Subscription and the ARP Church

Ben Glaser

It has been said that the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church has never had a subscription controversy, and this is true. Part of that comes from the spirit by which the ARP was founded by her ministers and elders in 1782, 1799, 1803, and 1822. Still smarting from the pamphlet wars which marked the Burgher controversy there was little interest in the young denomination on speaking to every storm cloud which appeared on the horizon. Denying many entreaties to have a testimony that went alongside the Confession it was decided by our forefathers that the Westminster Confession of Faith and her catechisms, along with Directories of Public Worship and Government were sufficient to testify to what the ARP believed and why we believed it.

That’s not to say that the ARP had no doctrine of subscription. In writing the introduction to his exposition and defense of the Westminster Confession one of our founding fathers, Robert Annan has this to say about what the early ARP believed about what ministers and elders were to understand when they took their vows. He notes:

Thus a Confession of Faith in a Church does not make any new rule of faith and manners; but only fixes, as far as she is able, the true sense of God's Word, the only rule. And making an adherence to the Confession of Faith in a Church a term of communion, is not appointing any new term of communion distinct from the Bible: it is only making an adherence to the Bible, in its true sense, the term or condition: than which nothing can be more proper.

The word “adherence” in 18th Century parlance means to have a, “. . . steady devotion, support, allegiance, or attachment” to a matter. It takes on the same sense as we use the term adhesive to refer to glue. The doctrines taught in the WCF are then to be understood to stick to the heart and soul of the preacher ordained in the denomination. This does not then give leeway either to an idea that when a man is ordained, he is merely subscribing to the system or is confessing in good faith the teaching of the confession. To adhere as Annan witnesses to it is to have the whole counsel of the standards be your own words of faith and practice. To own them as your own.

In speaking about a Confession’s utility he says, “The most dangerous adversaries to the truth of the Gospel, pretend to establish their opinions on the holy Scriptures. This rendered it necessary that the Church should, in her Confession of Faith, ascertain the true sense of the Scriptures, or explicitly declare in what sense she understood them.” A common way to downplay the importance of creeds and confessions is to declare, “I have my Bible, what else do I need?”. The corporate nature of the church and the way we see things like Paul’s admonition to Timothy to remember the Presbytery and for others to recall the doctrines passed down to them serves as all the Biblical basis we need to see the utility of having a standard by which men can agree to teach and confess as their own.

Guy Waters brings out a similar sentiment that is helpful for us think to upon:

. . .  a confession is a statement of the church. It is not the opinion of a private individual or individuals. Neither is it a declaration of a particular assembly of the church's leadership. It is a public and official declaration on the part of the whole church with respect to what she believes the Bible to teach.

We have in America been too influenced by the private individualism of our baptist brethren. As ministers when we come to take our oath before the Presbytery we are performing a corporate act, much the same as when a person joins a local congregation. We may be persons ontologically unique, but we are becoming ministers in and of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. We preach a gospel informed and grounded in the teaching of the standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

That blessing allows one to see that a confession is a useful statement to show to others that they might know what, in our case, an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church believes. Or to quote Annan once again, “The Associate Reformed Synod have declared, and now do declare, that said Confession and catechisms arc their public standards. That is, they adhere to the sacred Scriptures as their sense is given and explained in said Confession and Catechisms.”

Yet, it comes then to ask ourselves the question as to what we mean in our heart of hearts when we as ministers of a denomination declare our third vow which reads:

“Do you accept the doctrines of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, as founded on the Word of God and as the expression of your own faith, and do you resolve to adhere thereto?”

When I was ordained by Northeast Presbytery back in November of 2010, the then stated clerk of Northeast, the Rev. Dr. Fred Carr, told me that it was his practice to read through his vows every Monday morning, to pray through them, and ensure that he in his own heart and mind still believed them. He was encouraging me toward this practice and while I must confess that I have not done it as often, it is still something I do regularly. Why? Because vows matter. If I am going to stand before my brothers in Christ and before God, they best and He best be able to trust that we are all on the same page. I also need to be honest with my own conscience. I do not have the liberty to be a man on an island in the middle of a continent of faith. I adhere to the ARP Confession of Faith because it teaches that which my Lord has taught in His word, and like the Apostle it is my calling to only proclaim what He says, to teach His whole counsel.

Taking an oath with crossed fingers not only damages the body, but it harms one’s own soul. So while we may not have a subscription controversy in the history of the ARP, and I have no interest in starting one, I do think it a worthwhile exercise for all students of theology, licentiates, and ministers of the gospel in the ARP to not only be conversant with the ARP Confession of Faith and Catechisms, but to know with all their might that they believe them as their own.

It matters for our outward presentation of what it (hopefully) says on the sign outside and your website, that you are a minister of the ARP Church, and for all the right and good reasons.