The Sum of Saving Knowledge

by David Dickson and James Durham¹

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2011. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license.² The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.³ Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Due to great changes between seventeenth century Scotland and twenty-first century America, it is necessary to put forth some necessary assertions, lest some modern readers reject, perhaps unconsciously, the vital truths expressed in this book or even fail to comprehend what they are reading.⁴ The Lord Jesus castigated those who obscured knowledge that is essential to understanding how to enter into eternal life. “Woe to you lawyers!⁵ For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering” (Luke 11:52 ESV). Likewise, there are many of Satan’s slaves today who labor vigorously to so confuse, obscure, and distort God’s truths, that those who seek God and His salvation in Jesus Christ are kept from the truth and perish eternally in Hell. In the spirit of this Sum, the following items are brief and without proof except for a few Scripture⁶ references. In many cases, an appendix is cited which gives further information. Further study, especially of the Holy Bible, is much encouraged.

You already know, if only hidden deep in your heart, that Almighty God exists and that He will call you to account for your sins,⁷ “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:18–22 ESV).

As the title page tells us, the Sum of Saving Knowledge is a partial summary of the Westminster standards.⁸ These standards contain certain biblical truths that today are unknown or rejected by most people, even by some churches and denominations. Similar to the Prerequisite Knowledge above, the editor presents some of these matters so that the reader may better understand and benefit from this Sum, whether or not he agrees with the views presented in this introduction. Appendix 5 expands on the information in this subchapter.

Speaking of faith, it is a matter of trusting God and honoring His majesty that we leave many mysteries to Him. It is to be expected that since God created this entire vast universe with all its intricacies, He certainly perfectly understands a great many things that are beyond human understanding. The term, Elect⁹ appears frequently in this Sum. Scripture teaches that due to original sin, all people not only come into the world as rebels against God, but due to their sin nature, are completely unable of their own power to make the choice to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. They do not even want to be saved. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44 ESV). Even before Creation however, God chose or elected some people whom the Holy Spirit would regenerate so as to make them able and willing to savingly repent and believe in Christ. The rest of mankind, God simply passed over, leaving them to the just punishment for their sins in eternal hellfire. The Apostle Paul, speaking for God, sternly rebukes those who would complain that God is somehow not fair or somehow does not “respect” our own choices: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” (Romans 9:20 ESV).

The remedy provided for the Elect¹⁰ in Jesus Christ by the Covenant of Grace

“It is your destruction, O Israel, That you are against Me” (Hosea 13:9 NASB).¹¹

The Almighty and Eternal God is three distinct persons¹²—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equally infinite in all perfections—in one and the same undivided Godhead. Before time,¹³ God most wisely decreed for His own glory whatever comes to pass in time. He most holily and unfailingly brings about all His decrees, but without being a partaker of the sin of any creature.¹⁴

In six days, God made all things out of nothing, all very good in their own kind.¹⁵ In particular, He made all the angels holy, and He made our first parents, Adam and Eve, the root of mankind, both upright and able to keep the Law¹⁶ written in their heart. This Law they were naturally bound to obey under pain of death, but God was not bound to reward their service. Yet God bound Himself when He entered into a Covenant or contract with them and their posterity to give them eternal life upon condition of perfect personal obedience, but threatening death¹⁷ if they should fail. This is the Covenant of Works.

Both angels and humans were subject to the change of their own free will as experience proved. (God has reserved to Himself the incommunicable¹⁸ property of being naturally unchangeable.) Many angels, of their own accord, fell by sin from their first state and became demons. Satan, one of those demons, spoke in a serpent and enticed our first parents into breaking the Covenant of Works by eating the forbidden fruit. By this sin, our first parents and their descendants (being in their loins, so to speak) as branches of the root, and thus included in the same Covenant with them, became not only liable to eternal death, but also lost all ability to please God.¹⁹ Indeed, they become, by nature, enemies to God and to all spiritual good, and inclined to only evil continually. This is our original sin, the bitter root of all our actual transgressions, in thought, word, and deed.

The sum of the Covenant of Redemption is this: God, having freely chosen for life²⁰ a certain number of lost mankind for the glory of His rich grace, gave them, before the World began, to God the Son, the appointed Redeemer. The Covenant of Redemption stipulated that God the Son would:

In order to accomplish the Covenant of Redemption and to make the Elect partakers of the benefits of the Covenant of Grace, Christ Jesus²¹ was invested with the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. He was made a prophet in order to reveal all saving knowledge to His people and to persuade them to believe and obey that knowledge. He was made a priest in order to offer up Himself as a sacrifice for all the Elect, once for all time, and to intercede continually with the Father for making their persons and services acceptable to Him. Christ was made a king in order to subdue the Elect to Himself, to feed and rule them by His own appointed ordinances, and to defend them from their enemies.

The external²² means and ordinances for making people partakers of the Covenant of Grace are so wisely dispensed that the Elect shall be unfailingly converted and saved by them. But the reprobate,²³ not being among the Elect, are justly allowed to continue in unbelief and thus perish in Hell. The means God uses to make people partakers of the Covenant of Grace are especially these four:

In the Word of God preached by sent messengers,²⁴ the Lord makes the offer of grace to all sinners upon condition of faith in Jesus Christ. Whoever confesses his sin, accepts Christ as offered, and submits himself to Christ’s ordinances, both he and his children²⁵ will be received into the honor and privileges of the Covenant of Grace.

By Church Government²⁶ God will hedge him in and help him forward in keeping the Covenant.

By these outward ordinances [listed in Topic 3], our Lord makes the reprobate inexcusable. Likewise, by the power of His Spirit, He effectually applies to the Elect all of the saving graces purchased to them in the Covenant of Redemption, and makes a change in their persons.²⁷ In particular:

He gives them saving faith by a sense of their deserved condemnation so that they heartily consent to the Covenant of Grace and embrace Christ Jesus unfeignedly.²⁸

Crediting to them the perfect satisfaction that Christ gave to justice on the Cross²⁹ in their name [in their place as their substitute]

Contained in Scripture, and Stated Briefly in the Previously Mentioned Confession of Faith and Catechisms³⁰

The chief general use of Christian teaching is to convict a person of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:8),³¹ partly by the Law, or Covenant of Works, that he may be humbled and repent, and partly by the Gospel, or Covenant of Grace. These Covenants are given that he may become an unfeigned believer in Jesus Christ, and be strengthened in his faith upon solid grounds and warrants,³² and give evidence of the truth of his faith by good fruits, and so be saved.

The sum of the Covenant of Works, or of the Law, is this: “If you do all that is commanded and not fail in any point, you will be saved. But if you fail, you will die” (see Romans 10:5, Galatians 3:10–12)³³

The sum of the Gospel, or Covenant of Grace and reconciliation, is this: “If you flee from deserved wrath to the true Redeemer, Jesus Christ (who is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God through him), you will not perish, but have eternal life” (see Romans 10:8–11).³⁴

Second, the Lord brings our original sin (wicked inclinations) and all the actual fruits produced by it into reckoning before His judgment seat,³⁵ for “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:10 ESV).

“The righteous Judge has forewarned me about what will be done on the last day. I am sure it is just judgment. But the righteous Judge has forewarned me that if I do not believe God in time³⁶ and obey the teachings of the Gospel, I will be isolated from His [benevolent] presence and His glory at the last day and will be tortured in soul and body for ever. Therefore I am convicted that this is just judgment. And I have reason to thank God heartily Who has forewarned me to flee from the wrath that is to come.” Thus everyone may, by the Law or Covenant of Works, be convicted of judgment if he continues under the Covenant of Works or does not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.

In the believer, the works of the Devil will be destroyed in him, and by God’s power his sanctification will progress toward perfection.³⁷

For this purpose, let these passages of Scripture, among many others, serve to make obvious the greatness of the sin of not believing in Christ. One may also see how great is the sin of refusing the offer of the Covenant of Grace to us, that is, the offer of Christ to us, by looking closely at what is being refused. Here is the fair offer of Grace as it is made: “Incline your ear, and come to me,” says the Lord, “Hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David” (Isaiah 55:3 ESV). That is, if you will believe Me and be reconciled to Me, then by Covenant, I will give to you Christ and all saving graces in Him with “steadfast, sure love.” (This is repeated in Acts 13:34.³⁸)

Again consider that this general offer is equivalent in substance to an offer made to each individual person in particular. This is shown by the Apostle’s making use of it, [when speaking to one person]: “And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household’” (Acts 16:31 ESV).³⁹ Observe the reason that motivated God to give the offer: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). We see then, that this great salvation is offered in the Lord Jesus. Thus, whoever does not believe in Him, but looks for happiness some other way, what else does he do, except observe lying vanities and forsake his own mercy that he might have had in Christ? “Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:8–9 NASB). What else does one who does not believe do except blaspheme God in his heart? As it is said, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:10–11 ESV). There is no sin against the Law as bad as this sin. Christ testifies, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22 ESV). This may convict people of the greatness of this sin of not believing in Christ.

“What suffices to convict all the Elect in the world of the greatness of the sin of not believing in Christ, or the sin of refusing to flee to Him for relief from sins done against the Law and from wrath due to such refusal?” [“Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”⁴⁰]

Therefore, let the repentant person who desires to believe take with him words,⁴¹ and say heartily to the Lord: “Because you say, ‘seek my face,’ my soul answers to you, ‘your face, Lord will I seek.’ I have read the offer of an everlasting Covenant of all saving mercies to be had in Christ, and I do heartily embrace your offer. Lord, let it be a signed and sealed covenant. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Behold, I give myself to you to serve you in all things forever, and I hope your right hand will save me and the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Your mercy, O Lord endures for ever; forsake not the works of your own hands.” Thus a person may be made an unfeigned believer in Christ.⁴²

Many true believers are weak and seriously doubt if they will ever be sure of the soundness of their own faith and effectual calling⁴³ or be made certain of their justification and salvation. This is exacerbated when they see that many who profess faith are found to have deceived themselves. Let us see how every believer may be made strong in the faith and sure of his own election and salvation upon solid grounds by sure warrants and true evidences of faith. For this purpose, among many other Scriptures, take these following.

Those who believe in Christ Jesus and are fled to Him for relief from sin and wrath, even though they are weak in the faith, they are indeed children of the same Father with the Apostles. For so he considers them by calling them brothers.⁴⁴

The way to be sure both of our election and effectual calling is to make sure work of our faith by laying the grounds of it solidly and bringing forth the fruits of our faith in new [and growing and improving] obedience constantly. “For if you practice these qualities,” he says, “you will never fall,” understanding by “these qualities,” what he had said concerning sound faith in 2 Peter 1–4,⁴⁵ and what he had said of the bringing out of the fruits of faith in 2 Peter 1:5–8.⁴⁶

The source and first ground from which our freedom from the curse of the Law flows is the Covenant of Redemption, established between God the Father and God the Son as the God-Man.⁴⁷ In this Covenant, Christ takes the curse of the Law upon Himself for sin, so that the believer, who could not otherwise be delivered from the Covenant of Works, may be delivered from it. And the Apostle shows forth this teaching in these four branches:

That this weakness and inability of the Law, or Covenant of Works, is not the fault of the Law, but the fault of sinful flesh, which is neither able to pay the penalty of sin, nor able to give perfect obedience to the Law (presupposing past sins were forgiven). The Law was weak, he said, “through the flesh.”⁴⁸

The Lord makes an open offer of Christ and His grace by proclamation of a free and gracious “market” of righteousness and salvation to be had through Christ to every soul without exception that truly desires to be saved from sin and wrath. “Come, everyone who thirsts,” says He.⁴⁹

Because faith comes by hearing, He calls for attentive listening to the explanation of the offer. He calls for listening to and believing the truth, which is able to beget the application of saving faith and to draw the soul to trust in God. “Incline your ear, and come to me,” says He. For this purpose, the Lord promises that this offer, when received, will enliven the dead sinner. And, upon welcoming this offer, He will put into effect the Covenant of Grace with the person that will consent to it, even an inviolable perpetual Covenant of perpetual reconciliation and peace. “Hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant.” God declares that He will put this Covenant into effect and assign and make over to the believer of all the saving graces that David (who is Jesus Christ)⁵⁰ has bought for us in the Covenant of Redemption. “I will make with you an everlasting covenant,” says God, “my steadfast, sure love for David.” By sure love, He means saving graces, such as righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, adoption, sanctification, and glorification, and whatever belongs to godliness⁵¹ and eternal life.

Christ was made the God-Man and born for our sakes the offspring of David. Because David was a type⁵² of Christ, He is called here and in Acts 13:34, David. Christ is the true and everlasting King of Israel and the great gift of God to mankind, as implied in “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water’” (John 4:10 ESV).⁵³

By His powerful working while they go up through the wilderness,⁵⁴ bearing His redeemed ones in His arms and causing them to lean on Him

The second warrant and special motive to embrace Christ and believe in Him is the earnest request⁵⁵ that God makes to us to be reconciled to Him in Christ: “That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:19–21 ESV).

Ministers of the Gospel should behave themselves as Christ’s messengers, and should closely follow their commission set down in the Word in Matthew 28:19–20.⁵⁶ And when they do so, they should be received by the people as ambassadors from God, for here the Apostle, in all their names, said, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”

Everyone who hears the Gospel must make conscience of the duty of lively faith in Christ.⁵⁷ The weak believer must not think it presumption to do what is commanded. The person inclined to desperation must pick himself up and think carefully about obedience to this sweet and saving command. The strong believer must dip yet more into the sense of his need of Jesus Christ, and more and more grow in the obedience of this command. Yes, even the most unrepentant, profane, and wicked person must not thrust himself out or be thrust out by others from careful aiming at this duty, no matter how desperate his condition seems to be. For He Who commands everyone to believe in Christ also implicitly commands everyone to believe that they are damned and lost without Christ. Thus, God commands all people to acknowledge their sins and their need of Christ. In effect, God commands everyone to repent, that they may believe in Him. And whoever refuses to repent of his past sins is guilty of disobedience to this command given to all hearers, but especially to those who are within the visible Church, for “this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ,” says He.

He who has believed on Jesus Christ, although he is freed from the curse of the Law, he is not freed from the command and obedience of the Law, but tied to it by a new obligation and a new command from Christ. This new command from Christ draws down help to obey the command. To this command from Christ, the Father adds his authority and command also. “And this is his commandment,” says John, “that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23 ESV). The first part of this command enjoins belief in Him, which necessarily implies love to God, and thus obedience to the first Table,⁵⁸ for believing in God and loving God are inseparable. And the second part of the command enjoins love to our neighbor (especially to the household of faith) and thus obedience to the second Table of the Law.

The fourth warrant and special motive to believe in Christ is that much assurance of life is given to people who will obey the command to believe, but a fearful certification of destruction is given to people who do not obey: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:35–36 ESV).⁵⁹

That the Father is well satisfied with the undertakings of the Son, Who became Redeemer and Surety to pay the ransom of believers, and perfect them in holiness and salvation. “The Father loves the Son,” said God. The Son stands Mediator in our name, undertaking to perfect our redemption in all points. The Father “loves the Son,” that is, heartily accepts His offer to do the work, and is well pleased with Him. The soul⁶⁰ of God the Father delights in Him and rests upon Him, and makes Him, in this His office, the receptacle of love, grace, and good will to be conveyed by Him to believers in Him.

Jesus Christ, in His capacity of Mediator, and as He is God incarnate,⁶¹ the Word made flesh, so that He may fulfill the Covenant of Redemption, the Father has given Christ all authority in Heaven and Earth. For the same reason, the Father completely furnished Christ with the riches of grace, Spirit, and life, with all power and ability, that is required due to:

The work of redemption.⁶²

A fearful certification is given if a person does not receive the teaching concerning righteousness and eternal life to be had by Jesus Christ. “Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.”⁶³ He will not so much as understand what the teaching means.

Our Lord gives commandment to believers, who are justified by faith, to give evidence of the grace of God in them in the presence of people,⁶⁴ by doing good works. “Let your light shine before others,” the Lord Jesus said, “so that they may see your good works.”

The Lord Jesus teaches that the⁶⁵ purpose of the Gospel and Covenant of Grace is to procure people’s obedience to the Moral Law. “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

If someone breaks the Moral Law and defends the transgression of it by saying it is not sin, this excludes him both from Heaven, and, justly also, from the fellowship of the true Church. Likewise, obedience of the Law and teaching others to do the same, by example, counsel, and teaching, according to one’s calling,⁶⁶ proves a person to be a true believer, in great estimation with God, and worthy to be much esteemed of by the true Church (verse 19).

The second indispensable thing necessary to validate the existence of true saving faith is that the believer must endeavor to put the rules of godliness and righteousness into practice, and to grow⁶⁷ in the daily exercise of them, as Peter shows forth: “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5–8 ESV). In this passage,

The obedience of the Law must flow from love, and at that, love from a pure heart. A pure heart results from a good conscience, and a good conscience results from sincere faith.⁶⁸ He declares that this is the only valid source of good works. “The aim of our charge is love,” and so on.

Unless a person is grafted⁶⁹ into Christ and united to Him by faith, he cannot do even the smallest of good works by his own strength. In fact, except in so far as a person draws Spirit and life from Christ by faith, the works that he does are naughty and devoid of any goodness in God’s judgment, “for apart from me,” Christ said, “you can do nothing.”

And we are incorporated into His mystical⁷⁰ body, that He may dwell in us as His temple, and we dwell in Him as in the residence of righteousness and life. So our abiding in Christ implies three other necessary things:

And hence also let the sleepy and sluggish believer, for his own stirring up,⁷¹ reason thus: “Whatever is necessary for giving evidence of true faith, I must give careful attention to doing it. Otherwise I will deceive myself and perish. But to draw upon Christ Jesus daily for cleansing my conscience and affections from the guiltiness and filthiness of sins against the Law and to draw on Him to enable me to give obedience to the Law in love, is necessary to produce evidence of true faith in me. Therefore, I must give careful attention to do all that is required. Otherwise I will deceive myself and perish.”

Are you ready to become a disciple of Jesus Christ? First you should count the cost.⁷² It is common knowledge that those who “get saved” or “get religion,” as the world often expresses it, will need to make some changes to how they live. Love, obedience, and service to God must come first in your life. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV). The Lord Jesus must come first in all things in your life. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26 ESV). The hate here is figurative language to express how the Lord Jesus must have absolute priority in your life. For example, many Muslims who become Christians are rejected by their families. They must choose between Jesus Christ and their loved ones. The correct choice is to choose Jesus Christ and take the consequences of possible rejection and separation from family and friends. But they are still charitable and love their families, for we are commanded to love even our enemies. Jesus Christ is Lord and takes absolute priority. What is more, we cannot predict the future, so we cannot perfectly count the cost. Therefore, we must be permanently committed to Christ no matter what. “Whoever does not bear his own cross⁷³ and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him” (Luke 14:27–29 ESV).

The Westminster Shorter Catechism.⁷⁴

Prior to the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church insisted that civil authorities enforce conformity to Catholic teachings and practice. Those deemed heretics were punished and even executed. As the Reformation progressed, some civil authorities were convinced of the validity of Protestantism. This resulted both in wars between Protestant regions and Catholic regions and caused many refugees to flee. It was later accepted in some places that, “the religion of the prince determines the religion of that land.” From 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door, all the way until 1791, when in America, the Bill of Rights was ratified, it was normal for each country to have a national religion established and enforced by law. Even after 1791, some American States had established churches as late as 1833.^N Although there were places and periods of religious toleration, such as in Holland, the usual state of affairs was persecution of those not practicing the official religion as prescribed by civil authorities or the established church.⁷⁵

The absolutist King James (of KJV fame), king of England and Scotland, died in 1625. His son, Charles I, of like temperament, then became king. As the episcopal⁷⁶ system of church government resembles that of a civil monarchical government, King James, Charles, and others like them used the maxim, “no bishop, no king.”^O The Scottish people were largely Presbyterians, but King Charles attempted to jam episcopal and Roman Catholic type government and worship practices down the Scots’ throats. The Scots would have none of it, and successfully enforced their desires by the National Covenant of 1638 and against the king in 1639–40 with military force.^P^{,
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In the meantime, King Charles was also making a mess of things in England by religious persecution and intolerable civil and religious tyranny, including oppressive substitutes for legal taxes. Only parliament could authorize more taxes, and parliaments⁷⁷ refused to do so, upon which Charles would dismiss that parliament. Finally, the Long Parliament refused to disband. The king was going to have to get his way with military force. Parliament was militarily much weaker than the king, so they appealed to the Scots for aid, to make a civil league with Parliament.

Now, the Church of England had been orthodox and Reformed in basic doctrine, but their worship and church government were largely after the Roman Catholic model; the king was effectively the “Pope” of the Church of England. But most of Parliament leaned Presbyterian. And, most Puritans⁷⁸ were Congregationalists, often termed Independents. Their beliefs were otherwise close to those of Presbyterians. Besides that, there were many in the Church of England who believed in the episcopal form of church government, but were otherwise doctrinally close to the Independents and Presbyterians. Parliament was of course well aware of the mess the king was making in the Church of England and of the divisions among themselves. Thus, they resolved to call an assembly of divines (their term for what today we call ministers, pastors, or preachers) to advise Parliament and help settle differences. The first task of this assembly, later known as the Westminster Assembly, was to revise the Thirty Nine Articles, the doctrinal standard of the Church of England.

A Christian not only accepts the promises of the Gospel as good and comfortable words, but can heartily write “Good is the Word of the Lord” on every precept. He likes his duties as well as his privileges, his work as well as his reward. This heart-acceptance is set forth in expressions regarding a willing mind, a ready mind, and an eager mind. And as his heart is toward his work, so it is for any work to which the Lord calls it. He has respect for all the commandments. He would not wish to be without one leaf, no, not one line of the whole Word of God. He is ready for every good work. He would not wish one duty lifted from him of all that God requires. He would not have one sin allowed to him of all that God forbids. He who says concerning any one word in the whole will of God, “This I must have struck out or be dispensed with before I can be a Christian,” is one whose heart is not upright. He who wishes to have any one sin to be no sin, any one duty to be no duty, any one sin to be allowed to him, or any duty to be lifted from him is no Christian.^⁷⁹

Because God is perfectly holy, cannot lie, and has a care for His Word, the original autographs of the Scriptures are perfect, without error, and cannot contain error. Due to God’s providential care to bring about careful scholarship, the high redundancy in the Bible, and the Bible’s frequent repetition of important teachings in various ways and literary genres, the important teachings of Scripture, as transmitted to us and as translated by honest scholars are completely reliable and dependable.⁸⁰

The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created this entire vast universe and its contents in six days (144 hours), all by exacting design with great skill and wisdom for His Glory. Big-Bang cosmogony⁸¹ and Darwinist macroevolution⁸² are false hypotheses with no proof.⁸³ These false hypotheses are largely motivated by the desire to pretend that there is no Creator God Whom we must all obey. They are fables constructed according to scientific knowledge to make them appear real.

Because God is Truth Itself, the teachings of the Holy Bible must not in any way be subordinated to, interpreted in light of, or syncretized with or by any other religion, philosophy, dialectic, or way of thinking. The Holy Bible must be the only foundation for thought, knowledge, world view, metaphysics, and philosophy. Put another way, the Holy Bible must be interpreted only according to its own presuppositions, philosophies, and epistemology.⁸⁴ Any ideology that sets itself above the Holy Bible to determine its interpretations or teachings takes away the key of knowledge.

As the title page tells us, the Sum of Saving Knowledge is a summary of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.⁸⁵ These beloved works and derivatives from them have formed the doctrinal basis of many churches and denominations. Underlying the Westminster standards are certain biblical truths that are unfortunately rejected even by some churches and denominations. Similar to the Prerequisites above, the editor presents some of these matters with some simple evidences so that the reader may better understand and benefit from this Sum, whether or not he agrees with the views presented in the introduction or in this appendix.

All of us are conceived in original sin, sinners, and rebels against God. Of ourselves, we are dead in our sins and thus incapable of exercising saving faith and repentance by our own strength.⁸⁶

But God, even before the creation of the world, in His unfathomably rich grace⁸⁷, did elect, that is choose, some people to receive the gift of regenerated hearts. The regenerated heart is thus capable of saving faith in Jesus Christ alone and saving repentance. This gift of salvation is called in Scripture being born again / from above.⁸⁸

Unfortunately, that copy of this Sum was encumbered by a copyright,⁸⁹ precluding wide, inexpensive, and casual distribution. Other versions had the same problem, contained excessive embedded commentary, or were of uncertain accuracy. As the editor was already making a “retirement career” of translating Puritan era literature into contemporary American English, he decided to produce his own version. He has not referred to anyone else’s work to avoid suspicion of copyright violation. (Many months passed between his last reading of the Sum and beginning the present project; his senior brain thus ensured the complete independence of his work.) Use of the CopyLeft copyright license also ensures wide freedom of copying and distribution of this present version.

The contemporary text generally follows American usage per the Chicago Manual of Style.⁹⁰

In the few places where a Greek or Hebrew word used, the pronunciation given is that in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.⁹¹

3 This provision does not at all prohibit one from substituting a different Bible version in English or any other language.

5 These lawyers were supposed experts in the Law of Moses.

6 The terms Bible, Holy Bible, Scripture, the Scriptures, the Word, the Law, the Law of God, and the Word of God are basically synonymous, but have slightly different connotations.

5 These lawyers were supposed experts in the Law of Moses.

6 The terms Bible, Holy Bible, Scripture, the Scriptures, the Word, the Law, the Law of God, and the Word of God are basically synonymous, but have slightly different connotations.

5 These lawyers were supposed experts in the Law of Moses.

6 The terms Bible, Holy Bible, Scripture, the Scriptures, the Word, the Law, the Law of God, and the Word of God are basically synonymous, but have slightly different connotations.

13 We now know that time, in any one place, is subject to change by gravity and speed. This shows that the time we experience is a part of this created universe, not part of the eternity that God “inhabits.” Even ancient writers understood the difference without the help of Relativity. Because we are made in God’s image, it may be that God knows some analog in His eternity to our created time, but unlike us, God’s eternity does not in any way control Him; quite the reverse.

14 Today, we mostly use creature as a synonym for animal, but in this Sum, the word refers to anything that God created, that is, anything in this universe.

16 Throughout this Sum, Law or Moral Law (capitalized) refers to all of the moral law commanded by God in the Holy Bible, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and by “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27 ESV). However, in the New Testament, especially Paul’s Epistles, “the Law” often refers to the ceremonial and Levitical ordinances that were fulfilled and abrogated by the Lord Jesus. Prior to Christ’s fulfillment, these laws were part of the moral law.

17 It is clear from the context of Scripture as a whole that life is used to indicate life on earth in some places, but eternal life in Heaven with God in other places. Likewise death may refer to either death from earth into an eternal state (Heaven or Hell) or eternal death in Hell. In this paragraph, death refers both to death from earth and death into eternal Hell. Had Adam obeyed perfectly, he would have not experienced either earthly death or eternal death. Scripture seems silent as to whether Adam ever savingly repented. Life may also refer to being born again from above, followed by spiritual awakening on earth and eternal life in Heaven. Context must determine which of all these meanings applies.

19 Both of our first parents did sin and brought death and a depraved nature upon themselves. But Scripture is clear that original sin and its horrible consequences also passed from Adam to his sons and daughters, and likewise, original sin is passed down from father to sons and daughters in each generation (but not from mothers). The propagation of original sin is not by physical or biological means, but spiritual. Hence, there is no hope of excising original sin by, for example, manipulation of DNA.

23 As not all people are Elect, those whom God passes over without saving them are generally termed reprobate.

25 This does not imply that baptized children are automatically saved at the time of baptism, but some children do grow up never knowing a day in which they did not have faith in Christ. Others repent and believe later in life or never. And of those who do not live long enough or are mentally handicapped so that they are never capable learning about the Gospel, some are Elect; the Holy Spirit does not depend on human ability.

32 A warrant is permission or authority that allows one to do something that is normally forbidden. For example, a search warrant allows police to search a person or place, something otherwise unconstitutional. The use of warrant in this Sum is a bit antiquated, but perfectly fits, so it is retained. A believer has solid reasons for strong faith because God has decreed many precious and gracious promises to him that are not given to unbelievers.

42 This and similar sinner’s prayers do not themselves save anyone. But when prayed truly and from the heart, however imperfectly, they are outward evidence of having been inwardly born again from above by the power of the Holy Spirit.

46 “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:5–10 ESV). These passages will be further explained later in this Sum.

51 The word godliness means: Careful observance of, or conformity to, the laws of God; piety; loving obedience to the will of God, and earnest devotion to His service.

53 Whether the interpretation of gift in this passage is correct or not, certainly, Christ is a great gift of God to man.

73 There is a common idea that cross refers to suffering or hardship. This is not true as exemplified by Christ’s cross. Christ did not come to earth to suffer, but to save sinners. That was His calling, or mission in life. Christ did a lot more in His earthly life than get crucified. And, given the opposition He faced, most of His work caused Him suffering. And of course, paying the penalty for the sins of the elect on the cross involved hideous suffering. So our own crosses are the work or mission(s) to which Christ our Lord has called us in this life. And, like Him, we must do that work while enduring faithfully whatever suffering or hardship comes with it.

75 God has commanded believers to propagate His Word and Gospel to unbelievers and erring believers, and the Holy Spirit is often pleased to use Scripture, preached, shared, and applied, to convert the lost and sanctify believers. But only the Holy Spirit is able to convert and sanctify a sinner’s heart. Alas, the evil and futility of using government force to try to do the Holy Spirit’s work of changing hearts has been a hard lesson for the Church to learn.

82 Macroevolution refers to the idea that all present life forms have evolved from lower forms by time and chance, as claimed by, for example, Charles Darwin. This is in contrast to microevolution, in which small changes in characteristics allow species to survive changes in their environments without loss of the species. It is one of God’s designed methods of making species and ecologies fault-tolerant.

83 Strictly speaking, no human theory of origin even qualifies as a hypothesis, much less a theory because such are not falsifiable.

88 The Greek can mean either again or from above. Given the richness of the Greek language, this editor contends that Scripture intends both meanings to be true; the “ambiguity” is deliberate.

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