If holy scripture is sufficient and authoritative, why do we need confessions? Retrieving the time-tested wisdom of the church’s confessions does not contradict but complements a high view of scripture. Confessions, at their best, serve to keep the church faithful, holding both the layman and pastor alike accountable to scriptural truth. In our biblically illiterate society, the historic confessions can help us regain and retain biblical orthodoxy, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It is to our peril if we ignore the witness of the past, inviting the heresies of yesterday into the church of today. But when we declare these confessions together, we identify ourselves with our family history, a faithful lineage of believers who have fought hard to offer a mature articulation of the faith. In this issue of Credo Magazine, readers are introduced to some of the most important Protestant confessions and summoned to listen with humility for the sake of our present and future fidelity.