I am continuing with some study in the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). In the first article I presented a brief history giving you the back drop to the calling of the Westminster Assembly by the Long Parliament in the English summer of 1643. In article two I established the Scriptural evidence for the use of creeds and I laid before you the doctrine of the insufficiency of natural revelation and the sufficiency of special revelation. This time I will present to you the inspiration of the 66 books of the Protestant Bible, the source and nature of the Scriptures authority, and then discuss how we should view the Apocrypha. I hope you, like me, are comprehending the depth and breadth of this faithful confession of Orthodox Reformed Christianity. To do justice to each of the sections within the Confession we could spend weeks unpacking the rich heritage that has been deposited here for the glory of Christ’s Kingdom.

This is my second consideration of the Westminster Confession of Faith. My first article can be found at this LINK . This time I will consider chapter 1, section 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). Before I look at that chapter I want to briefly discuss two issues; firstly, the necessity of creeds and confessions, and secondly the importance of the Confession’s opening chapter in dealing with the Scriptures.

George Santayana aptly stated; “[t]hose who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”[1]As 21st century Christians many of us know nothing of the historical roots of the Church. We pride ourselves in contemporary living. Credence seems to be given to fresh ideas. It is out with the old and in with the new. Modern Christendom is mimicking what it sees in the world roundabout it. Innovation is preferred to in depth study of God’s Word. Popular culture is shaping how we worship instead of an understanding of how our forefathers in the faith lived out their faith in obedience. How often we forget the importance of history; friends we must return to know, love and understand that the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ has determined the course of history. In deed, it has shaped the freedoms afforded our western societies. From the very beginning of creation to the final day in history all has been preordained by the sovereign will of the Triune God of the Bible. Everything is working and has in history to the glory of God, whether we understand why or how, or not. In discounting the history of the Church modern Christians rob their faith of much richness and fullness and diminish it to mere doctrinal statements. Remember, the Bible is not merely a text book of theological assertions. It is the story of the history of man, his fall and salvation unto working upon the earth -tending it and taking dominion over it - for the glory of God. The Bible’s theology and doctrine are of utmost importance but we must also acknowledge the impetus of the historical stories which run through the pages of Scripture. Friends, we must become a people who keep telling the “old, old story.” Our theology needs to burst from our fingertips. Henry Van Til aptly surmised the efforts of the Reformers; “[t]hrough the Reformation the mechanical relation of nature and grace was superceded by an ethical one, so that the restoration of the law of God in every sphere of life became the concern of the believer.”[2]Through this introduction to the Westminster Confession I will seek to tell you the story surrounding the formation of the Westminster Assembly and the development of its confession. We must learn to love the stories of antiquity which make up the rich heritage of the Church of Jesus Christ; that Church which has continuously grown since the Garden of Eden and the promise of Genesis 3:15 .