New Life acknowledges the usefulness of creeds and confessions as summaries of biblical doctrine. Every healthy church as well as every heretical cult carries with it some understanding of the Bible by which it lives. To assert, "We will have no creed but Christ; it is wrong to formulate some uninspired document and elevate it to importance," is itself in fact a creed, an uninspired statement of merely human origin which succinctly states one's understanding of the Bible and is elevated to a place of importance in the life of the church.

By contrast, we openly assert that it is impossible for Christians not to formulate some summary of biblical teaching and then to navigate accordingly. Therefore, we rejoice to have such excellent synopses of scriptural religion as the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms. They are not inspired by God, and are ever subordinate to the divinely inspired Word, the Bible. In fact, they have been altered a few times over the years as God the Holy Spirit has led his church more accurately into the faith given to the saints once for all.

But by these standards our understanding of the Bible for faith and life, belief and duty, may immediately be known by outsiders inquiring into our views.

Furthermore, they form a pattern of sound doctrine (2 Tim. 1:13-14, 2:2) by which our churches and leaders are held accountable. They may not swerve aside after every wind of vain doctrine. At their ordination, our pastors, elders, and deacons promise that they "sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures." It is important to note that individual members are not asked to receive and adopt our confessional standards upon joining our church, but only to affirm the questions listed in the blue box below. We have joyful fellowship in our church with many members who do not hold to particular points in our confession.

Nonetheless, the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms do form the summary of our faith, and so they also serve as excellent tools for instructing children and adults alike in the whole counsel of God, and for confessing our faith, to the glory of God, in our worship.

Go to second column

In 1643 the English Parliament summoned almost 160 men, mostly ministers, to advise it on restructuring the Church of England along more biblical lines. Meeting regularly at Westminster Abbey in London for several years, this group became known as the Westminster Assembly.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, formulated in numbered paragraphs in 33 chapters, was completed in 1647. It is an outstanding expression of biblical theology framed by men of deep pastoral and preaching experience with the needs of God's people in mind.

Catechisms are teaching provided in question and answer form, appropriate especially for memorization. The Westminster Assembly, after several frustrated attempts to devise a catechism, finally concluded they would need two, one more exact and comprehensive, one more simple for children and beginners in the faith.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, containing 107 questions followed by, generally, single-sentence answers, was also completed in 1647. The Shorter Catechism distills in its justly famous first question that emphasis on the sovereignty and centrality of God which runs throughout the Westminster documents (as it does the Bible itself!) -- "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." The Catechism goes on to stress that this can only be achieved by conformity to God's Word and will. Hence, both the Shorter and Larger Catechism are divided into two parts. The first part states what we are to believe concerning God and his works, and the second part states what duty God requires of us (in his law and his gospel).

The Westminster Larger Catechism was completed in 1648, answering 196 questions with much more detail. It serves as an excellent guide book to the theology of the Bible.

Because of the tempestuous political background against which the Assembly performed its work, its Confession and Catechisms were only for a short time used by the Church of England, but they have continued to be the most widely influential of all the Reformed statements, and serve even today in churches throughout the world, including presbyterian, congregational, and baptist.
 
1. Do you believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, to be the Word of God, and its doctrine of salvation to be the perfect and only true doctrine of salvation?

2. Do you confess that, because of your sinfulness, you abhor and humble yourself before God, and that you trust for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone?
3. Do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as your sovereign Lord and do you promise, in reliance on the grace of God, to serve him with all that is in you, to forsake the world, to mortify your old nature, and to lead a godly life?

4. Do you agree to submit in the Lord to the government of this church and, in case you should be found delinquent in doctrine or life, to heed its discipline?

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 him in his holy Word, that is, the Bible, which he had given by the infallible inspiration of this 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 Ghost, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier; in whose power and 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 of the 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 offences, 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 God.

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 afore prepared that I should walk in them.

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 on 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 to 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.