Scripture Demands we Confess

Teaching Note

The very nature of God’s revelation to us demands that we confess it. This is the natural implication of being told about the glories and mercies of God that we would seek to tell others, not through thoughtless repetition, but through hearing, meditating, understanding, and proclaiming. This process internalizes the Word of God even when the words we are using for understanding were written hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Scripture Verse

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

Teaching Content

Learning the Truth: The Word of God stands alone in terms of authority, but it was never meant to stand alone in practice. It is God’s Word and as such man can add nothing to it, but God built into His design for the church that the Word should be taught and explained. Think of Ezra giving the sense of the Word to the people and of the interaction between Ethiopian Eunuch and Philip in Acts 8, "So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The Spirit enlightens our hearts to understand, but Christians are meant to be taught the Word by parents, pastors, and elders in the church. It is only the Spirit who can open the eyes of the believer to know the truths of the scripture, but the Spirit works through ordinary means more often than unusual ones. (Nehemiah 8:8, Acts 8:26-40, Ephesians 4:11-12, 2 Timothy 2:2)

Systematizing the Truth: If your mom tells you to clean your room, you understand that command in context. You know your mom and her authority over you, you know where you live and which room is your responsibility, you know from past experience what cleaning is and what it will look like when it’s finished. We do the same thing with the scripture, understanding the verse in light of the paragraph, the paragraph in light of the section, section in light of the book, book in light of the other books of the bible, seeking to read different genres in light of how they were intended. The Westminster Confession speaks of this by saying that everything we need to know is “…either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture…” When we organize and systematize theology we are not adding anything to the scripture, but seeking to faithfully understand it in context. Confessions offer a systematic understanding of the scripture that cannot be achieved without that diligence. (Luke 24:27, Acts 20:27, 2 Timothy 2:15, WCF 1.6)

Owning the Truth: A consistent demand of the scriptures is that we hide it away in our hearts. This does involve memorizing scripture, but it also means understanding the scripture so that we can apply it appropriatelly in various situations. Tools like confessions and catechisms aid with that, again not by adding anything to the scripture, but by providing helpful summaries of the system of doctrine taught in scripture. For example, if someone asked you about the trinity, you know “There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” The Trinity is taught from Genesis to Revelation, but there is no one verse that says all of that, so what the catechism provides is a pithy, but biblically faithful answer. (Psalm 119:11, Joshua 1:8, 2 Timothy 1:13, 1 Peter 3:15)

Discussion Questions

We Steward the Faith

Teaching Note

Christian faith is not something we invented, nor is it something we are ever free to reinvent. Our duty to God is not only to understand and live out our Faith in submission to the Word, but to be able to articulate that to the world and to the next generation of believers. Confessions and catechisms are incredibly helpful tools for us to understand, apply, and teach the truths of the scripture to the next generation, by keeping us safe from error and by giving us a vocabulary and set of concepts to summarize and explain the Word to any who should ask.

Scripture Verse

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 2 Timothy 1:12–14

Teaching Content

Fidelity over Novelty: We need systematic theological statements not only to understand the scripture for ourselves, but in order to test and try what is being taught. The human inclination is to seek out new and interesting things, but that is death and hell in theology for the simple fact that God and His Word have not changed. Though faithfully applying the truths of scripture in each passing generation may look different, the fundamental truths of the scripture will not ever change. We have been called to receive an inheritance of sound words and to pass it on to the next generation uncorrupted. Think of it like buried treasure, the location of which is passed on from generation to generation. You don’t want your grandpa adding his own twist, because that won’t change the physical location of the treasure, it is where it is. We do believe that the church makes progress in understanding throughout history: in precision, clarity, and understanding. For example the Westminster Confession speaks more clearly about the Trinity than the Apostles’ Creed, but both confess the same thing in terms of fundamental theology. (Acts 17:11, Galatians 1:8-9, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Jude 1:3)

Passing It On: One of the key reasons we shouldn’t innovate in theology is because we have been given the task of passing it on to the next generation. Even if you never have kids, as a member of the church you promise at every infant baptism to “undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of this child.” We have a duty to steward our own theology well in order to pass it on faithfully to the next generation. In order to do this task well we must: understand the Word, be able to articulate the truths of the Word, and preserve the doctrines of the Word. There is no safer and better way to do that than studying the confessions and catechisms of your church. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Psalm 78:4-7, 2 Timothy 2:2)

Discussion Questions