The Scots Confession of Faith

The Scots Confession of Faith (1560)

The first confession of faith of the Reformed Church of Scotland. It was drawn up in four days by six Scottish Reformers, Knox, Spottiswood, Willock, Row, Douglas, and Winram, each of whom bore the Christian name of John. Knox undoubtedly played the predominant role in this preparation. The Scottish Parliament adopted the confession in 1560 with little opposition. Queen Mary, who still resided in France, refused to ratify the decision, with the result that it did not become the official confession until 1567, when Parliament reenacted it after her deposition. The Scots Confession remained the official confession of the Scottish Reformed Church until it adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1647.

The theology of the Scotts Confession is Calvinistic and in general agreement with other creeds of the Reformed churches. In formulating the confession, Knox and his colleagues took into account the thinking and statements of a number of Reformers, e.g., Calvin's Institutes, John a Lasco's Compendium, and Valerian Poullain's Liturgia Sacra. It does not, however, merely restate what the Reformers on the continent had said, but has some of its own special characteristics. Though the Scots Confession lacks the systematic thoroughness of the larger Westminster Confession, it is a fresh document that bears witness to the living faith of the Scottish reformation.

The Scots Confession contains twenty-five articles of which twelve treat the basic doctrines of the Christian faith: God and Trinity; the creation and fall of humanity and the promises of redemption; the incarnation; the passion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and his return to judge the earth; atonement through the death of Christ; and sanctification through the Holy Ghost. Though traces of Calvinist emphases are noticeable in these articles, Reformed distinctives arise elsewhere. Justification by faith is assumed; the doctrine of election is affirmed; Christ's spiritual presence in the Lord's Supper is emphasized, while transubstantiation and the view that the elements are bare signs are condemned. The "Kirk" is defined as "catholic"; it consists of the elect, and outside of it there is no salvation. The marks of the true kirk on earth are the true preaching of the word and the right administration of the sacraments and of discipline. Civil magistrates are stated to be lieutenants of God, whose duty it is to conserve and purge the church when necessary; but supreme authority is ascribed to the word of God.

R Kyle
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
G. D. Henderson, ed., The Scots Confession 1560; P. Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, III, 479-85; J. H. S. Burleigh, A Church History of Scotland; K. Barth, The knowledge of God and the Service of God According to the Teaching of the Reformation.