Overview

This chapter confesses how God is to be worshiped — by His own appointment, not human invention (the regulative principle) — to whom worship is due (the Triune God alone, through Christ the Mediator), the elements of worship (prayer, Word, sacraments, praise), and the keeping of the Lord’s Day as the Christian Sabbath, a holy rest set apart for God.

The Confession, Section by Section

21.1 — The regulative principle of worship

The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all… But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image… you shall not bow down to them or serve them.” (Exod. 20:4–6, ESV)

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, ESV)

Further proofs: Deut. 12:32; Matt. 15:9; Acts 17:25; Col. 2:23; Jer. 10:7–8.

Exposition: The “regulative principle”: God determines how He is worshiped. Worship is “limited by his own revealed will” — not left to human imagination or even sincere invention. What God has not commanded in worship, we are not free to introduce (cf. the Second Commandment). This flows from Scripture’s sufficiency (1.6) and protects worship from idolatry and innovation.

21.2 — Worship due to God alone, through the Mediator

Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to him alone: not to angels, saints, or any other creature: and, since the fall, not without a Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Matt. 4:10, ESV)

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)

Further proofs: Col. 2:18; Rev. 19:10; Rom. 1:25; 1 Tim. 2:5; Eph. 2:18; John 5:23.

Exposition: Worship belongs to the Triune God alone — never to angels, saints, Mary, or images. And since the fall, no one comes to God except through the one Mediator, Christ. This excludes the veneration of saints and every other mediation; access to God is in Christ alone.

21.3–21.5 — The elements of worship

Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship… is by God required of all men: and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of his Spirit, according to his will… The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear; the sound preaching, and conscionable hearing of the Word… singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16, ESV)

Further proofs: Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1, 8; Acts 15:21; 2 Tim. 4:2; James 1:22; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:23–29; Eph. 5:19.

Exposition: The Confession names the ordinary elements: prayer (in Christ’s name, by the Spirit, according to God’s will), the reading and preaching and hearing of the Word, the singing of praise, and the sacraments. These God-appointed elements — not human additions — constitute true worship.

21.6 — Worship not tied to place

Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and truth.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“…the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21, 23, ESV)

Further proofs: Mal. 1:11; 1 Tim. 2:8; Acts 10:2; Matt. 6:11.

Exposition: Under the gospel, no place is holier than another; the temple’s shadow is fulfilled in Christ. God is worshiped everywhere “in spirit and truth.” Yet the Confession also commends not neglecting the public assemblies God has appointed.

21.7 — The Sabbath principle and the Lord’s Day

As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth… and rested on the seventh day.” (Exod. 20:8, 11, ESV)

“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” (Acts 20:7, ESV)

Further proofs: Gen. 2:2–3; 1 Cor. 16:1–2; Rev. 1:10; Isa. 56:2, 4, 6–7; Matt. 5:17–18.

Exposition: The Sabbath is grounded in creation and the moral law (the Fourth Commandment), “binding all men in all ages.” With Christ’s resurrection the day moved from the seventh to the first — “the Lord’s Day” — to be kept as the Christian Sabbath. The change of day honors the new creation begun in Christ’s rising.

21.8 — How the Sabbath is kept

This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employments and recreations; but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight…” (Isa. 58:13, ESV)

Further proofs: Exod. 20:8; Neh. 13:15–22; Matt. 12:1–13 (works of necessity and mercy); Mark 2:27–28.

Exposition: The Lord’s Day is for rest and worship: resting from ordinary work and recreations, and being “taken up the whole time” in public and private worship and in “duties of necessity and mercy.” Christ Himself sanctioned works of necessity and mercy on the Sabbath. The day is a delight, not a burden — a foretaste of the eternal rest (Heb. 4).

Doctrinal Summary

God must be worshiped only as He has appointed in His Word — not by human invention or images — and worship is due to the Triune God alone, offered through Christ the sole Mediator, by the Spirit. Its ordinary parts are prayer, the reading and preaching of the Word, praise, and the sacraments, acceptable everywhere in spirit and truth. By a perpetual moral commandment God has set apart one day in seven as a Sabbath, changed at Christ’s resurrection to the first day, the Lord’s Day, to be kept holy by resting from worldly employments and being taken up in worship and works of necessity and mercy.

Connections

• WLC Q108–121 — the second commandment (the duties and sins concerning worship) and the fourth commandment (the Sabbath, its change, and how it is sanctified).
• WSC Q49–52 (second commandment), Q57–62 (fourth commandment — the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, and how it is to be sanctified).
• WCF 1.6 (sufficiency of Scripture — basis of the regulative principle), WCF 20 (liberty of conscience in worship), WCF 22 (oaths and vows as acts of worship).
• Loci: Worship (the regulative principle); the Sabbath / Lord’s Day; the means of grace.

Pastoral & Practical Significance

This chapter protects two treasures. First, it guards the purity of worship: we come to God on His terms, not ours, which frees worship from the endless human impulse to innovate and from the anxiety of wondering whether our inventions please Him — what God commands, He accepts. Second, it guards the gift of the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath is not a grim restriction but a delight (Isa. 58:13): one day in seven when the relentless demands of work are laid down and the soul is taken up with God, His people, and acts of mercy. In a culture of exhaustion and ceaseless productivity, the Christian Sabbath is a weekly declaration that we are not slaves but children, that our worth is not in our output, and that an eternal rest awaits in Christ. To keep it is to preach the gospel to yourself one day in seven.

For Reflection

• Do I approach worship asking “What pleases God?” or “What pleases me?” How does the regulative principle reshape that?
• Is the Lord’s Day a delight or a duty to me? What would it look like to “call the Sabbath a delight”?
• Worship is due to God alone through Christ alone. Are there any rivals — saints, things, self — competing for my worship?