The Westminster Larger Catechism is a Q&A-style statement of the Westminster Confession of Faith by the Westminster Assembly.
There are many creeds and confessions of the Christian church. They attempt to summarize or systematize biblical theology. Some well-known creeds of the early church include:
Some later creeds and confessions include:
Some of these are specific to certain churches or denominations.
The Westminster Standards are a distinctly reformed confessional statement of biblical theology. In 1643, the English Parliament passed an Act entitled, "An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons in Parliament for the Calling of an Assembly of Divines and others, to be consulted with by the Parliament for the settling of the Government and Liturgy of the Church of England, and clearing of the Doctrine of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations." The product of this Assembly, completed in 1648, is commonly called The Westminster Standards, comprised of The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Larger Catechism, and the Shorter Catechism. You can read much more about this historic confession in "The Confession of Faith," A. A. Hodge, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1869.
Read the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Modern English editions of the Larger Catechism with proof texts in ESV, KJV, or ASV.
| Edition | Proof Texts | Starting at Question 1 With One Question & Answer Per Page |
|---|---|---|
| EPC Modern English [1] | English Standard Version [2] | EPC Modern English edition with English Standard Version proof texts |
| EPC Modern English [1] | King James Version [3] | EPC Modern English edition with King James Version proof texts |
| EPC Modern English [1] | American Standard Version [4] | EPC Modern English edition with American Standard Version proof texts |
| [1] | The questions and answers in Modern English were extracted from EPC Larger Catechism PDF. Used by permission. See also EPC Afterword on the Texts. |
| [2] | All Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language. |
| Users may not copy or download more than 500 verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible. | |
| “The Holy Bible.” Crossway, 2016. https://esv.org/. | |
| [3] | Holy Bible, King James Version, is PUBLIC DOMAIN except in the United Kingdom, where a Crown Copyright applies to printing the KJV. See King's Printer Patent. |
| [4] | From Wikipedia: The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had been published in 1900. |
| The American Standard Version entered the public domain on January 1, 1957 upon expiration of its copyright. |
This arrangement of The Larger Catechism was done by Terry Westley.