What is the importance of the Westminster Standards today? Dr. Ligon Duncan explains the function of the Westminster Standards and how Christians can benefit from them in a modern context.
The Westminster Standards are the finest formulation of confessional Reformed theology that has been bequeathed to us by the Reformed tradition. They have served as the basic doctrinal formulation for world Presbyterianism, for much of the Reformed community. They’ve even had influence in the Anglican churches, in the Baptist churches, and in the Congregational churches. Probably north of 70 million people around the world are part of denominations and church bodies that are influenced by the theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
The blessings and the benefits of the Westminster Standards for today are manifold.They are rich in what they teach us about Christian doctrine. Really, they expound the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer to teach you what Christians ought to believe, how Christians ought to live, and how Christians ought to pray. And they do it harvesting the richness not only of patristic Christianity, but of Reformation Christianity and the great things that we recovered in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, and then formulating that in a way that is easy to convey in discipleship, especially through the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism. So the blessings and the benefits of the Westminster Standards for today are manifold.
To learn about the RTS Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), “Reaching Our Standards,” click here.
