Commitment to
Doctrinal Integrity
We are united in doctrine, each minister and
elder of the church subscribing to grammatical-historical
principles for the interpretation of Scripture, and
subscribing, without equivocation, to the plain and normal
meaning of the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith
and Catechisms.
We are united in requiring each ordained
minister and officer of the church to annually renew his
commitment to these principles publicly; we are united in
accountability to Christ the Head of the Church and
in commitment to one another in maintaining doctrinal
integrity.
We are committed to the doctrine of creation of the
heavens and earth in six literal, 24-hour days. Scripture is its own interpreter, and
its words have meaning in context. The meaning
of the word translated "day" in the Genesis creation record is clear
from the context and from its usage elsewhere in Scripture.
But the Orthodox Presbyterian church, for example, has
adopted what it calls a "hermeneutic of trust" where it is
permissible to say that the "day" of Genesis chapter one is anything
from a literal day to billions of years — as long as a
minister says that he subscribes to the doctrine of
"creation in the space of six days" contained in the
Westminster Confession of Faith.
This is a
prescription for doctrinal anarchy. The words of the Bible
give meaning to church doctrinal standards, not vice versa. If the creation 'day' means
anything men want, then they can say the same about
other words of Scripture that define doctrine such as regeneration, justification,
and sanctification. Any doctrine of the Bible becomes fair game for
revision according to human standards. By God's grace, we desire to
stand for doctrinal integrity from the beginning of the
Bible onward. [Next]
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