A Critical Response to the
I am in agreement with the vast majority of the Westminster Confession. Points with which I have scruples are listed and commented upon below:
CHAP. I. - Of the Holy Scripture.
I agree with everything written here, but I do think it is worth noting that because of the early date of this document, it does not specifically affirm the more contemporary doctrine of biblical inerrancy. There is little doubt that the writers of this confession would have done so had the controversies of the 17th Century led them to express such a position. Please allow me to take this opportunity to say that I personally believe the scriptures to be inerrant in accordance with the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.
CHAP. XXI. - Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day
7. “As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.”
No evidence in the scriptures has been sufficient to convince me that Jesus intended for the Sabbath to move from Saturday to Sunday. The Sabbath is distinguished from the first day of the week in each of the gospels (Mt. 28, Mk. 16, Lk. 24, Jn. 20) and in Acts (13:14-15, 42-44; 16:12-15; 20:7). Christians certainly seemed to meet on the first day of the week in the scriptures, but this does not mean that the Sabbath was “moved.” History indicates that this may have developed later and been cemented as common practice upon the acceptance of Christianity by the Roman Empire under
8. “This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.”
While observance of the Sabbath is a blessing if one feels led to keep it (Mark 2:27-28), doing so is not required of Christians (
CHAP. XXIV. - Of Marriage and Divorce
5. “Adultery or fornication committed after a contract, being detected before marriage, giveth just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce. and, after the divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party were dead.”
While divorce in the case of adultery is allowed in the scriptures, remarriage while the spouse is still alive is not (
CHAP. XXVIII. - Of Baptism
1. “Baptism is a sacrament of the new testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church; but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life. Which sacrament is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued in His Church until the end of the world.”
Admission to the visible church occurs once a person repents, believes, and receives the Holy Spirit; this occurs before baptism (Acts 10:44-48).
3. “Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring, or sprinkling water upon the person.”
Much of the significance of baptism is lost in sprinkling; when a believer is baptized by immersion there is a more literal picture of our burial and resurrection in Jesus (Romans 6:4). Therefore immersion is a more correct interpretation of the act of baptism; there may still be room for sprinkling if there is no feasible alternative.
4. “Not only those that do actually profess faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one, or both, believing parents, are to be baptized.”
I see no solid evidence of the practice of infant baptism in the scriptures, nor do I see evidence of its practice in church history before the 3rd Century. Baptism accompanies repentance at every mention in the New Testament, and infants are not capable of understanding their sinful nature, their need for Jesus, and repenting in response. Therefore they are not to be baptized.
7. “The sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered unto any person.”
Baptism should only be administered one time once a person is saved. If a person was baptized as an infant, they may be baptized again later in life once they begin to follow Jesus, since their infant baptism was not accompanied by saving faith and repentance.
CHAP. XXIX. - Of the Lord's Supper
3. “The Lord Jesus hath, in this ordinance, appointed His ministers to declare His word of institution to the people; to pray, and bless the elements of bread and wine, and thereby to set them apart from a common to an holy use; and to take and break the bread, to take the cup, and (they communicating also themselves) to give both to the communicants; but to none who are not then present in the congregation.”
Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that only a special class of “clergy” can administer/lead the Lord’s Supper. Also, in the scriptures, the Lord’s Supper was not a special ceremony; it was part of a meal, the “love feast” (Jude 12). Jesus instituted this practice during a meal, and the Corinthians also practiced it as part of a meal (1 Cor. 11:17-32). So the most accurate observance of the Lord’s Supper is as part of a meal, not as a ceremony. The shift to a more ceremonial form occurred around the time of Tertullian, and was complete by the late second century.
CHAP. XXX. - Of Church Censures
1. “The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate.”
The governing of the church is not in the hands of officers, but in the hands of the church itself. All of the letters written by the writers of the New Testament were written to the churches themselves, not to the elders or some kind of officers. The instructions given by Jesus do not leave governing/confronting sin in the hands of the church as a whole (Mt. 18:15-17). The discussion of circumcision in Acts 15 was not left to only the elders, but to the whole church (15:22).
2. “To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed; by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the Gospel; and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require”
“Officers” did not exist in the New Testament church. All authority (exousia in Greek) was given to Jesus (Mt. 28:18); nowhere in the New Testament is exousia given to one believer over another. And the Greek vocabulary used for official leadership is noticeably absent from the scriptures (such as arche—ruler, time—officer, and hazzan—worship leader, just to mention a few). Rather than being named, selected, or appointed as an “officer,” men who functioned in the roles of elders were recognized by the travelling workers (Paul, Timothy, Titus) so that others would know to consider what they had to say. Nowhere in the New Testament is there mention of a static office which someone must fill. Therefore, again, the power to do things like censure is vested in the church as a whole, not in an official.
4. “For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the church are to proceed by admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church, according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person.”
Suspension from the Lord’s Supper as a punishment for sin does not appear in the New Testament.
CHAP. XXXI. - Of Synods and Councils
1. “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 their office, and the power which Christ hath given them for edification and not for destruction, to appoint such assemblies; and to convene together in them, as often as they shall judge it expedient for the good of the church.”
Churches as a whole, not officers, should decide who takes part in Councils.
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