Confessional Subscription

As noted in “Our Faith,” and specified in our church constitution, the officebearers of Christ Covenant Church subscribe to ecumenical Christian creeds (the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Definition of Chalcedon, Athanasian Creed) as well as Reformation confessions (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort).

We believe in sola Scriptura —that only the Bible is our ultimate authority. Yet God has given real authority to his Church, and therefore its confessions ought to carry real weight under the Word.

The Belgic Confession (Article 7) itself says,

we must not consider human writings — no matter how holy their authors may have been — equal to the divine writings; nor may we put custom, nor the majority, nor age, nor the passage of time or persons, nor councils, decrees, or official decisions above the truth of God, for truth is above everything else.

Consequently, with regard to the Reformation confessions, our church practices “honest subscription” — essentially meaning that officebearers or potential officebearers are to specify any exceptions they may have to the subscribed confessions.

We do not allow for deviation from the basic ecumenical creeds.