The very fact, however, that our own Directory of Worship (DOW) could never hope to be approved by a majority of our Presbyteries and thus gain constitutional authority, and the fact that the DOW actually adds to rather than takes away from the elements of worship considered acceptable under the Regulative Principle, should indicate that we clearly do not agree with our own philosophy.

Isn’t it about time we removed Chapter 21 from the PCA’s version of the Westminster Confession?

As I was reading about the defeat of the attempt to amend the PCA Book of Church Order (BCO) to forbid intinction, a worship practice that originated in the 4th century, I couldn’t help but reflect that if it ever did, chapter 21.1 of the Westminster Confession (WCF) does not reflect the PCA’s current approach to worship at all. Westminster Confession of Faith 21.1 states:

The light of nature sheweth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.

At present we have a stated philosophy of worship that is really only observed in the breach and, in my fifteen years as a Presbyter, I’ve noticed that the majority of men coming before PCA Presbyteries for ordination have either listed their exceptions to the statements in chapter 21 or freely reinterpreted them in a way that can hardly be said to reflect accurately the original intent or practice of the Puritan divines who framed the chapter.

A much better summary of the PCA’s actual philosophy of worship is to be found not in the Westminster Confession or even the PCA’s own Book of Church Order, but in the PCUSA’s Book of Order when it states:

Those responsible for worship are to be guided by the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture, the historic experience of the Church universal, the Reformed tradition, The Book of Confessions, the needs and particular circumstances of the worshiping community, as well as the provisions of the Form of Government and this directory (PCUSA, Book of Order, 1-4001).

Now, I understand that men in the PCA will immediately object to that statement, but I would argue that their objections have little or nothing to do with the content of the statement. After all, it perfectly summarizes the arguments being made for practices like intinction and paedocommunion on the floors of both PCA Presbyteries and General Assembly. What they really object to is the source, and what might be implied if we admit our worship practices are a functional analog of the denomination we left. The very fact, however, that our own Directory of Worship (DOW) could never hope to be approved by a majority of our Presbyteries and thus gain constitutional authority, and the fact that the DOW actually adds to rather than takes away from the elements of worship considered acceptable under the Regulative Principle, should indicate that we clearly do not agree with our own philosophy.

“This worship practice goes back as far as 340 AD!” would have been the end of the matter in a denomination that sincerely believes that “the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture” (WCF 21.1).

Our recent votes, however, indicate clearly that the majority of PCA presbyters do believe that God may be acceptably worshiped in ways not prescribed in Scripture and that they believe that our worship practices should be broad enough to include, at the very least, the historic traditions of the ancient and medieval church and many of the modern recent traditions of American evangelicalism. As such, isn’t it time we changed our Constitution so that we aren’t saying one thing and doing another?

Andrew Webb is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, N.C.