In recent weeks, I have taken up the devotional practice of working through the Westminster Confession of Faith, and attempting to briefly summarize its contents in my own words, section by section. As some of you have expressed an interest in this, I figured I would post them, putting up no more than one section per day. They will usually be brief summaries, with some application if I felt it necessary. If you've ever wanted to go through the Confession, but have been intimidated by the length and language, I hope this is helpful for you. I plan to post the original wording of the particular WCF section in italics, followed by my attempt at a summary. Feel free to interact with it if you feel I am mistaken on anything.
Without further ado, I give you "Walking Through Westminster"...
Westminster Confession of Faith 1.1
"Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at many times, and in diverse manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare His will unto the church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same (His word) wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased."
Summary
Nature bears witness to men's hearts that there must be a Creator. Creation and providence manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God to such an extent that all men are inexcusable for their sins. No one will stand before God on Judgment Day with an adequate defense of "Not enough evidence". But the witness of nature in creation and providence is only enough witness to leave us without excuse. It is only enough to leave us rightly condemned. If we are to escape condemnation, we need more witness than that of nature; we need the Word of God. This is one of many reasons why no one can be excused from presence in church on the Lord's Day on the basis of "going to nature". No one hears the voice of God more clearly in nature than they do in the preaching of the word of God, and to claim otherwise is sin. This is why the Lord inspired prophets and apostles to speak the infallible word of God. God supernaturally revealed Himself through His servants so that men might know the way of salvation. But since all men, even prophets and apostles die, the Lord in His wisdom and grace providentially worked to get His word in writing. He did this for two reasons: first, to better preserve and propagate His eternal gospel, since mere verbal transmission depends too much on the unreliable memory of men. Second, He did it to establish and give comfort to His church-bride against the flesh, the world, and Satan, just as Christ responded to the temptations of Satan by directly quoting the Scripture, "It is written..." (Matt 4:1-11) All of this "maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary". We cannot have a right relationship with God outside of the Bible. We cannot know God's will for our lives outside of the Bible. We cannot demand anything more of God than what He gives us in the Bible, since He gives us everything we need therein. The method of direct, supernatural revelation to apostles and prophets is therefore no longer necessary and in fact done away with, since God has wholly committed (i.e. everything we need to know) His word and will to writing.Therefore, any who would claim a new word of revelation from God are wrong to do so, whether it contradicts the already-written word or not.
+ Blessings in Christ+
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