After laying the foundation of Holy Scripture, the Westminster Confession moves with reverent logic to its first and greatest subject: God Himself. If Chapter One tells us how we know, Chapter Two tells us Who it is we know. There can be no more important, more majestic, or more humbling topic for human thought. The divines do not rush into this subject with speculative reasoning; instead, they move carefully, summarizing what God has revealed about Himself in the Word that they have just established as the supreme authority. In three carefully crafted paragraphs, they articulate the being and attributes of the one true God, His sovereign relationship to all creation, and the profound mystery that this one God is three distinct persons.
Drawing from Scripture, the Confession presents God as the one, infinite, self-existent, and sovereign Creator, who is perfect in all His attributes and who, in the unity of His divine being, exists eternally as three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The One Living and True God (WCF 2.1)
The Confession begins with the foundational assertion of biblical monotheism: “There is but one only, living, and true God” (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6). This God is not a distant, abstract force, but a person. He is then described by a stunning list of attributes that set Him utterly apart from all that He has made. He is “infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions” (John 4:24). This means God is not composed of anything; He is simple, unified, and not subject to the emotional fluctuations or physical limitations of creatures. He is “immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible” (James 1:17; Ps. 90:2). He does not change, He fills all space without being contained by it, He exists outside of time, and He can never be fully grasped by the finite human mind.
He is also “almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute.” His power and wisdom are limitless. His holiness means He is utterly pure and set apart from all sin. His freedom and sovereignty mean He “worketh all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory” (Eph. 1:11). The divines continue by listing His moral perfections: He is “most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” But lest we create a god of pure sentimentality, they immediately balance this by stating He is also “most just, and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:6–7; Nah. 1:2–3). This is the God of Scripture: one being, perfect in every conceivable way.
The All-Sufficient Sovereign (WCF 2.2)
From who God is in Himself, the Confession moves to His relationship with creation. The foundational truth here is God’s aseity, or self-sufficiency. “God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient.” He does not need us or anything else in creation to be who He is. As Paul preached to the Athenians, He is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24–25). Because He is the self-sufficient Creator, “he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things” (Rom. 11:36).
This self-sufficiency is the ground of His absolute sovereignty. He has “most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth.” This high view of God’s rule can be unsettling, but it is the consistent testimony of Scripture (Rev. 4:11; Dan. 4:25, 35). This relationship is not reciprocal; we owe Him everything, and He owes us nothing. All the worship, service, and obedience we could ever render is simply the duty of a creature to his Creator (Luke 17:10).
The Holy Trinity (WCF 2.3)
Here we arrive at the heart of the Christian doctrine of God and one of the deepest mysteries of our faith. Loved ones, we must tread with humility, for we are on holy ground. The Confession states with beautiful simplicity: “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.” The Bible is clear that there is one God. Yet, it speaks of three who are fully God. At the baptism of Jesus, the Son is in the water, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven (Matt. 3:16–17). In the Great Commission, disciples are to be baptized into the one name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (plural) (Matt. 28:19). The apostolic blessing invokes all three: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).
The divines then carefully articulate the distinct properties of each person. “The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding.” He is the eternal fountain of the Godhead. “The Son is eternally begotten of the Father” (John 1:14, 18). This is not a begetting in time, as if the Son were a creature, but an eternal and necessary relationship of origin within the one divine essence. “The Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son” (John 15:26; Gal. 4:6). The Spirit is the eternal bond of love between the Father and the Son. These three are not three gods, nor are they three modes of a single person. They are “one substance, power, and eternity,” yet truly distinct persons.
Conclusion
In this chapter, the Westminster divines present the God of the Bible in all His majesty. He is the one, perfect, and unchanging Creator, sovereign over all things and needing nothing from them. Yet this one God is not a solitary monad. He is the Triune God, existing eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a perfect communion of love. This is not a mere theological puzzle; it is the very foundation of our faith. It is because God is Triune that the Father can send the Son, the Son can accomplish redemption for us, and the Father and the Son can send the Spirit to apply that redemption to our hearts. The God who is love in His very being is the only God who can save.
Key Terms/Concepts
- Aseity: From the Latin a se, meaning “from oneself.” This term refers to God’s self-existence and complete independence. He is uncaused and depends on nothing outside of Himself for His existence, glory, or blessedness.
- Simplicity (Divine): The doctrine that God is not composed of parts. His attributes are not separate components of His being but are identical with His essence. This ensures God’s unity and protects against viewing Him as changeable or divisible.
- Trinity: The doctrine that God is one in essence (ousia, substantia) but exists eternally as three distinct persons (hypostases, personae): the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, and yet there is only one God.
- Eternal Generation: The classical doctrine that the Son is eternally “begotten” of the Father. This describes a relationship of origin within the Godhead that does not imply creation, inferiority, or a beginning in time, but rather an eternal and necessary aspect of the Son’s personal distinction from the Father.
- Procession (of the Spirit): The doctrine describing the personal distinction of the Holy Spirit, who eternally “proceeds” from the Father and the Son (Filioque). This describes His relationship of origin within the Godhead as the Spirit of both the Father and the Son.