If you believe in the Trinity then you believe in the legitimacy of Christian confessions. Yes, I am attempting to be provocative by suggesting to know what you believe, but please bear with me long enough to explain.

I say that if you believe in the Trinity then you believe in confessions not because the triune nature of God is not revealed in the Bible. It definitely is. I say this because the word “Trinity” as well as its formal meaning—one God eternally and simultaneously existing in three persons—is never stated as such in any specific verse of the Bible.

Instead, “Trinity” reflects an interpretation of the biblical revelation, the interpretation that Christians have agreed upon and at times admirably defended against formidable opposition.

This is the essence of a Christian confession. A Christian confession is an agreed upon (to confess means to agree) understanding/interpretation of something that is considered vital to the Christian faith.

A classic example of an early Christian confession is the one quoted by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy. It reads:

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory (1 Timothy 3:16).

Besides offering a wonderful summary of gospel truth, the quotation by Paul gives evidence of the legitimate utilization of such tools by the Christian church.

For centuries, Christians have found such agreements to be a vital help in discipleship. The greatest opponents of Christian confessions have historically been opponents of biblical Christianity, such as Arians.

Adversaries have objected to the need for written explanations of what the Bible means by what it says and have hid heresy behind a disingenuous, “we only believe the Bible,” disguise.

Many well-meaning Christians today are not aware of the important role that confessions have played in the history of God’s people. It is therefore fairly common to assume that the most biblical people shunned confessions and the heretics utilized them.

In reality, it has often been the exact opposite. This misinformed mindset has greatly weakened the church. The following introduction and confession are offered in an effort to highlight the importance of historic confessions for the glory of Christ and the good of His people.

The intended readership of this introduction is not the scholar or individual looking for detailed explanations of the history and content of confessions in general or of this one in particular. There are other valuable resources available to meet such needs.

The aim here is to introduce believers to the significance of what has been called confessional Christianity. What follows are two important benefits to a Christian confession.*

1. It Expresses Humility

It is difficult to imagine anyone today actually claiming to be the first Christian or that authentic Christianity started in our lifetime. But a more subtle form of this mindset does exist. This way of thinking exists when believers fail to consider those who have come before us.

More specifically, when we fail to consider previous conclusions about Christian doctrines, we demonstrate what amounts to a lack of humility. Not only have there been millions of Christians before the twenty-first century, but they have enjoyed the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised the disciples that His Spirit would lead them into all the truth (John 16:13). While this promise may be intended specifically for the disciples as they would be his apostles entrusted with a unique apostolic ministry, we can at least acknowledge that Jesus promised His Spirit to all believers and that some would lead, guide, and shepherd the church.

This Spirit has been uniquely working in the church and teaching the people of God for millennia. The church has given her best efforts, guided by the Spirit, to make conclusions regarding major theological questions.

For us to ignore historic confessions and act like we are the very first people to have the teaching of the Holy Spirit is just plain silly.

A confession like this one connects us to the past and more importantly, to the work of the Spirit in the church. I realize that this challenges the spirit of the age (I’m thinking of Ford’s saying: “History is more or less bunk”).

But far better than wisdom from the spirit of the age is the wisdom from the Spirit of the ages! When we consider the specifics of this confession from 1689, we learn that its drafters went out of their way to sound as much like other older confessions as they possibly could.

They wanted to be essentially unified with the past as they believed that God had worked in great ways and that His work was not to be ignored.

This does not require that the Bible be under the authority of history for history is far from heresy-free. But wisdom calls for noting how the Lord has guided His church through history using His word, the Bible.

Additionally, the church today can avoid falling into countless theological deviations that have historically been tested and found unbiblical. Such avoidance is the fruit of humbly paying attention to what has happened before our time.

Conversely, where pride keeps us looking only inward and to ourselves, it is no wonder that we fall (Proverbs 16:18).

2. It Avoids the Cult of Personality

Ask a conservative evangelical which personality cult he or she is a member of and you can expect a puzzled look in response. No one thinks they belong to a personality cult, especially those who think of themselves as simply Christians who believe the Bible and nothing else.

But given that every Christian has opinions about what the Bible means by what it says regarding any given topic, everyone ends up with a theological position regardless of whether they are aware of it or not. We have already discussed this at some length so I will not belabor the point here.

But I will say that with a move away from the use of historic confessions and toward a supposed “Bible only” biblicism, theological positions and systems have not disappeared in the least. But what has happened is an increased ignorance of just what theological position one is actually aligned with.

In addition, the greatest breeding ground for personality cults is the “we just believe the Bible” environment.

Apart from confessional Christianity, whole congregations could potentially affirm a local pastor’s deviant understandings of major doctrines. Then on a larger scale, when celebrity preachers promote theological novelty or worse under the seemingly pristine label of “biblicism,” the cult grows exponentially and its members blindly follow.

I have experienced this firsthand as a young Christian. I affirmed novel doctrines because my favorite Bible teacher taught them. Then when he changed his views to align with what confessions had said for centuries, I changed (along with what I would assume to be most of his followers).

In hindsight, I am thankful for the changes. Maturity is good. However, my following and the following of countless others revealed our true allegiance. In the name of biblicism, we were shown to be in actuality most devoted to a persuasive leader.

The lone teacher was the theological standard even if I would not have wanted to admit it.

It is far better to have a theological standard that is the historic product of a great multitude of biblical scholars and has been agreed upon (i.e., confessed) by countless Christian men and women over the centuries.

The Bible alone remains the only inspired revelation from God by which all creeds, confessions, and traditions must be evaluated, but the allusion of being purely biblical without either accidentally or intentionally aligning with a theological position is naïvely dangerous.

As has been said by others, it is the person who thinks that he or she has no tradition who is most enslaved to it.

*This article is an excerpt from Pat’s introduction to the 1689 confession. The complete introduction is available for free in the Omaha Bible Church bookstore.