10 Things You Should Know About the Westminster Confession of Faith

This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know series. 1. The Westminster Assembly was not a Presbyterian gathering. Although the Confession became a doctrinal standard in Presbyterian churches, the Puritan Divines (or theologians) appointed by the “Long Parliament” were a council of Anglicans, Independents, and Presbyterians that produced the Westminster Standards. The 121 commissioners represented every English and Welsh county, as well as Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The subsequent appointment of six Scottish commissioners may have encouraged a Presbyterian direction, but their influence was limited as non-voting advisors. 2. The Westminster Assembly failed in the assignment given to it. Originally convened for “vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and aspersions,” the Westminster Assembly failed in its mission when the monarchy was restored in England and the Act of Uniformity returned the nation to Anglican establishment. But the unanticipated international influence of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms for nearly four centuries has established confessional Presbyterianism on all inhabited cont...