Modern readers often filter “separation of church and state” through a secularist lens—assuming it means the government must be entirely stripped of all religious influence and pretend God does not exist, granting unrestricted free exercise to all false, non-Christian religions. This was not the view of the 1788 American divines. The revised Confession still maintains that the civil magistrate should want true religion to flourish. 

In our previous article on the Civil Magistrate (WCF 23), we explored the original 1646 text of the Westminster Confession. While it correctly established that government is ordained by God, its third paragraph contained a glaring issue for modern readers: it granted the civil government the power to suppress heresies, reform worship, and call church synods.

In 1646 Europe, the “Establishment Principle”—the idea that a nation should have one official, state-funded church protected by the king’s sword—was universally assumed. But over the next century, Presbyterians suffered bitterly under the heavy hand of state interference. They realized that giving the government power over the church usually resulted in the corruption of the church and the persecution of true believers.

In 1788, as the United States Constitution was being ratified, American Presbyterians convened to adopt the Westminster Standards. In doing so, they made a profound and historic change: they revised Chapter 23, Section 3. Today, major conservative Presbyterian denominations, such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), confess this 1788 American Revision.

The 1788 revision teaches a strict separation of the powers of church and state; denying the civil magistrate any right to interfere in matters of faith, while tasking the government with the duty to protect the physical safety of all people and ensuring that no Christian denomination is given preference over another.

What Didn’t Change: The Divine Origin of Government

Before looking at the changes, it is vital to notice what the American Presbyterians kept. They did not change WCF 23.1, 23.2, or 23.4.

The American revision firmly maintains that “God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates.” It retains the belief that Christians can lawfully serve in office, that governments have the power of the sword, and that citizens must pay taxes and obey lawful commands.

The 1788 divines were not secularists. They did not believe the government was free from God’s moral law. What they changed was not the origin of the state, but the boundary line between the state and the church.

The Great Wall of Separation (WCF 23.3a)

The revised paragraph 3 begins with an absolute prohibition:

“Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the Word and sacraments; or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; or, in the least, interfere in matters of faith.“

The 1646 text gave the magistrate the duty to keep the truth pure and suppress blasphemy. The 1788 text builds an impenetrable wall: the government has zero jurisdiction over special revelation. The state wields the sword to police human behavior; the church wields the keys to shepherd the human soul. A judge or a president has no authority to tell a church what to believe, who to baptize, or who to excommunicate.

The State as “Nursing Fathers” to the Church (WCF 23.3b)

If the state cannot interfere in matters of faith, what is its relationship to religion? The revision uses a beautiful biblical phrase from Isaiah 49:23: they are to act as “nursing fathers.” A nursing father provides safety, protection, and nourishment, but he does not micromanage the life of the child. It is the duty of the civil magistrate to “protect the church of our common Lord.” But how?

Crucially, the scope of this non-interference was specifically aimed at preventing discrimination between Christian groups, rather than endorsing modern secular pluralism.

• Without Preference: The state must do this “without giving the preference to any denomination of Christians above the rest.” The goal was to prevent a state-funded Church of America (such as a legally privileged Anglican or Congregational church) that oppressed other Christians.
• Free Ministry: The state must ensure that “all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions, without violence or danger.”

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