The Added Chapter: "Of the Gospel"
The Added Chapter: "Of the Gospel"
The Added Chapter: "Of the Gospel" | Savoy and London Compared with Westminster - Westminster Standards
Savoy, chapter XX, "Of the Gospel, and of the extent of the grace thereof":
I. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give unto the elect the promise of Christ,
the seed of the woman, as the means of calling them, and begetting in them faith and repentance […].
II. This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only in and by the Word of God; neither do the works of creation or providence,
with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by him, so much as in a general or obscure way […].
III. The revelation of the gospel unto sinners […] as to the nations and persons to whom it is granted, is merely of the sovereign will and good pleasure of God,
not being annexed by virtue of any promise to the due improvement of men's natural abilities […].
IV. Although the gospel be the only outward means of revealing Christ and saving grace, and is as such abundantly sufficient thereunto;
yet that men who are dead in trespasses, may be born again, quickened or regenerated,
there is moreover necessary an effectual, irresistible work of the Holy Ghost upon the whole soul […].
What changes. It is the only whole chapter which Savoy adds to the Confession, and it places it between that on the Law and that on Christian liberty. For that reason, from this point on, the numbering of Savoy and of London runs one chapter ahead of that of Westminster. London keeps it almost untouched; it changes "irresistible" to "insuperable".
Why. The preface of Savoy explains it: "the Gospel" is a title that may not well be omitted in a confession of faith, and in this chapter there is brought together "under one head", with some little addition, what in the Assembly's Confession was "dispersed" and only by intimation. It also says, in general, that they have added some things in order to obviate erroneous opinions which were then maintained more boldly than before. By its content, this chapter seems to be directed against one of them: that of those who taught that the light of nature, well improved, suffices to attain grace, or that God has promised the gospel to him who makes good use of his abilities.
What this shows. There is nothing in this chapter which Westminster does not teach in other places: in chapter I, on the insufficiency of the light of nature;
in chapter X, on effectual calling; in the Larger Catechism, on who can be saved. It is an addition, not a correction.
But it is worth comparing with another chapter added to the Confession under almost the same title: that of 1903, "Of the Gospel of the Love of God and Missions".
That one speaks of a way of salvation "sufficient for and adapted to the whole lost race of man" and of God's desire that all men should be saved, and does not name election.
This one begins by saying that the promise was given "unto the elect", affirms that the gospel reaches wherever God sovereignly wills, and ends in irresistible grace.
The Independents of 1658 and the Presbyterians of 1903 performed the same operation, the adding of a chapter on the gospel, in opposite directions.