The following is a brief summary of
basic Biblical teaching by theologian Benjamin Warfield.
For a more detailed statement of our beliefs, please
refer to the Westminster
Confession of Faith.
I
believe that my one aim in life and death should
be to glorify God and enjoy him forever; and that
God teaches me how to glorify and enjoy him in
his holy Word, that is, the Bible, which he has
given by the infallible inspiration of the Holy
Spirit in order that I may certainly know what I
am to believe concerning him and what duty he
requires of me.
I
believe that God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal,
and incomparable in all that he is; one God but
three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, my Creator, Redeemer, and my Sanctifier;
in whose power, wisdom, righteousness, goodness,
and truth I may safely put my trust.
I
believe that the heavens and the earth, and all
that is in them, are the work of God’s
hands; and that all that he has made he directs
and governs in all their actions; so that they
fulfill the end for which they were created, and
I who trust in him shall not be put to shame but
may rest securely in the protection of his
almighty love.
I
believe that God created man after his own image,
in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and
entered into a covenant of life with him upon the
sole condition of the obedience that was his due;
so that it was by willfully sinning against God
that man fell into the sin and misery in which I
have been born.
I
believe that, being fallen in Adam, my first
father, I am by nature a child of wrath, under
the condemnation of God and corrupted in body and
soul, prone to evil and liable to eternal death;
from which dreadful state I cannot be delivered
save through the unmerited grace of God my
Savior.
I
believe that God has not left the world to perish
in its sin, but out of the great love wherewith
he has loved it, has from all eternity graciously
chosen unto himself a multitude which no man can
number, to deliver them out of their sin and
misery, and of them to build up again in the
world his kingdom of righteousness; in which
kingdom I may be assured I have my part, if I
hold fast to Christ the Lord.
I
believe that God has redeemed his people unto
himself through Jesus Christ our Lord; who,
though he was and ever continues to be the
eternal Son of God, yet was born of a woman, born
under the law, that he might redeem them that are
under the law. I believe that he bore the
penalty due to my sins in his own body on the
tree and fulfilled in his own person the
obedience I owe to the righteousness of God, and
now presents me to his Father as his purchased
possession, to the praise and glory of his grace
forever; wherefore, renouncing all merit of my
own, I put all my trust only in the blood and
righteousness of Jesus Christ my Redeemer.
I
believe that Jesus Christ my Redeemer, who died
for my offenses, was raised again for my
justification, and ascended into the heavens,
where he sits at the right hand of the Father
Almighty, continually making intercession for his
people, and governing the whole world as head
over all things for his Church; so that I need
fear no evil and may surely know that nothing can
snatch me out of his hands and nothing can
separate me from his love.
I
believe that the redemption wrought by the Lord
Jesus Christ is effectually applied to all his
people by the Holy Spirit, who works faith in me
and thereby unites me to Christ, renews me in the
whole man after the image of God, and enables me
more and more to die unto sin and to live unto
righteousness; until, this gracious work having
been completed in me, I shall be received into
glory; in which great hope abiding, I must ever
strive to perfect holiness in the fear of the
Lord.
I
believe that God requires of me, under the
Gospel, first of all that, out of a true sense of
my sin and misery and apprehension of his mercy
in Christ, I should turn with grief and hatred
away from sin and receive and rest upon Jesus
Christ alone for salvation; that, so being united
to him, I may receive pardon for my sins and be
accepted as righteous in God’s sight, only
for the righteousness of Christ imputed to me and
received by faith alone; and thus and thus only
do I believe I may be received into the number
and have a right to all the privileges of the
sons of God.
I
believe that, having been pardoned and accepted
for Christ’s sake, it is further required of
me that I walk in the Spirit whom he has
purchased for me, and by whom love is shed abroad
in my heart; fulfilling the obedience I owe to
Christ my King; faithfully performing all the
duties laid upon me by the holy law of God my
heavenly Father; and ever reflecting, in my life
and conduct, the perfect example that has been
set me by Christ Jesus my Leader, who has died
for me and granted to me his Holy Spirit just
that I may do the good works which God has
prepared in advance for me to do.
I
believe that God has established his Church in
the world and endowed it with the ministry of the
Word and the holy ordinances of Baptism, the
Lord’s Supper, and Prayer; in order that,
through these as means, the riches of his grace
in the Gospel may be made known to the world,
and, by the blessing of Christ and the working of
his Spirit in them that by faith receive them,
the benefits of redemption may be communicated to
his people; wherefore also it is required of me
that I attend upon these means of grace with
diligence, preparation, and prayer, so that
through them I may be instructed and strengthened
in faith, and in holiness of life and in love;
and that I use my best endeavors to carry this
Gospel and convey these means of grace to the
whole world.
I
believe that as Jesus Christ has once come in
grace, so also is he to come a second time in
glory, to judge the world in righteousness and
assign to each his eternal award; and I believe
that if I die in Christ, my soul shall be at
death made perfect in holiness and go home to the
Lord; and when he shall return in his majesty I
shall be raised in glory and made perfectly
blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all
eternity; encouraged by which blessed hope it is
required of me willingly to take my part in
suffering hardship here as a good soldier of
Christ Jesus, being assured that if I die with
him I shall also live with him; if I endure, I
shall also reign with him.
And to him, my
Redeemer,
with the Father
and the Holy Spirit,
Three Persons, one God,
be glory forever, world without end,
Amen, and Amen.
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