What Is the Westminster Confession?
It was 1643. London. The little British world—Scotland, England, and Ireland—was caught in a civil war. And the Christian church wasn’t doing much better.
Debates still raged over the authority of the Bible. The Reformation—the return to the truth of the Bible, which had begun a century earlier—had spread all over Europe, and biblical teaching was beginning to take root in churches.
But it was time for reform in the Church of England—the official church of the British Isles. Time to re-forge its foundational documents according to the clear doctrines of Scripture and change Anglicanism for the better.
So in order to make peace within warring factions of the church, in 1646, over a hundred men of one mind piled into Westminster Abbey to rewrite the Church of England’s foundational documents.
Three documents emerged from this meeting. The Westminster Confession cemented in corporate conviction the non-negotiables, those doctrines that the Bible taught that people must believe and which the Church of England would cling to and teach. They also wrote the Shorter and Longer Catechism and a Directory for the Public Worship of God.
Is the Westminster Confession Relevant to Me?
The Westminster Confession is an old document created for a past kingdom in a faraway land. Is it worth your time, and is it relevant to you? Three things are worth noting.
First, yes, it’s worth your time, but it will take time—it’s a challenging and dense read. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dive in—after all, finding diamonds takes hard digging.
Second, the writers thought these truths so important that they also formatted their Confession into a shorter and a longer catechism–a series of questions and answers for kids. The writers hoped you would read the Confession and even memorize it.
Third, the catechism is worth your time because it will nourish your soul with truth from God’s Word. It will sharpen your understanding of what the Bible teaches and educate you on the essentials of the Christian faith.
We hope you find, as we have, the Westminster Confession of Faith a profitable read. Enjoy!