There is all the difference in the world between the one who signs a confession because he passionately believes it to be an accurate summary of scriptural teaching and the one who signs it because, at a pinch, he can just about make it say what he believes the Bible to teach. The former sees the confession as a place to stand from where he can address both church and world; the latter may at best consider the confession to be an unnecessary appendage and, in time, he might well come to see the confession as a problem, a kind of restrictive cage. Indeed, he might end up asking himself, ‘Well, sure, I can just about sign in good conscience – now, what can I get away with saying or doing?’ For such a person, the confession is (at best) a union card, merely a necessary prerequisite for working on the shop floor; it is not the lifeblood of his ministry. Read more»
Carl Trueman | “A Lethal Difference of Attitude” | October 17, 2012
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