated. It also explains how faith and good works relate, what baptism means, and what the church is. These explanations do not remove the need to read biblical passages. They show readers which interpretation the church is putting forward.

For a visitor, that openness is useful. You do not have to reconstruct a church’s beliefs from scattered sermons or guess whether every minister teaches something different. You can read its stated convictions and then ask how those convictions follow from Scripture.

What does a shared confession help a church do?

A written confession gives teachers a common framework and learners a connected account of Christian belief. The order matters: the Belgic Confession moves from God and revelation to Christ and salvation, then to the church and Christian hope. A class can return to that pattern when an isolated topic becomes confusing.

It also makes disagreement more specific. Suppose someone hears a sermon as saying that good behaviour earns God’s acceptance. Article 23 and Article 24 provide a shared place to discuss whether the sermon has confused justification with sanctification. The confession can help identify the issue, although careful listening and examination of Scripture are still necessary.

Used well, a confession also connects a congregation with Christians beyond its own generation. Their questions and language will not always be familiar, but studying them can expose assumptions that a present-day reader might otherwise never notice.

Does using a confession cut us off from other Christians?

The Belgic Confession sets out distinctly Reformed convictions, but it also acknowledges a wider Christian inheritance. Article 9 receives the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian creeds in its discussion of the Trinity. Readers should distinguish that shared creedal inheritance from the particular positions the confession takes on subjects such as baptism and church government.

Agreement should be described accurately, and so should disagreement. A Baptist reader may affirm much of the account of Christ and salvation while disagreeing with Article 34 on infant baptism. Recognising that difference makes conversation clearer. Simply assuming that every Christian church teaches the whole Belgic Confession would conceal the very questions that need discussing.

What should I do if I disagree with an article?

Begin by stating the article’s claim fairly. Read its full explanation and the relevant biblical passages before deciding what is wrong with it. Sometimes a disagreement turns on an unfamiliar word. At other times it is a substantive difference about how several parts of Scripture fit together.

It helps to write the difficulty as a question: “How does this statement follow from this passage?” is easier to discuss than a general declaration that a confession feels outdated. Ask a minister or another careful reader to work through the question with you. The goal is neither automatic agreement nor automatic suspicion, but understanding and testing what is actually taught.

Article 7 gives the governing principle: a church’s tradition must answer to God’s Word. Particular churches have their own processes for considering doctrinal objections. This reading site provides the text and explanatory material; it does not decide membership or ministerial obligations for a denomination.

How can I use it without replacing Bible reading?

Choose one subject and read a whole article. Then study one or two of its Scripture references in context. Note what the confession says, what the biblical passage says, and any connection you need to investigate. Return to the surrounding articles before drawing a conclusion about the confession as a whole.

The reading map gives a manageable route through all 37 articles. Used this way, the confession becomes a companion to sustained Bible reading: it supplies questions, draws connections and makes a church’s answers available for examination. Its usefulness is measured by how faithfully it helps readers hear and respond to Scripture.