WCF 15.4
Westminster Confession of Faith
15.4. Of Repentance unto Life
As there is no sin so small, but it deserves damnation, so there is no sin so great, that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.
Proof texts
- Rom. 6:23 — [23] For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Rom. 5:12 — [12] Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned —
- Matt. 12:36 — [36] I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
- Isa. 55:7 — [7] let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- Rom. 8:1 — [1] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Isa. 1:16, 18 — [16] Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, [18] “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
For discussion
- The Assembly cited Rom. 6:23 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
- 6 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
- WSC Q87 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
- WLC Q76 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
Read alongside
WSC Q87 · WLC Q76 · WSC Q85 · WSC Q86 · BC 6.3 · BC 6.4 · BC 6.5 · HC Q86 · 1689 15.1 · 1689 15.2 · 1689 15.3 · 1689 15.4 · 1689 15.5 · SD 15.1 · SD 15.2 · SD 15.3 · SD 15.4 · SD 15.5 · IAR 5.6 · SC60 5.1 · SC60 5.2 · SC60 5.3 · SC60 5.4 · SHC 5.1 · SHC 5.2 · SHC 5.3
Leader's notes
A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): This Section teaches — 1st. That every man should make private confession of all his sins to God, and that God will certainly pardon him when his sorrow and his renunciation of his sins are sincere. This is all included in what has already been said as to the nature and effects of genuine repentance; and it is expressly declared in Scripture: " If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John i. 9. 2d. That when a Christian has personally injured a brother, or scandalized by his unchristian conduct the Church of Christ, he ought to be willing, by a public or a…
An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): In opposition, on the one hand, to the Church of Rome, which holds that some sins are mortal, and others venial — that is, of so trifling a nature, that they may be expiated by some temporal infliction — our Confession asserts, that " there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation;" and, on the other hand, in opposition to certain Anabaptists, and some others, who have held that if persons, after baptism and grace received, fall into grievous sins, there is no pardon remaining for them, even though they should repent, our Confession asserts, that " there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent." We admit that a great…