Out of the gathering of the leading theologians in England, with some key Scottish scholars, came the famous Westminster Confession of 1647. This document enshrined so much of what biblical Christians hold dear, and it was a watershed moment in our Protestant church history in the English-speaking world. Through this confession of faith, biblical Christians of both the Church of England and Church of Scotland came together. This document was a unifying factor, not only in both church denominations, but in both parliaments as well, up until the Restoration of Charles II. This king, once he had gained power in 1660, sought to turn back the clock and head off in the direction of absolutism and an Anglo-Catholic structure of bishops as dominating lords. It would not be until after the Glorious Revolution, that the Westminster Confession would become solidly anchored in Britain in 1690.
In the Westminster Confession we see the essential ingredients of the Christian faith: original sin; the depravity of human nature as a result of the Fall; the Trinity; the Virgin Birth; the atonement of our sins through Christ’s death on the cross; his bodily resurrection and ascension, and the giving of the Holy Spirit; along with the authority of the Bible for belief and practice, and the coming judgment, with heaven and hell. As such, the great historic creeds are followed, but filled out in more detail. Everything in the Westminster Confession is also accompanied by the relevant Scriptural references. The gospel is beautifully outlined, showing that we are justified for eternity by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s finished work of atonement through the cross, rather than by any good works we do, and that his righteousness is imputed to us. This was one of the main lynchpins rediscovered in the Reformation, and which brought such liberty to so many.
The influence of men like John Calvin and John Knox shine through in the Calvinist view of predestination. The gospel churches had also been through so much suffering at the hands of the corrupt papal system, that the acting pope was denounced as the Antichrist. Besides this, the Romanist practices of the Mass and Transubstantiation are roundly condemned as idolatry, along with other unbiblical beliefs, such as purgatory.
The authority of the Bible is established as the litmus test, or plumbline, for all church councils, writings of church scholars, ancient and modern, and church and private Christian beliefs. From the Westminster Confession came the rise of the evangelical movement, and a sense of cohesion and unity based around God’s revealed will in Scripture. A universal, or ‘catholic’ church, was understood to be the sum total of all genuine Christian believers, irrespective of denomination. Enshrined within chapter 25 of this document though, were the words: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the Church, and the claim of any man to be the vicar of Christ and the head of the Church, is unscriptural, without warrant in fact, and is a usurpation dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Such words would be severely tested by several kings who preferred the old autocratic system, but eventually a constitutional monarchy would emerge through the ashes of the civil wars ahead, and a more just, biblical and democratic structure.
‘Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3, NKJV).
Image: Westminster Assembly Confession of Faith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.