Westminster Confession Of Faith Quotes

Of all the wicked heresies and threatening movements facing the church in our day, when Westminster Seminary finally organized their faculty to write something in unison, they gave their determined political efforts not to fight socialism, not to fight homosexuality, not abortion, not crime and mayhem in our society, not subjectivism in theology, not dispensationalism, not cultural relativism, not licentiousness, not defection from the New Testament, not defection from the Westminster Confession of Faith, all of which are out there and they can give their legitimate efforts to… boy the thing they had to write about was theonomy! How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he doesn’t see the problem?

Anyone who subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith is a Christian nationalist.

What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Unregenerate men perform many actions, good so far as their external relations to their fellow-men are concerned. But love to God is the foundation-principle upon which all moral duties rest, just as our relation to God is the fundamental relation upon which all our other relations rest.

7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner,according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God: and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.

The Limit of this obligation to obedience [to the civil government] will be found only when we are commanded to do something contrary to the to the superior authority of God (Acts iv. 19; v. 29); or when the civil government has become so radically and incurably corrupt that it has ceased to accomplish the ends for which it was established. When that point has unquestionably been reached, when all means of redress have been exhausted without avail, when there appears no prospect of securing reform in the government itself, and some good prospect of securing it by revolution, then it is the privilege and duty of a Christian people to change their government - peacefully if they may, forcibly if they must.

Finally, it is wrong to say that "nothing" is more basic to the identity of the church than suffering. Nothing is more basic to the identity of the institutional church than the preaching of the gospel, the correct administration of the sacraments, and the worship of God in Spirit and in truth (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.4). Nothing is more basic to the identity of the individual Christian than faith, hope, obedience, and love, the fruit of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-13; Gal. 5:22-24; 1 John 2:3; 3:10, 24; 4:7-21; 5:1-3).

4. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

5. The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching, and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in heart; as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: besides religious oaths, vows solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in a holy and religious manner. Another element of true worship is the "signing of psalms with grace in the heart." It will be observed that the Confession does not acknowledge the legitimacy of the use of modern hymns in the worship of God, but rather only the psalms of the Old Testament. It is not generally realized today that Presbyterian (and many other Reformed) churches originally used only the inspired psalms, hymns and songs of the biblical Psalter in divine worship, but such is the case. The Westminster Assembly not only expressed the conviction that the psalms should be sung in divine worship, but implemented it by preparing a metrical version of the Psalter for use in the churches. This is not the place to attempt a consideration of this question. But we must record our conviction that the Confession is correct at this point. It is correct, we believe, because it has never been proved that God has commanded his Church to sing the uninspired compositions of men rather than or along with the inspired songs, hymns, and psalms of the Psalter in divine worship.

5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the old Testament.

According to Tim Keller, nearly all Presbyterian Church in America presbyters subscribe to The Westminster Confession of Faith ‘with only the most minor exceptions (the only common one being with regard to the Sabbath).’ If, however, such an exception amounts to a wholesale rejection of the confessions’s approach to the Sabbath, its authors might have judged Keller a master of understatement. Were the Westminster Confession a garment, you would not want to pull this ‘minor’ thread, unless you wanted to be altogether defrocked. And perhaps the reason that some people pull at this thread is because they regard the confession as more of a straightjacket than a garment. Unbuckle the Sabbath, and you are well on your way to mastering theological escapology. If this seems overstatement to rival Keller’s understatement, let me say that biblical law, with its Sabbath, is no easily dispensable part of the Reformed doctrinal infrastructure. And what applies to the theology of the Reformed churches often applies to wider Protestant theology. Attempts at performing a precision strike on the Sabbath produce an embarrassing amount of unintended damage. Strike out the Sabbath and you also shatter the entire category of moral law and all that depends on it.

LEAD PEOPLE TO COMMITMENT We have seen that nonbelievers in worship actually “close with Christ” in two basic ways: some may come to Christ during the service itself (1 Cor 14:24 – 25), while others must be “followed up with” by means of after-service meetings. Let’s take a closer look at both ways of leading people to commitment. It is possible to lead people to a commitment to Christ during the service. One way of inviting people to receive Christ is to make a verbal invitation as the Lord’s Supper is being distributed. At our church, we say it this way: “If you are not in a saving relationship with God through Christ today, do not take the bread and the cup, but as they come around, take Christ. Receive him in your heart as those around you receive the food. Then immediately afterward, come up and tell an officer or a pastor about what you’ve done so we can get you ready to receive the Supper the next time as a child of God.” Another way to invite commitment during the service is to give people a time of silence or a period of musical interlude after the sermon. This affords people time to think and process what they have heard and to offer themselves to God in prayer. In many situations, it is best to invite people to commitment through after-meetings. Acts 2 gives an example. Inverses 12 and 13 we are told that some folks mocked after hearing the apostles praise and preach, but others were disturbed and asked, “What does this mean?” Then, we see that Peter very specifically explained the gospel and, in response to the follow-up question “What shall we do?” (v. 37), he explained how to become a Christian. Historically, many preachers have found it effective to offer such meetings to nonbelievers and seekers immediately after evangelistic worship. Convicted seekers have just come from being in the presence of God and are often the most teachable and open at this time. To seek to “get them into a small group” or even to merely return next Sunday is asking a lot. They may also be “amazed and perplexed” (Acts 2:12), and it is best to strike while the iron is hot. This should not be understood as doubting that God is infallibly drawing people to himself (Acts 13:48; 16:14). Knowing the sovereignty of God helps us to relax as we do evangelism, knowing that conversions are not dependent on our eloquence. But it should not lead us to ignore or minimize the truth that God works through secondary causes. The Westminster Confession (5.2 – 3), for example, tells us that God routinely works through normal social and psychological processes. Therefore, inviting people into a follow-up meeting immediately after the worship service can often be more conducive to conserving the fruit of the Word. After-meetings may take the shape of one or more persons waiting at the front of the auditorium to pray with and talk with seekers who wish to make inquiries right on the spot. Another way is to host a simple Q&A session with the preacher in or near the main auditorium, following the postlude. Or offer one or two classes or small group experiences targeted to specific questions non-Christians ask about the content, relevance, and credibility of the Christian faith. Skilled lay evangelists should be present who can come alongside newcomers, answer spiritual questions, and provide guidance for their next steps.

Chapter XV Of Repentance unto Life I. Repentance unto life is an evangelical grace,291 the doctrine whereof is to be preached by every minister of the Gospel, as well as that of faith in Christ.292 II. By it, a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature, and righteous law of God; and upon the apprehension of His mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God,293 purposing and endeavouring to walk with Him in all the ways of His commandments.294

That God is simple means, to use the words of the of the Westminster Confession of Faith, that He is ‘without … parts.’ He is not a composite or compound being, but a simple one.5 He is not made up of parts. You are not simple. You were, as the psalmist says, ‘knitted … together in your mother’s womb.’ You have a maker who formed your ‘inward parts,’ joined them together, and gave you life (Ps. 139:13). Your existence depends on the one who made you and on the parts He formed and joined together. Everything God created is made of parts—parts that are held together by His sustaining power. Nothing in creation is simple. But God is not like you or anything else. He has no maker. His attributes are not knitted together to form His being. He is not ‘made up’ of His attributes, nor are His attributes added on to His being or essence to make Him what He is. No, He is identical to His attributes. He is simple.

One of the sweet things about God’s mercy and grace is His tenderness. He does not reveal to us all at once the full measure of our guilt.

Scripture teaches that those who are indicted by God at the last judgment, the supreme tribunal, will respond only with silence. Every mouth will be stopped because when God reveals to us the full extent of our transgressions, there will be nothing left to say.

Nineteenth-century liberal theology sought to reduce Christianity to a naturalized religion, stripped of everything supernatural. The Christian message was reduced to matters of ethics and values; the gospel was recast as a kind of humanitarianism that attempts to alleviate pain and suffering in this world. Everything supernatural in Scripture was denied, including the deity of Christ. His substitutionary atonement, resurrection, and ascension were all rejected. Modern theology took hold of churches and educational institutions.

One reason we lack faith, have crises of faith, and are assailed by doubts about our future is that we project on God our own cavalier attitude toward vows, oaths, and promises. We forget that God has never once broken a promise. When He swears a covenant, He keeps it forever. His promise will not fail.

mediator is one who interposes between two parties at variance, to procure a reconciliation. Before the fall, there was no need of a mediator between God and man; for, though there was an infinite distance in nature, yet, there was no variance between these parties. But upon the fall the case was altered; God was dishonoured, and highly offended; man was alienated from God, and subjected to his judicial displeasure; and as man was unable to satisfy the claims of the divine law which he had violated, if he was to be restored to the favour of his offended sovereign, the interposition of another person was requisite, to atone for his guilt, and lay the foundation of peace. This is the office and work assigned to Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man; and the present section relates to his divine appointment to this office, and the donation of a people to him as his seed.

In its fourth session, the Council of Trent decided that no man has the right to distort the Scriptures by private interpretation

Thomas Watson gets at the divine quality of the Bible in His Body of Divinity, where he writes: The Scripture appears to be the Word of God, by the matter contained in it. The mystery of Scripture is so abstruse and profound that no man or angel could have known it, had it not been divinely revealed. That eternity should be born; that He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle; that He who rules the stars should suck the breasts; that the Prince of Life should die; that the Lord of Glory should be put to shame; that sin should be punished to the full, yet pardoned to the full; who could ever have conceived of such a mystery, had not the Scripture revealed it to us? So, for the doctrine of the resurrection; that the same body which is crumbled into a thousand pieces, should rise idem numero, the same individual body, else it were a creation, not a resurrection. How could such a sacred riddle, above all human disquisition, be known, had not the Scripture made a discovery of it? As the matter of Scripture is so full of goodness, justice and sanctity, that it could be breathed from none but God; so the holiness of it shows it to be of God.

duties required by this Commandment we cannot do better than to quote the Westminster Confession of Faith. They are "the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God (1 Chronicles 28:9; Dent. 26:17, etc.); and to worship and glorify Him accordingly (Psalm 95:6, Verse 7; Matthew 4:10, etc.),by thinking (Malachi 3:16), meditating (Psalm 63:6), remembering (Ecclesiastes 12:1), highly esteeming (Psalm 71:19), honoring (Malachi 1:6), adoring (Isaiah 45:23), choosing (Joshua 24:15), loving (Deuteronomy 6:5), desiring (Psalm 73:25), fearing of Him (Isaiah 8:13), believing Him (Exodus 14:3 1), trusting (Isaiah 26:4), hoping (Psalm 103:7), delighting (Psalm 37:4), rejoicing in Him (Psalm 32:11), being zealous for Him (Romans 12:11), calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks (Philippians 4:6), and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man (Jeremiah 7:23), being careful in all things to please Him (1 John 3:22), and sorrowful when in anything he is offended (Jeremiah 31:18; Psalm

You do not know the truth, my brother, because you have read “Hodges Outline”, or “Fuller’s Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation”; Or “Owen on the Spirit”, or any other classic of our faith. You do not know the truth, my brother, merely because you accept the Westminster Assembly's Confession, and have studied it perfectly. No, we know nothing till we are taught of the Holy Ghost who speaks to the heart rather than the ear.

commonly to be had, and also that many others have since embraced the same truth which is owned therein, it was judged necessary by us to join together in giving a testimony to the world of our firm adhering to those wholesome principles by the publication of this which is now in your hand. And forasmuch as our method and manner of expressing our sentiments in this doth vary from the former (although the substance of this matter is the same), we shall freely impart to you the reason and occasion thereof. One thing that greatly prevailed with us to undertake this work was not only to give a full account of ourselves to those Christians that differ from us about the subject of baptism, but also the profit that might from thence arise unto those that have any account of our labors in their instruction and establishment in the great truths of the gospel, in the clear understanding and steady belief of which our comfortable walking with God, and fruitfulness before Him in all our ways, is most nearly concerned. Therefore, we did conclude it necessary to express ourselves the more fully and distinctly, and also to fix on such a method as might be most comprehensive of those things we designed to explain our sense and belief of. The Westminster Assembly Finding no defect in this regard in that fixed on by the Assembly,4 and after them by those of the Congregational

Anyone who conforms to the Westminster Confession of Faith is a Christian Nationalist.

the sense of the divine.” As fallen creatures, we suppress the knowledge of right and wrong that God plants within us. But try as we may, we can never extinguish it. It is still present in the soul. That is immediate general revelation.

very heart of Christianity, is the concept of divine revelation. Christianity is a revealed religion, constructed not on the basis of speculative philosophy but in response to what God Himself has made manifest.

principle of sola Scriptura, developed by the Reformers. It acknowledges that the final authority in all matters of theology and in all controversies of faith and life is not the decrees or traditions of the church but sacred Scripture itself.

God’s general revelation is His revelation of Himself principally through nature and also through history, through the ministry of His providence to His people, and through His works of creation.

Paul teaches that all men, by nature, know something of the existence, character, power, and deity of God, because God so clearly manifests Himself in general revelation (Rom. 1:18–20).

General revelation is not sufficient to give us the knowledge necessary for salvation; special revelation is sufficient for that purpose.

Throughout church history, the supreme attack of the world, the flesh, and the devil against godliness has been an attack on the authority of God’s Word.

Paul describes this as “his eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20). We not only can but do know that the creation requires a Creator and that the Creator must be sovereign over His creation, both in terms of His authority and His power.

From all eternity, God had a plan to save some, and to accomplish that plan He sent His Son into the world. God gave to His Son a certain number of people, and Christ laid down His life for them. The atonement is efficacious only for those whom the Father gives to the Son.

Spirit’s work of changing the obstinate, recalcitrant hearts of sinners by inwardly changing the disposition of their souls. That is what the confession is talking about here: God melts our hearts and makes us fully persuaded and assured of Scripture’s infallible truth and divine authority.

Holy Spirit does not speak with a forked tongue. He never grants us the right to disobey what His inspired Scriptures instruct us regarding our duty. The Spirit works with and through the Word, never apart from or against it.

Coherence and unity are present everywhere and are necessary in the revelation that comes from God. If we find what we think is a contradiction, the problem is with our sight, not with the Word of God. Contradiction is the hallmark of error.

A person will not be fully persuaded or assured that the Bible is the Word of God unless and until God the Holy Spirit does a work in his heart, which is called the internal testimony of the Spirit.

That eternity should be born; that He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle; that He who rules the stars should suck the breasts; that the Prince of Life should die; that the Lord of Glory should be put to shame; that sin should be punished to the full, yet pardoned to the full; who could ever have conceived of such a mystery, had not the Scripture revealed it to us?

The Spirit’s internal testimony does not give the believer private, esoteric knowledge or information that is unavailable to anyone else.

The text teaches that Christ died only for believers, and the only ones who believe are the elect. Atonement was not made for the sins of unbelievers. Had their sins been atoned for, God would be unjust to punish them. This is a very difficult doctrine, one over which people often stumble. A preacher’s mandate, however, is to be faithful to the text and to the whole counsel of God. Since this text is part of the whole counsel of God, there is no choice but to proclaim it.

The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;(t) and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.(u)

If we reflect on a being who is eternal, who generates the power for everything else that exists, including ourselves, we should be moved to worship Him.

Effectual calling being the actual saving of a soul from the death of sin by the mighty power of God, it is obvious that it must be applied to all who are to be saved, and that it cannot be applied to any whoare not to be saved.

From what the Scriptures say of man's state by nature. It is declared to be a state of " blindness " and "darkness " and of "spiritual death." Eph. iv. 18; Col. ii. 13. The unregenerate are the "servants of sin" and "subject to Satan.

From what the Scriptures say of man's state by nature. It is declared to be a state of " blindness " and "darkness " and of "spiritual death." Eph. iv. 18; Col. ii. 13. The unregenerate are the "servants of sin" and "subject to Satan." Rom. vi. 16, 20; 2 Tim ii. 26; Matt. xii. 33 -- 36.

The Scriptures explicitly distinguish between the two calls. Of the subjects of the one it is said, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Matt. xxii. 14. Of the subjects of the other it is said, "Whom he called, them he also justified." Rom. viii. 30. Comp. Prov. i. 24, and John vi. 45.

The Romish and Ritualistic view is, that individuals are united to the Church through the sacraments, and through the Church to Christ. The true view is, that the individual is united to Christ the Head by the Holy Ghost and by faith; and by being united to Christ he is, ipso facto, united to all Christ’s members, the Church. The holy catholic Church is the product of the Holy Ghost.

QUESTIONS 1. Is the doctrine of the Trinity revealed in the Old Testament? In the New Testament% 2. Is the God revealed in the Old Testament the Triune God? How can this be proved% 3. Cite an Old Testament text to prove that God is not a single person. 4. Cite a text which indicates that the Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah (God). 5. Cite a prophetic text which shows that God promised to send God incarnate. 6. Why did the apostles accept the "doctrine" of the Trinity? 7. What two essential elements of the doctrine of the Trinity are taught in the baptismal form of Matthew? 8. The Larger Catechism states that each of the three persons of the Godhead is seen to be God because Scripture attributes to each of them such names, attributes, works, and worship as are proper to God only. Can you cite Scripture references showing that the names, attributes, works, and worship proper to God are associated with each of the three persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost)?

Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

The Irish Articles contain Reformation themes that also are found in the work of other Reformed theologians. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) are also important, though, because Ussher used many of its statements in the Irish Articles; indeed, the Thirty-Nine Articles not only were used by the Church of England, but were adopted in 1560 by the Irish Anglican church.7 The Thirty-Nine Articles also served, in a sense, as a source document for the Westminster Standards, as the Westminster divines originally were given the task of revising the articles before they were called upon to write a new confession of faith and catechisms.

To take up another issue, I don’t understand how Mohler can claim to be a confessional evangelical and yet criticize Fuller Seminary for a doctrinal statement on Scripture that looks remarkably like what the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) and London Baptist Confession (LBC) say about Scripture. If Fuller was so reprehensible for changing “free from all error” to “trustworthy record,” then what are we to say about the WCF and LBC, which do not ever say that Scripture is “without error”?

The Articles of the Synod of Dort affirm that moral depravity is inflicted upon all the descendants of Adam at birth "by the just judgment of God." Ch. 3., s. 2. This

The Westminster Confession of Faith says it best: The meaning of life is "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Here is what the Westminster Confession says in its chapter titled “Of God’s Covenant with Man”: “Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant [the covenant of works], the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein He freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe

Worship is not an arena for open experimentation. If we “worship” by doing what we enjoy, rather than by doing what is pleasing to God, our worship will gravitate toward idolatry. It is our duty, as much as possible, to learn what true worship is supposed to be like.

Christ is the only Mediator because He is the only begotten and divine Son of God, the only God incarnate, and He is alive. No one else can do the work of mediation that He does for us. All those other religious leaders are dead. They were sinners, and none of them had the credentials necessary to reconcile us to God.

The churches which acknowledge the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome have abandoned the faith and obscured the glory of their Lord in one direction, while many professedly Protestant churches — as the English and American Socinians and the German Rationalists — have made an equal apostasy in another.

The supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.(1)

Orthodox Christianity teaches that, though there was a time when each soul did not exist, after its creation there will never be a time when it no longer exists. Christianity denies any doctrine of the soul’s annihilation, either at death or afterward. God has created us with the capacity to live forever. In fact, we will all live forever in our souls—including the damned. Perhaps that is what the Westminster divines had in mind when using the term immortal to describe the created souls of human beings.

We should be concerned with our environment because God placed man in His garden and made Him responsible to dress, fill, keep, and replenish it. Adam and Eve were not given the right to exploit or abuse the created world. They were, however, made superordinate, not subordinate, to the animals. Animals are here for our well-being. We do not exist to serve them; they exist to serve us, and we are to rule them benevolently. Today, naturalism has replaced God with Mother Earth, and we do more to protect fish eggs than human fetuses. Our priorities are out of order.

All authority and power descends, and does not ascend. Pastors and elders teach and rule in the name of God, and not of man. It is the commission of Christ, and not of the Church, that the minister carries with him, and by authority of which he acts. The Church only witnesses to the genuineness of this commission, and sees that it is faithfully discharged by the bearer of it. Hence all the power of church officers, either in their several or collective capacity, is ministerial and declarative

Concerning all things necessary for his own glory. That is the soli Deo gloria of the Reformation. What we do will be measured by how faithfully we have manifested the glory of God and exalted him.

hermeneutics, which refers to the proper rules of interpreting the Bible. One basic principle is that the implicit is always to be interpreted in light of the explicit, not vice versa.

We then project that onto God, as if we can come into His presence in a cavalier spirit of familiarity, the kind of familiarity that breeds contempt. It is true that we are given access to God by virtue of the work that Christ has accomplished for us, but our justification does not change God’s character. The fact that He has saved us and adopted us into His family does not mean that He has stopped being holy or eternal, or that He has stopped dwelling in light inapproachable. If anyone should understand the glorious majesty of God, it is the believer. We should not be cavalier or casual when we come to him. When we see the inapproachable light, we should react as Isaiah did.

When we say that God is all-powerful, almighty, omnipotent, we mean that His power surpasses everything in the universe. Nothing can resist His power or overpower Him.

God never answered Job’s theological questions. He simply revealed Himself to Job in His power, greatness, and majesty. This manifestation was enough for Job. His questions meant nothing because God revealed Himself in unspeakable power. He is the One who overpowers.

He will do, He can do. He is able to do what He says He is going to do because He is almighty. Because of His perfect moral character, He will keep His word. Nothing in the universe can prevent God from doing what He promises to do for His people.

Those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

God works all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will. There is a difference between according to His will and willy-nilly. Willy-nilly has no purpose or principle and is chaotic or irrational. God’s will, on the other hand, is immutable because it is eternal and is based on His most wise and righteous counsel. What would cause God to change His plan?

That attribution of greatness and goodness to God can be summed up as “He is holy,” because holiness incorporates both greatness and goodness.

The purpose of prayer is not to change God’s mind but to change ours, to bring us into communion with Him, to come to our heavenly Father and tell Him what is on our hearts. He invites us—no, He commands and encourages us—to do that. He asks us to come into His presence and recount our afflictions and stories, but not for His information or guidance. God uses a person’s prayers as He was determined to do before the person ever prayed. God uses our prayers as a means to accomplish His plan. So when we are praying to God, we are part of His plan. God is being gracious to make use of our prayers. Yet Scripture tells us that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). When we are praying, we should consider two things: who we are and who God is. Remembering who He is, we acknowledge that God orders all things according to His will.

God hears our prayers and sometimes answers yes, but at other times He answers no. Either way, we receive an answer. We should rejoice in His response, for He answers our prayers according to His own counsel, righteousness, and omniscience. We should always pray with the assumption that God knows best.

It compels us to live righteously—to know and do the right thing. At times, we lack this wisdom, but God, the source of supreme wisdom, promises to give it to us liberally. Who is this God whom we worship? We keep coming back to who He is. If we considered only His wisdom, that would be enough to keep us worshiping Him forever.

In doing so, the church distinguished between God’s external righteousness and His internal righteousness. External righteousness refers to His behavior, His actions—what He does. It always flows out of and is in accord with His internal character. God’s behavior is contingent on no external law or force imposed on Him from without. It is determined by His own character. God acts according to what He is. In His nature, He is righteous, sovereign, and free. These concepts combine as the idea that God is most absolute.

Humans seek autonomy, unlimited freedom, desiring to be accountable to no one. In a real sense, that is what happened in the fall. Satan enticed Adam and Eve to reach for autonomy, to become like God, to do whatever they wanted with impunity. Satan was introducing a liberation movement in the garden to free human beings from culpability, from accountability to God. But He alone has autonomy.

An attack on absolutes is an attack on the ultimate absolute, God Himself. There is nothing relative about Him; in His being, He is objective, eternal, and absolute.