# OPC revision to WCF 25:6



## Steve Curtis (Jul 23, 2011)

In G. I. Williamson's _The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Groups_, he refers to the revision of 25:6 "as maintained by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church" and quotes it as follows:

"The Lord Jesus is the only head of the Church, and the claim of any man to be the vicar of Christ and the head of the Church, is unscriptural, without warrant in fact, and is a usurpation dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ. " [pg. 251]

However, according to the OPC site [http://www.opc.org/wcf.html], this section was revised to read:

"There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof."

What, then, is Williamson quoting?


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## NaphtaliPress (Jul 23, 2011)

The first is the 1903 PCUSA wording. My notes have that the OPC in 1936 adopted the second. Rather than taking the 1903 change they drop everything after "head thereof." I have that the PCA adopted the OPC wording as well. The PCUS had its own unique reading as does the ARP. So unless I"m wrong about what was adopted in 1936, it would seem to be a mistake in Williamson.

**Addendum: The abbreviated text does date to 1936; see here: http://www.opc.org/GA/constitution.html


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## Contra_Mundum (Jul 23, 2011)

From:


> *Report of the Committee on the Constitution*
> [The following report was submitted to the Second General Assembly (1936) by the Committee on the Constitution (Minutes, pp. 13-14), consisting of the Rev. Ned B. Stonehouse, Chairman, the Rev. J. Gresham Machen, and Elder Murray F. Thompson. At the First General Assembly (1936), the moderator, J. Gresham Machen, was named a member of all committees ex officio. He then nominated as members of the Committee on the Constitution of the Church the Rev. H. McAllister Griffiths, the Rev. Ned B. Stonehouse, and Murray F. Thompson, Esq. However, Mr. Griffiths withdrew from the church prior to the Second General Assembly. Therefore, the report was presented by Messrs. Stonehouse, Machen, and Thompson. The report was adopted by the Assembly on a vote of 57 to 20. The opposition was concerned that premillennialism would not be regarded as consistent with the Confession and Catechisms; these men soon left to form the Bible Presbyterian Church.]


online source: Report of the Committee on the Constitution



> II.
> B. We recommend the retention of the change made in Chapter XXV, Section 6, in so far as it involved the elimination of the words: "but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God." If this recommendation is adopted, section 6 will read as follows: "There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof." In connection with this recommendation it may be well to point out that questions of copyright seem to make it advisable not to use certain material added in recent years.



My guess is that GIW simply made a minor error all those years ago, and the source document he was using was possibly not an "OPC" publication. In a recent interview for the 75th anniversary of the OPC, Williamson commented that as a minister ordained in the old UP church, he was completely unfamiliar with the Standards. (see "Interviews" link: http://www.opc.org/GA/media/ )


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## Steve Curtis (Jul 23, 2011)

Thanks, guys!


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