The main teachings of the Bible have been summarized in documents called creeds or confessions. Of the many creeds that have appeared throughout the history of the Christian church, we have chosen to adopt three creeds and three confessions as our own.
The creeds come to us from the early church, namely the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The confessions have come to us from the Reformation of the sixteenth century, namely, The Belgic Confession of Faith 1561, The Heidelberg Catechism 1563 and The Canons of Dordt, 1618 – 1619.
We consider these creeds to be faithful summaries of the Word of God. As human documents, however, they possess human authority. Only the Word of God possesses divine authority. The contents of our creeds and confessions are always subject to and to be tested by the standard of the Word of God.