Plain-language reading guide
READING HELP
Read this chapter alongside the Confession chapter on the same subject. The Testimony states what the church teaches, applies that teaching, and identifies views it rejects. Read each statement with its Scripture proofs and the surrounding paragraphs.
To find explicit rejections in this chapter, go to point 3. Read each full point to see exactly which teaching is rejected.
This reading guide is separate from the official text below.
Read the official text, or choose a simpler explanation to explore together.
Westminster Confession
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
Scripture proofs: Rom. 8:30; Rom. 3:24; Rom. 4:5-8; 2 Cor. 5:19, 21; Rom. 3:22, 24-25, 27-28; Titus 3:5, 7; Eph. 1:7; Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30-31; Rom. 5:17-19; Acts 10:43; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9; Acts 13:38-39; Eph. 2:7-8.
2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ, and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.
Scripture proofs: John 1:12; Rom. 3:28; Rom. 5:1; Jas. 2:17, 22, 26; Gal. 5:6.
3. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to His Father’s justice in their behalf. Yet, inasmuch as He was given by the Father for them; and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead; and both freely, not for anything in them; their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God, might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
Scripture proofs: Rom. 5:8-10, 19; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 10:10, 14; Dan. 9:24, 26; Isa. 53:4-6, 10-12; Rom. 8:32; 2 Cor. 5:21; Matt. 3:17; Eph. 5:2; Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; Rom. 3:26; Eph. 2:7.
4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.
Scripture proofs: Gal. 3:8; 1 Pet. 1:2, 19-20; Rom. 8:30; Gal. 4:4; 1 Tim. 2:6; Rom. 4:25; Col. 1:21-22; Gal 2:16; Titus 3:3-7.
5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified; and, although they can never fall from the state of justification; yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of His countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.
Scripture proofs: Matt. 6:12; 1 John 1:7, 9; 1 John 2:1-2; Luke 22:32; John 10:28; Heb. 10:14; Ps. 89:31-33; Ps. 51:7-12; Ps. 32:5; Matt. 26: 75; 1 Cor. 11:30, 32; Luke 1:20.
6. The justification of believers under the old testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the new testament.
Scripture proofs: Gal. 3:9, 13-14; Rom. 4:22-24; Heb. 13:8.
Words to know
- Justification
- God’s declaring a sinner forgiven and righteous because of Christ, received through faith.
- Righteousness
- Being right according to God’s perfect standard.
- Imputed righteousness
- Christ’s obedience counted as the believer’s, rather than acceptance earned by the believer’s deeds.
WCF 11.1 · Accepted because of Jesus
God forgives his people and declares them righteous because of Christ, not because of goodness inside them or deeds they perform. He counts Jesus’ obedience and satisfaction for sin as theirs. Faith receives and rests on Christ; it is not itself the righteousness that earns acceptance. Even this faith is God’s gift.
Romans 8:30; Romans 3:24; Romans 4:5-8.
Why can we not earn God’s acceptance by being good enough?
WCF 11.2 · Faith receives; love follows
Faith alone receives Christ and his righteousness for justification. But saving faith never stays alone in a person’s life: God also gives love and other graces. Living faith produces loving action. Those actions show faith is alive; they do not become an extra basis for justification.
John 1:12; Romans 3:28; Romans 5:1.
How can good works follow faith without paying for salvation?
WCF 11.3 · Grace and justice together
Jesus’ obedience and death fully paid his people’s debt and satisfied God’s justice. The Father freely gave him for them and accepted his work in their place. They did nothing to earn it. Our justification therefore displays both God’s perfect justice and his generous grace.
Romans 5:8-10; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Hebrews 10:10.
How does the cross show both justice and mercy?
WCF 11.4 · God applies salvation in time
God planned from eternity to justify his chosen people. Jesus died and rose to accomplish their salvation. But they are not actually justified until the Spirit applies Christ’s saving work to them at the appointed time. An eternal plan and its fulfillment in someone’s life are different things.
Galatians 3:8; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 8:30.
How is planning a gift different from actually giving it?
WCF 11.5 · Forgiven children still need correction
God continues to forgive justified believers, and they cannot lose their justified standing. Still, their sins displease him as a Father. They may lose the comfort of his favor until they humble themselves, confess, ask forgiveness, and turn back in faith. His fatherly correction is not a return to condemnation.
Matthew 6:12; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:1-2.
How is a father correcting his child different from rejecting the child?
WCF 11.6 · One way of being made right
Believers before Jesus’ coming were justified in the same way as believers afterward. God accepted them by grace through faith because of Christ. Old Testament people did not earn salvation by keeping laws while New Testament people received it freely.
Galatians 3:9; Romans 4:22-24; Hebrews 13:8.
Were Old Testament believers accepted by a different standard?
1. Justification is a legal declaration that the sinner is acquitted from the guilt of sin, and is considered righteous before God. Although he is still an unworthy sinner, yet because he is united to Christ, he has Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to him.
2. Faith in Christ is the only means of justification. The imputed righteousness of Christ is the only basis for justification.
3. We reject the teaching that man’s works have a part in his justification.
4. The justification of the believer does not diminish his obligation to obey divine law. Eccl. 12:13; 1 Cor. 9:21; Rom. 6:1, 12- 23; Rom. 3:21.
Words to know
- Justification
- God’s declaring a sinner forgiven and righteous because of Christ, received through faith.
- Righteousness
- Being right according to God’s perfect standard.
- Imputed righteousness
- Christ’s obedience counted as the believer’s, rather than acceptance earned by the believer’s deeds.
- Rejects
- Says that a teaching is wrong and must not be accepted.
Testimony 11.1
God declares the believer forgiven and righteous because Christ’s perfect righteousness is counted as theirs, even though they still struggle with sin.
Read original point 1 and its Scripture proofs →Testimony 11.2
Faith receives justification; Christ’s righteousness is its only foundation. Faith is not a substitute achievement that earns acceptance.
Read original point 2 and its Scripture proofs →Testimony 11.3
The Testimony rejects giving our good works any part in the basis of God’s declaration that we are righteous.
Read original point 3 and its Scripture proofs →Testimony 11.4
Being accepted by God through Christ does not remove our duty to obey his commands.
Read original point 4 and its Scripture proofs →Source: The Constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, updated 2026, A-38, A-39.