Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter XXV

Of the Church

1
The catholic or universal Church which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.490
490
Ephesians 1:22-23Ephesians 1:10Colossians 1:18Ephesians 5:32Ephesians 5:23Ephesians 5:27
2
The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion;491 and of their children:492 and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,493 the house and family of God,494 out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.495
491
1 Corinthians 1:21 Corinthians 12:12-13Psalm 2:8Revelation 7:9Romans 15:9-12
492
Romans 11:16Genesis 17:7Genesis 3:15Ezekiel 16:20-21Acts 2:391 Corinthians 7:14
493
Matthew 13:47Isaiah 9:7
494
Ephesians 2:19Ephesians 3:15
495
Acts 2:47
3
Unto this catholic visible Church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them effectual thereunto.496
496
Isaiah 59:21Ephesians 4:11-131 Corinthians 12:28Matthew 28:19-20
4
This catholic Church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible.497 And particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.498
497
Romans 11:3-4Revelation 12:6Revelation 12:14
498
Revelation 21 Corinthians 5:6-7
5
The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error:499 and some have so degenerated, as to become no Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan.500 Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth, to worship God according to His will.501
499
1 Corinthians 13:12Revelation 2Matthew 13:24-30Matthew 13:47
500
Revelation 18:2Romans 11:18-22
501
Matthew 16:18Psalm 72:17Psalm 102:28Matthew 28:19-20
6
There is no other head of the Church, but the Lord Jesus Christ;502 nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.503
502
Colossians 1:18Ephesians 1:22
503
Matthew 23:8-102 Thessalonians 2:3-42 Thessalonians 2:8-9Revelation 13:6
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