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Book of Confessions the Constitution The CONSTITUTION of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.) PART I BOOK OF CONFESSIONS THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.) PART I BOOK OF CONFESSIONS PUBLISHED BY THE OFFICE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville, KY 40202-1396 Copyright © 1999 by the Office of the General Assembly Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Cover design by Jennifer Cox No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or oth- erwise (brief quotations used in magazine or newspaper reviews excepted), without the prior permission of the publisher. The sessions, presbyteries, and synods of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may use sec- tions of this publication without receiving prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America Additional copies available at $7.50 each from Presbyterian Distribution Services (PDS), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396, by calling 1-800-524-2612 (PDS) or OGA Sales 1-888-219-6700 Please specify PDS order #OGA-99-017—Standard Version #OGA-99-021—Large Print Version CONTENTS Reference Page Numbers Numbers 1. The Nicene Creed.................................................... 1.1–1.3 1–3 2. The Apostles’ Creed................................................ 2.1–2.3 5–7 3. The Scots Confession .............................................. 3.01–3.25 9–25 4. The Heidelberg Catechism ...................................... 4.001–4.129 27–50 5. The Second Helvetic Confession ............................ 5.001–5.260 51–116 6. The Westminster Confession of Faith .................... 6.001–6.193 117–172 7. The Shorter Catechism ............................................ 7.001–7.110 173–191 8. The Larger Catechism ............................................ 7.111–7.306 193–243 9. The Theological Declaration of Barmen ................ 8.01–8.28 245–250 10. The Confession of 1967 .......................................... 9.01–9.56 251–262 11. A Brief Statement of Faith— Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).................................. 10.1–10.6 263–275 Index........................................................................ 277–370 NOTES ON THE PAGING AND THE INDEXING The Book of Confessions contains eleven confessional statements commencing with the Nicene Creed on page numbered 1.1–.3 (page 3). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the decimal and the para- graph numbers to the right of the decimal. The Apostles’ Creed is on page numbered 2.1–.3 (page 7). The Scots Confession begins on page numbered 3.01–.03 (page 11). On this numbered page are found Chapters I and II. The bold face marginal references in- dicate the confession number to the left of the decimal and the chapter numbers to the right of the decimal. The Heidelberg Catechism begins on page numbered 4.001–.005 (page 29). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the dec- imal and the question numbers to the right of the decimal. The Second Helvetic Confession begins on page numbered 5.001–.004 (page 53). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the decimal and the paragraph numbers to the right of the decimal. The Westminster Confession of Faith begins on page numbered 6.001–.002 (page 121). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the decimal and the paragraph numbers to the right of the decimal. The Shorter Catechism begins on page numbered 7.001–.010 (page 175). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the dec- imal and the question numbers to the right of the decimal. The Larger Catechism begins on page numbered 7.111–.117 (page 195). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the dec- imal and the question numbers to the right of the decimal. The Theological Declaration of Barmen begins on page numbered 8.01–.04 (page 247). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the decimal and the paragraph numbers to the right of the decimal. The Confession of 1967 begins on page numbered 9.01–.06 (page 253). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the dec- imal and the paragraph numbers to the right of the decimal. The Brief Statement of Faith begins on page numbered 10.1–.3 (page 267). The bold face marginal references indicate the confession number to the left of the dec- imal and the paragraph numbers to the right of the decimal. The index references refer to the marginal numbers and page numbers. For ex- ample, the references to Image of God are 3.03, 4.006, 4.115, 5.034, 6.023, 7.010, 7.035, 7.127, 7.185 (pages 11, 30, 48, 62, 126, 175, 178, 197, 205). The references are to Chapter III of the Scots Confession, Questions 6 and 115 of the Heidelberg Catechism, paragraph 34 of the Second Helvetic Confession of Faith, Questions 10 and 35 of the Shorter Catechism, and Questions 17 and 75 of the Larger Cate- chism. PREFACE The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) consists of two volumes. Part I of the Constitution is The Book of Confessions and contains the official texts of the confessional documents. Part II of the Constitution, the Book of Order, is published separately and comprises the following sections: Form of Government, Rules of Discipline, and the Directory for Worship. The reprint of this volume (Part I of the Constitution) contains textual changes approved by the 211th General Assembly (1999) and additional prefatory mate- rial that was added by action of the 209th General Assembly (1997). A change in the text of the Nicene Creed to incorporate the contemporary ver- sion of the creed was approved by the 210th General Assembly (1998), received two-thirds approval of the presbyteries, and was approved and enacted by the 211th General Assembly (1999). You will note that the current text of the Nicene Creed is published in this volume on page 3. Two additional documents were added during the reprinting of this volume. By action of the 209th General Assembly (1997), the following documents were in- corporated into the prefatory material of this book: “The Assessment of Proposed Amendments to The Book of Confessions” and “The Confessional Nature of the Church.” You will find these documents immediately following this preface. The confessional documents in this volume have been adopted by the Presby- terian Church (U.S.A.) as significant and instructive in both our individual and corporate Christian lives. I commend them to you for the gifts they offer and the guidance they provide. Another very important guide and interpretative tool for the Book of Confes- sions is Chapter II of our Book of Order, “The Church and Its Confessions.” I com- mend it as a guide to the role of the confessions in the life of the Church and to the great common themes found in our multiple Confessions of Faith. Clifton Kirkpatrick Stated Clerk of the General Assembly May, 2000 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) CONFESSIONAL NATURE OF THE CHURCH REPORT* The Advisory Council on Discipleship and Worship appointed a task force in 1982 to prepare a report on the confessional nature of the church. Soon thereafter the Council on Theology and Culture was invited to participate in the study and appointed two persons to join the membership of the task force. The urgency of the study was heightened when the 195th General Assembly (1983) recognized it as a basic resource for the work of the Special Committee on a Brief Statement of Faith and instructed that committee to be in consultation with the task force as it pursues its work. The task force sought first to discover how the confessions are actually used by questioning the presbyteries and seminaries of the church, persons attending the 195th General Assembly (1983), and readers of Monday Morning. These surveys substantiated the need for a careful study that would clarify and encourage proper use of the church’s confessions. In light of the results of these surveys the task force concentrated its study on ten questions: (1) Are creeds different from confessions? (2) Why are confessions written? (3) How do confessions relate to Scripture? (4) How do confessions re- late to their historic context? (5) Why do we have more than one confession? (6) How do the confessions in The Book of Confessions relate to each other? (7) How do Reformed confessions relate to other confessions? (8) How can confessions be used in the teaching ministry? (9) How can confessions be used in other parts of congregational life and mission? (10) How do confessions relate to ordination? This paper is an attempt to deal with these questions as they arise in the fol- lowing discussion of (1) the nature and purpose of church confessions in general, (2) the unique role of confessions in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition, (3) The Book of Confessions. I. The Nature and Purpose of Confessions Many people are confused by talk of “confessing,” “confessions,” and “confes- sional” churches. Both inside and outside the church confession is ordinarily as- sociated with admission of wrongdoing and guilt: criminals “confess” that they have committed a crime; famous people write “true confessions” about their scan- dalous lives; persons visit a “confessional” to tell of their sin. In Christian tradi- tion, however, confession has an earlier, positive sense. To confess means openly *[This text was added by action of the 209th General Assembly (1997). See Minutes, 1997, Part I, p. 162, paragraph 19.0013. The text for this report can be found in the Minutes, 1986, Part I, pp.
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