April 28 Today in OPC History

On April 28, 1967, the 34th General Assembly of the OPC passed, without dissent, an eleven-paragraph statement on the Confession of 1967, which was set to be ratified in the next month by the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA. The OPC declaration focused on three weaknesses in the new confession: its repudiation of the system of doctrine found in the Westminster Standards, its rendering doctrinal discipline in the church impotent, and its accommodating the gospel to modern unbelief.

The key paragraph of the OPC statement read as follows: “The Confession of 1967 is not catholic, for it releases the church from that subjection to apostolic authority in the Scripture which is the hallmark of catholicity; it is not evangelical, for it both obscures the gospel and omits the sovereign work of God by which salvation is wrought and attested; it is neither Presbyterian nor Reformed, for it denies any system of government in the church.”

Anticipating an exodus of congregations from the UPCUSA after the adoption of the Confession of 1967, the OPC statement concluded: “The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, humbled by its own sins and shortcomings, expresses its profound concern for those who are 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. The church grieves over the multiplying confusion in the professing church of our time and yearns for the open manifestation of the unity of Christ of all who submit themselves to the Lord and to the rule of his Word and Spirit.”

Picture: Cover of Calvin Knox Cummings' booklet, Which Faith Shall Presbyterians Confess?