Scots Confession

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The Scots Confession (also called the Scots Confession of 1560) is a Confession of Faith written in 1560 by six leaders of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. The Confession was the first Subordinate Standard for the Protestant church in Scotland.

In August 1560 the Parliament of Scotland agreed to reform the religion of the country. To enable them to decide what the Reformed Faith was to be, they set John Knox, and another 5 Johns, John Winram, John Spottiswoode, John Willock, John Douglas, and John Row, to prepare a Confession of Faith. This they did in 4 days. The 25 Chapters of the Confession spell out a contemporary statement of the Christian Faith as understood by the followers of John Calvin during his life time. Although the Confession and its accompanying documents were the product of the joint effort of the Six Johns, its authorship is customarily attributed to John Knox.

While the Parliament approved the Confession, Queen Mary refused to agree, and the Confession was not enacted as law until 1567. It remained the Confession of the Church of Scotland until it was superseded by the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1648. However, the confession itself begins by stating that the Parliament "ratifeit and apprevit [the confession] as hailsome and sound doctrine groundit vpoune the infallibill trewth of godis word"; thus, though changes within societies may have diminished its relevance therein, the sound nature of its statements is rooted not in parliamentary approval but in, as it says, "the infallible truth of God's word." Thus, where the Confession refers to "our souerane and supreame gouernour Christ Jesus", that such is so is not a matter of Parliamentary approval or of any temporal instrument but of God's word.