• The Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God's truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
• The Holy Trinity is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that
• All are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God's displeasure, except by His mercy.
• Salvation is by God alone as He sovereignly chooses those He will save. We believe His choice is based on His grace, not on any human individual merit, or foreseen faith. We believe that
• Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who through His perfect life and sacrificial death atoned for the sins of all who will trust in Him, alone, for salvation. We believe that
• God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His Covenant promises.
• The Holy Spirit indwells God's people and gives them the strength and wisdom to trust Christ and follow Him.
• Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.
• Every dimension of our lives are to be lived to the glory of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The Presbyterian Church in America has made a firm commitment on the doctrinal standards which had been significant in presbyterianism since 1645, namely the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. These doctrinal standards express the distinctives of the Calvinistic or Reformed tradition.

Among the distinctive doctrines of the Westminster Standards and of Reformed tradition is the unique authority of the Bible. The reformers based all of their claims on “sola scriptura,” the Scriptures alone. This included the doctrine of their inspiration which is a special act of the Holy Spirit by which He guided the writers of the books of Scriptures (in their original autographs) so that their words should convey the thoughts He wished conveyed, bear a proper relation to the thoughts of other inspired books, and be kept free from error of fact, of doctrine, and of judgment--all of which were to be an infallible rule of faith and life. Historically, the concept of infallibility has included the idea of inerrancy.

Other distinctives are the doctrines of grace, which depict what God has done for mankind’s salvation:

1. Total depravity of man. Man is completely incapable within himself to reach out towards God. Man is totally at enmity with God, cf. Romans 3:10-23.
2. Unconditional election by the grace of God. There is absolutely no condition in any person for which God would save him. As a matter of fact, long before man was created, God chose or predestined some to everlasting life. He did this out of His mere good pleasure, cf. Ephesians 1:4-5.
3. Particular atonement. God in His infinite mercy, in order to accomplish the planned redemption, sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die as a substitute for the sins of a large but specific number of people, cf. Romans 8:29-30.
4. The irresistible grace of God. This is the effectual work of the Holy Spirit moving upon a particular person whom He has called, applying the work of redemption, cf. John 3:5-6.
5. The perseverance of the saints. This is that gracious work of God’s sanctification whereby He enables a saved person to persevere to the end. Even though the process of sanctification is not complete in this life, from God’s perspective it is as good as accomplished, cf. Romans 8:30, 38-39, and Philippians 1:6.

The First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, meeting at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, December 4-7, 1973, adopted the Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism as the doctrinal standards of the Church.

The Presbyterian Church in America received the same Confession and Catechisms as those that were adopted by the first American Presbyterian Assembly of 1789, with two minor exceptions, namely, the deletion of strictures against marrying one's wife's kindred (XXIV,4), and the reference to the Pope as the antichrist (XXV,6).

Other than these changes, and the American amendments of Chapter XXIII on the civil magistrate (adopted in 1789), this is the Confession and Catechisms as agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster which met from 1643-1647. The Caruthers edition of the Confession and Catechisms, which is based upon the original manuscript written by Cornelius Burgess is the Edition presented to and adopted by the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.

The Scripture proof texts are essentially those of the Westminster Assembly, which have been approved by the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, but which are not a part of the Constitution itself. At the direction of the General Assembly these texts are presented in full. The King James Version has been used, since this is the English text that was in use at the time of the Westminster Assembly, the language of which is at times reflected in the Confession and Catechisms.

The inclusion of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostle's Creed and the footnote regarding them with the Shorter Catechism goes back to the Westminster divines, though these are not a formal part of the Standards themselves.

In addition to the Confession, we have included with permission of the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in the United States a historical sketch entitled "The Origin and Formation of the Westminster Confession of Faith." This statement was first ordered printed by the 1906 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. It has been revised only in the last two paragraphs as it refers to the Presbyterian Church in America.

See the Confession of Faith Table of Contents.