Your Cart

Your cart is empty.

The Westminster Confession and the American Presbyterian Tradition: Revisions and Controversies

Rev. C•D•F• Warrington, M.Div.
By Rev. C•D•F• Warrington, M.Div.

Ordained Minister, M.Div.

July 27, 2026

3 min read

westminster confession
A historic American Presbyterian colonial church with white clapboard and tall steeple alongside the Westminster Confession

The Westminster Confession of Faith arrived in America with the Scottish and Scots-Irish Presbyterian immigrants of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But the American context — shaped by the separation of church and state, revivalism, and eventually liberalism — produced a series of revisions to the confession that have significantly shaped the American Presbyterian tradition and generated controversies that continue to the present day.

The 1788 Revisions: Church and State

The most significant early American revision concerned the relationship of church and state. The original Westminster Confession (Chapter XXIII) gave civil magistrates authority over 'the public worship of God' and the power to call church assemblies. This Erastian vision was incompatible with American religious liberty. The American Presbyterian Church (1788) revised these chapters to remove civil authority over religion, affirming the spiritual independence of the church — a revision that shaped American Presbyterian polity in ways that persist today.

The 1903 Revisions: Declaratory Statement and New Chapters

The most theologically significant American revisions came in 1903 in the Presbyterian Church USA. Two new chapters were added — on the Holy Spirit and on the Love of God and Missions — and a Declaratory Statement softened the confession's teaching on predestination and infant salvation. These revisions reflected the influence of new school Calvinism and the desire to make Presbyterian doctrine more hospitable to evangelism and missionary work. Conservative Presbyterians, including J. Gresham Machen, viewed them as a dilution of confessional integrity.

The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy

The early twentieth century brought the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy to Presbyterian churches. Liberals within the PCUSA argued that subscription to the Westminster Confession should be understood as acknowledging it as a 'historically important expression of Christian faith,' not as binding doctrinal standard. Conservatives, led by Machen, insisted on strict subscription. The controversy resulted in the formation of the Presbyterian Church of America (later the Orthodox Presbyterian Church) in 1936.

The 1967 Confession and Beyond

In 1967, the United Presbyterian Church in the USA adopted a new Confession of 1967 that reoriented Presbyterian confessionalism around the theme of reconciliation, with significant influence from Barthian theology. The Westminster Confession was retained but placed in a 'Book of Confessions' alongside other historical documents, effectively reducing its normative authority. The PCUSA (formed in 1983 from the reunion of northern and southern Presbyterians) has continued to add documents to this collection.

The Current State of Westminster Subscription

Today, American Presbyterian bodies hold different positions on Westminster subscription. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America require subscription to the Westminster Standards 'in all its [essential and necessary] articles.' The PCUSA requires ordination candidates to affirm that the confessions 'express the faith of the Church' but allows for stated exceptions. These different approaches reflect fundamentally different understandings of what confessional subscription means and what it is for.

Tags:westminster confessionreformedchurch history

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Westminster Confession of Faith and when was it written?

The Westminster Confession of Faith was produced by the Westminster Assembly, which met in Westminster Abbey in London from 1643 to 1649 at the direction of the English Parliament. The Assembly included 121 English and Welsh ministers alongside Scottish commissioners, and produced the Confession, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and a directory for public worship. The Confession represents the fullest systematic expression of Calvinist Reformed theology in the English language.

How did American Presbyterians revise the Westminster Confession?

When the Presbyterian Church in the USA was organized in 1788, it adopted the Westminster Confession with two significant revisions: Chapter XXIII on civil government was rewritten to remove language making the civil magistrate responsible for calling church councils and suppressing heresy, reflecting American disestablishment principles. Chapter XXXI was similarly revised to remove the magistrate's role in church affairs. These changes, sometimes called the 'American revisions,' reflect the context of religious liberty and church-state separation unique to the new republic.

What controversies have surrounded the Westminster Confession in American Presbyterianism?

American Presbyterian history has been marked by repeated theological controversies involving the Westminster standards, including the Old School-New School split of 1837, the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s (which produced the Orthodox Presbyterian Church under J. Gresham Machen in 1936), and 20th-century debates over women's ordination and biblical inerrancy. The PC(USA) has further modified the Confession's status through its Book of Confessions, which places the Westminster documents alongside Barmen, Belhar, and other modern statements, diluting their singular doctrinal authority.

Which Presbyterian denominations still subscribe strictly to the Westminster Confession?

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) all maintain subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms as their primary confessional standards. The PCA allows 'system subscription,' meaning ministers affirm the system of doctrine rather than every statement, while the OPC and RPCNA require more precise subscription. These bodies represent the confessionally conservative wing of North American Presbyterianism.

What does the Westminster Confession teach about Scripture?

Chapter I of the Westminster Confession provides one of the most thorough Protestant statements on Scripture ever written, affirming the 66 canonical books as the inspired, infallible, and sufficient Word of God. The Confession teaches that the authority of Scripture depends not on the church's testimony but on God alone, whose truth and authorship are its ultimate warrant. It also affirms Scripture's perspicuity — that the matters necessary for salvation are 'so clearly propounded' that the ordinary believer, using ordinary means, can understand them.

← Back to all articles