thumb|The Westminster Confession. Title page, 1st ed.

The reformed confessions of faith are the confessional documents of various Reformed churches. These express the doctrinal views of the churches adopting the confession. Confessions play a crucial part in the theological identity of reformed churches, either as standards to which ministers must subscribe, or more generally as accurate descriptions of their faith. Most confessions date to the 16th and 17th century.

Catechisms, canons, theses and other such documents may not be confessions per se, yet these still serve as symbols of the reformed faith.

Confessions

thumb|The Belgic Confession.Confessions state that church's beliefs in a full, while not exhaustive, way.

Continental Reformed

  • Confession of the East Friesland Preachers (1528)
  • First Confession of Basel (1534)
  • Confession of the English Congregation at Geneva (1556)
  • Authored by Huguenots in South America
  • French Confession of Faith (1559)
  • Confession of the Christian Faith (1559)
  • Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
  • Confession of Faith Ratification Act (1690)
  • Confession of 1967
  • Brief Statement of Faith (1991)

Congregationalist

The presbyterians' Westminster was formed by an assembly of ministers called by parliament for use in the established churches of England and Scotland. For congregationalists, this was not the case. The difference in application of the congregationalists' primary confession, Savoy, is that it was written as a declaration of consensus, and as such it was not treated as morally binding upon church officers like Westminster for presbyterians (called subscriptionism).

Local congregational churches are historically formed around covenants (e.g. the Dedham Covenant), often unique to that church, another kind of confession.

  • Savoy Declaration (1658)
  • Adopted in America as the Saybrook (1708)

Only confessional Particular Baptists regard themselves to be "Reformed", since orthodox and historic Reformed theology is inherently paedobaptistic. Part of the Baptist movement finds its origin in the nonconformist movement in England, observing Calvinistic theology with the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. Baptists subscribing to Calvinist soteriology are called Particular Baptists or Reformed Baptist. There are further subdivisions of Particular Baptists, such as Regular and Primitive.

Baptist churches, like the Congregationalists with whom they share views of polity, compose church covenants for the local congregation.

  • The Confession of Somerset (1656)
  • Adopted in America as the Philadelphia Confession (1742) Anglican doctrine is most defined by Lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of praying [is] the law of believing").
  • Forty-two Articles (1553)
  • Thirty-Nine Articles (1562/63)
  • Found within the Book of Common Prayer

Constitutions, ordinals, and platforms of church order

thumb|The [[Synod of Dort was convened to respond to the Remonstrants.]]These documents relate to the ecclesiastical polity of the church.

Continental

  • Church Order of Dort (1618)
  • Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1641)

Presbyterian

  • Form of Presbyterial Church Government (1645)

Congregationalist

  • Cambridge Platform (1648)
  • Platform of Discipline of the Savoy Declaration (1658)
  • Full title: Of the Institution of Churches, and the Order appointed in them by Jesus Christ
  • Fifteen Articles of the Saybrook Platform (1708)
  • Boston Platform (1865)

</references>