content/10/21.md
---
pagetitle: What is the visible church?
date: February 19, 2020
prev_url: /westminster-daily/10/20/
prev_date: Oct 20
this_url: /westminster-daily/10/21/
short_date: "1021"
this_date: Oct 21
next_url: /westminster-daily/10/22/
next_date: Oct 22
---
#### Confession of Faith
##### Chapter 25: Of the Church
The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion;[^fnref:wcf1] and of their children:[^fnref:wcf2] and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ,[^fnref:wcf3] the house and family of God,[^fnref:wcf4] out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.[^fnref:wcf5]
[^fnref:wcf1]: <div class="esv"><h5>1 Corinthians 1:2</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p class="chapter-first" id="p46001002.01-1">To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:</p> </div><h5>1 Corinthians 12:12-13</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p46012012.06-2">For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.</p> </div><h5>Psalm 2:8</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19002008.01-3">Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and the ends of the earth your possession.</p> </div> </div><h5>Revelation 7:9</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p66007009.07-4">After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,</p> </div><h5>Romans 15:9-12</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45015009.01-5">and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015009.17-5">“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and sing to your name.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015010.01-5">And again it is said,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015010.06-5">“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015011.01-5">And again,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015011.03-5">“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and let all the peoples extol him.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015012.01-5">And again Isaiah says,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015012.05-5">“The root of Jesse will come,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;<br /> in him will the Gentiles hope.” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf2]: <div class="esv"><h5>1 Corinthians 7:14</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p46007014.01-1">For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.</p> </div><h5>Acts 2:39</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p44002039.01-2">For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”</p> </div><h5>Ezekiel 16:20-21</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p26016020.01-3">And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?</p> </div><h5>Romans 11:16</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45011016.01-4">If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.</p> </div><h5>Genesis 3:15</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p01003015.01-5">I will put enmity between you and the woman,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and between your offspring and her offspring;<br /> he shall bruise your head,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and you shall bruise his heel.”</p> </div> </div><h5>Genesis 17:7</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p01017007.01-6">And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf3]: <div class="esv"><h5>Matthew 13:47</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p40013047.06-1"><span class="woc">“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.</span></p> </div><h5>Isaiah 9:7</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p23009007.01-2">Of the increase of his government and of peace<br /> <span class="indent"></span>there will be no end,<br /> on the throne of David and over his kingdom,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>to establish it and to uphold it<br /> with justice and with righteousness<br /> <span class="indent"></span>from this time forth and forevermore.<br /> The zeal of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> of hosts will do this. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf4]: <div class="esv"><h5>Ephesians 2:19</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p49002019.01-1">So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,</p> </div><h5>Ephesians 3:15</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p49003015.01-2">from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf5]: <div class="esv"><h5>Acts 2:47</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p44002047.01-1">praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
#### Larger Catechism
<span class="q">Q 62.</span> What is the visible church?
<span class="q">A.</span> The visible church is a society made up of all such as in all ages and places of the world do profess the true religion,[^fnref:wlc1] and of their children.[^fnref:wlc2]
[^fnref:wlc1]: <div class="esv"><h5>1 Corinthians 1:2</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p class="chapter-first" id="p46001002.01-1">To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:</p> </div><h5>1 Corinthians 12:13</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p46012013.01-2">For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.</p> </div><h5>Romans 15:9-12</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45015009.01-3">and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015009.17-3">“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and sing to your name.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015010.01-3">And again it is said,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015010.06-3">“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015011.01-3">And again,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015011.03-3">“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and let all the peoples extol him.”</p> </div> <p class="same-paragraph" id="p45015012.01-3">And again Isaiah says,</p> <div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p45015012.05-3">“The root of Jesse will come,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;<br /> in him will the Gentiles hope.”</p> </div> </div><h5>Revelation 7:9</h5> <div class="esv-text"> <p id="p66007009.07-4">After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,</p> </div><h5>Psalm 2:8</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19002008.01-5">Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and the ends of the earth your possession.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 22:27-31</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19022027.01-6">All the ends of the earth shall remember<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and turn to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>,<br /> and all the families of the nations<br /> <span class="indent"></span>shall worship before you.<br /> For kingship belongs to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and he rules over the nations.</p> <p class="line-group" id="p19022029.01-6">All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>even the one who could not keep himself alive.<br /> Posterity shall serve him;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;<br /> they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>that he has done it.</p> </div> </div><h5>Psalm 45:17</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p19045017.01-7">I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;<br /> <span class="indent"></span>therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.</p> </div> </div><h5>Matthew 28:19-20</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p40028019.01-8"><span class="woc">Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,</span> <span class="woc">teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”</span></p> </div><h5>Isaiah 59:21</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p class="same-paragraph" id="p23059021.01-9">“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, “from this time forth and forevermore.” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wlc2]: <div class="esv"><h5>1 Corinthians 7:14</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p46007014.01-1">For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.</p> </div><h5>Acts 2:39</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p44002039.01-2">For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”</p> </div><h5>Romans 11:16</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p45011016.01-3">If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.</p> </div><h5>Genesis 17:7</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p01017007.01-4">And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>