WCF 3.2
Westminster Confession of Faith
3.2. Of God’s Eternal Decree
Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.
Proof texts
- Acts 15:18 — [18] known from of old.’
- 1 Sam. 23:11, 12 — [11] Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.” [12] Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”
- Matt. 11:21, 23 — [21] “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. [23] And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
- Rom. 9:11, 13, 16, 18 — [11] though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad — in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls — [13] As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [16] So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. [18] So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
For discussion
- The Assembly cited Acts 15:18 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
- 4 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
- WSC Q7 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
- WSC Q8 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
Read alongside
WSC Q7 · WSC Q8 · WLC Q12 · WLC Q13 · WLC Q14 · BC 5.1 · CD 1.1 · 1689 3.1 · SC60 4.3 · IAR 3.1 · SHC 3.1 · SD 3.1
Leader's notes
A Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A.A. Hodge): this Section teaches that all the decrees of God are unconditional. All who believe in a divine government agree with Calvinists that the decrees of God relating to events produced by necessary causes are unconditional. The only debate relates to those decrees which are concerned with the free actions of men and of angels. The Socinians and Rationalists maintain that God cannot certainly foresee free actions, because from their very nature they are uncertain until they are performed. Arminians admit that he certainly foresees them, but god's eternal decree. 97 deny that he determines them. Calvinists affirm that he foresees them to be certainly future because he has determined them to be so. The truth of the Culvinistic view is…
An Exposition of the Confession of Faith (Robert Shaw): By the decree of God is meant his purpose or determination with respect to future things ; or, more fully, his determinate counsel, whereby, from all eternity, he foreordained whatever he should do, or would permit to be done, in time. This subject is one of the most abstruse and intricate in i theology, and it has been the fruitful source of a variety of controversies in the Christian Church. But whatever diversity of opinion may obtain respecting the details of the doctrine, " no man will deny that there are divine decrees, who believes that God is an intelligent being, and considers what this character implies. An intelligent being is one who knows and judges, who purposes ends and…