Confession of Faith

Definition and Meaning

The term "confession of faith" is used in two senses. The first is the act by which an individual or a congregation declares its faith aloud. The second is a document, formally adopted by a church, that sets out what it believes.

As documents, confessions of faith fall into three categories according to their form:

• Creed (literally, "articles of belief"): a document that briefly summarizes the content of the faith
• Confession: a document that sets out the faith systematically over multiple chapters
• Catechism: a document that presents the essentials of doctrine in question-and-answer form

Protestant churches do not regard these documents as an authority that takes the place of Scripture. They understand them as summaries of the teaching of the Bible and use them within the church as a standard for discerning sound teaching.

Biblical and Historical Background

The biblical basis most commonly cited is the confession of Peter in Matthew 16:16: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Romans 10:9, which calls believers to confess with the mouth that Jesus is Lord, is also frequently cited.

The early church produced a number of creeds as it formulated the confessions of those receiving baptism and responded to controversies over heresy. The Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed took shape in this way.

After the Reformation, the various Protestant churches issued confessions of their own:

• Lutheran: the Augsburg Confession of 1530
• Continental Reformed churches: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort
• England: the Westminster Confession of Faith, drawn up in the seventeenth century

Practice in the Korean Church

Many Korean churches include a "Confession of Faith" in the order of worship for the Sunday service, during which the congregation recites the Apostles' Creed together. This element is also listed in the church bulletin. In recent years some churches have adopted a newly translated text of the Apostles' Creed. Faith is also confessed through questions, answers, and vows at baptism, confirmation, and ordination and installation services.

The documents adopted as standards differ by denomination:

• Presbyterian: In 1907 the Independent Presbytery adopted the "Twelve Articles of Faith." Many Presbyterian denominations hold the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the doctrinal standards in their church constitutions. Some denominations have also prepared confessions of their own.
• Methodist: The Korean Methodist Church adopted its "Doctrinal Statement" in 1930.
• Holiness: Holiness churches confess the "Fourfold Gospel"—regeneration, sanctification, divine healing, and the Second Coming—as the core of their faith.
• Baptist: Baptists have a tradition of not granting strong binding authority to any document other than Scripture. Accordingly, they tend to regard confessions of faith less as binding creeds than as statements of what the community believes.
• Anglican: The Anglican Church of Korea confesses its faith in the Eucharist primarily through the Nicene Creed.