The Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms have been effectively employed by churches around the world for nearly four centuries. Yet, strange to say, these well-loved documents may be missing a question. I’ll use the Shorter Catechism to demonstrate what I…
The words “it pleased God…to create,” in Westminster Confession of Faith 4.1, refer to divine willing, to the decree of God. Creation is due to the will of God. It is not necessary to the divine essence, however. The Triune…
Often, potential exceptions to the Westminster Standards take this form: “If the Confession is saying ‘x’, then I must state my difference with that section.” One particularly common example of this is found in WCF 21.5, which reads, If the…
It is not uncommon for ministers in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)–the denomination in which I pastor–to lament a lack of doctrinal uniformity among fellow pastors in our denomination. It is also not uncommon for ministers in the denomination in…
iii. 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: (2 Pet. 3:11, 14,…
ii. The end of God’s appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of His mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of His justice, in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.…
i. God hath appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but…
i. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect…
i. For the better government, and further edification of the church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils; and it belongeth to the overseers and other rulers of the particular churches, by virtue of…
iii. Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren, for deterring of others from the like offences, for purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honour of Christ, and…
