We must honestly and in good faith put forth any scruples and disagreements with the Westminster Standards before the presbytery (or session) for them to rule on….if church officers do not take their vows seriously, why should we expect church members to take their vows seriously? Church leaders must set an example for the flock.

I previously wrote an article on vows for church members (particularly for PCA members). In that article, I said that membership vows are often broken today because our culture does not take oaths very seriously. We see oath-breaking all around us. Congressmen and presidents often break their vows to uphold the Constitution. And since marriage involves vows, widespread divorce is evidence that such vows are not being upheld by one or both parties.

Such oath-breaking brings great harm to a nation. President George Washington noted this in his Farewell Address in 1796. Recognizing that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” to “political prosperity,” Washington then said—“Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?” In other words, oath-keeping is necessary for courts to justly uphold property, reputation, and life.

And since the taking of an oath is a moral and religious act, Christians ought to be oath-keepers. Christians should keep their word, just as God keeps His Word. All of this applies to church membership vows. However, in this article I want to focus on ordination vows. These are vows that church officers—pastors, elders, and deacons—take upon their ordination. Before doing so, let us first define vows and explain why keeping them is important.

Why Oath-Keeping Is Important

Oaths are sworn promises that call God as witness and judge (WCF 22.1). Oaths can confirm the truthfulness of testimony in a church or civil court (an assertory oath), or they can obligate a person to do something (a promissory oath). A vow is a form of a promissory oath (WCF 22.5), and thus “vow” and “oath” are often used interchangeably today when in reference to a promise (e.g., BCO 47-9). However, testimony asserted in court is only referred to as an “oath” (e.g., BCO 35-6).

Contrary to the Anabaptists, oaths are permissible for Christians to undertake. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:33-37 was in response to Jewish Rabbinic distortions of oaths, as He condemned only superficial oaths. Jesus was not abolishing the Old Testament practice of taking oaths (e.g., Num. 6), as even He was put under oath (Matt. 26:63-64). Contrary to the views of the Anabaptists, Presbyterians affirm that oaths are permissible for Christians to take “in matters of weight and moment,” but only as to “what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform” (WCF 22.2-3). If we take a lawful oath, we have a duty before God to fulfill it.

A violation of an oath or vow is a violation of the Third Commandment—“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain” (Ex. 20:7, NASB 1995). As the word “vain” (Heb. shaweh) refers to “emptiness” and “nothingness,” the Third Commandment prohibits the use of God’s Name for any frivolous or insincere purpose. Regarding the Third Commandment’s warning of God’s punishment, the Shorter Catechism says, “The reason annexed to the third commandment is that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment” (WSC 56). God makes it clear that a person will never escape judgment for taking His name in vain. You may escape the judgment of men, but you will not escape the Lord’s judgment. It is clear, then, that taking a vow is a serious thing, and God judges the breaking of such vows because it involves taking His name in vain.

The Third Commandment prohibits taking an oath that one does not intend to keep (Lev. 19:12; Ps. 24:4). However, the Third Commandment also prohibits taking an oath one intends to keep and then later breaking it. According to the Larger Catechism, the “violating of our oaths and vows, if lawful” is a sin forbidden in the Third Commandment (WLC 113). Therefore, he who takes an oath or vow “ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act,” and “in anything not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man’s own hurt” (WCF 22.3-4). A lawful oath is to be fulfilled even if it is difficult to do so and involves self-denial, for it is about doing what is right. The psalmist asks, “O LORD…who may abide on Your holy hill?” He answers, “He who walks with integrity… He who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Ps. 15:1-2, 4, NASB 1995). Who is the man who fears the Lord? It is he who keeps his vows, even to his own hurt.

The Ordination Vows of PCA Church Officers

Vows are important for church members, whether their membership vows upon joining a church or their parental vows when their infants are baptized. However, vows are especially important for church officers. Pastors, ruling elders, and deacons are the leaders of Christ’s church, and as such, they must model oath-keeping. There is a public nature of the relationship between officers and the church, and the public taking of vows gives greater weight to the promises being made. Civil officers vow to uphold their state constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Likewise, church officers vow to uphold their church’s constitution upon ordination. We must therefore ask, what is the church’s constitution? In the case of the Presbyterian Church in America, its constitution consists of the Book of Church Order and the Westminster Confession of Faith together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

When a man is ordained as a minister (teaching elder) in the PCA, he takes the following eight vows (from BCO 21-5):

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will on your own initiative, make known to your Presbytery the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?
3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of Biblical polity?
4. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?
5. Have you been induced, as far as you know your own heart, to seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God and a sincere desire to promote His glory in the Gospel of His Son?
6. Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?
7. Do you engage to be faithful and diligent in the exercise of all your duties as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel, whether personal or relational, private or public; and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your manner of life, and to walk with exemplary piety before the flock of which God shall make you overseer?
8. Are you now willing to take the charge of this church, agreeable to your declaration when accepting their call? And do you, relying upon God for strength, promise to discharge to it the duties of a pastor?

The bolded vows (5–8) are unique to the minister, in distinction from the ruling elder and deacon. The ruling elder and deacon take only six vows, and two of those are unique to their office (bolded below), though they are still similar to those for the minister. Thus, the minister takes only two truly unique vows compared to the ruling elder and deacon—vow 5 related to the minister’s calling, and vow 8 related to the minister taking charge of the church. But the first four vows taken by ministers (teaching elders) are taken almost verbatim by ruling elders and deacons—those vows related to Scripture as the inerrant Word of God, the adoption of the Confession, the approval of the Book of Church Order, and subjection to the brethren.

For comparison, when a man is ordained as a ruling elder or deacon, he takes the following six vows (from BCO 24-6):

1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice?
2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will, on your own initiative, make known to your Session the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow?
3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of biblical polity?

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