Covenant Theology, Scripture, and Reformed Confessions — Unit 8: The Westminster Standards

Key Verse

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Name the documents that make up the Westminster Standards and give the dates of the Assembly and of its main works.

2. Describe the shape of the Westminster Confession of Faith and name five of its teachings.

3. Explain the difference in purpose between the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism, and recite the first question of the Shorter Catechism.

4. Explain how the Standards were adapted by other churches, and how they treat questions on which Reformed believers differ.

5. State at least three objections or historians' debates fairly and answer them from the Reformed side.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. The Westminster Standards are the doctrinal standards of most Presbyterian churches in the English-speaking world, and of many Presbyterian churches elsewhere, such as the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. We love them, and we hold them under Scripture, as Unit 6 taught. We state objections fairly and then answer them, because Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Course 1 told the story of the Puritans and of the Westminster Assembly, so here we study the documents themselves.

The Assembly and Its Work

The Westminster Assembly was a gathering of ministers and a few laymen called by the English Parliament. It met in Westminster, in London, from 1643. England was then in a civil war between King Charles I and Parliament, and Parliament needed the help of the Scots. In 1643 the two kingdoms joined in the Solemn League and Covenant, which pledged them to seek a reformed church and a close agreement in religion across England, Scotland and Ireland. Commissioners from the Church of Scotland came to the Assembly to advise it, though they did not vote.

The Assembly's first task was to revise the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. It soon turned to writing new documents. Its main works were these:

• The Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1645), a guide for worship in place of the Book of Common Prayer.

• The Form of Presbyterial Church Government (1645).

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (completed 1646).

• The Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism (1647).

The Church of Scotland adopted the Confession and the Catechisms in 1647. In England the story went differently. The political situation changed, and after the return of the monarchy in 1660 the Church of England kept its bishops and its prayer book. The Westminster Standards therefore found their lasting home in Scotland and in the Presbyterian and other Reformed churches that came from it, in Ireland, America and many parts of the world. They also shaped English-speaking Reformed life in other ways. In 1658 the English Congregationalists adapted the Confession in the Savoy Declaration, and the Particular Baptists adapted it in the Second London Confession of 1677, reissued in 1689. Charles Spurgeon, a Reformed Baptist voice, valued that Baptist form. These adaptations changed the chapters on baptism and church government but kept the rest of the teaching, which shows how widely the Confession was loved.

The Westminster Confession of Faith

The Confession has thirty-three chapters. It does not follow the order of the Apostles' Creed but the order of theology: first Scripture, then God, then the works of God, then salvation, then the church and last things. Here are its main parts.

Chapter 1 is on Holy Scripture, as Unit 6 showed. Chapters 2 to 5 teach the Trinity, God's eternal decree, creation and providence. Chapter 3 teaches predestination, and 3.8 asks that this doctrine be handled with prudence and care, so that it gives comfort and not despair. Chapter 6 teaches the fall, and chapter 7 teaches God's covenants, the covenant of works made with Adam and the covenant of grace made through Christ. The units "The Covenant of Redemption and the Covenant of Works" and "The Covenant of Grace from Adam to Christ" treat these in detail. Chapter 8 is on Christ the Mediator. Chapters 9 to 18 follow the order of salvation: free will, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, saving faith, repentance, good works, perseverance and assurance. Chapters 19 to 24 treat the law of God, Christian liberty, worship and the Sabbath, oaths and vows, the civil magistrate, and marriage. Chapters 25 to 31 teach the church, the communion of saints, the sacraments, baptism, the Lord's Supper, church discipline, and synods and councils. Chapters 32 and 33 teach the state of the dead, the resurrection and the last judgment.

Several features are worth noticing.

First, the covenant structure. Chapter 7 states that the distance between God and His creatures is so great that they could never enjoy Him as their reward except by some voluntary condescension on His part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant. This is the framework of the whole Confession, and it is the reason why this course begins with covenant theology.

Second, the way it holds together God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Chapter 3.1 teaches that God ordained whatever comes to pass, and yet that God is not the author of sin, that no violence is done to the will of the creatures, and that the liberty or contingency of second causes is not taken away but established. Course 2 develops this teaching.

Third, its regard for conscience. Chapter 20 says that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and chapter 21 sets out the regulative principle: that the acceptable way of worshipping God is appointed by Himself and limited by His revealed will. Course 4 takes up the principle in the unit "The Regulative Principle of Worship."

Fourth, its affirmation of marriage. Chapter 24 teaches that marriage is to be between one man and one woman. It describes marriage as ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, for the increase of mankind with a godly offspring, and for the increase of the church with a holy seed. This is a happy and honorable teaching, rooted in Genesis and in the words of our Lord, and it shapes how Presbyterian churches care for families.

Fifth, what it leaves open. The Confession teaches the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, but it does not set out one view of a millennium. Reformed believers who hold the Confession have been amillennial, postmillennial and premillennial. This course does not choose among them.

The Two Catechisms

The Larger Catechism has 196 questions. The Shorter Catechism has 107. They were made for different uses. The Larger Catechism was meant for use in public teaching by ministers, and so it goes into more detail. For example, in its explanation of the Ten Commandments it lists the duties required and the sins forbidden in each commandment. The Shorter Catechism was meant for children and beginners, and it is short enough to learn by heart.

The first question of the Shorter Catechism is one of the best-known sentences in the Reformed world. It asks, "What is the chief end of man?" and answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." The answer joins two things that people often separate: duty and delight. Texts such as 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Psalm 73:24-26 stand behind it. Question 3 says that the Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man, and the Catechism is arranged in just these two parts. Question 4 gives a beautiful definition of God as a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

Memorizing such answers has been a mark of Reformed families for centuries. Course 5 returns to catechizing in the unit "Catechizing and Discipleship."

Objections and Historians' Debates

Objection 1: The Standards teach infant baptism and presbyterian government, and Scripture does not.

Baptist, Congregational and independent Christians hold that only believers should be baptized and that each local church should govern itself. Baptists adapted the Westminster Confession for this reason.

Our answer. We respect these brothers and sisters, and we are glad that they love much of the Confession. But we believe that the Scripture teaches both. We read baptism in light of the covenant that God made with Abraham and his children, and the Standards teach this in chapter 28. We read the government of the church as shared among elders, as the book of Acts and the epistles show. Course 4 sets out both teachings and answers the objections in the units "Baptism of Believers and Their Children" and "Government by Elders."

Objection 2: Predestination in chapter 3 makes God the author of sin and removes real choices.

Arminian and Wesleyan Christians fear that the Confession makes people into puppets.

Our answer. The Confession answers this fear in its own words, in chapter 3.1, by denying that God is the author of sin and denying that the will of the creature is forced. Human choices are real choices and have real consequences, and God ordains them without destroying them. The Bible shows both in the same event, as in the story of Joseph, who told his brothers that what they meant for evil God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). Course 2 develops this in the unit "Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility."

Objection 3: The Confession says too much and is too scholastic for ordinary people.

Some say that thirty-three chapters, full of technical words, are far from the simple gospel.

Our answer. A careful teaching is not an enemy of simple faith. The Confession was written for ministers and elders, who must teach all of God's counsel. For ordinary believers and children the church has the Shorter Catechism, which is short, plain and warm. A pastor who knows the Confession can give a simple answer because he knows what lies behind it.

Objection 4: The chapter on the civil magistrate gave the state power over the church.

Parliament called the Assembly, and the Confession originally gave the civil magistrate a larger role in religion than most Reformed churches teach today. Critics see the Standards as a product of a church-state arrangement of the seventeenth century.

Our answer. This is a real point, and Reformed churches have said so. In the 1780s American Presbyterians revised the chapters on the civil magistrate and on synods to remove a role for the state in church matters, and other Reformed churches have made their own revisions. They did this by their own lawful process, as Unit 6 taught that a confession may be revised, and they left the rest of the Confession as it was. The Standards were written in a time of church-state union, and their teaching on the church's own spiritual government, apart from the state, is stronger than the critics allow.

Debate 1: Do the Standards depart from Calvin?

Some historians have argued that the federal or covenant theology of the seventeenth century, with its covenant of works, was a move away from Calvin's own emphasis. Others, such as Richard Muller, hold that the later Reformed writers developed ideas that were already present in the first Reformers and their successors. Our answer is the same as in Unit 6. The Standards agree with Scripture, and the covenant teaching is found in the Bible, as those two units show.

Debate 2: Do the Standards teach particular redemption only?

Historians note that a few Assembly members, such as Edmund Calamy, are known to have held a form of hypothetical universalism, and some scholars think that the wording of the Confession was chosen to leave some room. Most Reformed readers have taken chapters 3 and 8 to teach that Christ redeemed the elect. Course 2 handles this in the unit on particular redemption and the free offer.

Pastoral Application

A pastor in a growing church in Brazil teaches a catechism class for young people. A fifteen-year-old named Marcos says, "At school they say life has no purpose. We are accidents. Why should I care about church?"

The pastor does not scold. First, he asks Marcos what he enjoys and what he fears, and listens. Second, he asks the class the first question of the Shorter Catechism and lets them answer it together, since they have learned it by heart. Third, he opens 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Psalm 73 and shows that the Bible gives a purpose that school cannot give: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, even in eating and drinking and school work. Fourth, he does not stop at the answer. He invites Marcos to bring his questions each week and promises that the answers of the Catechism, like all human words, will be measured by the Bible. Marcos is not asked to accept a slogan. He is given a purpose that reaches to every part of his life.

Summary

The Westminster Assembly met in London from 1643, called by Parliament, with Scottish commissioners advising. It produced the Directory for Public Worship, the Form of Church Government, the Confession (1646) and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647). The Church of Scotland adopted them in 1647, and they became the standards of Presbyterian churches worldwide. The Confession has thirty-three chapters, a covenant structure in chapter 7, a careful teaching on God's decree and human choice, a regard for conscience and the regulative principle, a positive teaching on marriage as between one man and one woman, and no fixed view of the millennium. The Larger Catechism has 196 questions for public teaching, and the Shorter has 107 questions for children, beginning with the chief end of man. Objections concern baptism and church government, predestination, length, and the role of the civil magistrate. Historians debate whether the Standards depart from Calvin and how far they teach particular redemption. We believe that the Standards faithfully summarize the Bible.

Further Reading

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646).

• The Westminster Larger Catechism and Shorter Catechism (1647).

• The Directory for the Publick Worship of God (1645).

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), for comparison on covenant and the sacraments.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73).

• B. B. Warfield, essays on the Westminster Assembly and its work.

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