Westminster Confession, week 4

Chapter 2: Of God, and of the Holy Trinity

1: There is but one only,^[25] living, and true God,^[26] who is infinite in being and perfection,^[27] a most pure spirit,^[28] invisible,^[29] without body, parts,^[30] or passions;^[31] immutable,^[32] immense,^[33] eternal,^[34] incomprehensible,^[35] almighty,^[36] most wise,^[37] most holy,^[38] most free,^[39] most absolute;^[40] working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will,^[41] for His own glory;^[42] most loving,^[43] gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;^[44] the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him;^[45] and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments,^[46] hating all sin,^[47] and who will by no means clear the guilty.^[48]

2: God has all life,^[49] glory,^[50] goodness,^[51] blessedness,^[52] in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He has made,^[53] nor deriving any glory from them,^[54] but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things;^[55] and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleases.^[56] In His sight all things are open and manifest,^[57] His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature,^[58] so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain.^[59] He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands.^[60] To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.^[61]

3: In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost:^[62] the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father;^[63] the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.^[64]

Canons of Dordt, week 4

The First Head of Doctrine: Divine Election and Reprobation

Article 7: Election

Election [or choosing] is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

As Scripture says, God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified (Rom. 8:30).

Larger Catechism, week 4

Q. 15. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is that wherein God did in the beginning, by the word of his power, make of nothing the world, and all things therein, for himself, within the space of six days, and all very good.^[49]

Q. 16. How did God create angels?
A. God created all the angels^[50] spirits,^[51] immortal,^[52] holy,^[53] excelling in knowledge,^[54] mighty in power,^[55] to execute his commandments, and to praise his name,^[56] yet subject to change.^[57]

Q. 17. How did God create man?
A. After God had made all other creatures, he created man male and female;^[58] formed the body of the man of the dust of the ground,^[59] and the woman of the rib of the man,^[60] endued them with living, reasonable, and immortal souls;^[61] made them after his own image,^[62] in knowledge,^[63] righteousness, and holiness;^[64] having the law of God written in their hearts,^[65] and power to fulfill it,^[66] and dominion over the creatures;^[67] yet subject to fall.^[68]

Belgic Confession, week 4

Article 8: The Trinity

In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties– namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, this distinction does not divide God into three, since Scripture teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has his own subsistence distinguished by characteristics– yet in such a way that these three persons are only one God. It is evident then that the Father is not the Son and that the Son is not the Father, and that likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons, thus distinct, are neither divided nor fused or mixed together. For the Father did not take on flesh, nor did the Spirit, but only the Son. The Father was never without his Son, nor without his Holy Spirit, since all these are equal from eternity, in one and the same essence. There is neither a first nor a last, for all three are one in truth and power, in goodness and mercy.

Shorter Catechism, week 4

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is, God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power,^[24] in the space of six days, and all very good.^[25]

Q. 10. How did God create man?
A. God created man male and female, after his own image,^[26] in knowledge,^[27] righteousness, and holiness,^[28] with dominion over the creatures.^[29]

Children’s Catechism, week 4

Q. 14. Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
A. In the Bible alone.

Q. 15. Who wrote the Bible?
A. Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.

Q. 16. Who were our first parents?
A. Adam and Eve.

Q. 17. Of what were our first parents made?
A. God made the body of Adam out of the ground, and formed Eve from the body of Adam.

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 4

4. Lord’s Day

Q. 9. Does not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law, that which he cannot perform?
A. Not at all; [a] for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, [b] and his own wilful disobedience, [c] deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.

Q. 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
A. By no means; but is terribly displeased [a] with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment temporally and eternally, [b] as he has declared, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” [c]

Q. 11. Is not God then also merciful?
A. God is indeed merciful, [a] but also just; [b] therefore his justice requires, that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.

Westminster Confession, week 3

Chapter 1: Of the Holy Scripture

8: The Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical;^[17] so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them.^[18] But, because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded, in the fear of God, to read and search them,^[19] therefore they are to be translated in to the vulgar language of every nation unto which they come,^[20] that, the Word of God dwelling plentifully in all, they may worship Him in an acceptable manner;^[21] and, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, may have hope.^[22]

9: The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.^[23]

10: The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.^[24]

Canons of Dordt, week 3

The First Head of Doctrine: Divine Election and Reprobation

Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith

The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ (Phil. 1:29).

Article 6: God’s Eternal Decision

The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For all his works are known to God from eternity (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act — unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just — of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

Larger Catechism, week 3

Q. 12. What are the decrees of God?
A. God’s decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the counsel of his will,^[43] whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time,^[44] especially concerning angels and men.

Q. 13. What hath God especially decreed concerning angels and men?
A. God, by an eternal and immutable decree, out of his mere love, for the praise of his glorious grace, to be manifested in due time, hath elected some angels to glory;^[45] and in Christ hath chosen some men to eternal life, and the means thereof:^[46] and also, according to his sovereign power, and the unsearchable counsel of his own will, (whereby he extendeth or withholdeth favor as he pleaseth,) hath passed by and foreordained the rest to dishonor and wrath, to be for their sin inflicted, to the praise of the glory of his justice.^[47]

Q. 14. How doth God execute his decrees?
A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will.^[48]