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The Westminster Confession of Faith, with Scripture proofs
The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith, in the Calvinist theological tradition. Although drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, largely of the Church of England, it became and remains the 'subordinate standard' of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.
In 1643, the English Parliament called upon "learned, godly and judicious Divines", to meet at Westminster Abbey in order to provide advice on issues of worship, doctrine, government and discipline of the Church of England. Their meetings, over a period of five years, produced the confession of faith, as well as a Larger Catechism and a Shorter Catechism. For more than three centuries, various churches around the world have adopted the confession and the catechisms as their standards of doctrine, subordinate to the Bible.
This Kindle edition is based on the transcribed text of the Confession at Reformed.org, as well as pieces from the 1658 book "The Humble advice of the Assembly of divines, by authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster : concerning a Confession of faith ; with the quotations and texts of Scripture annexed ; presented by them lately, to both Houses of Parliament," available at http://www.archive.org/details/humble....
In 1643, the English Parliament called upon "learned, godly and judicious Divines", to meet at Westminster Abbey in order to provide advice on issues of worship, doctrine, government and discipline of the Church of England. Their meetings, over a period of five years, produced the confession of faith, as well as a Larger Catechism and a Shorter Catechism. For more than three centuries, various churches around the world have adopted the confession and the catechisms as their standards of doctrine, subordinate to the Bible.
This Kindle edition is based on the transcribed text of the Confession at Reformed.org, as well as pieces from the 1658 book "The Humble advice of the Assembly of divines, by authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster : concerning a Confession of faith ; with the quotations and texts of Scripture annexed ; presented by them lately, to both Houses of Parliament," available at http://www.archive.org/details/humble....
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 15, 2011
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About the author
Westminster Assembly
104 books15 followersThe Westminster Assembly of Divines was a synod composed of theologians (or "divines") and members of Parliament appointed to restructure the Church of England. It was called during the lead up to the First English Civil War by the Long Parliament, which was influenced by Puritanism and opposed to the religious policies of Charles I and William Laud. As part of a military alliance with Scotland, Parliament agreed that the outcome of the Assembly would bring the English Church into closer conformity with the Church of Scotland, which was presbyterian. Scottish commissioners attended and advised the Assembly as part of the agreement. The Assembly met for ten years (1643–53), and in the process produced a new Form of Government, a Confession of Faith, two catechisms (Shorter and Larger), and a liturgical manual for the Churches of England and Scotland.
Disagreements over church government caused open division in the Assembly, despite attempts to maintain unity. The party of divines who favored presbyterianism, or government by hierarchies of elected assemblies, was in the majority. However, political and military realities led to greater influence for the congregational party, which favored autonomy for individual congregations. Parliament eventually adopted a presbyterian form of government, but not to the degree the presbyterian divines desired. During the Restoration in 1660, all of the documents of the Assembly were repudiated and episcopal church government was reinstated in England. However, because of their acceptance by dissenting churches and the Church of Scotland, these documents became influential worldwide through missionary expansion.
The Assembly worked in the Reformed theological tradition. It took the Bible as the authoritative word of God, from which all theological reflection must be based. Though the divines were committed to the doctrine of predestination to salvation, there was some disagreement over the doctrine of particular redemption—that Christ died only for those whom the Father chose to save. The Assembly also held to Reformed covenant theology, a framework for interpreting the Bible. The Assembly's Confession was the first of the Reformed confessions to include the covenant of works, in which God promised life to Adam on condition of perfect obedience.
Disagreements over church government caused open division in the Assembly, despite attempts to maintain unity. The party of divines who favored presbyterianism, or government by hierarchies of elected assemblies, was in the majority. However, political and military realities led to greater influence for the congregational party, which favored autonomy for individual congregations. Parliament eventually adopted a presbyterian form of government, but not to the degree the presbyterian divines desired. During the Restoration in 1660, all of the documents of the Assembly were repudiated and episcopal church government was reinstated in England. However, because of their acceptance by dissenting churches and the Church of Scotland, these documents became influential worldwide through missionary expansion.
The Assembly worked in the Reformed theological tradition. It took the Bible as the authoritative word of God, from which all theological reflection must be based. Though the divines were committed to the doctrine of predestination to salvation, there was some disagreement over the doctrine of particular redemption—that Christ died only for those whom the Father chose to save. The Assembly also held to Reformed covenant theology, a framework for interpreting the Bible. The Assembly's Confession was the first of the Reformed confessions to include the covenant of works, in which God promised life to Adam on condition of perfect obedience.
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August 27, 2025
the standard standard that standardly standardizes the standards for the standard standard
September 2, 2024
An extensive summary of biblical truth written by English Presbyterians. The catechisms are helpful supplements.
I read this free ebook which includes the Confession and Larger and Shorter Catechisms and other documents. Those reviews include my notes.
Notes
1. Of the Holy Scripture
"The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture …"
LUK 24:27, 44; ROM 3:2; 2PE 1:21
3. Of God's Eternal Decree
"… nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."
ACT 2:23; 4:27-28; MAT 17:12; JOH 19:11; PRO 16:33
"… some men and angels[6] are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.[7]"
[6] 1TI 5:21; MAT 25:41 [7] ROM 9:22-23; EPH 1:5-6; PRO 16:4
"These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished."
2TI 2:19; JOH 13:18
"Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid … has chosen … [9] out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto;[10] …"
[9] EPH 1:4, 9, 11; ROM 8:30; 2TI 1:9; 1TH 5:9 [10] ROM 9:11, 13, 16; EPH 1:4, 9
"… they who are elected … are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit … [14] and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation.[15] …"
[14] ROM 8:30; EPH 1:5; 2TH 2:13 [15] 1PE 1:5
"The rest of mankind God was pleased … to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice."
MAT 11:25, 26; ROM 9:17-22; 2TI 2:19-20; JUD 4; 1PE 2:8
"… from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election …"
2PE 1:10
4. Of Creation
"… endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image …"
GEN 1:26; COL 3:10; EPH 4:24
5. Of Providence
"… God does oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;[19] and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for … other … holy ends.[20]"
[19] 2CH 32:25, 26, 31; 2SA 24:1; [20] 2CO 12:7-9; PSA 77:1, 10, 12; MAR 14:66-72; JOH 21:15-17
6. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and the Punishment thereof
"… became dead in sin,[4] and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.[5]"
[4] GEN 2:17; EPH 2:1 [5] TIT 1:15; GEN 6:5; JER 17:9; ROM 3:10-18
"… whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good,[8] and wholly inclined to all evil,[9] …"
[8] ROM 5:6; 8:7; 7:18; COL 1:21 [9] GEN 6:5; 8:21; ROM 3:10-12
"This corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated;[11] and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.[12]"
[11] 1JO 1:8, 10; ROM 7:14, 17-18, 23; JAM 3:2; PRO 20:9; ECC 7:20 [12]ROM 7:5, 7-8, 25; GAL 5:17
7. Of God's Covenant with Man
"The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works,[2] wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity,[3] upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.[4]"
[2] GAL 3:12 [3] ROM 10:5; 5:12-20 [4] GEN 2:17; GAL 3:10
9. Of Free Will
"God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined good, or evil."
MAT 17:12; JAM 1:14; DEU 30:19
"Man … has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation:[4] so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,[5] and dead in sin,[6] is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.[7]"
[4] ROM 5:6; 8:7; JOH 15:5 [5] ROM 3:10, 12 [6] EPH 2:1; COL 2:13 [7] JOH 6:44-65; EPH 2:2-5; 1CO 2:14; TIT 3:3-5
"When God converts a sinner … He frees him from his natural bondage under sin;[8] and … enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good;[9] …"
[8] COL 1:13; JOH 8:34, 36 [9] PHI 2:13; ROM 6:18, 22
10. Of Effectual Calling
"All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased … effectually to call,[1] … effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ:[7] yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.[8]""
[1] ROM 8:30; 11:7; EPH 1:10-11 [7] EPH 1:19; JOH 6:44-45 [8] PSA 110:3; JOH 6:37; ROM 6:16-18
"This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man,[9] who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,[10] he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.[11]"
[9] 2TI 1:9; TIT 3:4-5; EPH 2:4-9; ROM 9:11 [10] 1CO 2:14; ROM 8:7; EPH 2:5 [11] JOH 6:37; EZE 36:37; JOH 5:25
"Others, not elected … may have some common operations of the Spirit …"
MAT 7:22; 13:20; HEB 6:4-5
11. Of Justification
"… freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace …"
ROM 3:24; EPH 1:7
"God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect,[11] … nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit does, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.[13]
[11] GAL 3:8; 1PE 1:2, 19-20; ROM 8:30 [13] COL 1:21-22; GAL 2:16; TIT 3:4-7
"… although they can never fall from the state of justification, [15] yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure … [16]"
[15] LUK 22:32; JOH 10:28; HEB 10:14 [16] PSA 89:31-33; 51:7-12; 32:5; MAT 26:75; 1CO 11:30, 32; LUK 1:20
12. Of Adoption
"All those that are justified … never cast off,[11] but sealed to the day of redemption;[12]"
[11] LAM 3:31 [12] EPH 4:30
14. Of Saving Faith
"The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls,[1] is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts,[2] …"
[1] HEB 10:39 [2] 2CO 4:13; EPH 1:17-19; 2:8
"… Christ … who is both the author and finisher of our faith …"
HEB 12:2
16. Of Good Works
"Good works are only such as God has commanded in His holy Word,[1] and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intention.[2]"
[1] MIC 6:8; ROM 12:2; HEB 13:21 [2] MAT 15:9; ISA 29:13; 1PE 1:18; ROM 10:2; JOH 16:2; 1SA 15:21-23
"… but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections."
HEB 6:10; 13:20-21; 2CO 8:12; MAT 25:21-23
"Works done by unregenerate men, although … they may be things which God commands; and of good use … [23] yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith;[24] nor are done in a right manner … [25] nor to a right end, the glory of God,[26] they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God:[27] and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.[28]"
[23] 2KI 10:30-31; 1KI 21:27-29; PHI 1:15-18 [24] GEN 4:5; HEB 11:4-6 [25] 1CO 13:3; ISA 1:12 [26] MAT 6:2, 5, 16 [27] HAG 2:14; TIT 1:15; AMO 5:21-22; HOS 1:4; ROM 9:16 [28] PSA 14:4; 36:3; JOB 21:14-15; MAT 25:41-45; 23:23
17. Of the Perseverance of the Saints
"They, whom God has … effectually called … can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved."
PHI 1:6; 2PE 1:10; JOH 10:28-29; 1JO 3; 1PE 1:5, 9
"This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father;[2] upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ,[3] the abiding of the Spirit … [4] and the nature of the covenant of grace:[5] from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.[6]"
[2] 2TI 2:19; JER 31:3 [3] HEB 10:10, 14, 20-21; ROM 8:33-39; JOH 17:11, 24; LUK 22:32; [4] JOH 14:16-17; 1JO 2:27; 3:9 [5] JER 32:40 [6] JOH 10:28; 2TH 3:3; 1JO 2:19
"Nevertheless, they may … fall into grievous sins;[7] … whereby they incur God's displeasure,[9] and grieve His Holy Spirit,[10] come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts,[11] … and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.[15]"
[7] MAT 26:70, 72-74 [9] ISA 64:5, 7, 9; 2SA 11:27 [10] EPH 4:30 [11] PSA 51:8, 10, 12; REV 2:4; SON 5:2-4, 6 [15] PSA 89:31-32; 1CO 11:32
18. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation
"… such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, … be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace …"
1JO 2:3; 3:14-24; 1JO 5:13
"… an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,[6] the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,[7] the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God,[8] which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.[9]"
[6] HEB 6:17-18 [7] 2PE 1:4-5, 10-11; 1JO 2:3; 3:14; 2CO 1:12 [8] ROM 8:15-16 [9] EPH 1:13-14; 4:30; 2CO 1:21-22
"This infallible assurance … a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it:[10] yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.[11] And therefore it is the duty of every one to … make his calling and election sure,[12] …"
[10] 1JO 5:13; ISA 1:10; MAR 9:24; PSA 88; 77 [11] 1CO 2:12; 1JO 4:13; HEB 6:11-12; EPH 3:17-19 [12] 2PE 1:10
"True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light:[15] …"
[15] SON 5:2-3, 6; PSA 51:8, 12, 14; 4:30-31; 77:1-10; MAT 26:69-72; PSA 31:22; 88; ISA 50:10
19. Of the Law of God
"God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it."
GEN 2:17; ROM 5:12, 19; 10:5; GAL 3:10, 12
"This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God … in ten commandments …"
JAM 1:25; 2:8-12
"… All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the New Testament."
COL 2:14-17; DAN 9:27; EPH 2:15-16
"To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging under any now, further than the general equity thereof may require."
GEN 49:10; MAT 5:17
20. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience
"… freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected …"
GAL 4:1-7; 5:1; ACT 15:10-11
"God alone is Lord of the conscience,[10] and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in any thing, contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship.[11] So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience:[12] …"
[10] JAM 4:12; ROM 14:4 [11] ACT 4:19; 5:29; 1CO 7:23; MAT 23:8-10; 15:9; 2CO 1:24 [12] COL 2:20, 22-23; GAL 1:10; 2:4-5; 5:1
"… they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. …"
MAT 12:25; 1PE 2:13-14, 16; ROM 13:1-8; HEB 13:17
21. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-day
"… the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men … under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture."
DEU 12:32; MAT 15:9; EXO 20:4-6
"Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship …"
PHI 4:6
"The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear,[17] the sound preaching[18] and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence,[19] singing of psalms with grace in the heart;[20] as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God:[21] beside … solemn fastings,[24] …"
[17] ACT 15:21; REV 1:3 [18] 2TI 4:2 [19] JAM 1:22; ACT 10:33; MAT 13:19; HEB 4:2; ISA 66:2 [20] COL 3:16; EPH 5:19; JAM 5:13 [21] MAT 28:19; 1CO 11:23-28; ACT 2:42 [24] JOE 2:12; EST 4:16; MAT 9:15; 1CO 7:5
"… in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath … [34] which … from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,[35] which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day,[36] and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.[37]"
[34] EXO 20:8-11; ISA 56:2-7 [35] GEN 2:2-3; 1CO 16:1-2; ACT 20:7 [36] REV 1:10 [37] EXO 20:8, 10; MAT 5:17-18
"… do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations,[38] but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.[39]"
[38] EXO 20:8; 16:23-30; 31:15-17; ISA 58:13; NEH 13:15-22 [39] ISA 58:13
22. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
"An oath … cannot oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt."
1SA 25:22, 32-34; PSA 15:4
23. Of the Civil Magistrate
"It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto …"
PRO 8:15, 16; ROM 13:1-4
24. Of Marriage and Divorce
"… In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce and, after the divorce,[12] to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.[13]"
[12] MAT 5:31-32 [13] MAT 19:9; ROM 7:2-3
"… nothing but adultery, or such wilful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church, or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage …"
MAT 19:8-9; 1CO 7:15; MAT 19:6
28. Of Baptism
"Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person."
HEB 9:10, 19-22; ACT 2:41; 16:33; MAR 7:4
"… also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized."
GEN 17:7, 9; GAL 3:9, 14; COL 2:11-12; ACT 2:38-39; ROM 4:11-12; 1CO 7:14; MAT 28:19; MAR 10:13-16; LUK 18:15
"The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person."
TIT 3:5
29. Of the Lord’s Supper
"The Lord Jesus has, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers … to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and … to give both to the communicants;[5] but to none who are not then present in the congregation.[6]"
MAT 26:26-28; MAR 14:22-24; LUK 22:19-20; 1CO 11:23-26 [6] ACT 20:7; 1CO 11:20
"Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other alone;[7] … are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.[9]"
[7] 1CO 10:6 [9] MAT 15:9
30. Of Church Censures
"… the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church; according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person."
1TH 5:12; 2TH 3:6, 14-15; 1CO 5:4-5, 13; MAT 18:17; TIT 3:10
Directory for Public Worship
Baptism
"… That the promise is made to believers and their seed; and that the seed and posterity of the faithful, born within the church, have, by their birth, interest in the covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the outward privileges of the church, under the gospel, no less than the children of Abraham in the time of the Old Testament; the covenant of grace, for substance, being the same; and the grace of God, and the consolation of believers, more plentiful than before: That the Son of God admitted little children into his presence, embracing and blessing them, saying, For of such is the kingdom of God …"
Lord's Day
"That the diet on that day be so ordered, as that neither servants be unnecessarily detained from the public worship of God, nor any other person hindered from the sanctifying that day."
Fasting
"A religious fast requires total abstinence, not only from all food, (unless bodily weakness do manifestly disable from holding out till the fast be ended, in which case somewhat may be taken … when ready to faint,) but also from all worldly labour, discourses, and thoughts, and from all bodily delights, and such like …"
The Form Of Presbyterial Church-Government
Biblical basis for presbyterian government: church of Jerusalem consisted of multiple congregations under one government (Acts 6; 7), as did church of Ephesus (Acts 18:19-26; 19:10, 17-20; 20:31; 1 Cor 16:8-9, 19).
"… there is no example in scripture that any single congregation, which might conveniently associate, did assume to itself all and sole power in ordination; neither is there any rule which may warrant such a practice."
I read this free ebook which includes the Confession and Larger and Shorter Catechisms and other documents. Those reviews include my notes.
Notes
1. Of the Holy Scripture
"The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture …"
LUK 24:27, 44; ROM 3:2; 2PE 1:21
3. Of God's Eternal Decree
"… nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."
ACT 2:23; 4:27-28; MAT 17:12; JOH 19:11; PRO 16:33
"… some men and angels[6] are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.[7]"
[6] 1TI 5:21; MAT 25:41 [7] ROM 9:22-23; EPH 1:5-6; PRO 16:4
"These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished."
2TI 2:19; JOH 13:18
"Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid … has chosen … [9] out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto;[10] …"
[9] EPH 1:4, 9, 11; ROM 8:30; 2TI 1:9; 1TH 5:9 [10] ROM 9:11, 13, 16; EPH 1:4, 9
"… they who are elected … are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit … [14] and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation.[15] …"
[14] ROM 8:30; EPH 1:5; 2TH 2:13 [15] 1PE 1:5
"The rest of mankind God was pleased … to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice."
MAT 11:25, 26; ROM 9:17-22; 2TI 2:19-20; JUD 4; 1PE 2:8
"… from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election …"
2PE 1:10
4. Of Creation
"… endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image …"
GEN 1:26; COL 3:10; EPH 4:24
5. Of Providence
"… God does oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;[19] and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for … other … holy ends.[20]"
[19] 2CH 32:25, 26, 31; 2SA 24:1; [20] 2CO 12:7-9; PSA 77:1, 10, 12; MAR 14:66-72; JOH 21:15-17
6. Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and the Punishment thereof
"… became dead in sin,[4] and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body.[5]"
[4] GEN 2:17; EPH 2:1 [5] TIT 1:15; GEN 6:5; JER 17:9; ROM 3:10-18
"… whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good,[8] and wholly inclined to all evil,[9] …"
[8] ROM 5:6; 8:7; 7:18; COL 1:21 [9] GEN 6:5; 8:21; ROM 3:10-12
"This corruption of nature, during this life, does remain in those that are regenerated;[11] and although it be, through Christ, pardoned, and mortified; yet both itself, and all the motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.[12]"
[11] 1JO 1:8, 10; ROM 7:14, 17-18, 23; JAM 3:2; PRO 20:9; ECC 7:20 [12]ROM 7:5, 7-8, 25; GAL 5:17
7. Of God's Covenant with Man
"The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works,[2] wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity,[3] upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.[4]"
[2] GAL 3:12 [3] ROM 10:5; 5:12-20 [4] GEN 2:17; GAL 3:10
9. Of Free Will
"God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined good, or evil."
MAT 17:12; JAM 1:14; DEU 30:19
"Man … has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation:[4] so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,[5] and dead in sin,[6] is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.[7]"
[4] ROM 5:6; 8:7; JOH 15:5 [5] ROM 3:10, 12 [6] EPH 2:1; COL 2:13 [7] JOH 6:44-65; EPH 2:2-5; 1CO 2:14; TIT 3:3-5
"When God converts a sinner … He frees him from his natural bondage under sin;[8] and … enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good;[9] …"
[8] COL 1:13; JOH 8:34, 36 [9] PHI 2:13; ROM 6:18, 22
10. Of Effectual Calling
"All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased … effectually to call,[1] … effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ:[7] yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.[8]""
[1] ROM 8:30; 11:7; EPH 1:10-11 [7] EPH 1:19; JOH 6:44-45 [8] PSA 110:3; JOH 6:37; ROM 6:16-18
"This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man,[9] who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,[10] he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.[11]"
[9] 2TI 1:9; TIT 3:4-5; EPH 2:4-9; ROM 9:11 [10] 1CO 2:14; ROM 8:7; EPH 2:5 [11] JOH 6:37; EZE 36:37; JOH 5:25
"Others, not elected … may have some common operations of the Spirit …"
MAT 7:22; 13:20; HEB 6:4-5
11. Of Justification
"… freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace …"
ROM 3:24; EPH 1:7
"God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect,[11] … nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit does, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.[13]
[11] GAL 3:8; 1PE 1:2, 19-20; ROM 8:30 [13] COL 1:21-22; GAL 2:16; TIT 3:4-7
"… although they can never fall from the state of justification, [15] yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure … [16]"
[15] LUK 22:32; JOH 10:28; HEB 10:14 [16] PSA 89:31-33; 51:7-12; 32:5; MAT 26:75; 1CO 11:30, 32; LUK 1:20
12. Of Adoption
"All those that are justified … never cast off,[11] but sealed to the day of redemption;[12]"
[11] LAM 3:31 [12] EPH 4:30
14. Of Saving Faith
"The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls,[1] is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts,[2] …"
[1] HEB 10:39 [2] 2CO 4:13; EPH 1:17-19; 2:8
"… Christ … who is both the author and finisher of our faith …"
HEB 12:2
16. Of Good Works
"Good works are only such as God has commanded in His holy Word,[1] and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretence of good intention.[2]"
[1] MIC 6:8; ROM 12:2; HEB 13:21 [2] MAT 15:9; ISA 29:13; 1PE 1:18; ROM 10:2; JOH 16:2; 1SA 15:21-23
"… but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections."
HEB 6:10; 13:20-21; 2CO 8:12; MAT 25:21-23
"Works done by unregenerate men, although … they may be things which God commands; and of good use … [23] yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith;[24] nor are done in a right manner … [25] nor to a right end, the glory of God,[26] they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God:[27] and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.[28]"
[23] 2KI 10:30-31; 1KI 21:27-29; PHI 1:15-18 [24] GEN 4:5; HEB 11:4-6 [25] 1CO 13:3; ISA 1:12 [26] MAT 6:2, 5, 16 [27] HAG 2:14; TIT 1:15; AMO 5:21-22; HOS 1:4; ROM 9:16 [28] PSA 14:4; 36:3; JOB 21:14-15; MAT 25:41-45; 23:23
17. Of the Perseverance of the Saints
"They, whom God has … effectually called … can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved."
PHI 1:6; 2PE 1:10; JOH 10:28-29; 1JO 3; 1PE 1:5, 9
"This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father;[2] upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ,[3] the abiding of the Spirit … [4] and the nature of the covenant of grace:[5] from all which arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.[6]"
[2] 2TI 2:19; JER 31:3 [3] HEB 10:10, 14, 20-21; ROM 8:33-39; JOH 17:11, 24; LUK 22:32; [4] JOH 14:16-17; 1JO 2:27; 3:9 [5] JER 32:40 [6] JOH 10:28; 2TH 3:3; 1JO 2:19
"Nevertheless, they may … fall into grievous sins;[7] … whereby they incur God's displeasure,[9] and grieve His Holy Spirit,[10] come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts,[11] … and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.[15]"
[7] MAT 26:70, 72-74 [9] ISA 64:5, 7, 9; 2SA 11:27 [10] EPH 4:30 [11] PSA 51:8, 10, 12; REV 2:4; SON 5:2-4, 6 [15] PSA 89:31-32; 1CO 11:32
18. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation
"… such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, … be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace …"
1JO 2:3; 3:14-24; 1JO 5:13
"… an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,[6] the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,[7] the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God,[8] which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.[9]"
[6] HEB 6:17-18 [7] 2PE 1:4-5, 10-11; 1JO 2:3; 3:14; 2CO 1:12 [8] ROM 8:15-16 [9] EPH 1:13-14; 4:30; 2CO 1:21-22
"This infallible assurance … a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it:[10] yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.[11] And therefore it is the duty of every one to … make his calling and election sure,[12] …"
[10] 1JO 5:13; ISA 1:10; MAR 9:24; PSA 88; 77 [11] 1CO 2:12; 1JO 4:13; HEB 6:11-12; EPH 3:17-19 [12] 2PE 1:10
"True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light:[15] …"
[15] SON 5:2-3, 6; PSA 51:8, 12, 14; 4:30-31; 77:1-10; MAT 26:69-72; PSA 31:22; 88; ISA 50:10
19. Of the Law of God
"God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it."
GEN 2:17; ROM 5:12, 19; 10:5; GAL 3:10, 12
"This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God … in ten commandments …"
JAM 1:25; 2:8-12
"… All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the New Testament."
COL 2:14-17; DAN 9:27; EPH 2:15-16
"To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging under any now, further than the general equity thereof may require."
GEN 49:10; MAT 5:17
20. Of Christian Liberty, and Liberty of Conscience
"… freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected …"
GAL 4:1-7; 5:1; ACT 15:10-11
"God alone is Lord of the conscience,[10] and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in any thing, contrary to His Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship.[11] So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience:[12] …"
[10] JAM 4:12; ROM 14:4 [11] ACT 4:19; 5:29; 1CO 7:23; MAT 23:8-10; 15:9; 2CO 1:24 [12] COL 2:20, 22-23; GAL 1:10; 2:4-5; 5:1
"… they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. …"
MAT 12:25; 1PE 2:13-14, 16; ROM 13:1-8; HEB 13:17
21. Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath-day
"… the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men … under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture."
DEU 12:32; MAT 15:9; EXO 20:4-6
"Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship …"
PHI 4:6
"The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear,[17] the sound preaching[18] and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence,[19] singing of psalms with grace in the heart;[20] as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God:[21] beside … solemn fastings,[24] …"
[17] ACT 15:21; REV 1:3 [18] 2TI 4:2 [19] JAM 1:22; ACT 10:33; MAT 13:19; HEB 4:2; ISA 66:2 [20] COL 3:16; EPH 5:19; JAM 5:13 [21] MAT 28:19; 1CO 11:23-28; ACT 2:42 [24] JOE 2:12; EST 4:16; MAT 9:15; 1CO 7:5
"… in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath … [34] which … from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week,[35] which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day,[36] and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.[37]"
[34] EXO 20:8-11; ISA 56:2-7 [35] GEN 2:2-3; 1CO 16:1-2; ACT 20:7 [36] REV 1:10 [37] EXO 20:8, 10; MAT 5:17-18
"… do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations,[38] but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.[39]"
[38] EXO 20:8; 16:23-30; 31:15-17; ISA 58:13; NEH 13:15-22 [39] ISA 58:13
22. Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
"An oath … cannot oblige to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt."
1SA 25:22, 32-34; PSA 15:4
23. Of the Civil Magistrate
"It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto …"
PRO 8:15, 16; ROM 13:1-4
24. Of Marriage and Divorce
"… In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce and, after the divorce,[12] to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.[13]"
[12] MAT 5:31-32 [13] MAT 19:9; ROM 7:2-3
"… nothing but adultery, or such wilful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church, or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage …"
MAT 19:8-9; 1CO 7:15; MAT 19:6
28. Of Baptism
"Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person."
HEB 9:10, 19-22; ACT 2:41; 16:33; MAR 7:4
"… also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized."
GEN 17:7, 9; GAL 3:9, 14; COL 2:11-12; ACT 2:38-39; ROM 4:11-12; 1CO 7:14; MAT 28:19; MAR 10:13-16; LUK 18:15
"The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person."
TIT 3:5
29. Of the Lord’s Supper
"The Lord Jesus has, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers … to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and … to give both to the communicants;[5] but to none who are not then present in the congregation.[6]"
MAT 26:26-28; MAR 14:22-24; LUK 22:19-20; 1CO 11:23-26 [6] ACT 20:7; 1CO 11:20
"Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest, or any other alone;[7] … are all contrary to the nature of this sacrament, and to the institution of Christ.[9]"
[7] 1CO 10:6 [9] MAT 15:9
30. Of Church Censures
"… the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church; according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person."
1TH 5:12; 2TH 3:6, 14-15; 1CO 5:4-5, 13; MAT 18:17; TIT 3:10
Directory for Public Worship
Baptism
"… That the promise is made to believers and their seed; and that the seed and posterity of the faithful, born within the church, have, by their birth, interest in the covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the outward privileges of the church, under the gospel, no less than the children of Abraham in the time of the Old Testament; the covenant of grace, for substance, being the same; and the grace of God, and the consolation of believers, more plentiful than before: That the Son of God admitted little children into his presence, embracing and blessing them, saying, For of such is the kingdom of God …"
Lord's Day
"That the diet on that day be so ordered, as that neither servants be unnecessarily detained from the public worship of God, nor any other person hindered from the sanctifying that day."
Fasting
"A religious fast requires total abstinence, not only from all food, (unless bodily weakness do manifestly disable from holding out till the fast be ended, in which case somewhat may be taken … when ready to faint,) but also from all worldly labour, discourses, and thoughts, and from all bodily delights, and such like …"
The Form Of Presbyterial Church-Government
Biblical basis for presbyterian government: church of Jerusalem consisted of multiple congregations under one government (Acts 6; 7), as did church of Ephesus (Acts 18:19-26; 19:10, 17-20; 20:31; 1 Cor 16:8-9, 19).
"… there is no example in scripture that any single congregation, which might conveniently associate, did assume to itself all and sole power in ordination; neither is there any rule which may warrant such a practice."
January 28, 2025
This was a grand old read. I would happily point someone to this confession rather than the denser theologians, for what provides pretty thorough, but simple, explanations for some of the biggest questions within Reformed expressions of Christianity. I defer from the paedobaptist position, myself, but I found it interesting that the Westminster divines did not consider paedocommunion viable. Great to read some old-fashioned, guns blazing takes on the bishop of Rome as well.
August 11, 2025
Didn’t know what this was when I was a charismatic non-denominational. Heard judgmental whispers of it when I was a hard-hearted reformed Baptist. Began reading it as an ex-seminarian, Presbyterian by church plant. Finished it as an Anglican attendee.
Applicable and helpful for all the me’s I have been and all the me’s I may become.
Applicable and helpful for all the me’s I have been and all the me’s I may become.
May 3, 2023
I’m a bit iffy on the baptism and covenant portions, but a good, dense read nonetheless
September 20, 2022
Nojento, um dos documentos históricos mais ridículos que eu já tive o horrível desprazer de ler: Encapsula perfeitamente a presunção e a hipocrisia terríveis da heresia moderna do sécXVI chamada “Protestantismo”; em vários pontos vai contra a clara doutrina ensinada por Cristo (como por exemplo na insolubilidade do matrimônio e a instituição da Eucaristia) ainda tendo a ridícula audácia hipócrita de citar e blasfemar contra a Santa Igreja Católica Apostólica e o Papado que ironicamente não comete, mas sim, condena veementemente tais heresias óbvias. Uma verdadeira exposição ao quão podre, satânico e ainda dizendo-se em nome de Deus o protestantismo (como toda outra heresia precedente a ele) é.
June 22, 2016
Hard to get the right version here on GR. Mine had the WCF, WLC, WSC, Sum of Saving Knowledge, National Covenant, Solemn League and Covenant, Acknowledgment of Public Sins, Directory for Public Worship, Directory for Family Worship, and the Form of Church Government. Most of these included Scripture proofs with full text.
The documents are amazing. I keep coming back to the Westminster Standards for a clear understanding of the basics of the Reformed faith. This time around I particularly enjoyed the Westminster Larger Catechism.
The documents are amazing. I keep coming back to the Westminster Standards for a clear understanding of the basics of the Reformed faith. This time around I particularly enjoyed the Westminster Larger Catechism.
July 30, 2025
Very helpful.
March 28, 2023
Awesome, obviously.
December 22, 2022
Not as Presbyterian as I was expecting… The Westminster Confession of Faith Was drafted during the English Civil War by Presbyterians, Independents, and Anglicans. Mostly it conveys Christianity with a Puritan flavor. I was most surprised that it does not promote the presbyterian form of church government. It was very helpful especially in the section on liberty of conscience and conversion. Highly recommend how old the Westminster divines formulated things that virtually every Christian can amen. Highly recommended reading for all Christians.
February 18, 2018
I can't get enough of confessions of faith from the reformed church's history. The only thing I have against this confession of faith is my disagreement with infant baptism. Time and time again I read references to this confession's stance on the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, and that is ever so sweet to know more deeply!
April 29, 2019
Westminster has stood the test of time for almost 400 years. Its not an inspired document, and is not above emendation or revision. There are very few things I would quibble with, so my basic "take" remains that it is a document that I am grateful for and in many ways provides the foundation of my faith.
August 28, 2025
The Westminster Assembly did a fantastic job compiling Reformed beliefs and lining them up with the scriptures. However, on occasion it does seem as if they are ignoring the verses in scripture that might oppose the views that they are spouting. I understand that a confession like this is meant to be brief, but I think that a better job could have been done addressing potential issues.
September 3, 2017
Stellar. Every Christian should work through this text - much earlier than I did at thirty-five years of age. Though I don't agree with every theological premise, I applaud and was humbled by the clarity, depth, integrity, and faithfulness of the work.
June 6, 2017
Glory to God. this book is a Great summary of Christian Doctrine. Very easy read. Read the whole thing (the first time) in one sitting.
September 21, 2017
Very good overview of the Christian faith. Helped me understand exactly what I believe.
December 8, 2017
Excellent summary. Very refreshing and humbling to read through cover to cover. Must do it more often.
May 19, 2020
A CFW é a exposição das doutrinas reformadas, sistematizadas na Assembléia de Westminster. Muito bem organizada e apresentável.
January 29, 2021
A fantastic summary of the reformed faith.
June 19, 2021
Here is a well produced edition of one of the most classic, well known, straight forward, and well organized articulations of what is found and taught in the Bible.
October 30, 2021
In my opinion, the greatest book ever written, with the exception of the Holy Bible. A must-read.
May 23, 2024
Legendary.
October 22, 2024
Truly a masterpiece of theology.
December 26, 2024
Read this many times through. Read it again this year, it gets better every time.
November 18, 2020
God is good everytime
September 28, 2010
As an adult, I've been torn between more orthodox religious traditions and the energy of the "emerging" church. This is like Cliff Notes for the former. Systematic theology is interesting, and had I discovered it earlier in life (I grew up Methodist), I think I would have been a) more knowledgeable and 2) answered some basic questions and focused in on the thorny issues. There were definite passages in the WCF, where I found myself thinking, "I'm not so sure about that," so now I've got some details to figure out. But all in all, it was pretty sound. The plot was, of course, lacking and by the end it was like the anti-Catholic guy couldn't be kept quiet any more and had free reign in the last ten chapters.
August 26, 2013
Very refreshing to read something so theologically deep, declarative, and expressive linguistically. And top marks for this edition, which is a leather, sewn, thick paged little book that should last a long time. Twas a graduation present from my Church (Yeah, obviously we are Presbyterians!).
April 24, 2012
Have read three times.
Read
April 18, 2014very useful although it does take some work to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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