Confessions and Creeds

Please review the denomination comparison chart, line #8.

Throughout history, the universal church has contended with false or erroneous teachings from within.  At critical moments, the church has come together to address these errors by articulating the faith of the Church in the form of creeds and confessions.  Creeds go back to Apostolic times with the simple statement that “Jesus is Lord” to combat the widely held belief that Caesar was Lord.  Later, to combat errors concerning the nature of God and the divinity of Christ, the church articulated the Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed.  In the 17th century, the church once again found herself needing to combat myriad errors being taught throughout the church.  At this time, the churches across Europe gathered in council to reform the Christian faith according to the truth found in scripture and to confess these truths to the Church and to the world.  The Westminster Confession of Faith is the principal reformed confession for English speaking Christians and continues to be the statement of faith for Presbyterian and Reformed churches today, including here at Hebron.  Although our current denomination includes the Westminster Confession as one of many options for churches in the denomination to hold to, over the last 70 years, denominational leadership has adopted additional statements of faith not universally accepted, and in some cases, that contradict the earliest creeds and reformed confessions that shape our theology and identity as Presbyterians.

by Henry Knapp