DRAFT OF A CHAPTER

 

PRESBYTERIAN TRADITION

Charles P. Poole, Jr.

March  2004; revised July 3, 2006

 

CONTENTS

 

                             1. Introduction

                             2. Institutes of the Christian Religion

                             3. Westminster Confession of Faith

                             4.  Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)  

                             5. Discussion. 

 

1. INTRODUCTION

 

          My first encounter with the Presbyterian religion came in 1962.  My wife Kathleen and I were members of  a Great Books Club, and at one of the sessions the selection for reading was a couple of hundred pages from the Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.  Since we were the only Catholics in the group, and everyone else was a Protestant, we tried to figure out what was wrong with the work so we could have a lively discussion with the others.  All we could find to criticize was several very minor points of disagreement.  When we came to the meeting we were the only ones who agreed with and defended what was written in the book; everyone else had serious misgivings about the work.  I have told this story to several Presbyterian ministers, and none of them was surprised by it.  Now, forty five years later when I am writing about my experiences in life, I thought it appropriate to revisit this area, read the entire volume of the Institutes, and comment on it. 

 

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2.  INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

 

          In writing his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin adopted the arrangement of the Apostles Creed which has four parts: 1.  God the Father, 2. the Son, 3. the Holy Spirit, and 4. the Church.  The first part deals with God considered as the Creator, the Preserver, and the Governor of the world, and considers Holy Scripture whereby God communicates with us, and ends with Divine Providence.  The second part treats God as our Redeemer in Christ, who assumed a human nature, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven.  Christ performed the offices of Prophet, Priest and King, and merited divine grace for us.    The third part deals with the Holy Spirit, repentance, justification, the eternal election (predestination) of God, and prayer.  The fourth part discusses the Church, preaching, dispensation of the sacraments Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and civil governments.  Most of the work is positive and objective, but several sections are polemical in tone.  The text of the “Our Father” quoted in the Institutes do not include the doxology. 

 

          Calvin “willingly embraces and reverences as sacred” the first four ecumenical councils held at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon “which were held for refuting errors.”  He is pleased that the “enemy” Arius lost out, and he refutes the heresies of Anabaptists, Pelagians, Celestians, Donatists. Monothelites, and Sabellians.   He objects to later councils for their nonscriptural innovations.  Calvin cites several Fathers of the Church, some many times, such as: Augustine (many times), Ambrose (often), Anselm, Athanasius, Basil,  Bernard (often), Chrysostom, Cyprian, Gratian (often), Gregory Nanzianzen, Gregory VII (Hildeband), Hilary, Ignatius,  Irenaeus, Jerome (often), Justin, Pope Leo, Peter Lombard, William of Occam, and Tertullian. 

 

          In Book IV, Chap. XVII, which is 50 pages long, there is a protracted discussion of the Eucharist from which it is difficult to deduce Calvin’s position on its nature.  Some quotations from this chapter are: “The sum is, that the flesh and blood of Christ feed our souls just as bread and wine maintain and support our corporeal life  ….  That sacred communion of flesh and blood by which Christ transfuses his life into us, just as if it penetrated our bones and marrow, he testifies and seals in the Supper, and that not by presenting a vain or empty sign, but by there exerting an efficacy of the Spirit by which he fulfills what he promises.”  He defines: ”By matter, or substance, I mean Christ, with his death and resurrection,”  and then says: “In the mystery of the supper, by the symbols of bread and wine, Christ, his body and his blood, are truly exhibited to us, that in them he fulfilled all obedience, in order to procure righteousness for us; first, that we might become one body with him; and secondly, that being made partakers of his substance, we might feel the result of this fact in the participation of all his blessings.”  He mentions what “The apostle said,” namely: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16).  These quotations suggest that Calvin seems to believe in the real presence, although perhaps in an oblique manner.

 

          The Institutes affirm original sin, the hereditary corruption or depravity of our nature originating from the sin of Adam, that has been transmitted to all his posterity (Book 2, Chap. 1).  Baptism is called “the initiatory sign by which we are admitted to the fellowship of the Church.”  Baptism contributes three things to our faith: a) it is a sign of our purification, by which all our sins are deleted, b) it shows us our mortification in Christ and a new life in us, and c) it assures us that we are so united to Christ himself as to be partakers of all his blessings (Book 4, Chap. 15).   Calvin insists that when we are baptized we are washed and purified for the whole of life, so the subsequent forgiveness of sins has reference to baptism, not to “the fictitious sacrament of penance.”  Original sin, however, is not mentioned in the discussion of this sacrament.  By baptism a “constant and perpetual forgiveness of sins is thereby obtained even till death.”  This rather extreme assertion is balanced by the statement: “Those who, from hopes of impunity, seek a license for sin, only provoke the wrath and justice of God;”  

 

          Chapter 19 of Book IV is devoted to the theme: “The five sacraments, falsely so called. Their spuriousness explained.”  It is maintained that the standard definition “visible forms of invisible grace” does not apply to the remaining five so-called sacraments: confession or penance, marriage, confirmation, extreme unction and holy orders.  Calvin admits that in the early Church Christians baptized as infants were, at adolescence, examined by the bishop in terms of the catechism, and then were approved by the laying on of the hands. He, however, is unwilling to accept this as a sacrament. Concerning extreme unction, he dismisses implementing the above quoted passage from James [5:14-15] as “mere hypocritical stage play.”  His argument against accepting this quotation as justification for the sacrament of extreme unction is not very convincing. 

 

          Most of the section in this chapter on orders is devoted to arguing why the Catholic minor orders and priesthood are invalid, and I will refrain from commenting on this. We also find several significant statements: “With regard to the true office of presbyter, which was recommended to us by the lips of Christ . . . there is a ceremony which, first, is taken from the scriptures; and, secondly, is declared by Paul to be not empty or superfluous, but to be a faithful symbol of spiritual grace (1 Tim iv. 14).”  Later we read “I admit it to be a sacrament in true and legitimate ordination,”   and finally,  “As to the order of the diaconate, I would raise no dispute, if the office which existed under the apostles, and a purer church, were restored to its integrity.” There  seems to be an acceptance of the validity of ordination as a sacrament if it is conferred properly, and if those who are ordained function properly.  

 

          Calvin’s views on predestination, presented in Book III, Chap. 21, are problematical to many.  He writes “The predestination by which God adopts some to the hope of life, and adjudges others to eternal death, no man would be thought pious simply to deny.”  He adds later, “It is now sufficiently plain that God by his secret counsel chooses whom he will and rejects others.”  These statements are supported by the quotation from Malachi (1:2,3) “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord,  yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.”   To me this chapter was not very convincing, nor was Chap. 17 of Book III on faith and works.  In Chap. 14 of Book III we read “The efficient cause of our salvation is placed in the love of God the Father; the material cause is in the obedience of the Son; the instrumental cause in the illumination of the Spirit, that is, in faith; and the final cause in the praise of the divine goodness.  In this, however, there is nothing to prevent the Lord from embracing works as inferior causes.”  This quotation also seems problematical. 

         

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3.  WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH

 

          The Westminster Confession of Faith was drawn up in 1647 by a committee appointed by the Parliament in England, and has been particularly influential among Presbyterian Churches outside England. We will provide some quotations from this Confession.   In Chap. 5 we read concerning “the wicked and the ungodly” that “from them God not only withholds His grace, by which they might have been spiritually enlightened, but sometimes He also withdraws whatever gift of spiritual understanding they ever had, and deliberately exposes them to the opportunities for sinning which their corrupt natures naturally seek.” This is balanced by the comment in Chap. 35 concerning “his (God’s) desire that all men should be saved.”   Chapter 18 affirms:  “Just as there is no sin so small that it does not deserve damnation, so there is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon those who truly repent.”  Chap. 16 has the dubious statement:  ”Works done by people who have not been spiritually reborn . . . are therefore sinful and cannot please God, or make a person fit to receive the grace of God.”  Chapter 17 says:  “Those whom God has accepted in His Son, and has effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can never completely or finally fall out of their state of grace.  Rather, they shall definitely continue in that state to the end, and are eternally saved.”   This theme continues in Chap. 18:  “Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus, who honestly love Him and try to walk in good conscience before Him,  may in this life be assured with certainty that they are in a state of grace.”  This “is the infallible assurance of faith.”  The 24th chapter says “Marriage is a union between one man and one woman designed  by God to last as long as they both shall live.” We find in Chap. 27 the statement: “There are only two sacraments ordained by Christ Our Lord in the Gospel:  Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  Neither of these may be administered by anyone but a lawfully ordained minister of the word.”  Concerning the Lord’s Supper Chap. 29 states:  The body and blood of Christ are not then physically in, with, or under the bread and wine, but they are actually spiritually present to the faith of believers.”  “The so-called sacrifice of the Roman Catholic mass does detestable injustice to Christ’s one sacrifice, which is the one propitiation for the sins of the elect.”  Chapter 30 affirms that the officers of the church have the power “to free people from the guilt of sin, or to bind them to it.”  In Chap. 31 we read “Since apostolic times all synods and councils, whether general or local, may make mistakes, and many have.  Consequently, synods and councils are not to be made a final authority in questions of faith and living, but are to be used an aid to both.”  After death, Chap. 32 explains, “The souls of the righteous are received into the highest heavens . . . The souls of the wicked are thrown into hell where they remain in torment,”  and further. “Scripture recognizes only these two places, and no other,  for souls separated from their bodies.”   Finally we have in Chap. 34:  “The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, proceeding from the Father and the Son, of the same substance and equal in power and glory, is, together with the Father and the Son, to be believed in, loved, obeyed and worshiped throughout all ages.” 

 

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4. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

 

          The website www.pcanet.org contains a great deal of well organized and well presented information on the beliefs and practices of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). This is by far the largest of the Calvinistic Churches in the USA.  Their First General Assembly, which met in 1973, adopted the same Confessions of Faith and Catechisms as those adopted by the first American Presbyterian Assembly in 1789 with two minor exceptions, namely the deletion of the strictures against marrying one’s wife’s kindred, and the reference to the Pope as the antichrist. The latter was a good deletion.  It is essentially “the Confession and Catechisms as agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster which met 1643-1647.”

 

          The Confession of Faith states that “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture, onto which nothing any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the spirit or traditions of men.”  Concerning the Trinity the Confession says,  “In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance,  power, and eternity:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost:  the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

 

          I found a reference to the Apostles' Creed, but not to the Nicene Creed, or to the early Church Counsels at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus or Chalcedon.  However the “Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches” does state on page 147 that the PCA “Holds to the ancient creeds of the Church” including the Nicene Creed. 

 

          Concerning the Lord’s Supper the Confession states: “The outward elements of this sacrament  . . .  are sometimes called by the name of the things they represent, to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance and nature, they still remain truly and only bread and wine, as they were before.”  This rationale leads to stated conclusions that the “popish sacrifice of the mass” is “abominally injurious”, and the doctrine of the Real Presence is ”the cause of manifold superstitions; yea, of gross idolatries.”   I have two reactions to these statements.  In the first place Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse recounted in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel provides a clear scriptural justification of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist species, with quotations such as “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.”  As a result of what Jesus said,   “From that time on many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”  I quote from the King James Bible (John 6:54-56, 66) for emphasis.  My second reaction is a profound disturbance that our Presbyterian brothers and sisters would include such inflammatory statements against my Faith in their official Confession of Faith.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church refrains from making such comments. The Confession states that there are only two sacraments, “Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord”, and both “may be dispensed” only by “a minister of the Word lawfully ordained.”

 

          The Brief History on their website states that “Long before man was created, God chose or predestined some to everlasting life.”  I have trouble sympathizing with Calvinistic views on predestination. 

 

5. DISCUSSION.

 

          It was encouraging to find out that the Presbyterian Church of America bases their Confession of Faith on a Confession and Catechisms dating back to their beginnings in England in the mid 17th century. However they do not seem to follow the lead of their founder John Calvin by ‘willingly embracing and reverencing as sacred’ the first four ecumenical councils held at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon.  Their explanations of the Triune God and their especial emphasis on the preeminence of Scripture are impressive.  Unfortunately their inspiring salutary expressions of reverence for the Lord’s Supper are interspersed with too many rather explicit critiques of Catholic beliefs and practices.  Overall the PCA is to be congratulated for preparing such a good, informative, website      

 

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