A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith
By B.B. Warfield
1. I believe that God, since the creation of His world, has plainly
revealed through the things He has made His eternal power and divine
nature, and the requirements of His law, so that there is no excuse for
unbelief or disobedience on the part of any man; yet however glorious
this revelation, it is not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and
of His will, which is necessary for salvation.
2. 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 inerrant Word, that is, the Bible, which He has given
by the infallible inspiration of His Holy Spirit in order that I may
certainly know what I am to believe concerning Him and what duty He
requires of me.
3. I believe that the whole counsel of God concerning all things
necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either
expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence
may be deduced from Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be
added, whether by alleged new revelations of the Spirit or by traditions
of men.
4. I believe that God authenticated His prophets and apostles as
agents of revelation by mighty acts of His power employed by Him as
signs whereby all men should confess, concerning those who are gifted
with such power, "We know you are a teacher sent from God, for no one
could do the things you do lest God were with Him"; and I believe that
the great outpouring of such miracles displayed in the ministry of
Christ and His Apostles signified the breaking into history of God's
promised kingdom, which kingdom, when established in its fullness, will
issue in the miraculous renewal of all creation; and that until such
time, God is at work bringing men and women into that kingdom through
the supernatural work of regeneration.
5. I believe that because God has completed His revelation in Jesus
Christ, the former ways of revealing His will are now ceased; and
because the final and manifest establishment of His kingdom is yet to
come, God does not now choose to publicly display His miraculous power.
Nevertheless I believe that God is directly upholding and governing His
creation, moment by moment; that God faithfully supplies the needs of
His people through His constant providential care; and that He often
blesses them with special providences wherein He strengthens their faith
and displays His special love for them to the world.
6. I believe that God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and
unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness
and truth; 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, wisdom, righteousness, goodness, and truth I
may safely put my trust.
7. I believe that God has all life, glory, goodness, and blessedness,
in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not
standing in need of me, or deriving any glory from me, but only
manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon me in Christ Jesus; and
that He has most sovereign dominion over me, to do by me, for me, or
upon me whatsoever He pleases.
8. I believe that God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and
holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever
comes to pass; yet thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is
violence done to the will of the creature; and trusting in the decree of
God, I who am called according to His purpose, I may be assured that
all things will work together for my good.
9. I believe that the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is,
are the works 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.
10.I believe that God created man after His own image, in knowledge,
righteousness, and holiness, and that all men owe their Creator
thanksgiving and worship; yet God condescended, making a covenant with
man, that men might know God, not just as Creator, but as their
blessedness and reward. And I believe that while the requirement of this
covenant, originating under Adam, was obedience, God was pleased,
according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit him to disobey, having
purposed to order it to His own glory; so that it was by willfully
sinning against God that I, in Adam, lost the rewards of a covenant
keeper, and suffer the curses due a covenant breaker. Therefore my only
hope of salvation is that Christ the second Adam, has kept the covenant,
securing its rewards for the elect, among whom by grace I am numbered.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. I believe that God has redeemed His people unto HimseIf 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, put all my trust only in the blood and righteousness of Jesus
Christ my redeemer.
14. 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 he 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.
15. I believe that the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ is
effectualy 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 His 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.
16. 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; 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.
17. 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 that I may do the good works which God has afore
prepared that I should walk in them.
18. I believe that God has established His Church in the world, one
and the same in all ages, and now, under the Gospel, has 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 means, the riches of His
grace in the gospel may be 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 by best endeavors to carry this gospel and convey
these means of grace to the whole world.
19. I believe that the visible Church consists of all those who are
united to Christ, the Head of the Church, by profession of their faith,
together with their children; and that the visible unity of the body of
Christ, though obscured, is not destroyed by its division into different
denominations of professing Christians. Therefore I believe that all of
these which maintain the Word and Sacraments in their fundamental
integrity are to be recognized as true branches of the Church of Jesus
Christ.
20. I believe that God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left
it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in any
respect contrary to His Word, or beside it in matters of faith or
worship. I believe therefore, that the rights of private judgment in all
matters that respect religion are universal and inalienable and that no
religious constitution should be supported by the civil power, further
than may be necessary for protection and security equal and common to
all others.
21. I believe that the Church is God's spiritual minister for the
purpose of redemption and the state is God's providential minister for
the purpose of thisworldly order. The power of the Church is exclusively
spiritual; that of the State includes the exercise of force. The
constitution of the Church derives exclusively from divine revelation;
the constitution of the State must be determined by human reason and the
course of providential events. I believe therefore that the Church has
no right to construct or modify a government for the State, and the
State has no right to frame a creed or polity for the Church.
22. I believe that disciples of Jesus Christ are called to be His
witnesses in the world, proclaiming the justice and mercy of God to all
men, and making evident His wise and righteous rule over every aspect of
human culture. Therefore it is my obligation to search the Scriptures
with all the skills God has allotted me, and to seek, within the bounds
of my calling, to apply my understanding of His Word to the entire
created order, and to all the outworkings of His most wise providence.
And I believe that it is my privilege and duty to pursue a vocation in
this world that employs my gifts to the glory of God, and for the good
of my family, my congregation, my community, and, as God brings
opportunity, to any who may be in need.
23. 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 reward; the wicked shall have the fearful
but just sentence of condemnation pronounced against them, wherein
their consciences shall fully concur, and they shall be cast into hell,
to be punished with unspeakable torments, both in body and soul, with
the devil and his angels for ever. The righteous in Christ shall be
caught up with Christ and there openly acknowledged and acquitted; shall
be received into heaven, where they shall fully and forever be freed
from all sin and misery; filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly
holy and happy in both body and soul, in the great company of all God's
saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision of God
the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all
eternity.
24. 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
hardships 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.
