36 mins
A fresh statement of faith?
FIFTY years ago the General Assembly made two radical decisions. One of these has flourished and will be much celebrated this year. I refer to the admission of women to the ministry of Word and Sacrament.
By contrast another momentous step taken that year has withered on the vine, namely, the decision to review the status of the Westminster Confession of Faith as the Church’s ‘principal subordinate standard’.
The Confession was drafted by an Assembly of parliamentarians and clergy from north and south of the border charged with preparing a uniform system of church government, doctrine and worship across the British Isles. It met against the background of the English civil war and the staunchly presbyterian covenanting movement in Scotland.
The resultant Confession, Calvinist in its theology with a strong emphasis on the doctrine of double predestination, was adopted by the General Assembly of 1647.
As such it replaced an earlier Scots Confession of 1560 as the Church’s subordinate standard after Holy Scripture.
In 1968 the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly was the redoubtable Lord Reith. In his opening address Reith challenged the commissioners to ‘believe your faith and proclaim the eternal verities’.
Now these were the ‘swinging sixties’; deference was giving way to satire and prominent clerics such as the then Bishop of Woolwich were speculating on the nature of miracles, the virgin birth and the resurrection. Presumably this was the basis for Reith’s challenge and its effect was to prompt a debate as to how the Church might rise to it. What was needed, it was argued, was a clear and accessible statement of Christian faith for the present day, not a document from a very different age. The Confession was hardly the kind of text a minister might commend to an enquirer, yet it was still proclaimed as the Church’s subordinate standard and elders who had probably never read it were required to declare their belief in ‘the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith contained in the Confession of Faith of this Church.’
Since the Westminster Confession is enshrined in the Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland in Matters Spiritual any change would require an amendment to these Articles, and a high bar is set for this. The General Assembly must first approve; the amendment then goes to presbyteries for consideration, the required approval threshold being a two-thirds majority of all presbyteries. The matter then comes before the next Assembly which can take note of comments before sending it for a second time to presbyteries. If again approved by at least two-thirds of presbyteries it comes to the Assembly for a third time for enactment and implementation.
In 1972 firm proposals were presented. The major change was to the status of the Confession. Declaratory Article 2 began: ‘The principal subordinate standard of the Church of Scotland is the Westminster Confession of Faith approved by the General Assembly of 1647, containing the sum and substance of the Faith of the Reformed Church’. The proposed amended version read: ‘The Church of Scotland acknowledges the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed as declarations of the faith of the Universal Church. It is guided by the Scots Confession and the Westminster Confession as historic statements of the faith of the Reformed Church.’
It can be noted that the ancient creeds and the Scots Confession had not previously been mentioned in the Articles Declaratory. Their inclusion sought to underline the nature of the Church of Scotland as both Catholic (in the sense of ‘universal’) and Reformed.
The other main change related to the Formula signed by those being ordained.
It was proposed that the following text be included in the Preamble which is read by the presiding minister at a service of ordination:
“In this act of ordination the Church of Scotland affirms these fundamental doctrines to be of the substance of the faith which we confess when we say: We believe in one God – Father Son and Holy Spirit – Maker of all things visible and invisible”
“We believe in the Gospel of the sovereign grace and love of God, wherein through Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, incarnate, crucified, dead and buried, risen and glorified, we are reconciled to God, and to one another, and summoned to receive, in repentance and faith, the forgiveness of sins, renewal by the Holy Spirit and eternal life.
“We believe that Jesus Christ, as Prophet, Priest and King, calls us to share with Him by work and prayer in His continuing ministry in the world, whereby through the Holy Spirit, He builds up His Church by Word and Sacraments, ministers to the needs of men (sic) and calls them into His eternal kingdom.
“We believe in the consummation of the Kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ, the Lord of history, will judge all men (sic) in righteousness and love, and bring to fulfilment God’s eternal purpose for all creation.”
The Formula would then be adjusted to include the declaration: “I believe the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith affirmed in the Preamble; as distinct from in the Confession.”
These, then, were the changes commended to the General Assembly of 1972. There they were adopted and referred to presbyteries, 43 of which approved with 18 disapproving. Having met the two-thirds threshold they returned to the 1973 Assembly, thence back to presbyteries for a second time. Here support was overwhelming with 49 presbyteries now in favour and only 12 against. The stage was thus set for final adoption by the Assembly of 1974; but it was not to be. Against the motion to approve was set a counter-motion to depart from the matter until a new Statement of Faith was accepted. By a majority of 292 to 238 the counter-motion carried. I was one of the 238 and recall the sense of utter disbelief that such patient effort and strong support across the Church could be so set aside.
Over subsequent years efforts were made to prepare a new Statement of Faith but there was no consensus as to the nature of such a text. Would it be a substantial theological treatise akin to the Westminster Confession, or would it be a short, credal statement along the lines of the ancient creeds? Eventually, in 1992, there emerged the Statement of Faith printed inside the back cover of the 1994 Common Order. Whether that might be judged to meet the condition set in the successful 1974 counter-motion has never been put to the test.
A much used phrase in church affairs is ‘the time is not ripe’. Over recent years when the question of re-visiting the issue has been raised this has usually been the response. In 2010, my last General Assembly as Principal Clerk, the question came up again, with the same result. Suddenly, I found myself on my feet observing, ‘Moderator, this is where I came in!’
From many conversations I know I am far from alone in considering this to be unfinished business. Earlier I described the 1968 initiative as ‘withering on the vine’. Varying the metaphor I suggest that, fifty years on, the time is more than ripe for grasping this particular nettle.
“ Since the Westminster Confession is enshrined in the Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland in Matters Spiritual any change would require an amendment to these Articles, and a high bar is set for this.”
This article appears in the February 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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