Summary of Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 21

Summary of Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 21 (Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day), framed clearly and pastorally, while remaining faithful to the text and its theological weight:

• God alone defines true worship. While creation itself points us to God’s majesty and worthiness, acceptable worship is not shaped by human preference or imagination but by God’s revealed will in Scripture, rejecting inventions or practices He has not commanded.

• Worship belongs exclusively to the Triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit alone are to be worshiped, and since the fall, all worship is offered through Christ, the only Mediator between God and humanity.

• Prayer is central to faithful worship. Prayer, joined with thanksgiving, is required of all people and must be offered in Christ’s name, by the Spirit’s help, and according to God’s will, marked by reverence, humility, faith, love, and perseverance.

• Prayer has God-given boundaries. Scripture directs us to pray for lawful matters and for all living people, while excluding prayer for the dead or for those known to have committed the sin unto death, reminding us to submit our prayers to God’s purposes.

• God appoints ordinary means of worship. These include the reading and preaching of Scripture, obedient hearing of the Word, singing psalms with grace in the heart, proper use of the sacraments, and, at fitting times, oaths, vows, fasts, and thanksgivings.

• Worship is not confined to a place. Under the gospel, God is worshiped everywhere in spirit and truth - privately, in families, and personally - yet public worship remains a sacred duty that must not be neglected.

• God has established a perpetual Sabbath. By creation ordinance and divine command, one day in seven is set apart for holy rest and worship, now observed on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, in honor of Christ’s resurrection.

• The Lord’s Day is to be kept joyfully holy. It is sanctified through preparation, rest from ordinary labors and recreations, wholehearted participation in worship, and the embrace of works of necessity and mercy, as a gift for renewal and loving obedience.