Westminster Confession on Spiritual warfare
Through the usual means of the Christian life: Scripture, prayer, faith and watchfulness, including asking God to deliver the afflicted
"we pray, that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh, and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them"
THE POSITION
Satan is real: mankind is by nature under his dominion, and believers can fall into grievous sins through his temptations. The fight is carried on by prayer and the means of grace. In the Lord's Prayer the church asks God to restrain Satan and to quicken it to watchfulness in using those means, so it is God, not the believer, who is addressed. Exorcism, demons and possession are not mentioned.
10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 OTHERS HOLD THIS
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 Spiritual warfare", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/westminster/spiritual-warfare (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/westminster/spiritual-warfare).