ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (O.P.C.)
BibleTruthForToday Issues/Concerns regarding this denomination:
Infant Baptism - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"...the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers)," (Sources: http://opc.org/beliefs.html ,http://opc.org/cce/tracts/WhyInfantBaptism.html )
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding infant baptism, please view our link on that topic here.
Predestination - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"Those whom God has predestined unto life are effectually drawn to Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel." (Source:http://opc.org/beliefs.html )
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Predestination, please view our link on that topic here.
Sacramentalism - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"Christ has established his church, and particular churches, to gather and perfect his people, by means of the ministry of the Word, the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers) and the Lord's Supper (in which the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present to the faith of believers),..."(Source: http://opc.org/beliefs.html)
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Sacramentalism, please view our link on that topic here.
Reformed Theology - To find out what this denomination believes, please click on http://opc.org/WhatIsReformedFaith.html or see the summary at the bottom of this page.
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Reformed Theology, please view our link on that topic here.
Calvinism -To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Calvinism, please view our link on that topic here.
INFORMATION REGARDING THIS DENOMINATION
Denomination Home Page: www.opc.org/
Related Colleges & Seminaries
Related Publishing Companies
Great Commission Publications http://opc.org/gcp.html
Related Publications
New Horizons http://opc.org/nh.html
BibleTruthForToday Issues/Concerns regarding this denomination:
Infant Baptism - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"...the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers)," (Sources: http://opc.org/beliefs.html ,http://opc.org/cce/tracts/WhyInfantBaptism.html )
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding infant baptism, please view our link on that topic here.
Predestination - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"Those whom God has predestined unto life are effectually drawn to Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel." (Source:http://opc.org/beliefs.html )
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Predestination, please view our link on that topic here.
Sacramentalism - Listed below is what this denomination believes.
"Christ has established his church, and particular churches, to gather and perfect his people, by means of the ministry of the Word, the sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of believers, as well as believers) and the Lord's Supper (in which the body and blood of Christ are spiritually present to the faith of believers),..."(Source: http://opc.org/beliefs.html)
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Sacramentalism, please view our link on that topic here.
Reformed Theology - To find out what this denomination believes, please click on http://opc.org/WhatIsReformedFaith.html or see the summary at the bottom of this page.
To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Reformed Theology, please view our link on that topic here.
Calvinism -To find out BibleTruthForToday concerns regarding Calvinism, please view our link on that topic here.
INFORMATION REGARDING THIS DENOMINATION
Denomination Home Page: www.opc.org/
Related Colleges & Seminaries
Related Publishing Companies
Great Commission Publications http://opc.org/gcp.html
Related Publications
New Horizons http://opc.org/nh.html
Our System of Doctrine - Source: http://www.opc.org/books/eBooks/What_Is_OPC.pdf
Our system of doctrine is the Reformed faith, also called Calvinism
(because Calvin was the most important exponent of it during the
Reformation). It pulls together the most significant doctrines taught in
the Bible. These doctrines are set forth in the Westminster Confession
of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (with accompanying
biblical references). Our system of doctrine is summarized in the following
paragraphs.
• The Bible, having been inspired by God, is entirely trustworthy and
without error. Therefore, we are to believe and obey its teachings. The Bible
is the only source of special revelation for the church today.
• The one true God is personal, yet beyond our comprehension. He is an
invisible spirit, completely self-sufficient and unbounded by space or time,
perfectly holy and just, and loving and merciful. In the unity of the Godhead
there are three “persons”: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• God created the heavens and the earth, and all they contain. He
upholds and governs them in accordance with his eternal will. God is
sovereign—in complete control—yet this does not diminish human
responsibility.
• Because of the sin of the first man, Adam, all mankind is corrupt by
nature, dead in sin, and subject to the wrath of God. But God determined,
by a covenant of grace, that sinners may receive forgiveness and eternal life
through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ has always been the only way of
salvation, in both Old Testament and New Testament times.
• The Son of God took upon himself a human nature in the womb of
the Virgin Mary, so that in her son Jesus the divine and human natures were
united in one person. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died on a cross,
bearing the sins of, and receiving God’s wrath for, all those who trust in
him for salvation (his chosen ones). He rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven, where he sits as Lord and rules over his kingdom (the church).
He will return to judge the living and the dead, bringing his people (with
glorious, resurrected bodies) into eternal life, and consigning the wicked to
eternal punishment.
• Those whom God has predestined unto life are effectually drawn to
Christ by the inner working of the Spirit as they hear the gospel. When they
believe in Christ, God declares them righteous (justifies them), pardoning
their sins and accepting them as righteous, not because of any righteousness
of their own, but by imputing Christ’s merits to them. They are adopted as
the children of God and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies them,
enabling them increasingly to stop sinning and act righteously. They repent
of their sins (both at their conversion and thereafter), produce good works
as the fruit of their faith, and persevere to the end in communion with
Christ, with assurance of their salvation.
• Believers strive to keep God’s moral law, which is summarized in
the Ten Commandments, not to earn salvation, but because they love their
Savior and want to obey him. God is the Lord of the conscience, so that men
are not required to believe or do anything contrary to, or in addition to, the
Word of God in matters of faith or worship.
• Christ has established his church, and particular churches, to
gather and perfect his people, by means of the ministry of the Word, the
sacraments of baptism (which is to be administered to the children of
believers, as well as believers) and the Lord’s Supper (in which the body
and blood of Christ are spiritually present to the faith of believers), and the
disciplining of members found delinquent in doctrine or life. Christians
assemble on the Lord’s Day to worship God by praying, hearing the Word
of God read and preached, singing psalms and hymns, and receiving the
sacraments.
Historical Background - Source: http://www.opc.org/books/eBooks/What_Is_OPC.pdf
The church of Jesus Christ, regrettably, is divided into many
denominations. How does the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) fit into
this complicated picture?
For several centuries the church struggled to clarify its understanding
of the Bible in opposition to error. The church formulated basic doctrines
about God and Christ in such creeds as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene
Creed. We share these great ecumenical creeds with other Christians.
But after centuries of rivalry, the Western (“Catholic”) church split from
the Eastern (“Orthodox”) church in 1054. Despite our name, the OPC is part
of the Western stream.
During the Middle Ages, ritualism, superstition, ignorance, and a
growing hierarchy (headed by the pope at Rome) increasingly eclipsed the
Bible and its gospel. But Christ always preserved at least a small remnant of
faithful believers who held to the truth (and often suffered for it). Finally,
by God’s grace, the central truths of the Bible were rediscovered by Martin
Luther, John Calvin, and other Reformers. The Bible was translated into
the languages of the people, and this fueled the Protestant Reformation
of the sixteenth century. Protestants insisted on the infallible authority of
Scripture, unencumbered by church tradition (nonbiblical doctrines and
practices that had developed down through the centuries). They declared,
on the basis of Scripture, that salvation is a gracious gift from God, received
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and not something
dispensed by priestly rituals or earned by good works. These Protestant
principles undergird the OPC today.
The Protestant world soon divided over such matters as church
government, the nature of the sacraments, and worship. In these matters,
the Lutherans did not distance themselves from the Roman Church as
much as the Reformed (or Calvinistic) churches did. The Anabaptists, with
misguided zeal, rejected various biblical beliefs and practices. The OPC
belongs to the Reformed stream of the Reformation.
A movement called Arminianism arose within the Reformed churches.
It compromised the doctrines of the sovereignty of God and salvation
by grace alone. Although the Synod of Dort condemned it in 1618,
Arminianism spread and became influential in many churches of Reformed
parentage. It has many followers in American churches today. The OPC,
however, seeks to be biblically Reformed and firmly rejects Arminianism.
During an enormous religious and political struggle to determine the
character of the English and Scottish national churches, the Westminster
Assembly met in London from 1643 to 1649. It issued the Westminster
Confession of Faith and Catechisms. These documents are distinctly
Reformed, much like the Heidelberg Catechism and other earlier Reformed
creeds. They became the basis for what we today call Presbyterian churches.
With minor revisions reflecting developments in American Presbyterianism,
they are the doctrinal standards of the OPC.
The Westminster Assembly set forth a “presbyterian” form of
government. The Assembly rejected both the “episcopalian” system
(in which the church is ruled by bishops in a hierarchy), and the
“congregational” system (in which each congregation is independently
ruled by its members). In the presbyterian system, followed by the
OPC, each congregation is governed by a session, consisting of elders
(“presbyters”), including its minister(s). Each congregation chooses its own
elders, who are accountable to local, regional, and national assemblies in a
connectional relationship.
When people immigrated to America, they brought their religion with
them. Immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and England soon established
Presbyterian churches. Presbyterianism grew up with America and had a
major impact on shaping her destiny. Tragically, at the time of the Civil War,
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. split along geographical lines. In 1936
the OPC came out of the Northern Presbyterian church. Today it is a national
church with congregations in all sections of the country.
Reformed theology is also called covenant theology, because it teaches
that God has established covenants that govern his dealings with men. In
the covenant of grace, operating in both Old and New Testament times,
God graciously provides salvation to his people through Jesus Christ, the
Mediator of the covenant. However, in nineteenth-century England a
different view arose, called dispensationalism. It distinguished sharply
between Israel and the church (assigning to each a different way of salvation
and a different destiny), and divided the Scriptures into portions that
applied to one or the other. Dispensationalism has a considerable following,
but the OPC regards it as a serious error.
The greatest struggle within the church at large in the twentieth
century was that between biblical faith and theological liberalism (or
modernism). Although claiming the name of Christianity, liberalism began
by questioning the full authority of the Bible and ended up denying every
biblical doctrine that modern secular thinking found disagreeable. The OPC
was established in direct opposition to liberalism. The word orthodox in our
name indicates that we are committed to “straight” doctrine, which “lines
up” with God’s Word.
Many in modern times have been affected by the “charismatic”
movement. It alleges that the gifts of speaking in tongues, prophesying, and
miraculous healings continue in the church today. The OPC rejects these
claims, believing that these special gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased at the end
of the Apostolic Age, their purpose (to lay the foundation of the apostolic
church) having been achieved.
The Formation of the OPC
During the nineteenth century, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
was largely a strong and faithful church. But liberalism began to creep
in from Europe, and little was done to check its spread. In 1924 about
1,300 (out of 10,000) Presbyterian ministers signed the liberal Auburn
Affirmation, which denied that the Bible was without error and declared
that belief in such essential doctrines as Christ’s substitutionary atonement
and his bodily resurrection should not be made “tests for ordination or for
good standing in our church.” Unbelief was taking over the church.
Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, remained a
bastion of Presbyterian orthodoxy. But in 1929 its Board was reorganized
with a mandate to put liberal professors on the faculty. Four Princeton
professors resigned and (with the support of others) established
Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia as an independent
institution to continue teaching biblical Christianity.
The leading opponent of liberalism in those days was J. Gresham
Machen, a Presbyterian minister and professor at Princeton (and later at
Westminster). When he exposed the modernist unbelief that permeated
the foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the General
Assembly in 1933 refused to do anything about it. Because he and others
would only support missionaries who were actually preaching the gospel,
they established the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions.
The 1934 Assembly condemned their action, and they were soon deposed
from office. In response, 34 ministers, 17 ruling elders, and 79 laymen met
in Philadelphia on June 11, 1936, to constitute the Presbyterian Church
of America. (Because of a lawsuit brought by the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A., the name of the new church was changed to the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church in 1939.) They wanted to “continue the true spiritual
succession of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.” They hoped that a
mass exodus of Bible-believing Christians would swell the ranks of the new
denomination, but it never happened. Then, on January 1, 1937, Machen’s
untimely death dealt a severe blow to the new church.
The Development of the OPC
The first major question facing the new church was whether it would be
a typically American fundamentalist and evangelical church, or whether it
would follow its confession and be biblically Reformed in character. Many
who favored the former path left in 1937 to form a different church. That left
the OPC with a more clear-cut commitment to the Reformed faith.
This struggle continued through the ensuing decades, but the church
maintained a firmly Reformed stand. This tension between a more
American evangelical and a more rigorously Reformed emphasis remains
in the OPC, but our commitment is to follow the Holy Spirit speaking in
Scripture, wherever he leads.
From the beginning, the OPC emphasized mission work, both at home
and abroad. Largely as a result of church-planting efforts, the OPC has
experienced slow but steady growth. Today one may find her approximately
325 churches and mission works in 47 states, 2 provinces in Canada, and
Puerto Rico. They are organized into 17 regional churches, each governed by
a presbytery (see appendixes 1 and 3). Carrying the whole truth of Scripture
to the ends of the earth has also been important to Orthodox Presbyterians
from the outset. Today the OPC has missions on five continents.
The OPC has never isolated herself from the rest of Christ’s church. She
has energetically promoted the Reformed faith around the world and has
engaged in ecumenical discussions with other Reformed churches in order
to perfect the unity that Christ desires for his people.
The church of Jesus Christ, regrettably, is divided into many
denominations. How does the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) fit into
this complicated picture?
For several centuries the church struggled to clarify its understanding
of the Bible in opposition to error. The church formulated basic doctrines
about God and Christ in such creeds as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene
Creed. We share these great ecumenical creeds with other Christians.
But after centuries of rivalry, the Western (“Catholic”) church split from
the Eastern (“Orthodox”) church in 1054. Despite our name, the OPC is part
of the Western stream.
During the Middle Ages, ritualism, superstition, ignorance, and a
growing hierarchy (headed by the pope at Rome) increasingly eclipsed the
Bible and its gospel. But Christ always preserved at least a small remnant of
faithful believers who held to the truth (and often suffered for it). Finally,
by God’s grace, the central truths of the Bible were rediscovered by Martin
Luther, John Calvin, and other Reformers. The Bible was translated into
the languages of the people, and this fueled the Protestant Reformation
of the sixteenth century. Protestants insisted on the infallible authority of
Scripture, unencumbered by church tradition (nonbiblical doctrines and
practices that had developed down through the centuries). They declared,
on the basis of Scripture, that salvation is a gracious gift from God, received
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and not something
dispensed by priestly rituals or earned by good works. These Protestant
principles undergird the OPC today.
The Protestant world soon divided over such matters as church
government, the nature of the sacraments, and worship. In these matters,
the Lutherans did not distance themselves from the Roman Church as
much as the Reformed (or Calvinistic) churches did. The Anabaptists, with
misguided zeal, rejected various biblical beliefs and practices. The OPC
belongs to the Reformed stream of the Reformation.
A movement called Arminianism arose within the Reformed churches.
It compromised the doctrines of the sovereignty of God and salvation
by grace alone. Although the Synod of Dort condemned it in 1618,
Arminianism spread and became influential in many churches of Reformed
parentage. It has many followers in American churches today. The OPC,
however, seeks to be biblically Reformed and firmly rejects Arminianism.
During an enormous religious and political struggle to determine the
character of the English and Scottish national churches, the Westminster
Assembly met in London from 1643 to 1649. It issued the Westminster
Confession of Faith and Catechisms. These documents are distinctly
Reformed, much like the Heidelberg Catechism and other earlier Reformed
creeds. They became the basis for what we today call Presbyterian churches.
With minor revisions reflecting developments in American Presbyterianism,
they are the doctrinal standards of the OPC.
The Westminster Assembly set forth a “presbyterian” form of
government. The Assembly rejected both the “episcopalian” system
(in which the church is ruled by bishops in a hierarchy), and the
“congregational” system (in which each congregation is independently
ruled by its members). In the presbyterian system, followed by the
OPC, each congregation is governed by a session, consisting of elders
(“presbyters”), including its minister(s). Each congregation chooses its own
elders, who are accountable to local, regional, and national assemblies in a
connectional relationship.
When people immigrated to America, they brought their religion with
them. Immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and England soon established
Presbyterian churches. Presbyterianism grew up with America and had a
major impact on shaping her destiny. Tragically, at the time of the Civil War,
the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. split along geographical lines. In 1936
the OPC came out of the Northern Presbyterian church. Today it is a national
church with congregations in all sections of the country.
Reformed theology is also called covenant theology, because it teaches
that God has established covenants that govern his dealings with men. In
the covenant of grace, operating in both Old and New Testament times,
God graciously provides salvation to his people through Jesus Christ, the
Mediator of the covenant. However, in nineteenth-century England a
different view arose, called dispensationalism. It distinguished sharply
between Israel and the church (assigning to each a different way of salvation
and a different destiny), and divided the Scriptures into portions that
applied to one or the other. Dispensationalism has a considerable following,
but the OPC regards it as a serious error.
The greatest struggle within the church at large in the twentieth
century was that between biblical faith and theological liberalism (or
modernism). Although claiming the name of Christianity, liberalism began
by questioning the full authority of the Bible and ended up denying every
biblical doctrine that modern secular thinking found disagreeable. The OPC
was established in direct opposition to liberalism. The word orthodox in our
name indicates that we are committed to “straight” doctrine, which “lines
up” with God’s Word.
Many in modern times have been affected by the “charismatic”
movement. It alleges that the gifts of speaking in tongues, prophesying, and
miraculous healings continue in the church today. The OPC rejects these
claims, believing that these special gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased at the end
of the Apostolic Age, their purpose (to lay the foundation of the apostolic
church) having been achieved.
The Formation of the OPC
During the nineteenth century, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
was largely a strong and faithful church. But liberalism began to creep
in from Europe, and little was done to check its spread. In 1924 about
1,300 (out of 10,000) Presbyterian ministers signed the liberal Auburn
Affirmation, which denied that the Bible was without error and declared
that belief in such essential doctrines as Christ’s substitutionary atonement
and his bodily resurrection should not be made “tests for ordination or for
good standing in our church.” Unbelief was taking over the church.
Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, remained a
bastion of Presbyterian orthodoxy. But in 1929 its Board was reorganized
with a mandate to put liberal professors on the faculty. Four Princeton
professors resigned and (with the support of others) established
Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia as an independent
institution to continue teaching biblical Christianity.
The leading opponent of liberalism in those days was J. Gresham
Machen, a Presbyterian minister and professor at Princeton (and later at
Westminster). When he exposed the modernist unbelief that permeated
the foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the General
Assembly in 1933 refused to do anything about it. Because he and others
would only support missionaries who were actually preaching the gospel,
they established the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions.
The 1934 Assembly condemned their action, and they were soon deposed
from office. In response, 34 ministers, 17 ruling elders, and 79 laymen met
in Philadelphia on June 11, 1936, to constitute the Presbyterian Church
of America. (Because of a lawsuit brought by the Presbyterian Church
in the U.S.A., the name of the new church was changed to the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church in 1939.) They wanted to “continue the true spiritual
succession of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.” They hoped that a
mass exodus of Bible-believing Christians would swell the ranks of the new
denomination, but it never happened. Then, on January 1, 1937, Machen’s
untimely death dealt a severe blow to the new church.
The Development of the OPC
The first major question facing the new church was whether it would be
a typically American fundamentalist and evangelical church, or whether it
would follow its confession and be biblically Reformed in character. Many
who favored the former path left in 1937 to form a different church. That left
the OPC with a more clear-cut commitment to the Reformed faith.
This struggle continued through the ensuing decades, but the church
maintained a firmly Reformed stand. This tension between a more
American evangelical and a more rigorously Reformed emphasis remains
in the OPC, but our commitment is to follow the Holy Spirit speaking in
Scripture, wherever he leads.
From the beginning, the OPC emphasized mission work, both at home
and abroad. Largely as a result of church-planting efforts, the OPC has
experienced slow but steady growth. Today one may find her approximately
325 churches and mission works in 47 states, 2 provinces in Canada, and
Puerto Rico. They are organized into 17 regional churches, each governed by
a presbytery (see appendixes 1 and 3). Carrying the whole truth of Scripture
to the ends of the earth has also been important to Orthodox Presbyterians
from the outset. Today the OPC has missions on five continents.
The OPC has never isolated herself from the rest of Christ’s church. She
has energetically promoted the Reformed faith around the world and has
engaged in ecumenical discussions with other Reformed churches in order
to perfect the unity that Christ desires for his people.