Westminster Confession Teaching Series
Chapter 14: Of Saving Faith
Sola Fides has long been the rallying cry of the Reformation, and the Reformed Church has long considered faith to be ‘the alone instrument of justification’ (WCF 15.1). But what does true, saving faith look like? What is its source? And what hope have we when our faith weakens and seems as small as a mustard seed?
Chapter 15: Of Repentance Unto Life
‘Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace, the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the Gospel…’ (WCF 15.1) But what does it mean to repent? What confidence should be gained through observing our repentance? And how does it affect our relationship with others in the body of Christ?
Chapter 17: Of the Perseverance of the Saints
Reformed theology has always prioritised the will of God over the will of man. This principle has a profound impact for our hope of salvation, assurance and security for the future. If the Father has divinely decreed a person’s election, the Son has purchased their salvation, and the Spirit has effectually applied that salvation- how can the Triune God fail?
Chapter 18: Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation
There is nothing more comforting in life than knowing that we are not our own, but belong, body and soul, to our covenant God and having assurance of eternal. But the question that troubles many in the church is how can I be sure that these blessings and promises extend to me? In this chapter the Divines affirm assurance is possible and show how we can know.
Chapter 19: Of the Law of God
To many modern evangelicals, law and Gospel are diametrically opposed to each other. The law is viewed simply as an ineffectual instrument for salvation and superseded when Jesus came. However, Reformed theology has always maintained a more positive view. The law was given within the Covenant of Grace, and so can lead us to Christ and teach us how to live.
Chapter 20: Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience
Licentiousness and freedom are often confused in our culture today. However, to live such a life is to truly be a slave to our sinful nature. In this chapter the Confession states that Christian liberty has a greater end: ‘that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear…’ But how do Word, conscience and authority work together for that end?
Chapter 21 [1]: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
Nathan begins by challenging modern conceptions of worship, by defining worship as whatever God intends it to be. We worship God as sovereign, so it is only right that he should exercise his sovereignty in saying how we can rightly approach Him. Nathan then focuses on the first outlined element of worship: prayer, and challenges us to fulfil our Christian duty to be priests, interceding for all.
Chapter 21 [2]: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
In this study Nathan tries to recapture the Puritan joy of the Christian Sabbath. As Thomas Watson wrote: ‘When the falling dust of the world has clogged the wheels of our affections, that they can scarce move towards God, the Sabbath comes… The heart, which all the week was frozen, on the Sabbath melts with the Word. The Sabbath is a friend to religion; it files off the rust of our graces.’
Chapter 22: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
One of the great benefits of having a comprehensive confession is that it addresses oft-neglected issues. Yet, as with all things from God, they are given for our good: because the name of God is so precious, calling upon it places upon us the obligation of reverence to His name, and so as not to bring injury upon our God who is truth, it spurs us on the fulfilment of what we have promised.
Chapter 23: Of the Civil Magistrate
As Christians we can so often be discouraged by the Governments around us; Governments that can sometimes persecute God’s people and legislate sin. However, this chapter reminds us that any Government is a gift from God, part of God’s created order, and so preserves us from the destruction of anarchy. Nathan then moves on to discuss the thorny, but relevant, issue of the relationship between church and state.
Chapter 24: Of Marriage and Divorce
The Puritan John Winthrop as ‘the chiefest of all comforts under the hope of salvation.’ Why is this so? Because it is not good for man to be alone, but more remarkably because marriage reflects that glorious, unbreakable union between Christ and the Church. It is from this axiom that Nathan explains the principles contained in this chapter.
Chapter 25 [1]: Of the Church
Through presenting the high ecclesiology of the first half of this chapter, Nathan challenges the common ‘All I need is Jesus and Me’ attitude that pervades the church today. It is as the church, with all God’s elect since Adam, that we are the Bride of Christ. And so the confession, presents the famous maxim of the Church Father, Cyprian: ‘out of [the church] there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.’
Chapter 25 [2]: Of the Church
Having established the high status of the Church in the first half of the chapter, Nathan now moves on to address the obvious objections. Doesn’t the church appear weak? Is it not a body that is full of impurities? Is it not divided? Nevertheless, this chapter presents great encouragement because as Christ the Head endures, ‘there shall be always a Church on earth to worship God according to His will.’
Chapter 26: Of the Communion of the Saints
This article of faith, which has been enshrined in the church’s creedal statements since the Apostles’ Creed, is the practical application of what it means to be the body of Christ. The calling is high, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: ‘For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.’ At the same time, the confession is wonderfully practical, and shows how we play our part, starting with the local church.
Chapter 27: Of the Sacraments
Here, Nathan addresses how the sacraments are God’s great accommodation to us. As Calvin expressed it: ‘Here our merciful Lord, according to his infinite kindness, so tempers himself to our capacity that, since we are creatures who always creep on the ground, cleave to the flesh, and do not think about or even conceive of anything spiritual, he condescends to lead us to himself even by these earthly elements, and to set before us in the flesh a mirror of spiritual blessings.’ (Calvin, Institutes, 4.14.3)
Chapter 28 [1]: Of Baptism
Of all the doctrines in the confession, baptism has sadly proved to be one of the most contentious amongst contemporary evangelical brethren. Here, Nathan takes us back to basics, to see baptism as the ‘membership card’ of the church, signifying and sealing all the promises of the Covenant of Grace- promises which as Acts 2:39 says are ‘for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’
Chapter 28 [2]: Of Baptism
Here, Rev. Nathan Hilton is wrestling with two extremes that need to be avoided, with regards to Baptism: one, is the error of ex opere operato, assuming that simply by the performance of the act, all that is promised is at that moment efficaciously applied to the recipient; the other, is to underplay its significance, and fail to see that: ‘by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not offered, but really exhibited, and conferred, by the Holy Spirit…’ (WCF 28.6)
Chapter 29 [1]: Of the Lord’s Supper
Nathan, firstly, considers the purposes of the Lord’s Supper as outlined in the first paragraph and neatly summarised by Matthew Henry as ‘a commemorating Ordinance, and a confessing Ordinance; a communicating Ordinance, and a covenanting Ordinance’. He then moves on to consider some of the ways that man has ignored God’s ordering of the Sacrament, particularly focusing on the contemporary issue of so-called ‘Online Communion’.
Chapter 29 [2]: Of the Lord’s Supper
Nathan asks the question whether Christ is truly received in the Sacrament, and in what sense this is true. Nathan argues that as a sacrament, there is necessarily a spiritual reality that God holds forth: this is a great blessing to those who come in faith, as they feed on their Saviour- the source of all life, but it is also great condemnation for those that come without faith, as they commit ‘great sin against Christ’ in rejecting his gracious offer, signified in the bread and wine.
Chapter 30: Of Church Censures
At the heart of the Christian Gospel is the coming of the Kingdom of God; and more than any of King, Jesus takes seriously the responsibility of ruling, guarding, and protecting his people. But what does it look like for Christ to rule? And as Christ is now in heaven, who are the executors through whom he governs? Nathan answers these questions showing that Christ’s appointed Government is church elders and the power given to them, church discipline.