This book explores the Westminster Confession of Faith's claim that "there is no ordinary possibility of salvation" outside of the church by asking what it means, whether it is biblical, and why it is important. The author concludes that the Westminster Confession rightly stresses the role of the church in bringing people to salvation without making this claim absolute. We should love the church because Christ loved it and gave Himself for it. He died for the church so that we might live in and with it. Let us study this subject with our Bibles in our hands, the Spirit in our hearts, prayer on our lips, and our forefathers helping us along.
Table of Contents:
Part One History--What Does WCF 25.2 Mean?
1. Reformation and Early Reformed Background
2. The Westminster Confession of Faith and Beyond
Part Two Theology--Is WCF 25.2 Biblical?
3. The Church in the Old Testament
4. The Visible Church in the New Testament
5. The Invisible Church in the New Testament
Part Three Practice--Why Is WCF 25.2 Important?
6. The Ordinary Necessity of the Visible Church for Salvation