Quote:
Originally Posted by greenbaggins  I don't think that quoting the confession should be pitted against quoting Scripture. If the confession is a summary of Scripture's teaching, then quoting the confession is a short-hand way of saying "this is what Scripture teaches." Someone who quotes the confession often, of course, should also be someone who has done the exegetical work to prove to his own or her own satisfaction that the confessions do indeed teach what Scripture teaches. But there is no need to avoid succinct summaries of Scripture in the confessions. This is what those who hold to the confessions mean when they quote the confessions. It is the church's way of stating their view of what Scripture teaches. If the confessions need correction, there is a mechanism in place to do that. |
Any confession is a "summary of Scripture's teaching" according to the
opinion of men. I do support an appeal to the confessions for certain things (proof of a historical view and proof of a denominational view) but in debating theology and doctrine itself there must be an appeal to scripture. If the person debating does know through study the scriptural basis for the confession's view, why not go to the authoritative source as opposed to a man's interpretation. If I argue with a paedobaptist that credobaptism is the proper way to baptize, appealing to confessions does us no good (the confessions disagree!). Likewise, appealing to confessions for other doctrinal debates does us no good. The only people a certain confession appeals to are people that already agree with it.