Predestination

The Westminster Confession (Chapter III) teaches one of the most explicit formulations of double predestination in any Protestant confession: 'By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed; and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or diminished.' Election is unconditional — God chose the elect 'without any foresight of faith or good works' — while reprobation is the decree to pass over the non-elect and ordain them to dishonor and wrath.

The Westminster Confession is careful to state that God is not the author of sin and that the non-elect sin willfully, not under compulsion. The decree of reprobation is a sovereign decision to pass over certain individuals and leave them in their own sin rather than positively causing them to sin. Presbyterian theology universally affirms this confessional teaching in its subscription to the Westminster Standards, though different bodies allow varying degrees of 'exception' (official disagreement) on particular points.