Christ The King Presbyterian Church









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Our Confession of Faith

A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith
by B.B. Warfield

Search the Trinity Hymnals: Revised (Red) and Original (Blue)
Many of its tunes also appear in the new (red) Trinity Hymnal

Helpful Works on the Biblical Nature of Infant Baptism

William the Baptist A Book by James M. Chaney, A Former Baptist
Infant Baptism in Early Church History by Dennis Kastens
Infant Baptism: Does the Bible Teach It? by Gregg Strawbridge
Former Baptist Pastor Who Changed His Position by Rev Alan Clifford
Calvin's Defense of Reformed Paedobaptism by Andrew Sandlin
My Journey from being Baptist to Understanding Infant Baptism, by Ra McLaughlin
The Sacramental Principle-Infant Baptism, by William Cunningham

HISTORIC STATEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Ecumenical Creeds (these are short statements that summarize the teaching of the Bible which were written by the early church. They were agreed upon by the whole church everywhere back then and still remain the standard for us of the very basics of the faith. Even with all the real divisions that exist between Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox, the definitions here are still agreed upon by all almost word for word.

Ecumenical Councils The Ecumenical Councils were seven meetings of the whole undivided Church, (east and west), where representatives met to express their agreement on certain doctrines of the Christian faith which were being challenged. Some Protestants would agree with all seven councils, most would accept the first six councils, but all Protestants (including all of the OPC) would hold to the first four.

The First Seven Ecumenical Councils:

1. First Council of Nicaea, (325); repudiated Arianism and adopted the Nicene Creed.
2. First Council of Constantinople, (381); revised the Nicene Creed into present form used in the Eastern churches and prohibited any further alteration of the Creed without the assent of an Ecumenical Council.
3. First Council of Ephesus, (431); repudiated Nestorianism
4. Council of Chalcedon, (451); repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, described and delineated the two "separate" natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed.
5. Second Council of Constantinople, (553); reaffirmed decisions and doctrines explicated by previous Councils, condemned new Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite writings.
6. Third Council of Constantinople, (680–681); repudiated Monothelitism, affirmed that Christ had both human and divine wills.
Quinisext Council (= Fifth and Sixth) or Council in Trullo, (692); mostly an administrative council that raised some local canons to ecumenical status and established principles of clerical discipline. It is not considered to be a full-fledged council in its own right because it did not determine matters of doctrine.
7. Second Council of Nicaea, (787); restoration of the veneration of icons and end of the first iconoclasm.

The Westminster Standards (These are documents written in England in the 17th century which the OPC has adopted as an accurate and adequate summary of the main teachings of the Bible. All pastors and ruling elders in the OPC subscribe that they agree these as represent a good summary of the system of doctrine the Bible teaches. We do however hold that the Bible itself is the only ultimate authority and that these documents are not perfect.

The Three Forms of Unity
The following three documents are often together referred to as the Three Forms of Unity. Often Christian bodies with roots in the Reformation in continental Europe use these as their church standards. They beautifully summarize the Christian faith and are edifying to read, particularly the Heidelberg Catechism (a catechism is a series of questions and answers used as a teaching tool).

Other Useful Symbols and Historical Definitions of the Faith

Preachers and Theologians