Westminster Confession on the final state of the lost
Eternal conscious punishment
...but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
THE POSITION
WCF 33.2 states eternal conscious punishment in the Confession's own words and pairs it with the eternal life of the righteous in the same sentence, so the two destinies are given the same duration. WCF 32.1 has already described the intermediate state: the souls of the wicked are 'cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day', and the Confession adds that Scripture acknowledges no third place for separated souls - a direct refusal of purgatory.
41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
20 OTHERS HOLD THIS
See all 23 figures on the final state of the lost →ABOUT THIS FIGURE
The confessional standard of English-speaking Presbyterianism, completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1646 and adopted with its Scripture proofs. This entry rests on the 1646 text from the manuscript of Cornelius Burges as edited by S. W. Carruthers (1937) for chapters 1-24, and on the 1647 text for chapters 25-33; the Assembly's own proof texts attached to each paragraph supply every reference below.
Cite this page
"Westminster Confession on the final state of the lost", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/westminster/final-state (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/westminster/final-state).