Featured Resource: Steve McKinion on Why Baptists Need Confessions
Chad Burchett | January 05, 2024
Historically, the Church has articulated its common faith in creeds and confessions, expressing the truths of Scripture attested at conversion and baptism, clarifying the Church’s witness and mission, and distinguishing the faith from error and heresy. In a similar manner, Baptists have often found it fitting to publicly and collectively confess the faith — often in the midst of persecution, cultural confusion, and doctrinal error.
In his recent article coauthored with Southwestern Seminary professor Malcolm Yarnell, Steve McKinion, professor of theology and patristic studies at Southeastern Seminary, offers a brief history and defense of Baptist confessionalism, affirming its ongoing necessity and limitations.
“We believe confessions are necessary for Baptists because they are necessary to how we express the Christian faith,” McKinion and Yarnell explain. “We also believe they have subordinate authority in the churches because Christ rules over his congregations as they gather under His Word.” Concluding their article for Baptist Press with an appeal and a warning, McKinion and Yarnell remind Baptists to confess their faith individually and corporately without weaponizing or wrongly imposing their confession on others.