Westminster Confession of Faith
The Westminster Confession of Faith, composed in 1646, is a comprehensive statement of Reformed doctrine in 33 chapters covering the full range of Christian theology.
About this document
The central doctrinal confession of the Westminster Standards, arranged as a chapter-by-chapter statement of Reformed theology.
Historical Context
Date: 1646
Authorship: Composed by the Westminster Assembly, a gathering of theologians and ministers meeting during the English Civil War period.
The Confession presents a systematic account of Scripture, God, decree, creation, providence, covenant, Christ, salvation, worship, church, sacraments, civil authority, and last things.
It became a defining confession for Presbyterian churches and remains one of the most influential Protestant confessions in English.
How to Study
- Read a chapter end-to-end before opening individual sections for proof texts and commentary.
- Use comparison links to see how the catechisms state the same doctrine devotionally.
- Move through the chapters in order when studying the structure of Reformed systematic theology.
Systematic confession
Chapter structure
Presbyterian standard
All Sections
The authority, sufficiency, and perspicuity of Scripture
1.1
Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and …
1.2
Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the …
1.3
The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and …
1.4
The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony …
1.5
We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to a high and reverent esteem of the …
1.6
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either …
1.7
All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are …
1.8
The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New …
1.9
The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the …
1.10
The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of …
The being, attributes, and persons of the Godhead
2.1
There is but one only, living, and true God: who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, …
2.2
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not …
2.3
In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God …
God's eternal decrees, including predestination and election
3.1
God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain …
3.2
Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath He not decreed anything …
3.3
By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, …
3.4
These angels and men, thus predestinated, and fore-ordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, …
3.5
Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His …
3.6
As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His …
3.7
The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extendeth or …
3.8
The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men attending …
God's most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures
5.1
God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the …
5.2
Although, in relation to the fore-knowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and …
5.3
God in His ordinary providence maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them at …
5.4
The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth …
5.5
The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season His own children to manifold temptations, and …
5.6
As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous Judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden, …
5.7
As the providence of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner, it taketh …
The fall, original sin, and the punishment of sin
6.1
Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their …
6.2
By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion, with God, and so became dead in sin, and …
6.3
They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin …
6.4
From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to …
6.5
This corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be, through Christ, …
6.6
Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in …
The covenant of works and the covenant of grace
7.1
The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as …
7.2
The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him …
7.3
Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a …
7.4
This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a Testament, in reference to the …
7.5
This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the …
7.6
Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching …
The person and offices of Christ as Mediator of the covenant of grace
8.1
It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be …
8.2
The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal …
8.3
The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit, …
8.4
This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake; which that He might discharge, He was made under the law, …
8.5
The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up …
8.6
Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and …
8.7
Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to …
8.8
To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, He doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making …
The state of man's will in its various conditions
9.1
God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity …
9.2
Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good, and …
9.3
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good …
9.4
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage …
9.5
The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone, in the state of glory only.
God's effectual calling of His elect by His Word and Spirit
10.1
All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time …
10.2
This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who …
10.3
Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and …
10.4
Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations …
Justification by faith alone through the imputed righteousness of Christ
11.1
Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, …
11.2
Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet is it not …
11.3
Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did …
11.4
God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die …
11.5
God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified: and although they can never fall from the …
11.6
The justification of believers under the old testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification …
The grace of adoption as children of God
The renewal of the whole man after the image of God
13.1
They who are once effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are …
13.2
This sanctification is throughout, in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption …
13.3
In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet through the continual supply of strength …
The grace of faith wrought by the Spirit of God
14.1
The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work …
14.2
By this faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God …
14.3
This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong; may be often and many ways assailed, and weakened, but gets …
The evangelical grace of repentance
15.1
Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the Gospel, …
15.2
By it, a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness …
15.3
Although repentance be not to be rested in, as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the pardon thereof, …
15.4
As there is no sin so small, but it deserves damnation, so there is no sin so great, that it …
15.5
Men ought not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every man’s duty to endeavour to repent …
15.6
As every man is bound to make private confession of his sins to God, praying for the pardon thereof; upon …
Good works as the fruit of faith and obedience
16.1
Good works are only such as God hath commanded in His holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant …
16.2
These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: …
16.3
Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ. And …
16.4
They, who in their obedience attain to the greatest height which is possible in this life, are so far from …
16.5
We cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin, or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason …
16.6
Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him, not as …
16.7
Works done by unregenerate men, although, for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands, and of …
The perseverance of the elect in the state of grace
17.1
They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, …
17.2
This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of …
17.3
Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and …
The assurance of salvation grounded on the promises of God
18.1
Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes, and carnal presumptions of being in the …
18.2
This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of …
18.3
This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, …
18.4
True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving …
The moral law and its uses under the covenant of grace
19.1
God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity …
19.2
This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness, and, as such, was delivered by God …
19.3
Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under …
19.4
To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that …
19.5
The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that, …
19.6
Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified, or condemned; yet …
19.7
Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with …
The liberty purchased by Christ for believers
20.1
The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the Gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, …
20.2
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which …
20.3
They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end …
20.4
And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God …
The regulation of worship and the Christian Sabbath
21.1
The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and …
21.2
Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him alone; not to …
21.3
Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is by God required of all men: and that it …
21.4
Prayer is to be made for things lawful; and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter: …
21.5
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto …
21.6
Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the Gospel either tied unto, or made more …
21.7
As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the …
21.8
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering …
The lawfulness and right taking of oaths and vows
22.1
A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to …
22.2
The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear; and therein it is to be used …
22.3
Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act; and therein to avouch nothing, …
22.4
An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. …
22.5
A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious …
22.6
It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and that it may be accepted, it …
22.7
No man may vow to do anything forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein …
The authority and duties of the civil magistrate
23.1
God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates, to be, under Him, over the …
23.2
It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto; in the managing …
23.3
The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the administration of the Word and sacraments, or the power of the …
23.4
It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour their persons, to pay them tribute or other …
The institution, purposes, and regulation of marriage
24.1
Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more …
24.2
Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, …
24.3
It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who are able with judgment to give their consent. Yet …
24.4
Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word; nor can such incestuous …
24.5
Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage, giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve …
24.6
Although the corruption of man be such as is apt to study arguments unduly to put asunder those whom God …
The visible and invisible Church and its Head
25.1
The catholic or universal Church which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, …
25.2
The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation as before under …
25.3
Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting …
25.4
This catholic Church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or …
25.5
The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error: and some have so degenerated, as to become …
25.6
There is no other head of the Church, but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome, in …
The fellowship of believers united to Christ
26.1
All saints, that are united to Jesus Christ their Head by His Spirit and by faith, have fellowship with Him …
26.2
Saints by profession are bound to maintain a holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God; and in performing …
26.3
This communion which the saints have with Christ, doth not make them, in any wise, partakers of the substance of …
The nature and efficacy of the sacraments
27.1
Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ and His …
27.2
There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified: whence it …
27.3
The grace which is exhibited in or by the sacraments rightly used, is not conferred by any power in them; …
27.4
There are only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is to say, Baptism and the …
27.5
The sacraments of the Old Testament, in regard to the spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited, were, for substance, the …
The sacrament of baptism and its administration
28.1
Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the …
28.2
The outward element to be used in this sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized, in the …
28.3
Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water …
28.4
Not only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one or …
28.5
Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably …
28.6
The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet notwithstanding, by the …
28.7
The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper and its right use
29.1
Our Lord Jesus, in the night wherein He was betrayed, instituted the sacrament of His body and blood, called the …
29.2
In this sacrament, Christ is not offered up to His Father; nor any real sacrifice made at all for remission …
29.3
The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers to declare His word of institution to the people; to …
29.4
Private masses, or receiving this sacrament by a priest or any other alone; as likewise, the denial of the cup …
29.5
The outward elements in this sacrament, duly set apart to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to Him …
29.6
That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ’s body and …
29.7
Worthy receivers outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also, inwardly by faith, really and indeed, …
29.8
Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament: yet they receive not the thing signified thereby, …
The necessity and purposes of church discipline
30.1
The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church …
30.2
To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed: by virtue whereof, they have power respectively to …
30.3
Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren, for deterring of others from the like offences, …
30.4
For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the Church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the …
The calling and authority of synods and councils
31.1
For the better government, and further edification of the Church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called …
31.2
As magistrates may lawfully call a synod of ministers, and other fit persons, to consult and advise with, about matters …
31.3
It belongs to synods and councils, ministerially to determine controversies of faith and cases of conscience; to set down rules …
31.4
All synods or councils, since the Apostles’ times, whether general or particular, may err; and many have erred. Therefore they …
31.5
Synods and councils are to handle, or conclude, nothing, but that which is ecclesiastical: and are not to intermeddle with …
The state of the soul after death and the resurrection of the body
32.1
The bodies of men, after death, return to dust and see corruption: but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) …
32.2
At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall …
32.3
The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour: the bodies of the just, …
The appointed day of the last judgment
33.1
God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power …
33.2
The end of God’s appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the eternal …
33.3
As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter …
Section of the Day
Of Synods and Councils
All synods or councils, since the Apostles’ times, whether general or particular, may err; and many have erred. Therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith, or practice; but to be used as a help in both.
Read More →