Reformed Confessions

[Steven Avery]

Patristics for Protestants
https://www.facebook.com/groups/884609654958164/permalink/2023330624419389/

-"my Reformed faith"-
the earliest "Reformed".

Heidelberg Catechism (both magisterial documents from the 16th century)
Bucer's Tetrapolitan Confession
Zwingli's Confession presented to HR Emperor Charles V at Augsburg in 1530 AD
Lutheran Augsburg Confession.
1st Helvetic, Belgic, French, and Scottish,
Bullinger's 2nd Helvetic.Confession

Westminster Confession and Catechism (17th century)

Lots of material planned to add, with their usage of the heavenly witnesses

 

[Steven Avery]

Westminster Confession and Catechism (17th century)

The Westminster Confession of Faith
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-confession-faith/
by Westminster Divines

III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.(o) The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding: the Son is eternally begotten of the Father: (p) the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.(q)

(o) I John 5:7; Matt. 3:16, 17; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14.

Richard Muller and the History of the Preservation of Scripture pt. 1
https://kentbrandenburg.blogspot.com/2010/04/richard-muller-and-history-of.html

Grantley McDonald -- Raising the Ghost of Arius
the comma is cited not once, but twice in the footnotes of the Westminster catechism (1646).176
176 The Confession of Faith, 1658, 155, 159. - p. 144

Francis Cheynell (1608-1665), a prominent Westminster Divine - p. 177

The principle of the “verbal inerrancy of Scripture” (that is, of the textus receptus and the Authorised Version) was the first of a number of “essential” doctrines adopted by the American Presbyterian General Assembly in 1910, subsequently dubbed the “five points of fundamentalism.”8 This is a very different proposal from that espoused by the foundational Presbyterian document, the Westminster Confession, which simply characterises the Scriptures as “most necessary";
8 Marsden, 2006, 56-57, 112-113, 117 - p. 299

Bibliography

The Confession of Faith, Together with the Larger and Lesser Cathecismes (SA: correction Catechismes). Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines, Sitting at Westminster. 2nd ed. London: E. M., for the Company of Stationers, 1658.
https://books.google.com/books?id=MW87AAAAcAAJ&pg=PP7

Marsden, George M. Fundamentalism and American Culture. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentalism-American-Culture-George-Marsden/dp/0195300475

Reid, James. Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of Those Eminent Divines, who Convened in the Famous Assembly at Westminster, in the Seventeenth Century. London: Young, 1811.

Grantley's claim that:

the Westminster Confession, which simply characterises the Scriptures as “most necessary"

Is clearly very wrong, extracting two words, when there are far more salient sections.

The material from Marsden is interesting, however the idea that "inerrancy" and exact dates are new, a result of fundamentalism, is easily refuted. For the dating, simply consider the much earlier prophetic attempts of Isaac Newton, and the 1844 millenarian movement, which led to the seventh day adventist dates. As for "inerrancy", the concept clearly existed way before the Fundamentalist movement.

Here are the two footnotes in 1646 p. 153 (correction of Grantley 155) and 159.

The Confession of Faith, Together with the Larger and Lesser Catechismes, Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines Sitting at Westminster, Presented to Both Houses of Parliament

books.google.com

the persons in the Godhead
(p) 1 John 5:7 For there are three, that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are One

The Confession of Faith, Together with the Larger and Lesser Catechismes, Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines Sitting at Westminster, Presented to Both Houses of Parliament

books.google.com

Q How many persons are there in the Godhead 1
A. There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost 5 and these three are one God , the same in substance, equal in power and glory (q)
(q).1 John 5:7 For there are three, that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are One
Mt. 28.19 ...