"We have creeds, confessions, and catechisms not because we want to arrogantly assert ourselves above Scripture or other Christians, but precisely the opposite reason: we are convinced that such self-assertion is actually easiest for us when we presume to be going to Scripture alone and directly, without any presuppositions or expectations. ... Fearful of our own weaknesses in judgment and blind spots due to our own acculturation, we go to Scripture with the wider church, with those who have confessed the same faith for centuries. ...It is infinitely easier to distort the Word of God when we cut ourselves off from the consensus of other Christians across time and place." -- Michael Horton, We Believe: Recovering the Essentials of the Apostles' Creed

Why the Westminster Confession of Faith?

The Westminster Confession was crafted at the Westminster Abbey in London by 121 divines (Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Erastians, and Independents) selected for their theological scholarship and pastoral insight. This masterpiece, forged by years of significant debate, summarized the historic truths of the Christian faith, together with the insights of the Reformation, in a remarkably even-handed and balanced manner. The differences in doctrine among the Westminster divines prevented them from pressing to extremes or narrowing their confession to a parochial document.

Richard Baxter described the Westminster Assembly in these words: "The divines were men of eminent learning and godliness and ministerial abilities and fidelity; ... [A]s far as I am able to judge by the information of all history of that kind, and by any other evidence left us, the Christian world since the days of the apostles had never a synod of more excellent divines...."