Religious Confession

Confession is the popular name for the Christian Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation recognized by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The rite consists in the acknowledgment of sins to a priest, who grants absolution in the name of God. Its biblical basis is found in the action of Jesus forgiving sins (Mark 2) and his commissioning of the Apostles to forgive sins (John 20:22-23).

Essential to every confession is an inner conversion of the heart, with sorrow for sin and intent to lead a new life. In the Orthodox Church, confession is usually required before the reception of Communion. Since 1215, Roman Catholics have been required to confess their sins annually if they are in serious sin. A new Roman Catholic rite was introduced in 1973, which places greater emphasis on the community and its place in reconciliation.

Some other Christian churches, such as the Lutheran and the Anglican, provide for individual confession on request, but general confession during public worship, and individual confession directly to God in private, is more characteristic of Protestantism.

L.L. Mitchell

Bibliography
Favazza, Joseph, The Order of Penitents (1988); Martos, Joseph, Doors to the Sacred (1982).

Confessions of Faith

The official Protestant statements of belief issued as standards of doctrine during the 16th and 17th centuries are called confessions of faith. The result of dogmatic controversy, they are generally polemical and reflect the historical situations from which they arose. A list of the major confessions of faith issued by the Lutheran, Calvinist, or Reformed churches includes the Augsburg Confession (1530), Helvetic Confessions (1536 and 1566), Gallican Confession (1559), Belgic Confession (1561), Scottish Confessions (1560 and 1581), Heidelberg Catechism (1562), and Westminster Confession (1647). Since the 17th century, other confessions have been issued by the Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers. Many Reformation statements were called Articles of Religion. The ancient professions of faith are usually called Creeds.

(Editor's Note: BELIEVE contains individual web-page presentations of each of the above confessions, as well as the full text of several of them. See the links at the end of this presentation.)

Confessions of Faith

• The Augsburg Confession
  Written on behalf of the Protestant territories of Northern Germany for presentation to emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. Melanchthon's twenty one original articles were composed as a response to John Eck's attack on the Protestants as guilty of being ancient heresies. Thus the articles attempt to show that the Protestant faith is in line with the ancient Church. Many, but not all, of the articles were acceptable to Rome. In 1540 Melancthon revised the confession to be acceptable to Calvin. The Lutherans rejected this revision and Melancthon himself.

• The Episcopal Confession
  As established by the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in Convention, on September 12, 1801.

• The Second Helvetic Confession
  Written by Heinrich Bullinger in Switzerland after surviving the Black Plague as a codicil to his will. It is in response to the Anabaptists and makes an attempt to reconcile with the Lutherans. It is influenced by Ulrich Zwingli. Its central doctrines are those of Covenant and Baptism.

• The Scots Confession
  Written by John Knox and five other "Johns" (Willock, Winram, Spottiswood, Row and Douglas), in 1560, at the conclusion of the Scottish civil war in response to medieval catholicism and at the behest of the Scottish Parliament in five days. Its central doctrines are those of election and the Church. It was approved by the Reformation Parliament and Church of Scotland, attaining full legal status with the departure of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567.

• The Geneva Confession
  The Genevan Confession was credited to John Calvin in 1536 by Beza who said Calvin wrote it as a formula of Christian doctrine suited to the church at Geneva.

• The Westminster Confession
  Written by the Westminster Assembly at the call of Parliament together with the following two catechisms and heavily influenced by Reynolds. It is written in the context of the English Civil War and as a response to high church Anglicanism. The central doctrines of this and the two catechisms are the sovereignty of God and the authority and proper interpretation of Scripture.

• A Puritan Confession
  The A Puritan Confession, along with the A Puritan Catechism were both compiled and published around 1855 by Charles Spurgeon.

• The London Baptist Confession
  The London Baptist Confession of Faith, with scripture proofs, was adopted by the Ministers and Messengers of the General Assembly which met in 1689.

Articles of Religion

Short theological statements, articles of religion were official Protestant declarations of doctrine issued during the 16th and 17th centuries. The best known are the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (1563), revised by the U.S. Episcopal Church in 1801. Other Reformation articles include the Schwabach Articles (1529), Ten Articles (1536), Schmalkaldic Articles (1537), Six Articles (1539), Forty-two Articles (1553), Lambeth Articles (1595), and Irish Articles (1615). Many Reformation statements were called Confessions of Faith.

Bibliography
George, Timothy, Theology of the Reformers (1988); Leith, John H., ed., Creeds of the Churches (1982).

Various Attitudes
Supralapsarianism
Infralapsarianism
Amyraldianism
Arminianism

Nicene Creed
Apostles' Creed
Athanasian Creed

Confessions of Faith
Helvetic Confession
Helvetic Confession text
Belgic Confession
Belgic Confession text
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism text
Augsburg Confession
Puritan Confession
Puritan Confession text
Puritan Catechism
Canons of Dordt (Dort)
Canons of Dort text
Geneva Confession
London Confession
London Confession text
London Baptists' Confession
Episcopal Confession
Scottish Confession
Westminster Confession
Westminster Confession text
Book of Concord (Lutheran)
Formula of Concord (Lutheran)
Southern Baptist Confession of Faith
Methodist Articles of Religion
Free Methodist Articles of Religion
New Hampshire Baptist Confession
Reformed Church Beliefs
Thirty-Nine Articles (Anglican)