The Westminster Standards were penned at the end of England’s second reformation, in the years 1646–1648. As rich summaries of the Bible’s teaching, with helpful footnotes to key biblical passages, the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms represent the high-water mark of Protestant creed-making.

The Catechisms and Confession, as three distinct parts of the Westminster Standards, together teach a system of doctrine. They have been celebrated by Presbyterians, imitated by Congregationalists and Baptists, and, in the case of the Shorter Catechism, even reissued for publication by no less than John Wesley, the spiritual father of the Arminian branch of the Methodist family tree. What is of interest to me is that John Wesley had to edit the Shorter Catechism before it could be safe for the high-church, Episcopally-minded, predestination-denying communion that he was trying to form. His systematic revision is testimony to the fact that Wesley understood even the Catechism contained a system of doctrine.

The starting point in the Shorter Catechism is God himself, and Wesley was happy to hand his followers a teaching text that began with a focus on God. The Shorter Catechism, like the Larger before it, and the Confession of Faith before that, informs readers that man’s chief end is entirely about glorifying God and enjoying God. That is to say, we exist for God’s honor and praise, and to benefit from the one who made us for relationship with himself—what the Confession calls, having a “fruition of him as their blessedness and reward” (7.1). But the Westminster Standards, in each of the three documents, speak next of the will of God expressed in his decrees. This would not do. Being no Augustinian, let alone a “Calvinist,” Wesley deleted references to God’s divine decrees—as if readers would not also encounter the doctrine in their Bibles!—and he edited many other doctrines as well. Wesley was an intelligent and honest man, and he was well aware of the difference between a generic evangelicalism and a system of doctrine that was truly Reformed.

There are theological emphases unique to each of the three documents. The Shorter Catechism not only offers the most memorable doctrinal summaries of the seventeenth century, it also is the most consistent in emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit and the importance of Spirit-worked faith. Put the Confession and Catechisms beside each other, and you’ll see how the Shorter is not simply a summary of the Larger. It introduces nuances that are genuinely helpful.

The Larger Catechism, on the other hand, contains a masterful summary and exposition of the law of God. No fewer than eleven committees were formed to think through the Ten Commandments, one of the biggest expenditures of time and talent in the many years that the Westminster Assembly met. And the Larger Catechism also reflects deeply on the fact that Christ did not come to save individuals only, but his whole church. The churchly focus of the Larger Catechism—seen, for example, in its focus on the worship that we do together as the body of Christ—is one of the things that sets this much-neglected document apart from the other two.

But the most theologically focused partner in the triad of texts designed to reform the English-speaking church is, of course, the Confession of Faith.

First Principles

The chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith are arranged in a manner similar to the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Church of England document that they were intended to replace, and the order is also generally similar to other Protestant systems of doctrine. It begins with first principles, moves to an explanation of the way of salvation, and concludes with doctrines related to the church and the end times. All these are a part of the system of doctrine of the Westminster Standards, for if the first twenty chapters explain the theology of the Standards, the next thirteen show how that theology is lived out and the end to which we live.

The first of these chapters, “Of the Holy Scripture,” is the longest. It opens with a statement about what can be known from general revelation. It then turns to those subjects known only through special revelation, which is now restricted to the Holy Spirit speaking through the Scriptures.

The second chapter offers a classic treatment of the Godhead, ordered according to a rough biblical theological development of the doctrine: the oneness and independence of our immutable God and a balanced and doxological list of his perfections—from his love, to his justice, and finally to his triune nature as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The latter statement carefully echoes the classic Trinitarian creeds.

The third chapter, on God’s eternal decree, proved significant in subsequent Reformed theology. The emphasis of the chapter is on predestination as it relates to salvation, but it also makes important points about the knowledge of God and the caution we need to take in discussing such a complex subject.

Creation and Providence

The thinking behind the next steps taken by the Confession is actually clarified by the assembly later in the Catechisms, which ask, “How doth God execute his decrees? God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence” (Shorter Catechism Q/A 8). Thus the Confession enters its discussion of human history and treats the subjects of creation (chapter 4) and providence (chapter 5), followed by all that belongs to the providence of God: the impenetrable permission and purpose of providence behind the plunge of humanity into sin (chapter 6); the history of redemption seen in God’s gracious covenant (chapter 7); and an introduction to the mediator of that covenant (chapter 8). What is clear from these chapters is that the way in which God has planned and accomplished our redemption is in fact covenantal. Imbedded in the narrative of the fall is an understanding of Adam as a representative. It is evident that Adam’s actions affected the lot of his spouse and all his descendants. Whatever the nuances of the headship of our first parent(s) in chapter 6, a robust covenant theology is established when chapters 6, 7, and 8 are read as a unit.

Redemption Accomplished

The treatment of covenants in the Westminster Standards presents all humanity in relationship either to the first or to the last Adam. “Man, by his fall, having made himself uncapable of life by that covenant” first made with Adam, the Standards explain that God made a second covenant, a “covenant of grace” (Confession of Faith 7.3). The covenant of grace is discussed in historical terms, noting the contrasts in the way in which the covenant of grace was administered in the Old Testament and in the New. Nonetheless, as understood by the Westminster Assembly, the covenant of grace bridges both the Old Covenant and the New, and the “substance” of the covenant of grace is the same in all administrations of that covenant: it is Christ himself. Jesus Christ is the way to receive the promise and the promise itself, and he is called in the Standards the “surety” of the covenant (8.3). A surety is one who stands as a guarantee for another, no matter what the cost. The cost for the surety of God’s elect was his humiliation, summed up in his incarnation, obedience, suffering, death, and burial. All this was necessary for us to share in his subsequent resurrection, ascension, reign, and glory.

Redemption Applied

If the sixth chapter (the fall) sets up the need for two chapters on the accomplishment of redemption, the ninth chapter (free will) tees up a series of chapters on the application of redemption: the sovereign work of God in calling, justification, adoption, and sanctification (chapters 10–13).

The final four paragraphs of chapter 9 need to be read in light of the first, which attempts to describe what is true of the will of mankind in any state and offers a surprisingly robust statement of human responsibility: “God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil.” Neither a fall into the fullness of sin nor salvation by sovereign grace destroys the will or obliterates its liberty. This statement is then nuanced and applied as the Confession of Faith considers four possible states of historic human existence: in innocence, in sin, in grace, and in glory.

Chapter 10 describes the process of effectual calling, an umbrella term for the sovereign call and regenerating work of God, on the one hand, and our answering God’s call with his help, on the other hand. Thus effectual calling is described in the Catechisms as a “work” of God’s grace. We are “passive . . . until” God has called us (10.2); but we are no longer passive after he has called us! The burden of the chapter is to argue for a Holy Spirit-worked presentation of God’s redeeming work, through his Word. The Catechisms imbed within this discussion of God’s effective calling the necessity of our union with Christ.

The eleventh chapter explains that the divine act of justification is an umbrella term for two free gifts of God—the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the forgiveness of sins—and is received by faith alone. Unlike the treatment of justification in the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Confession not only provides a statement of what justification is (and is not) for the believer, but also adds a statement of the foundation of justification in the person and work of Christ.

God’s gracious act of adoption is granted its own brief chapter (in fact, one long sentence!) filled with consolation for believers and penned with an eye to the end times and the inheritance awaiting all “heirs of everlasting salvation” (12.1). The Confession’s treatment of God’s work of sanctification is pastoral in tone, rooting this grace in “Christ’s death and resurrection” effected “by his Word and Spirit” (13.1). The opening statement is followed by the helpful caution that a growth in holiness will progress but remain “imperfect in this life” (13.2, 3). The Larger Catechism specifies the ways in which justification and sanctification differ in their nature and in their effects (Q/A 77).

In discussing the doctrines of calling, justification, adoption, and sanctification first, the Confession presents the work of God prior to the Spirit-worked response of man. Nonetheless the three chapters on faith, repentance, and good works (chapters 14–16) are longer than the preceding four. The Standards labor to show how these graces are essential in the Christian life and for Christian preaching, but with an appropriate emphasis on the helplessness of man and the sovereign grace of God: faith can be weak but true; repentance is an evangelical grace; good works “are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith” and any “ability” of men and women “to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ” (14.3; 15.1; 16.2, 3).

Understandably, the chapter on good works, in turn, prompts a discussion of the possibility of perseverance of the saints (17) and raises questions regarding the assurance of salvation (18). In continuity with the conclusions of the Synod of Dort and its tight tethering of justification to the graces of sanctification, the assembly insisted on the active perseverance (and not merely the passive preservation) of the saints. And in keeping with its recognition that true faith is not always a strong faith, the assembly spelled out reasons why Christians should be assured of their salvation, even if it is sometimes “shaken, diminished, and intermitted” (18.4).

Law and Liberty

Having insisted that “good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word” (16.1), the assembly found it necessary to follow the subjectively focused chapters on perseverance and assurance with objectively declarative chapters on the law and Christian liberty (19 and 20). The chapter on liberty is often flagged as a favorite amongst Protestants. Its statement on the liberties purchased by Christ, both historic and existential, are among the richest lines penned by the assembly.

The assembly’s discussion of the law was straightforward in its main outlines. Historically, the law in the Old Testament was of three kinds—moral, civil, and ceremonial—with only the first of these, and aspects of the second, enduring into the New Testament. The moral law, in turn, had three uses: as a rule of life, as a guide to Christ, and as a restraint to sin.

Corporate Christian Life

What follows the discussion of law and liberty are treatments of the corporate life of Christians: worship and the Sabbath (chapter 21), then a discussion of lawful oaths and vows (22), which are at once acts of worship and acts of civic responsibility, and thus a bridge, in the third place, to a chapter on the civil magistrate (23), a subject so evidently important in our own day. Marriage and divorce (24) are appropriately set between the chapter on the magistrate and that of the church (25), and another on the communion of saints with each other and with Christ (26).

Following the pattern of the Apostles’ Creed, the sacraments are next discussed. The assembly dedicated three chapters to sacramental symbols in general, to baptism, and to the Lord’s Supper (chapters 27–29) before turning to its ecclesiastical chapters on church censures (or discipline) and synods (chapters 30–31). The assembly’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper as intended for our spiritual nourishment, and its insistence that Christ is present spiritually in the Supper, will only make sense in churches that occasionally read 1 Corinthians 10 before administering the Lord’s Supper, rather than 11 only.

The Confession’s treatment of baptism and the Lord’s Supper is given practical enrichment in the Larger Catechism, which reflects on the practice and impact of the sacraments in and on the Christian life (Q/A 167, 169–175). Indeed, it also contains extended reflections on the effective reception of the reading and preaching of the Scriptures (Q/A 156–160).

While the voice of the Standards is, for the most part, in the third person, declaring what God’s Word says, instead of the first person, sharing what Christians believe, passages are often doxological, grateful, and hortatory in tone. This is deliberately the case at the conclusion of the Catechisms, and even the Confession of Faith. In its closing paragraphs, readers are called to praise, to give thanks, and, above all, to pay attention!

As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity; so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say [whether Wesleyan or Calvinist!], Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen. (33.3)

The author is an OP minister and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. New Horizons, February 2022.