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The Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger Catechism
1. Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel freedom from the guilt of sin, from the condemning wrath of God, and from the curse of the moral law.[1] He has also freed them from the evil world we live in, from enslavement to Satan, from the dominion of sin,[2] the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and from everlasting damnation.[3] In Christ believers have free access to God[4] and can obey him, not out of slavish fear, but with a childlike love and a willing mind.[5]All these freedoms were also held by believers under the law.[6] However, under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians has been enlarged to include freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected.[7] Christians also have greater boldness of access to the throne of grace[8] and a fuller gift of the Spirit of God than believers ordinarily had under the law.[9]
[1] Ti 2:14, 1 Thes 1:10, Gal 3:13, Rom 8:1.
[2] Gal 1:4, Col 1:13, Acts 26:18, Rom 6:14, 1 Jn 1:7.
[3] Rom 8:28, Ps 119:71, 1 Cor 15:54-57, Rom 8:1.
[4] Rom 5:1-2, Eph 2:18, 3:12, Heb 10:19.
[5] Rom 8:14-15, 1 Jn 4:18, Eph 2:18, Gal 4:6, Heb 10:19.
[6] Gal 3:9, 14; see citations under Chapter 8, Section 6.
[7] Gal 4:1-3, 6-7, 5:1, Acts 15:10-11.
[9] Jn 7:38-39, 2 Cor 3:13, 17-18, Rom 5:5.
2. God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any way contrary to or different from his word in matters of faith or worship.[10] And so, believing any such teachings or obeying any such commandments of men for conscience's sake actually betrays true freedom of conscience.[11] Requiring implicit or absolute, blind obedience also destroys freedom of conscience as well as the free use of reason.[12]
[10] Jas 4:12, Rom 14:4,10, Acts 4:19, 5:29, 1 Cor 7:23, Mt 23:8-10, 2 Cor 1:24, Mt 15:9.
[11] Col 2:20-23, Gal 1:10, 5:1, 2:3-5, Ps 5:1, Gal 4:9-10.
[12] Rom 10:17, 14:23, Is 8:20, Acts 17:11, Jn 4:22, Hos 5:11, Rv 13:12,16-17, Jer 8:9, 1 Pt 3:15.
3. Those who practice any sin or nourish any sinful desire on the pretext of Christian freedom destroy the whole purpose of Christian freedom, which is, that, having been rescued out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear and in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives.[13]
[13] Gal 5:13, 1 Pt 2:16, 2 Pt 2:19, Jn 8:34, Lk 1:74-75, Rom 6:15,2 Pt 3:15.
4. God intends that the authorities he has ordained on earth and the freedom Christ has purchased should not destroy but mutually uphold and preserve each other. And so, those who oppose any lawful power or the lawful exercise of power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, on the pretext of Christian freedom, are actually resisting God.[14] The support, promotion, or practice of such opposition, which contradicts natural understanding or the known principles of Christianity on matters of faith, worship, and associations, which denies the power of godliness, or which disrupts the peace and unity among believers, should lawfully be called to account and proceeded against by the church.[15]
[14] Mt 12:25, 1 Pt 2:13-14,16, Rom 13:1-8, Heb 13:17.
[15] Rom 1:32, 1 Cor 5:1,5,11-13, 2 Jn 5:10-11, 2 Thes 3:14, 1 Tm 6:3-5, Ti 1:10-11,13, 3:10, Mt 18:15-18, 1 Tm 1:19-20, Rv 2:14-15,20, 3:9, Rom 16:17, 2 Thes 3:6, Dt 13:6-12, Rom 13:3-4, 2 Jn 5:10-11, Ezr 7:23-28, Rv 17:12,16-17, Neh 13:15,17,21- 22,25,30, 2 Kgs 23:5-6,9,20-21, 2 Chr 34:33, 15:12-13,16, Dn 3:29, 1 Tm 2:2, Is 49:23, Zech 13:2-3.
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