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The Philadelphia Confession, 1742
Of God and of the Holy Trinity
THE LORD OUR GOD is but one only
living, and true God;1 whose subsistence is in and of Himself,2 infinite in being and perfections, whose essence cannot be
comprehended by any but Himself;3 a most pure spirit,4 invisible, without body, parts or passions, who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto,5
who is immutable, immense,7 eternal,8
incomprehensible, almighty,9 every way infinite, most holy,10 most wise, most free, most absolute, working all things
according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will,11 for His own glory,12 most loving,
gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity,
transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,13 and withal most just, and terrible in His judgements,14 hating all sin,15 and will by no
means clear the guilty.16
God, having all life,17 glory,18 goodness,19 blessedness, in and of Himself, is alone in, and unto Himself
all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which He hath made, nor deriving any
glory from them,20 but only manifesting His own glory in, by,
unto, and upon them, He is the alone fountain of all being of whom, through whom, and to
whom are all things,21 and He hath most sovereign dominion
over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever Himself pleaseth;22 in His sight all things are open and manifest,23 His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon
the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent or uncertain,24
He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works,25 and
in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship,26 service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator,
and whatever He is further pleased to require of them.
In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word (or Son), and Holy Spirit,27 of one substance, power and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided;28 the Father is of none neither begotten nor proceeding, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father,29 the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son,30 all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar, relative properties, and personal relations which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him.
Footnotes:
1. 1Co 8:4,6; Dt 6:4.
2. Jer 10:10; Isa 48:12.
3. Ex 3:14.
4. Jn 4:24.
5. 1Ti 1:17; Dt 4:15-16.
6. Mal 3:6.
7. 1Ki 8:27; Jer 23:23.
8. Ps 90:2.
9. Ge 17:1.
10. Isa 6:3.
11. Ps 115:3; Isa 46:10.
12. Pr 16:4; Ro 11:36.
13. Ex 34:6-7; Heb 11:6.
14. Ne 9:32-33.
15. Ps 5:5-6.
16. Ex 34:7; Na 1:2-3.
17. Jn 5:26.
18. Ps 148:13.
19. Ps 119:68.
20. Job 22:2-3.
21. Ro 11:34-36.
22. Da 4:25,34-35.
23. Heb 4:13.
24. Eze 11:5; Ac 15:18.
25. Ps 145:17.
26. Rev 5:12-14.
27. 1Jn 5:7; Mt 28:19; 2Co 13:14.
28. Ex 3:14; Jn 14:11; 1Co 8:6.
29. Jn 1:14,18. 30. Jn 15:26; Gal 4:6.
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