April 28 Today in OPC History

On Friday morning, April 28, 1967, the Thirty-Fourth General Assembly entered its final day of business. After a devotional service led by Francis Mahaffy, the Assembly opened with the election of Jay Adams, Meredith Kline, Luder Whitlock, Robert Meeker, Robert Smith, and Henry Coray to the newly formed Committee on Ministerial Training.

The other major item of business was the approval of a declaration regarding the Confession of 1967, adopted that year by the United Presbyterian Church in the USA. John Galbraith, chairman of the Committee to Prepare a Brief Statement on the Confession of 1967, stressed four dangers regarding the Confession of 1967: 1) It moved the Bible from its position as the only infallible rule of faith and life, and thereby repudiated the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, King and Head of the church. 2) It repudiated the whole system of doctrine set forth in the Westminster Standards. 3) It effectively removed any confessional foundation for the life and witness of the church. 4) It accommodated the gospel to unbelief with its deliberate loosening of creedal subscription and the abandonment of creedal orthodoxy.

In passing the recommendation of the committee, the Assembly resolved that "the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, humbled by its own sins and shortcomings, expresses its profound concern for those in the UPCUSA who were being compelled to choose between the authority of the Holy Spirit speaking in the Word of God written and the authority of men speaking in ecclesiastical councils" and that "it yearns for the open manifestation of the unity in Christ of all those who submit themselves to the Lord and to the rule of His Word and Spirit."

Picture: Clockwise from left: John Galbraith, Jay Adams, Meredith Kline and Luder Whitlock