confession of Faith navigator

The Holy Trinity

5. There is one living and true God, a self-existent Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth 

6. God has all life, glory, goodness, and blessedness in himself; not standing in need of any creatures which he has made, nor deriving any essential glory from them; and has most sovereign domain over them to so whatever he may please. 

7. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Decrees of God

8. God, for the manifestation of his glory and goodness, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordained or determined what he himself would do, what he would require his intelligent creatures to do, and what should be the awards, respectively, of the obedient and the disobedient. 

9. Through all Divine decrees may not be revealed to men, yet it is certain that God has decreed nothing contrary to his revealed will or written word.

Creation

10. It pleased God, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power,  wisdom, and goodness, to create the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible: and all very good.  11. After God had made all other creatures, he created man in his own image; male and female created he them, enduring them with intelligence, sensibility, and will: they having the law of God written in their hearts, and power to fulfill it, being upright and free from all bias to evil. 

Providence

12. God the creator upholds and governs all creatures and things by his most wise and holy providence. 

13. God, in his providence, ordinarily works through the instrumentality of laws to means, yet is free to work with and above them, at his pleasure. 

14. God never leaves nor forsakes his people; yet when they fall into sin he chastises them in various ways, and makes even their own sin the occasion of discovering unto them their weakness and their need of greater watchfulness and dependence upon him for supporting grace.  

15. God’s providence over the wicked is not designed to lead them to destruction, but to a knowledge of his goodness, and of his sovereign power over them, and thus to become a means of their repentance and reformation, or to be a warning to others: and if the wicked make it an occasion of hardening their hearts,  it is because of their perversity, and not from necessity. 

16. While the providence of God, in general, embraces all creatures, it does, in a special manner, extend to his Church.

Fall of Man

17. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit; whereupon, God was pleased, for his own glory and good of mankind, to reveal the Covenant of Grace in Christ, by which a gracious probation was established for all men. 

18. By this sin they fell from their original uprightness, lost their communion with God, and so became dead in sin and defiled in all the faculties of their mortal being. They being the root of all mankind, sin entered into the world through their act, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men.

19. From this original corruption also proceeds actual transgression.

20. The remains of this corrupt nature are felt by those who are regenerated, nor will they altogether cease to operate and disturb during the present life.

21. Sin, being a transgression of the law of God, brings guilt upon the transgressor, and subjects him to the wrath of God and to endless torment, unless pardoned through the mediation of Christ. 

God's Covenant With Man 

22. The first covenant made with man was a Covenant of Works, wherein life was promised to Adam upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.  

23. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make the second, commonly called the Covenant of Grace, wherein he freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, This covenant is frequently set forth in Scriptures by the name of testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ, the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.   

24. Under the Old Testament dispensation the Covenant of Grace was administered by promises, prophesies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the Jews-all foresignifying Christ to come-which were sufficient, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, to instruct them savingly in the knowledge of God, and build them up in faith of the Messiah.

Christ The Mediator

27. Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, was verily appointed before the foundation of the world to be the Mediator between God and Man, the Prophet, Priest, and King the heir of all things, the propitiation for the sins of all mankind, the Head of his Church, the Judge of the world, and Savior of all true believers. 

28. The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon himself man’s nature, yet without sin, being very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and Man. 

29. Jesus Christ, in his human nature, thus united to the Divine, was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit above measure, having in him all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell, to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth, he might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety. 

30. That he might discharge the office of Mediator Jesus Christ was made under the law, which he perfectly fulfilled, was crucified, died, and was buried, and remained under the power of death for a time, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, and afterward ascended to heaven, where he sits on the right hand of God, making intercession for transgressors. 

31. Jesus Christ, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he, through the Eternal Spirit once offered unto God, became the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, so God can be just in justifying all who believe in Jesus. 

32. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ until after his incarnation, yet the benefits thereof were communicated unto the believer, in all ages, successively, from the beginning of the world, by the Holy Spirit, and through such instrumentalities as God was pleased to employ. 

33. Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, and now makes intercession for transgressors, by virtue of which the Holy Spirit is given to convince of sin and enable man to believe and obey, governing the hearts of believers by his word and Spirit, overcoming all their enemies, by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.   

Free Will

34. God, in creating man in his own likeness, endued man with intelligence, sensibility, and will, which form the basis of moral character, and render man capable of moral government. 

35. The freedom of the will is a fact of human consciousness, and is the sole ground of human accountability. Man, in his state of innocence, was both free and able to keep the Divine law, also to violate it. Without any constraint, from either physical or moral causes, he did violate it.  

36. Man, by disobedience, lost his innocence, forfeited the favor of God, became corrupt in heart and inclined to evil. In this state of spiritual death and condemnation, man is still free and responsible; yet, without the illuminating influences of the Holy Spirit, he is unable either to keep the law or lay hold upon the hope set before him in the gospel. 

37. When the sinner is born of God, he loves him supremely, and steadfastly purposes to do his will; yet, because of remaining corruption, and of his imperfect knowledge of moral and spiritual things, he often wills what in itself is sinful. This imperfect knowledge and corruption remain, in greater or less force, during the present life; hence the conflict between the flesh and the spirit.  

Divine Influence 

38. God the Father, having set forth his Son Jesus Christ as a propitiation for the sins of the world, does most graciously vouchsafe a manifestation of the Holy Spirit with the same intent to every man. 

39. The Holy Spirit, operating through the written word, and through such other means as God in his wisdom may choose, or directly, without means, so moves upon the hearts of men as to enlighten, reprove, and convince them of sin, of their lost estate, and of their need for salvation; and , by so doing, inclines them to come to Christ. 

40. This Call of the Holy Spirit is purely of God's free grace alone, and not because of human merit, and is antecedent to all desire, purpose, and intention on the part of the sinner to come to Christ; so that while it is possible for all to be saved with it, none can be saved without it. 

41. This call is not irresistible, but is effectual in those only who, in penitence and faith, freely surrender themselves wholly to Christ, the only name whereby men can be saved. 

Repentance Unto Life

42. Repentance unto life is a change of mind and feeling toward God, induced by the agency of the Holy Spirit, wherein the sinner resolutely purposes to forsake all sin, to turn unto God, and to walk in all his commandments.  

43. There is no merit in repentance, or in any other human exercise; yet God is pleased to require all men to repent.  

44. As all men are required to make full and frank confession of sin to God, so he that gives grounds of offense to the Church, or trespasses against his brother, should confess his errors, make amendment and due restitution, so far as is in his power.

Saving Faith

45. Saving faith, including assent to the truth of God's holy word , is the act of receiving and resting upon Christ alone for salvation, and is accompanied by contrition for sin and a full purpose of heart to turn from it and to live unto God.  

46. While there is no merit in faith, yet it is the condition of salvation. It is not of the nature of good works, from which it must be distinguished.  

47. This faith may be tried in many ways, but the believer has the promise of ultimate victory through Christ. 

Justification

48. All those who truly repent of their sins, and in faith commit themselves to Christ, God freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by counting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, or any other evangelical obedience, to them as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith.  

49. Justification is purely of God's free grace, and is a full pardon for all sins, and exemption from all their penal consequences; but it imparts no moral qualities or merits to the believer, being strictly a legal transaction. Through of free grace alone, it is conditioned upon faith, and is assured to none but penitent and true believers, who, being  justified, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  

50. God continues to forgive the sins of those who are justified, and although he will never permit them to fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves, confess their sins, and renew their consecration to God. 

Regeneration

51. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are regenerated, or born from above, renewed in spirit, and made new creatures in Christ.  

52. The necessity for this moral purification arises out of enmity of the human heart against God, its insubordination to his law, and its consequent incapacity to love and glorify God. 

53. Regeneration is of God's free grace alone, and is the work of the Holy Spirit, who, by taking of the  things which are Christ's and showing them unto the sinner, enables him to lay hold on Christ. This renewal of the heart by the Holy Spirit is not of the nature of a physical but of a moral work-a purification of the heart by faith. 

Sanctification

56. Sanctification is a doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and it is the duty and privilege of believers to avail themselves of its inestimable benefits, as taught in the word of God. A state of sinless perfection in this life is not authorized by the Scriptures, and is a dogma of dangerous tendency. 

Growth In Grace

57. Growth in grace is secured by personal consecration to the service of God, regular attention to the means of grace, the reading of the Holy Scriptures, prayer, the ministrations of the sanctuary, and all known Christian duties. By such means the believer's faith is much increased, his tendency to sin weakened, the lusts of the flesh mortified, and he more and more strengthened in all saving graces, and in the practices of holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

Good Works

58. Good works are such only as God has commanded in his word, and not such as may be derived by men out of blind zeal, or any pretense of good intention. 

59. Those who, in their obedience and love, attain the greatest height in this life, still fall short of that perfection which the Divine law requires; yet their good works are accepted of God, who, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections. 

Preservation of Believers

60. Those whom God has justified, he will also glorify; consequently, the truly regenerated soul will not totally fall away from a state of grace, but will be preserved to everlasting life.  

61. The preservation of believers depends on the unchangeable love and power of God, the merits, advocacy, and intercession of Jesus Christ, the abiding of the Holy Spirit and seed of God within them, and the nature of the Covenant of Grace. Nevertheless, true believers, through the temptations of Satan, the world, and the flesh, and the neglect of the means of grace, may fall into sin, incur God's displeasure, and grieve the Holy Spirit, and thus be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, and have their consciences wounded; but the Christian will never rest satisfied therein. 

Christian Assurance 

62. Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. 

63. This assurance is founded upon the Divine promises, the consciousness of peace with God, the testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with their spirits that they are the children of God, and is the earnest of their inheritance.  

64. This comfortable assurance of salvation is not an invariable accomplishment of faith in Christ; hence the believer may have many sore conflicts before he is made a partaker of it; yet he may, by the right use of the means of grace-through the agency of the Holy Spirit-attain thereunto; therefore, it is the duty of every one to give diligence to make his calling and election sure. 

65. As this assurance may be very much strengthened by full consecration to God and fidelity in his service, so it may be weakened by worldly-mindedness and negligence in Christian duty, which result in darkness and in doubt; yet true believers have the promise of God that he will never leave nor forsake them. 

Christian Liberty 

71.  The liberty that Christ has secured to believers under the gospel consist in freedom from the guilt and penal consequences of sin, in their free access to God, and in their yielding obedience to him, not from a slavish fear, but from a cheerful and confiding love.  

72. God, who alone is Lord of the conscience, has left it free, in matters of faith and worship, from such opinions and commandments of men as may be contrary to his word.  

73. Those who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is, that being delivered from the dominion of sin, we may serve the Lord without fear in righteousness all our days.  

74. Those who, upon a similar pretense, shall oppose the proper exercise of any lawful authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, and thereby resist the ordinance of God, may lawfully be called to account, and be subjected to the censures of the Church. 

Religious Worship 

75. Religious worship is to be rendered to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature; and, since the fall, this worship is acceptable only through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

76. Prayer with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is required of all men; and, by the help of the Holy Spirit, is made efficacious through Christ, when offered according to his will. Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for the living, but not for the dead.  

77. The reading of the Holy Scriptures, attendance upon the ministrations of the word, the use of psalms and sacred songs, the proper observance of the Christian sacraments, visiting the sick, contributing to the relief of the poor, and the support and spread of the gospel, are all proper acts of religious worship. Religious vows, solemn fasting and thanksgivings, are also acts of religious worship, and are of much benefit when properly performed.  

78. God is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, in secret, in private families daily, and in the public assembly. 

Christian Stewardship 

79. Christian stewardship consists in the recognition that all of life is a trust from God and is to be used for his glory and the advancement of his kingdom. It extends to all gifts which God has bestowed upon man including time, talents, and substance.    

80. The motive of Christian stewardship is love toward both God and man and the desire for the propagation of the gospel.   

81. Tithing as a principle of stewardship is both a duty and a privilege of every believer. While not expressly commanded in the New Testament, it was endorsed by Christ himself and may be legitimately deduced from the epistles.    

82. Tithing is, when rightly practiced, an act of Christian devotion and a means of grace for the believer and is blessed of God in the propagation of the gospel.    

83. While tithing is a duty and privilege of every believer, it should be regarded as the minimum basis of Christian giving and not necessarily as the full measure of one's devotion to Christ.    

84. Every man must give an account to God of his stewardship. 

Sabbath-Day 

85. God has been pleased to appoint one day in seven 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, after the resurrection of Christ, was changed unto the first day of the week, which in the Scriptures is called the Lord's-day.   

86. The Sabbath is kept holy unto the Lord by resting from employments and recreations of a secular character, by the public and private worship of God, and by works of necessity and mercy. 

Lawful Oaths and Vows 

87. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all reverence; therefore, to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful. Yet, an oath is warranted by the word of God, under the New Testament as well as under the Old, when imposed by lawful authority. 

88. Whosoever takes an oath duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth. Neither may a man bind himself by oath to any thing but what is good and just, or what he believes so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.   

89. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation or mental reservation. It cannot obligate to sin; but in any thing not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt.  

90. A vow is of a like nature with an oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness. No man may vow to do any thing forbidden in the word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance whereof he has no promise or ability from God. 

Civil Government 

91. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, has ordained civil officers to be under him over the people, for his own glory and the public good; and, to this end, has armed them with power for the defense of the innocent and the punishment of evil-doers.  

92. It is lawful for Christians to accept civil offices when called thereunto, in the management whereof they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each Commonwealth. 

93. Civil officers may not assume to themselves the administration of the word and the sacraments, or in the least interfere in matters of faith; yet it is their duty to protect the Church of our common Lord, without giving preference to any denomination of Christians. And, as Jesus Christ, no law of any Commonwealth should interfere therewith, but should provide that all religious and ecclesiastical assemblies shall be held without molestation or disturbances.  

94. It is the duty of the people to pray for magistrates, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority for conscience's sake. 

Marriage And Divorce 

95. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman; neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband, at the same time.  

96. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife, and for the mutual help of husband and wife, and for the benefit  of the human race.  

97. Marriages ought not to be within the degrees of consanguinity or or affinity forbidden in the word of God, nor can such marriages be justified by the human law. 

98. The marriage relation should not be dissolved for any cause not justified by the teachings of the word for God, and any immorality in relation to its dissolution is cognizable by the Church-courts.

The Church 

99. The universal Church, which is invisible, consists of all those who have become children of God by faith, and joint-heirs which Christ, who is the head thereof.  

100. The visible Church consists of those who hold to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity in respect to matters of faith and morals, and have entered into formal covenant with God and some organized body of Christians for the maintenance of religious worship. The children of such are included in the covenant relationship of their parents, and are properly under the special care of the Church.  

101. Unto this visible Church Christ has given the ministry, the word, and the ordinances for its edification, and, by his own presence in spirit, makes them effectual thereunto. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of his Church on earth. 

Christian Communion 

102. All those united to Christ by faith have fellowship with him, and , being united to one another in love, have communion one with another, and are required to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

103. While it is required of all Christians to live in fellowship, it is the especial duty of those belonging to the same denomination; and also to co-operate in sustaining public worship, and whatever measures are adjudged best for the spiritual interests of the Church and the glory of God. 

The Sacraments 

104. As under the Old Testament dispensation two sacraments were ordained, Circumcision and the Passover; so, under the New, there are but two-that is too say, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

Baptism  

105. Water-baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ as a sign and symbol of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and as the seal of the Covenant of Grave. 

106. The outward element to be used in this sacrament is water, wherewith the party is to be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by an ordained minister of the gospel. 

107. Baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person, yet the validity of this sacrament does not depend upon any particular mode of administration. 

108. The proper subjects of water-baptism are believing adults; also infants, one or both of whose parents or guardians are believers.  

109. There is no saving efficacy in water-baptism, yet it is a duty of all believers to confess Christ in this solemn ordinance, and it is also the duty of all believing parents to consecrate their children to God in baptism. 

The Lord's Supper 

110. The sacrament, commonly called the Lord's Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ at the close of his last Passover supper, as a perpetual remembrancer of his passion and death on the cross, by which sacrifice of himself he was made the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.  

111. In this Sacrament no sacrifice of any kind is offered for sin, but the one perfect offering of Christ as sufficient sacrifice is set forth and commemorated by appropriate symbols. These symbols are bread and wine, which, through figuratively called the body and blood of Christ, nevertheless remain, after consecration, literal bread and wine, and give no countenance to the doctrines of consubstantiation and transubstantiation.  

112. As in this sacrament the communicants have visibly set before them symbols of the Savior's passion, they should not approach the holy communion without due self-examination, reverence, humility, and gratitude.  

113. All who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth should, on all suitable occasions , express their devotion to him by the use of the symbols of his death. But none who have not faith to discern the Lord's body should partake of his holy communion

Church Authority

114. The Lord Jesus, as King and head of his church, has therein appointed a government entrusted to Church-offices distinct from the civil government. 

115. By Divine appointment the offices of the visible church have the power to admit members into its communion, to admonish, suspend, or expel the disorderly and to restore those who, in the judgment of charity, have repented of their sins. 

Church Courts

116. Church-government implies the existence of Church-courts, invested with legislative, judicial, and executive authority; and the Scripture recognize such institutions, some of subordinate and some of superior authority, each having its own particular sphere of duties and privileges in reference to matters ministerial and ecclesiastical, yet all subordinate to the same general design. 

117. It is the prerogative of these courts, ministerial, to determine controversies of faith and questions of morals, to determine controversies of faith and questions of morals, to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God and government of his Church, to receive complaints in cases of maladministration, and authoritatively to determine the same, which determinations are to be received which reverence and submission. 

Death and the Resurrection

118. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust; but their spirits, being immortal, return to God who gave them. The spirit of the righteous are received into heaven, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the spirit of the wicked are cast into hell, where they are reserved to the judgment of the great day. The Scriptures speak of no other place for departed spirits. 

119. At the resurrection, those who are alive shall not die, but be changed; and all the dead shall be raised up, spiritual and immortal, and spirits and bodies be reunited forever. There shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust;  of the unjust to dishonor, and of the just unto honor; the bodies of the latter shall be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. 

The Judgment

120. God has appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ-to whom all power and judgment are given by the Father-in which not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons who have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, and shall receive according to what they have done, whether good or evil.

121. After the judgment, the wicked shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.