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Chapter 33: Westminster Confession
AND QUESTION 90 FROM THE LARGER CATECHISM
Anathema of Preterism by Reformed Church USA
Dr. Gary North : "the member must also be asked to sign an affirmation of
Chapter XXXIII of the
Westminster Confession of Faith and answer 90 of the
Larger Catechism. This signed statement constitutes a formal rejection of the "full preterist" position. The member must be told in advance that this signed statement can be shown to others at the discretion of the session. If the member refuses to sign such a statement under these conditions, the elders should continue the disciplinary process." ("Full Preterism" : Manichean or Perfectionist-Pelagian?
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Critical Article Archive)
Westminster Confession
CHAPTER XXXIII (UPCUSA)
Of the Last Judgment
[6.180] 1. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged; but likewise all persons, that have lived upon earth, shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.
[6.181] 2. The end of God's appointing this day, is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the Lord: but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
[6.182] 3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.
Westminster Larger Catechism
Question 90: What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment?
Answer: At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on his right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted, shall join with him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into heaven, where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery; filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity. And this is the perfect and full communion, which the members of the invisible church shall enjoy with Christ in glory, at the resurrection and day of judgment.
Preterism, Heterodoxy, and the Westminster Confession
Compiled by TD
John Lightfoot: Writer of Westminster, Preterist
"In fact, one of the finest intellects of the Westminster Assembly was a strong preterist: John Lightfoot..
This committed Lightfoot so strongly to preterism that he suggested Revelation's overall theme is Israel's judgment" Gentry
Anathema of Preterism by Reformed Church USA |
Dr. Gary North : "the member must also be asked to sign an affirmation of
Chapter XXXIII of the
Westminster Confession of Faith and answer 90 of the
Larger Catechism. This signed statement constitutes a formal rejection of the "full preterist" position. The member must be told in advance that this signed statement can be shown to others at the discretion of the session. If the member refuses to sign such a statement under these conditions, the elders should continue the disciplinary process." ("Full Preterism" : Manichean or Perfectionist-Pelagian?
-
Critical Article Archive)
Chapter 33: Westminster Confession
AND QUESTION 90 FROM THE LARGER CATECHISM
CHAPTER XXXIII (UPCUSA)
Of the Last Judgment
[6.180] 1. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged; but likewise all persons, that have lived upon earth, shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.
[6.181] 2. The end of God's appointing this day, is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the Lord: but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
[6.182] 3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin, and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.
Westminster Larger Catechism
Question 90: What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment?
Answer: At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on his right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted, shall join with him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into heaven, where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery; filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity. And this is the perfect and full communion, which the members of the invisible church shall enjoy with Christ in glory, at the resurrection and day of judgment.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
Donald James Perry
"Is it possible that the WCF 32 could be in error since it contradicts
Luther and Calvin?"
On Martin Luther
"As for the popular notion that the souls of the righteous have the full enjoyment of heaven prior to the resurrection, Luther whimsically remarked, "It would take a foolish soul to desire its body when it was already in heaven!" - D. Martin Luthers Werke, ed. Tischreden (Weimar, 1912-1921), p.5534, cited by Althaus, op. cit, p.417. He said further: Now, if one should say that Abraham's soul lives with God but his body is dead, this distinction is rubbish. I will attack it. One must say, The whole Abraham, the whole man, shall live. The other way you tear off a part of Abraham and say, "It lives." (Table Talk, cited by Althaus, op. cit., p.447.)
John Calvin
2 Cor. 4:10. That the life of Jesus. Here is the best antidote to adversity -- that as Christ's death is the gate of life, so we know that a blessed resurrection will be to us the termination of all miseries, inasmuch as Christ has associated us with himself on this condition, that we shall be partakers of his life, if in this world we submit to die with him.
2 Cor. 4:12. Hence death indeed. It was also necessary that the folly of the Corinthians should be reproved, inasmuch as they contrived to themselves a Christianity without the cross, and, not content with this, held in contempt the servants of Christ, because they were not so effeminate.
Roman 6:5. He strengthens in plainer words the argument he has already stated; for the similitude which he mentions leaves now nothing doubtful, inasmuch as grafting designates not only a conformity of example, but a secret union, by which we are joined to him; so that he, reviving us by his Spirit, transfers his own virtue to us. Hence as the graft has the same life or death in common with the tree into which it is engrafted, so it is reasonable that we should be partakers of the life no less than of the death of Christ; for if we are engrafted according to the likeness of Christ's death, which was not without a resurrection, then our death shall not be without a resurrection." (Commentary on The Bible by John Calvin)
Westminster Confession 32
"The Westminster Confession Chapter 32 - Of the State of Man After Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead 1. THE bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither die nor sleep), having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none. "
"If so, if the WCF 32 can be in error, then what should one do?
1. Leave the OPC.
2. Stay in the OPC and relinquish your teaching or preaching position to others.
3. Stay in the OPC as a teacher or preacher and understand that the
WCF 32 admits that it is subject to error: All synods or councils, since the apostles' times, whether general or particular, may err; and many have erred. Therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith, or practice; but to be used as
a help in both. THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) xxxi.3:
The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the scripture. THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (1646) i.10:
4. Stay in the OPC and treat you problem with the WCF like the Partial Preterists do who say we are in another age, yet disagree with the Nicene Creed ("look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come"). After all denying the Nicene Creed cannot be any worse then denying the WCF.
5. Stay in the OPC and point out that the WCF 32 is really about the fact that there is a resurrection and last day, that it is only doing the best it can to make sense out of it!, not that it is foremost teaching a dichotomy in man between his flesh and spirit in death until the last day. Not that there is nessasarly real life with a physical Christ in physical heaven apart from a physical resurrection.
6. Stay in the OPC and realize that the WCF divines are smarter then we are, realize the best thing to do is ignore the whole thing until it goes away, in the mean time agree with the WCF. We cannot change our minds every 5 minutes!
7. Stay in the OPC and realize that it is absurd to believe that Luther, Calvin, and the WCF contradict each other and that there must be some misunderstanding on our part.
8. Stay in the OPC and don't do anything, just pray about it.
9. Stay in the OPC and concentrate on the more important issues.
10. Stay in the OPC and agree that there are two *things* (not two resurrections) for every believer (except those in the last day in article 3 of WCF 32 concerning the rapture and 1 Cor. 15) which have equal significance. One of the spirit when it is *perfected* and the other of the spirit and the body in a *resurrection*. Point 10 is my pastors position. (Not sure where this came form)
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